Posted: 08/27/2013 at 12:13pm | IP Logged

2013 SoCal Harvest with Greg Laurie Draws 105,000 to Angel Stadium over Weekend for Message of Hope

Harvest Crusade Features Duck Commander Phil Robertson of A&E's Duck Dynasty, Music from Top Christian Recording Artists, and Nightly Message from Greg Laurie

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

ANAHEIM, CA (ANS) -- From duck calls to Southern rock, the 2013 SoCal Harvest with Greg Laurie provided a little something for everyone this past weekend, Aug. 23 - 25, including an introduction to God.

Duck Commander Phil Robertson talks with Greg Laurie on the final night

By the end of the extraordinary weekend, some 9,263 people walked onto the outfield of Angel Stadium to indicate decisions of faith.

Laurie spoke during all three nights of the 2013 SoCal Harvest, and was joined onstage by special guest Duck Commander Phil Robertson of A&E's Duck Dynasty, as well as top Christian recording artists including six-time Grammy Award-winner TobyMac, American Idol finalist Colton Dixon, rock band Flyleaf, Australian group for King & Country, multi-platinum-selling rock band Third Day, and singer/songwriter Phil Wickham.

The Harvest stage (Photo: Dan Wooding)

The overarching message presented by Laurie throughout the weekend focused on the hope available to all of us through a relationship with Jesus Christ. In an interview with The Orange County Register (August 23, 2013), Laurie said, "I'm a hurting person talking to other hurting people about a God who can heal them."

Laurie offered that hope to the crowds gathered at Angel Stadium, asking them, "Are you in pain tonight? Pain is God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world." Laurie continued, "God loves you. No matter what sin you've committed, He loves you. But you need to turn from that sin and put your trust in Him."

Talking with Laurie on Sunday evening, Duck Commander Phil Robertson echoed his message of salvation to the audience of 43,000 gathered in the stands. Robertson told Laurie that making a decision to put his faith in Christ was the "best thing that ever happened to me."

Robertson went on to tell the crowd, "The only way you're going to get off planet earth is through Jesus. Period. You need to move on that tonight."

Scene at Angel Stadium where many committed their lives to Christ

Greg Laurie, who founded the evangelistic Harvest Crusade events in 1990, also serves as senior pastor of one of the largest churches in the U.S., Harvest Christian Fellowship, which has campuses in Riverside and Irvine, Calif. During the past 24 years, the Harvest Crusades have drawn some 4.8 million people to events in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Laurie also serves on the board of directors for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

Harvest will hold its next outreach at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Sept. 28 - 29. The Philadelphia Harvest will be simulcast to thousands of locations for a coast-to-coast evangelistic outreach called Harvest America. The inaugural Harvest America program was simulcast from Angel Stadium in 2012 and drew some 367,849 participants, making it one of the largest evangelistic outreaches in U.S. history.

Source: Assist News Service