‘Taste of Heaven’: Thousands Pack Honda Center for SoCal Harvest Crusade

This year’s SoCal Harvest Crusade saw thousands give their lives to Jesus Christ over the two-night event held at the Honda Center over the weekend.

The arena was packed with 16,000 people and more than 47,000 viewed the crusade online.

Harvest Christian Fellowship’s senior Pastor Greg Laurie has held this soul-winning event for the last 34 years with 121 “Crusade” events all around the world.

“We have been able to preach the Gospel live to over 6 million people and we have seen over 600,000 make professions of faith,” he tweeted about the outreaches.

This year’s event reached a global audience with the message about God’s love and the gift of salvation.

“Nails did not hold Jesus Christ to the cross 2000 years ago – Love did! Love for you. Love for me,” Laurie preached. “As I said earlier, God loves you. He died for you. If you had been the only person on planet Earth, Jesus would have gone to the cross and suffered and died for you. And know, he did suffer. He loves you so much. It hurts.”

Laurie ended the crusade with a message titled “Good News In A Bad World.”

“We are living in a crazy, upside-down world full of bad news. I think we could all use some good news in a bad world, don’t you? That’s what the word ‘Gospel’ means… ‘Good News’,” he tweeted.

Award-winning Christian music artists Michael W. Smith, Chris Tomlin, Phil Wickham, and Taya Gaukrodger led worship.

This was the 34th year of the SoCal Harvest making it one of the longest-running evangelistic events in the nation.

The Harvest Crusades were previously held at Angels Stadium in Anaheim, California but this year’s event was pushed to a smaller location after the Angels informed Laurie that they wanted him to move the event to protect the playing field during the regular season.

In an emailed statement to CBN News, Angels spokesperson Marie Garvey explained the decision not to allow attendees on the field was due to abnormal weather this year.

“Angel Stadium has been host to the Harvest Crusades for nearly 30 years and has a great relationship with Pastor Laurie and his entire team. Given the timing and the unusually cool and wet weather taking place in California this year, the added foot traffic on the field could significantly impact the playing surface for future baseball games. We look forward to working with the Harvest Crusades to be the Southern California home in the future,” the statement read.

Later this week, Harvest Christian Fellowship will host a “Jesus Revolution” church-wide baptism on July 8 at Pirates Cove in Corona Del Mar, CA.

As CBN News reported, the event had been initially planned for July 9 but had to be moved to a different day after an overwhelming response from people wanting to be baptized.

Pastor Greg Laurie shared on social media, “The immense response from individuals desiring to be baptized is genuinely remarkable! It’s a clear testament to the revival that is happening in individual hearts and minds and the profound impact of the Jesus Revolution film.”

“We are returning to Pirates Cove, the same beach that witnessed the powerful baptisms of thousands of believers during the Jesus Revolution,” reads the church’s website. “This iconic location holds a special place in our hearts and our history, making it the perfect setting for our next church-wide baptism event!”

Source: ‘Taste of Heaven’: Thousands Pack Honda Center for SoCal Harvest Crusade – Faithwire