458 Baptized in One Day, Setting Record for 137-Year-Old N.C. Church
Each year, a crowd of people in and around Biltmore, N.C., gathers at a nearby lake to publicly express their faith in Christ through baptism—descending into the scenic water and rising again as a picture of new life.
But this year, the church’s pastor and volunteers noticed something different—a larger crowd than in past years and an enthusiasm that rippled through those gathered along the shore.
Biltmore Church in North Carolina traces its roots to 1889 and at one point met in a building paid for by George Vanderbilt of the famous Vanderbilt family.
And on Sunday, Sept. 13, hundreds of people — men and women, young and old — lined up at a lake in Fletcher, N.C., to be baptized and publicly declare their faith in Christ.
All total, 458 people entered the water that day, the most the church had ever baptized in a single day, eclipsing the previous record of 389 set just last year.
The Biblical Recorder, the news outlet of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, reported that some attendees had traveled “hundreds of miles to take part.”
Lead Pastor Bruce Frank estimated that the event drew 4,000, including friends and family of those who were baptized.
Frank told the Biblical Recorder that staff went into the event believing around 400 would be baptized, but were pleasantly surprised when dozens more showed up, ready to make their faith public.
“Somewhere between Sunday morning and Sunday afternoon, there were 50 or 60 more people that either came to Christ and took that first step or said, ‘Man, I’ve never professed Christ through baptism,’” Frank said.
Among those baptized was a man who had come to faith through Nick Friederich, a tattoo artist and lay leader at Biltmore’s Hendersonville campus who often talks about Jesus with people he meets through his work. According to the Biblical Recorder, the new Christian later relocated to New York but remained connected to Biltmore by watching services online. When he heard about the church’s outdoor baptism, he drove his motorcycle from New York to North Carolina — arriving just one day before the event.
“Baptism represents lives being changed and God being at work,” Frank said. “I am continually reminded that we do not invite God to be a part of our story. He invites us to be part of His story.”
Photo Credit: ©Facebook.com/BiltmoreChurch
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
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Originally published September 24, 2026.
