ANAHEIM, Calif. – More than 11,000 people in Southern California accepted their “tickets” to Heaven over the weekend at an annual event that has helped some 298,000 people commit their life to Christ since 1990.
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(Photo: The Christian Post / Edwin Tsuei)More than 30,000 people attend the annual Southern California Harvest Crusade at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, Calif., on Sunday, Aug. 17, 2008. On that third and final night of the evangelistic event, 3,704 made their first-time commitments or rededicated their lives to Christ. -
(Photo: The Christian Post / Edwin Tsuei)Evangelist Greg Laurie speaks to more than 30,000 people attending the annual Southern California Harvest Crusade at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, Calif., on Sunday, Aug. 17, 2008. On that third and final night of the evangelistic event, 3,704 made their first-time commitments or rededicated their lives to Christ. -
(Photo: The Christian Post / Edwin Tsuei)More than 30,000 people attend the annual Southern California Harvest Crusade at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, Calif., on Sunday, Aug. 17, 2008. On that third and final night of the evangelistic event, 3,704 made their first-time commitments or rededicated their lives to Christ. -
(Photo: The Christian Post / Edwin Tsuei)Michael W. Smith performs at the annual Southern California Harvest Crusade at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, Calif., on Sunday, Aug. 17, 2008. -
(Photo: The Christian Post / Edwin Tsuei)Michael W. Smith performs at the annual Southern California Harvest Crusade at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, Calif., on Sunday, Aug. 17, 2008.
On Sunday, the final night of the 19th annual Southern California Harvest Crusade, 3,704 made their first-time commitments or rededicated their lives to Christ before a crowd of more than 30,000. The first and second night of the event witnessed 2,750 and 4,630 decisions, respectively, and over 29,000 and 46,000 attendees.
“Heaven is not your default destination,” explained evangelist Greg Laurie, senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, Calif., Sunday night, as he did the previous two nights.
“You have to make the decision to go there,” he exclaimed.
Like the messages delivered over the first two nights, Laurie’s message Sunday, entitled “Hope for Hurting Hearts,” served as a reminder to the thousands listening live or watching via webcast of the brevity of life on earth, which can literally end at any minute – as his son’s had less than one month earlier.
Laurie further reminded the crowd that earth is merely the place where people decide where they want the final destination of their immortal souls to be, following up with the message he delivered the night before.
“Here’s something to consider. Everybody will live forever. Did you know that? I mean everyone. I don’t care if you’re a believer or non-believer, an agnostic. Everybody will live forever. In effect, we are all immortal,” he said Saturday.
“You say ‘Oh, that’s cool; that’s good news.’ Well, not necessarily,” he added.
Using a five-day, all-expenses-paid trip as an example, Laurie had noted Saturday that more important than the length of stay is the destination.
“The issue is not ‘Will I live forever?’ The question is ‘Where will you live forever?’” he pointed out.
Laurie also made clear that once the destination has been decided upon, what is then needed is a "ticket."
“You can’t just walk in,” Laurie said Saturday, using Disneyland as an example. But the price of the “ticket” is more than any person can afford.
“You can’t buy it. In fact, you can’t afford it. But the good news is Jesus Christ bought your ticket to Heaven when he shed his blood on the cross at Calvary and he offers it as a free gift to you right now. Do you want it?” Laurie asked.
In his follow-up on Sunday, Laurie further noted that there is only one way to get to Heaven – through Jesus Christ. And even though some might feel that belief is “narrow,” the evangelist pointed to examples where "narrow" is necessary and dangerous to be without. Airplane pilots and doctors, for example, have a precise course to take and precise procedure to follow in order to arrive at the correct destination and to keep patients alive during an operation.
“Don’t tell me that it’s narrow to believe what God has said. God has given us one way to know Him. One rope has been dropped, if you will, or a life line. And that’s the one you have to grab if you want to go to Heaven when you die,” he said.
“Have you grabbed it yet?”
