Lost Boy A Review The American Rewakening Series At: Salem the Soldier's Homepage

The release of pastor Greg Laurie's autobiography, "Lost Boy," comes at an interesting time in the history of Harvest Christian Fellowship, formerly known in the late 70's and early 80's as Calvary Chapel, Riverside. Pastor Greg and the pastoral staff have followed the clear leading of the Holy Spirit in crafting Harvest into one of the better known, very visible ministries in the United States. As one who has been going there since 1980, I have portrayed us as loud, high-profile, and effective; just like at the beginning of the Church age, Born-again Evangelical, full-throttle Christianity-and no brakes! Forward looking, aggressively engaging the culture with the Biblical Gospel, stripped down and fast moving, the ministry continues to grow and exploiting the new communication technologies on every level, Harvest's reach has now been going global.

Since its foundation, this ministry has been moving forward.

Therefore, the recent Sunday pastor Greg shared his personal testimony in detail, at the official release of his book, it was for many who have attended there for decades like a fully loaded eighteen wheeler locking up its brakes on the American cultural superhighway and coming to a screeching stop; the needle on the record player squealing across the deck as the music comes to a sudden stop. A very large group of people, especially those who have gone there for years, listening to him, suddenly found themselves in the midst of a very profound collective reflection, not only over Greg's life, there own lives, but where, corporately, Harvest has been as well.

I was one. I have gone here for almost thirty years. I didn't even know a third of what Greg shared that day, as well as further in his book. I don't think a lot of the people who have gone here for any number of years knew half as much as well. Oh, he has shared bits and pieces over the years, enough for one to know he grew up in a very disorderly and tumultuous family environment. Parental divorce, alcoholism, drug use, etc., but it has always been in general terms.

That certainly isn't wrong, because Harvest has never been about "Greg Laurie" all these years, other than training up new believers in Biblically sound doctrine, the preaching of the Gospel to a lost world and aggressively engaging American culture from that worldview, locally and nationally. It has always been about knowing God, in His son Jesus, and Greg simply the public face of Harvest Christian Fellowship as a whole. So his autobiography being published now is a radical diversion from the norm.

Greg engages in a little "alternate history theory" and what could have happened at the points of divergence in his life, especially if his mother's life had not been so radical. Ultimately, his dysfunctional upbringing prepared him in ways that a normal childhood could not have. This has been reflected in his ministry over many years. Thousands of people yearly continue to benefit from that. His verbal testimony in the just released "Lost Boy" DVD is just as profound.

In the book, Greg mentions Lonnie Frisbee and the influence he had on Greg's life in his early years as a Christian. Many may have not heard of Lonnie Frisbee, but a little personal research provides some answers for those who care to look. Lonnie Frisbee passed away in the early 90's at a young age, so he is in God's hands now (A DVD has been made of Frisbee's life).

Nevertheless, Frisbee's life ending like it did, I found myself pondering some others over the years that have passed through Harvest's early sphere and moved onward; alternative paths of early friends that maybe Greg and Cathe don't know about.

The gentleman I work with, Frank Moreno, was the first one to bring me to Harvest (when it was still Calvary Chapel). Up to that point, I had been listening to Greg on KWAVE as he had just started on the radio. Frank was still involved with the church at that point, and had even been invited to join the pastoral staff. Unfortunately, he knew his shaky marriage at that point wasn't right, so wisely decided against it.

Subsequently his marriage ended. Afterward, Frank, his youngest brother and I, were all that were left after my former stepfather was forced to file for bankruptcy in the family business, and Frank took over. Twenty-five years later and still growing, we are now the biggest thing in Southern California, doing what we do, and all told, the business provides for almost two dozen different families.

If Frank's marriage had been different those many years back and he had decided to join the staff, I have no doubts he would have went very far in the ministry. Some may think Frank's story one of unrealized potential, much in the same vein as Lonnie Frisbee's. But it certainly isn't. Recently watching my daughter graduate with honors from our district's new Middle College High School, free of many of the scars other young people from broken marriages and families already carry with them at an early age, I reflected on the fact that her achievement, her existence, is the end result of Frank's decisions years before.

Although the Lord deserves all the credit for providing in all ways for my daughter as she traversed the years to this time, and her graduation the greatest victory in her life till this point, Frank deserves some credit as well. It is through his management of the business we are involved in through some very troubled economic years that our family-and many others-thrive today. I made sure her graduation picture was added to Frank's collection on the bookcase in his office.

Pastor Greg, looking back said this about meeting his real father for the first time, "…My mother had waited almost 50 years to tell me the truth about my birth father. I didn't know what to think about him… I thought about my sons and my granddaughter. If there had been no Barney and Charlene (his parents), there would be no Greg. No Christopher and Jonathan. No granddaughter Stella." He then goes through the Biblical story of Joseph and how his brothers had sold him into slavery in Egypt, but subsequently became second in command to Pharaoh (Book of Genesis).

Joseph's family than comes to Egypt from Canaan because of a famine in the land, and Joseph comes to the realization all this had happened to him, as he tells his family, "But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive." (Gen. 50:20) Greg concludes, "I'm no Joseph, but I can look back on my life and finally say the same thing. I wasn't a mistake. God had a purpose…."

Likewise, in Frank's life as well, God had a purpose that is still being realized today. If Frank had not made these decisions and subsequent events in our lives not gone the way they did, I would not have been servicing the store where I subsequently met my dear wife of almost twenty years. My daughter and son would have never been born. Even Frank's daughter from another relationship would have never existed. No daughters Samantha and Jesse. I cannot comprehend life without either of them!

Pastor Greg delved into many things in his past that were difficult to address, by his own admission. Having gone through much of what he went through growing up, I can understand. Because of that, his testimony was hard to listen to. The Christian life is all about moving forward (Ex 14:15), "...forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before…. (Php 3:13). That axiomatic truth is reflected in Harvest's whole outlook. As a Christian, you do not flounder in the failures or old successes of the past; you get up every day to a new beginning looking forward.

So, in going back and reflecting on the past, after these many years, whether Greg, Frank, or anybody else who has come into that personal relationship with our living Savior and walked with Jesus for any number of years, we can only come to one conclusion:

God is faithful.

His promises of providence and of protection. His promises of wisdom and of direction. And when we fail, "If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself." (2Ti 2:13)

That being so, I think pastor Greg's story, "Lost Boy," will probably prove to be his most spiritually effective literary work yet, because his testimony, at this time, spans multiple generations since the 60's. There will be few who read it who will not be compelled to review their own lives and realize the Lord has always been faithful to them as well. For example, one lady recently wrote to Pastor Greg, "...It is time for me to let go of some resentments with my birth mother and with a friend who did me wrong. If this friend had not done what she did, I would not be working where I am. God knew that it would take something big to get me to move on from where I was."

For those who do not, pastor Greg is living evidence there is a real God who loves the lost, and is waiting faithfully for any and all to turn to Him.