After nearly three decades of large-scale evangelism, Pastor Greg Laurie remains passionate about conveying to audiences locally and around the world the eternal hope that is found through a relationship with Christ.
This year’s event in California promises to have a powerful impact in the state. Only the Gospel of Jesus Christ can change people, and that’s what Greg Laurie wants to proclaim.
He knows what it’s like to be in desperate need of hope. Like many who came of age in the 1960s, Greg Laurie was on a search for the meaning of life.
Born out of wedlock to an alcoholic who went on to marry seven times, Laurie started drinking, partying, and taking drugs to escape the insecurity and dysfunction of his family. But his life was suddenly changed when he encountered a group of young Christians on his high school campus in Newport Beach, California.
As Laurie notes, “We may lose sight of God, but He never loses sight of us.” Today, after nearly 30 years of holding Crusades in Southern California, he is living proof that “God’s plans for us are better than any plans we have for ourselves.”
According to Laurie, the need for evangelism is more important than ever before. “Despite the divisions and distractions dividing our nation and disorienting our culture, I believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ remains the hope of the world and is more needed in our nation now than at almost any other point in our history,” he said.
Laurie’s annual Harvest Crusade outreach will return to Angel Stadium of Anaheim again this year, August 18 – 20, bringing a timeless message of hope to area residents.
The 2017 SoCal Harvest will feature a nightly message from Southern California pastor and evangelist Greg Laurie and music from top Christian artists including Crowder, Grammy Award-winning hip hop artist Lecrae, Jeremy Camp, American Idol winner Jordin Sparks, Andy Mineo, American Idol finalist Danny Gokey, NBC’s The Voice finalist Brennley Brown, and worship leader Phil Wickham (artists vary by night).
Laurie’s messages go straight to the heart of the questions front and center in the minds of all people, such as: Why am I here? Is this all there is? How can I start over? Is God real? What happens when I die?
That’s why this year’s Crusade is preceded by an ambitious evangelism training program in the weeks preceding the SoCal Harvest.
As Laurie noted, “Jesus did not say that the whole world should go to church. He said that the church should go to the whole world.”
Laurie’s Tell Someone Events are a series of rallies held across Orange County, the Inland Empire, and Los Angeles designed to provide tools and training for people interested in sharing their faith with others.
This year, as many as 10,000 people are expected to go through the training at area churches, July 26 – August 3.
The 2017 SoCal Harvest comes on the heels of Harvest’s largest outreach to date—a one-night event held on June 11 called Harvest America, which drew a combined audience of nearly 945,000 people.
A crowd of 38,000 packed the University of Phoenix Stadium to listen to Greg Laurie in person, while another 907,000 — from coast to coast and around the world — watched or listened to the simulcast via the web, Trinity Broadcasting Network, the 3,700 plus HarvestAmerica.com host sites, and on Facebook Live.
The 2017 SoCal Harvest begins at 7 p.m. each evening (gates open at 5 p.m.) and is free of charge. Angel Stadium of Anaheim charges $15 for parking fees for cars and $30 for buses. Each night the event will be interpreted in Spanish and signing for the deaf will be provided.
All three nights of the 2017 SoCal Harvest will be broadcast live via the Internet at www.harvest.org, and daily blog accounts of the crusade will also be made available. Updates about the Harvest outreach will be posted on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
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