Harvest Crusades Wrap Up 2005, Look Towards 2006

Harvest Crusades with Greg Laurie included new locations for its 16th year, hosting evangelistic events in seven cities.

Beginning from April and continuing through last month, Laurie brought the message of Christ to Augusta, Ga. (Apr. 17–20); Athens, Ga. (Apr. 22); Santa Monica, Calif. (June 3–4); Anaheim, Calif. (July 15–17); Newcastle, Australia (Sept. 8–11); Christchurch, New Zealand (Sept. 14); and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada (Nov. 22).

The 2005 Harvest Crusade events drew some 174,800 and resulted in 13,073 changed lives through commitments to Christ.

"We've seen God do amazing things through the Harvest events, and we know many lives have been changed forever," said the evangelist and pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship Church.

Evangelistic crusades are quickly becoming a method of the modern generations, not the postmodern generations, but Laurie has managed to include factors like extreme sports shows and live webcasting to attract the younger crowds.

"With Harvest, we intentionally engage popular culture, using it as a bridge to reach millions of people with the simple, timeless message that God loves us and wants a relationship with us," said Laurie.

In Athens, Ga., Harvest broke attendance records at the coliseum, drawing in more than 32,000 people over five nights of crusade events in the state.

The Southern California Harvest drew 100,000 to Angel Stadium, another 50,000 through the Internet broadcasts, and more for the first time via podcasts. During that weekend, close to 30,000 people from 61 countries logged on to watch the evangelistic event live on the Internet.

In Australia and New Zealand, more than 25,000 people attended. Harvest concluded the 2005 season on Nov. 22 with a pre-crusade outreach in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The outreach kicked off a year-long campaign to bring a Harvest crusade to the area, Nov. 10–12, 2006.

In addition to Hamilton, Harvest with Greg Laurie will travel next year to Christchurch, New Zealand (Apr. 28-30); Anaheim, Calif. (Aug. 11-13), and San Jose, Calif. (Oct. 13-15).