Harvest Crusade’s Gospel Message Attracts 50,000 to Angel Stadium and 5,000 Commit to Christ
- Michael Foust Crosswalk Headlines Contributor
- Updated Jul 23, 2024
Approximately 5,000 people prayed to receive Christ during an overflowing Harvest Crusade evangelistic event Saturday in the greater Los Angeles area that pastor Greg Laurie attributed to a widespread hunger for God. Organizers said the Harvest Crusade at Anaheim's Angel Stadium drew a capacity crowd of 50,000 people. 3,500 individuals accepted Christ in person, and another 1,500 did so online. The online stream had 200,000 viewers. Chris Tomlin, Phil Wickham, and Brooke Ligertwood sang.
Angel Stadium is home to professional baseball's Los Angeles Angels.
"It was absolutely packed out -- 50,000 people filled Angel Stadium," Laurie said. "In fact, the fire marshals locked the doors, finally, because no one else could fit in.
"But what I love is that people stayed outside of the gates and joined us in worship. …There was such an energy and such an excitement in that space as thousands of us worshiped together as if with one voice."
When Laurie's sermon followed, the invitation was given, and thousands walked to the field to talk to a counselor.
"We're just giving God the glory for what he did," Laurie said.
Laurie, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship, said he has a few theories for why this year's crusade was so "powerful and effective."
"I think maybe it's a combination of events going on. I think that what's happening in our nation, so much instability; we see what's going on in the political world, an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. And now President Biden has just announced that he's dropping out of the race," Laurie said.
Here is an update on all that God did at the Harvey Crusade last Saturday. Many feel it m ay have been the greatest of our Crusades in our 35 year history. I would say I would tend to agree. We have made some adjustments to the numbers as new information has come in. 50,000 in… pic.twitter.com/6gWy6jKGN4
— Greg Laurie (@greglaurie) July 22, 2024
There is instability throughout the world, too, he added.
"And then there's just that general hunger for God," he said.
"People love to write California off. I've jokingly said that the number one export of California is Californians moving out, but a lot of new people are coming in. What's so exciting is when we do these events, people of every background attend and come to Christ -- old people, young people, white people, black people, Hispanic people, Asian people.
"It just seems like it's a cross-section of the world attending these crusades," he said. "We just want to thank God [and] give Him the glory."
Photo Credit: ©X/Greg Laurie
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