Following the conclusion Laurie’s sermon, the Southern California Harvest 2008 wrapped up Sunday with more than 3,700 crusade attendees publicly proclaiming their decision for Christ in the outfield of Angel Stadium as hundreds of volunteer counselors ministered to them. Each person who walked down from the stands was given a New Believers Bible and was asked to leave their contact information for future follow ups.
Sunday also marked the first Harvest appearance by the award-winning artist Michael W. Smith, who led worship together with Leeland, Crystal Lewis, Marty Goetz, and the Katinas.
The next Harvest event will take place Oct. 3-5 in Philadelphia.
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grace2, I also have taught personal evangelism classes.
grace2, yes, but not as much as I would like and I encourage those congregations I speak to, to do the same.
believer - do you do personal evangelism?
Dear my brothers and sisters in Lord Christ Jesus, we should be rejoicing when people can hear the Gospel and receive His loves and His mercies. The babies need milk than later harder meals. Hopping and praying that local churches which were involving for this even do the follow-up for the new born babies. Imanu’el
kevin, once again I'm with you 110% on the "ticket" issue. And when it comes to Child Evangelism I'm even more uncomfortable with that type of approach to evangelism.
believer,
Very true, we do not know to what extent Mr. Chan is emphasizing the ticket motif. However, the quotations from Laurie indicate that he did frame (at least once) the need for repentance based on a desire to get to heaven: "Heaven is not your default destination...You have to make the decision to go there...The question is ‘Where will you live forever?’" Sorry, this is not the question. The question is, "Will you repent and believe in the Son of God." Of course, Laurie says this as well, but the ticket motif only obscures the gospel by making it about us and receiving a happy eternity.
kevin, like you I'm very uncomfortable with that ticket to heaven idea, but I wonder if the emphasis is the writers or the actual event. And with the eyewitness accounts of eddie and mojo, I tend to believe that it was more of the writer's emphasis than the actual event itself.
Eddie, thanks for the first-hand account. I am happy to hear that continuing discipleship is a focus. However, I still question the preaching of repentance with "getting your ticket into heaven" as the reason. The reason we repent should be that we apprehend our guilt in the Cross of Jesus Christ. The holiness of God in the Cross and his vindication in the Resurrection should be the focus, not getting your ticket into heaven.
mojo and eddie, please accept my humble apology for putting to much creedence in this article. It was good to hear both of your eyewitness reports and I am rejoicing in knowing that true repentance was indeed preached and that there will be some serious follow-up done with those who made decisions at the crusade.
I was at the event on Saturday and Sunday and both nights I heard repentance preached. I was a field supervisor for follow up counsling and beyond telling the people to pray, read their bibles, fellowship and witness their information is given to a church in their area to follow up with them. This event isnt done to grow HARVEST they can't fit any more people its done to bring people to the saving knowledge of Christ. Pastor Laurie does his part he plants the seed....
As I read the comments here, a thought occurs to me.
We are currently inundated with politics and the beliefs of the current presidential candidates, and a reoccurring theme is Obama’s stated belief that Christ is not the only way to heaven. Many of us take exception to this, quoting Bible verses that indicate otherwise. So why, then, do we have trouble with a pastor that states that the “only way†to heaven is through Christ; that He alone is the One who paid the price that allows us to reach that destination? Also, is not the annual Harvest Crusade a type of revival, where the central focus is on salvation?
I have listened to Pastor Laurie’s radio programs, and no where in his messages do I get the idea of cheap grace, nor have I heard him preach anything unbiblical. Rather, I hear a man who is on fire for Him and eternally grateful for the grace of His Lord. Personally, I come away from his messages feeling uplifted and strengthened for my walk with Him, and reminded of God’s love for me, His oh-so-imperfect child.
There are a lot of preachers out there who teach a weak, lukewarm religion that tries to pass itself off as Christianity, but Greg Laurie is not one of them.
Mojo...I did not mean to insult anyone when I stated that we needed more spiritual fathers. People such as Pastor Laurie do their part of the Great Commission, but the Church as a whole needs to do more, after all. they cannot spend one on one time with new converts, but the body of Christ could and should.
