The Last Crusade? - Harvest Christian Fellowship
The Last Crusade? - Harvest Christian Fellowship
Let me share with you some things, for history's sake, for those of you from outside this area and stop by here regularly. I have had a link to Harvest Christian Fellowship and their Crusade site on my front page since the late 90's. The upcoming 2011 Harvest Crusade's schedule, now in their 22nd year, brought back some memories for me, memories from back in the early 1980's.
The standard Harvest Crusade history published by the church usually states that the first crusade outreach was at the Pacific Amphitheater in Costa Mesa, California, in 1990. "Officially," yes. But that wasn't where it all really started. The seeds for this were initially planted many years previously.
I recently had opportunity to talk with a few people who were involved with this ministry in the late 70's. They reminisced about the very early years of this church and evangelical events they were involved in, including Hawaii. But most agreed the first notable events were when Pastor Greg Laurie and senior staff at that time took the initiative to engage in a more overt outreach to the local community here in Riverside and put together summer musical/evangelical events at Anza Narrows Park down the street from the church.
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Cupid's is gone now, converted to a taco stand. And those initial evangelical outreach events Calvary Chapel, Riverside, now Harvest Christian Fellowship, set out to engage in, in obedience to Jesus' mandate to "go out into all the world" and preach the Gospel (Mark 16:15, Luke 14:23) away from the comfort of the church property, has grown into a national and international campaign that, personally, continues to amaze me. No grand strategies, no big "church growth" plans, but a simple obedience to the foundational mandate of the Spirit-filled Church.
The world has radically changed since those early years. The Internet was still a nascent communications device few had access to, America Online (AOL) and its revolutionary impact on American culture was still in the infancy of its creation, and internet concepts like conventional mass email, Facebook, MySpace, Youtube, and simple high-speed access for the masses was still yet to come.
In the ensuing years, Harvest Christian Fellowship was one of the first ministries to exploit this "new media" for the proclamation of the gospel, the American inspired global internet the new Roman roadway system the first century church utilized to bring the gospel to the world of their time. Now we, the Spirit-filled Church here in America, have certainly come full circle; our historically critical times a mirror of what the book of Acts Church faced in their critical times.
Having been witness to the very early beginnings of this ministry; the simplicity and "small beginnings" of the Anza Narrows Park outreaches, the 2010 Harvest Crusade season was a pinnacle of sorts, with Chicago, Illinois, and Seattle, Washington. Over twenty years of Crusades, from Anaheim California to New York City, the Holy Spirit continues to roll this outfit into some pretty spiritually dark places here in America. All this in the midst of radical global changes—many unprecedented in world history.
Not only that, new media and the Internet continues to play a critical role in the reach and scope of this one Holy Spirit outreach. All three Crusades in 2010 had a solid two-to-one ratio of live-streaming Internet viewers compared to those attending the event in person. This was truly incredible!
Which brings us to the summer of 2011. With the long-established Crusade at the Anaheim Angel Stadium, this year the Los Angeles Dodger Stadium will be hosting a one night Crusade on September 10. This is notable. Los Angeles is the second most populous, if not the most diverse/multicultural, city in the United States, next to New York. The Dodger Stadium is the largest baseball stadium in America by seating capacity.
Furthermore, whether culturally, economically, politically, technologically, or most importantly as an American city—spiritually, Harvest Christian Fellowship, in prayer and support of the Crusade staff, and Pastor Greg Laurie will be setting up on the corner of this international crossroads, itinerant street corner preachers to a global audience, both in real time and digitally.
Additionally, after results in 2010, many, including me, are predicting this Crusade will be digital before real time; this big city street corner at the crossroads of the world on the information superhighway. (Which should be a heads-up to the propeller heads in the tech department overseeing the server portals.)
Global events, just in recent months, with the turmoil in the wake of the Tunisia uprisings that has swept the Middle East; it is incredible how the geo-political realities of the area continue to quickly line up with an Ezekiel 38-39 scenario—and all the other implications of this along with it. After three decades of personal observation of Bible prophecy pundits of all stripes continually struggling to force the square pegs of past events into the round holes of end times prophecy—and wearying many—the chain of events of the last twelve months have even the most cynical startled. Former State Assemblyman and retired Army Intelligence officer Chuck Devore's Middle East assessment, "The Next Middle East War" published by Human Events is just another example reinforcing the urgency of our times.
Since the startup of the Iranian Bushehr nuclear reactor in the summer of 2010 it is as if suddenly the Holy Spirit has wrested away this jumbled Rubik's cube from the limited understanding of men, and with rapid dexterity, the disorderly clutter of Middle East affairs and world trends is prophetically coming together in solid colors—and fast.
So what if this was Harvest's last Crusade, and by wider implication the culmination (the return of Jesus Christ for His bride) of the Spirit-filled Church's mandate to the world? How would that affect our approach to this sizable Gospel outreach and people we daily interact with? People, we need to start aiming for the fence!
Simple logistics and distance dictate there are only so many that can attend these events with someone who doesn't know the Lord in tow to hear the Gospel. To hear of sin, repentance, hope for today and for eternity, the exclusive Lordship of Jesus Christ and His work on the cross of Calvary the only path to salvation for Gentile, Jew, and Muslim.
Nevertheless, Internet access is absolutely unlimited. Like I mentioned previously, the 2010 Crusade season saw a solid two to one margin of people viewing online compared to those in real time attendance. There is no reason why that can't be four to one, or even five!
The church provides to their friends and supporters a wide variety of web banners any individual can add to their web site, blog, or Internet forum profile page to help promote this evangelical outreach. Christians constantly barraged by dubious fund-raising appeals from every worldly source would do better storing up treasure in heaven by helping bankroll this event and donating to Harvest online. Please help if you are so led!
Any member of Harvest will give all glory and credit to the Lord for what has happened over the last four decades at Harvest, this writer included; still, not bad for an obscure local congregation that initially set out on a quest into middle America in a local river side park thirty years ago in obedience to the Lord's leading (Mark 16:15), not knowing what was going to come of it. Harvest's reach is now global.
Yet, as pastor Greg has stated from the book of Acts 2:47 many times before, concerning all this, "…And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved." It has grown ever since simply because of that.
In these critical times, that mandate is more important than ever before. The rain is falling. The history of mankind is on the very precipice of great transition.
So back to the original question. The last Crusade? No, that would certainly be presumptuous. Still, something tells me this could be the most important Crusade of all.
If you can't be there in person, stop by online either Anaheim on August 12-14, or the big one in Los Angeles Sept 10. I'm sure the boys in the tech department will have the door open for you.
And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. … He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. (Rev 22:17 and 20)
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