Easter Service at Flora-Bama Saw 60 Baptized in the Gulf of America

Sixty individuals were baptized at the Flora-Bama Easter week services and well over 10,000 attended the service on Easter Sunday alone.

Worship on the Water at Flora-Bama is a Christian, non-denominational church. It meets every Sunday with services at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. “under the tent” at the Flora-Bama Lounge, Package, and Oyster Bar on the beach.

On Easter Sunday, the gathering attracted over 10,200 individuals, averaging 1,000 each week. During the week’s services, 60 people were baptized in the Gulf of America.

“It’s just so amazing to me how God chooses to use uncommon people to spread His love in uncommon places,” pastor Ben Ragsdale said, according to 1819 News.

“So many come from all over, every single week, just to see how does this whole ‘church in a bar thing work?!’ And every single week, people leave different than the way they were when they arrived,” he said, noting that “thousands came to celebrate and thousands left changed forever” on Easter Sunday.

Flora-Bama owner John McInnis said of the church, “What God has done and continues to do with the ministry is amazing.”

“God is meeting people right where they are and wants them to know his love, grace, forgiveness, and blessings,” he said, adding that they have learned how to “BE the church” instead of building one.

“To think thousands and thousands have been saved and baptized because of a service at a world-famous honky-tonk beach bar is wild,” he continued. “But God’s love for us is wild, and there is no place we can escape His love.”

According to Worship on the Water’s website, the church’s crowds are “local residents, vacationing tourists, and people sight-seeing the bar!”

“We offer live music, a message that inspires you to take action, and warm welcomes at every gathering,” it continues, describing the weekly event as a “Christ-centered, come-as-you-are gathering.”