102,000 Gather at Harvest Crusade

|PIC1|Some 102,000 people from over 30 countries around the world gathered at the Angel Stadium of Anaheim for the annual Southern California Harvest Crusade with Greg Laurie.

The event has been a fixture in Orange County since 1990. The Orange County Register reported, "Another type of cheering pierced Angel Stadium...Baseball took a back seat to the start of the Harvest Crusade, a Christian revival that has been drawing big crowds in Orange County for 18 years."

Around 33,000 people watched the Harvest Crusade virtually over the internet.

Each night of the Harvest Crusade featured a talk from Greg Laurie with topics including "How to Find Eternal Life", "Do You Want to Change Your Life?" and "A New Beginning". The message presented by Laurie throughout the weekend was simple: Christ's love and forgiveness is available to all who come to Him and believe in Him.

"You don't have to be the religious type to come to God tonight," Laurie told the crowd gathered for the Saturday night crusade. "You have to be the sinner type."

He continued, "Jesus doesn't see a crowd in this stadium. He sees you here tonight. Do you want to change your life? You can leave this place a different person if you give your heart to Christ."

Laurie concluded each night's programme with an invitation for those in attendance to make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. Over the course of the weekend, 9,521 people walked down to the field of Angel Stadium to make such a profession.

A line-up of popular musical guests spiced up the evenings, featuring tobyMac, the David Crowder Band, Crystal Lewis and up-and-coming artists Leeland and Phil Wickham.

Greg Laurie, who founded the evangelistic Harvest Crusade events in 1990, also serves as senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California, one of the 15 largest churches in the US.

During the past 18 years, the Harvest Crusades have drawn more than 3.5 million people to events in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Laurie also serves on the board of directors for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan's Purse.