Thousands Make Decisions to Follow Jesus at Greg Laurie's Harvest Los Angeles
Bianca had been brought to the crusade by way of her recently rekindled friendship with Lorena and Stacey – and like thousands of other stories to be told as the result of evangelist Greg Laurie's Harvest Los Angeles event this past weekend, her life, too, was changed by making a commitment to Jesus.
As Laurie spoke, he based a large part of his story on the prodigal son, and that is exactly what Bianca needed to hear, wrote Jordan Escoto in his blog, "The Prodigal Daughter," posted on the Harvest website.
"She had recently slipped away from the church and was her own prodigal daughter, stating, 'I felt that I wasn't worthy enough to be loved by God anymore and I felt really lost.' Bianca responded to the call with Lorena and Stacey right behind her for support," Escoto writes.
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"Today, she is reunited not only with her friends, but with her new family of God, and most importantly, her Heavenly Father is rejoicing now."
More than 61,000 people attended the two-night Harvest Crusade to listen to well-known Christian performers and hear Laurie's relevant Gospel message at Dodgers Stadium. There were also 37,530 webcast viewers of the two events. Between those in attendance and those watching online there were 7,389 decisions for Christ, according to Harvest officials.
Prior to his message titled "God's Cure for Heart Trouble," Laurie interviewed "Life Without Limbs" ministry founder Nick Vujicic. Musical performers included Steven Curtis Chapman, Phil Wickham, Lecrae, and the Katinas.
Two weekends ago, the Harvest outreach was held at Angels Stadium in Anaheim, Calif., where the event on Sunday – called Harvest America – was webcast to more than 2,400 host locations participating in the live event. Harvest officials say that more than 300,000 people watched the event live combined between those at the stadium and those at a host location.
"This here at Dodger Stadium is different as this is more focused on LA proper and so I'm going to be thinking a lot more about the LA area, where at Anaheim, especially on the second night with Harvest America, I was thinking of the whole country when I was speaking," Laurie told ASSIST News Service founder Dan Wooding prior to the event. "So I wanted to be a little more directed to this area than I was then."
Wickham also performed at Harvest America as the worship leader at host venue Maranatha Chapel in San Diego. "It was like a mini-crusade in San Diego. Many people were saved," Wickham said.
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 23 years, the Harvest Crusades have drawn some 4.4 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.