Jesus commanded that we made disciples, which involves time on a regular basis to help people become more like the Master and walk like the Master. That is what I meant when I made that statement. I appreciate those who reach to the lost (I'm involved in reaching the lost as well) but I see the need to do more to help people walk in Jesus' footsteps.
No personal attack here; it was just an observation on the need to go beyond sharing the Gospel and doing something to enable people to walk the Christian walk after they are justified (first step).
We need to make a distinction here. As a person and man of God, no one is questioning the love and authenticity of Pastor Laurie. However, we do need to question the value of framing the gospel around how to get your ticket to heaven. Laurie's predecessor in mass evangelism, Billy Graham, understood this, especially as he got older and wiser. Graham started focusing on the Cross and Resurrection, i.e., what God has done for us. Only within this frame can we then present what we need to do (repent), and only lastly do we present "the last things" (heaven and hell). Graham also started working heavily with local churches in order to provide continuing discipleship; otherwise, we just create spiritual babes who soon fall away once the emotion has left.
mojo, in answer to your question, no I've never attended a Greg Laurie event, but I do share the Gospel with the lost and do it mainly through the pulpit and ministries such as AWANA and VBS. And as a matter of fact I am on the steering committee for an upcoming evangelistic crusade coming to our area in September, I am co-chair of the counseling committee.
mojo, the problem is this article said nothing about the fruits of repentance. You don't buy a ticket to heaven, you don't buy a fire insurance policy, and/or you don't get a get out of hell free card in order to be saved. You repent of your sins by turning to God through the person and finished work of Jesus Christ, it's all about entering into a personal relationship with God through Christ. It's not about going to heaven and not going to hell and that's what this article only spoke to. Before you challenge those of us who shared our views on this article maybe you need to contact the writer of this article and share with him what really took place. Because as I said in my first post this report of this event makes it look like nothing more than cheap grace salvation personified. And to be very honest I hope and pray your view of this event is true as opposed to the view presented by this article.
Before you post anything that would suggest that Pastor Greg Laurie and/or the Harvest Crusades are mainly focused on just getting 'numbers' and that the ministry in general is nothing more then "cheap grace personified", ask yourself these 2 questions. 1) Have you ever been to a Harvest Crusade?; and 2) When was the last time you shared the gospel with an unbeliever? If you your answers are 'Never' and 'Can't Remember' (which I suspect it will be for pretty much EVERY nay-sayer on this post), then you really shouldn't post anything negative or eye-brow raising about such an incredible ministry as Harvest. I personally attended the event myself this past Friday night in Anaheim and I went away from the event mind-boggled at the true fruit of repentance and salvation that I witnessed in the lives of thousands of new believers. Sadly, most of you would rather do nothing for the Gospel except sit on your lazy spiritual butts and eagerly look for any possible way to point out fault in the people and ministries who are actually doing the true work of the gospel...as if in some sick way this justifies your sin of doing absolutely nothing to further the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, and the suggestion that we need more ‘spiritual fathers’ (insinuating that Pastor Greg Laurie is not one) is shameful. I wonder how many of you would have the courage and faith to deliver a Gospel presentation 3 short weeks after the Lord inexplicably took your son. That was the gutsiest and most courageous expression of faith and love for our Lord that I may have ever witnessed to see a man so heart-broken over the loss of his own son, yet still faithful and committed to the call of his First Love. Wake up, Church!
Our culture is so preocupied with numbers that we tend to believe that thousands of people deciding to go to heaven it's the answer. Heaven is only a fraction of what being a Christian it's all about.
People need to be discipled so that they can truly repent and turn their life around and follow in Jesus' footsteps. They also need to be encouraged to become sould winners and not only pew warmers.
The Church needs spiritual fathers, otherwise those decisions for Christ lead to thousands of spiritual orphans.
kevin, I totally agree since that is cheap grace salvation personified. I'm concerned that I read nothing about repentance in this article, since that is at the heart of true salvation. Without repentance there is no salvation.
I respect Pastor Laurie, but we should not be preaching "how to get to heaven"; rather, we should be preaching the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. Who is Christ and what has he done -- that's the gospel, not "getting your ticket to heaven," even though heaven is the consequence of what Christ has done for those who receive him.