(Photo: Harvest)Greg Laurie prays with those who received Christ at the Harvest rally in New York City.
(Photo: Harvest)Greg Laurie speaks to a full house at the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden
(Photo: Harvest)
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The Harvest Crusades hit the Big Apple for the first time on Sunday with a large-scale event that generated a stronger-than-expected response in two sold-out shows.
In total, some 10,000 people packed WaMu Theater at the Madison Square Garden where Pastor Greg Laurie conveyed God's answer to fear and worry just weeks after the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
"I think New Yorkers are more on edge than anyone else obviously because of what happened in that city," said Laurie on Kevin McCullough's "Live" in New York radio show. "We have a hope that's greater than government or military, a hope that's in the Lord."
Laurie is a familiar voice in New York with regular radio broadcasts and a ministry presence in the big city. But this is the first time he and the Harvest team attempted to organize a big-scale evangelistic rally in the nation's most populous city.
"We were approached near the end of last year by a local business leader about enlarging the scope of our ministry in New York City," John Collins, executive director for Harvest Crusades, told The Christian Post in an e-mail. "We were at first a bit reluctant because it's easy to get swallowed up in a large city like New York. In all of the events we'd done in New York, we'd never drawn more than 1,500 people.
"Taking on the Theater at Madison Square Garden, which seats about 5,500, seemed very ambitious."
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But the Harvest team decided to dip their toes in the water, as Laurie put it, with an evening rally featuring top Christian music artists Jeremy Camp and MercyMe and a message from Laurie.
And the response was fantastic, according to Collins. It was so strong that the evangelistic team added a 3:00 p.m. matinee. Although admission to Harvest Crusades is typically free, the policy at Madison Square Garden required the event to be ticketed. For every ticket bought, a second ticket was given free to encourage attendees to bring friends, particularly nonbelievers. Proceeds went to three local charities including New York City Rescue Mission.
New Yorkers packed the theater at both shows and about 60 churches volunteered to help with follow-up and discipleship of new believers. The Harvest team had only been hoping for 20 churches.
"Since the tragic events on 9/11, it appears that the Christian community in the city has pulled together and is more open than ever in getting the Gospel out to the millions of people that live and work in this relatively small space," said Collins.
With permission from the city of New York, a citywide dispatch was sent out to every firehouse to invite New York City firefighters to attend the matinee. Executive Committee member Rick Camacho said he was told this was the first time the city has ever allowed an open invitation to a Christian event to be sent out like this.
By the end of the night on Sunday, some 1,200 people responded to the invitation to accept Christ.
There are no formal plans yet about a full-scale Harvest Crusade, although organizers said they would consider returning for one if this weekend’s event went well.
"It will take even more than just a three-day crusade to capture the attention of New Yorkers, but it could potentially spark something," said Collins.
"There's no end of opportunity for the Gospel here," he said.
Sunday's evangelistic event happened to coincide with the 50th anniversary year of when renowned evangelist Billy Graham held his Madison Square Garden crusade which resulted in tens of thousands of commitments to Jesus Christ.
