Dalton and Bree are a young married couple who got invited to the SoCal Harvest by a relative. They saw their need to rededicate their lives to Jesus so they can be better parents.

Dalton was raised in a Christian home but he fell away in his high school years. Bree also knew the Lord, but it was her experience in the hospital while giving birth to their baby boy, Jameson, that opened her eyes to where she really was in life. Baby Jameson’s heart had stopped.

She remembers her hospital room all of sudden being flooded with doctors. She was in the hospital for two weeks. She had experienced two miscarriages before so she was to the point where she prayed to God, “If You need him more in heaven than I do here on earth, take him.” It was that complete surrender that brought her into a deeper relationship with Jesus.

Her advice for other young parents? “Don’t give up, there’s always a way even when it feels like He’s not there, He is!”

Did you know that behind every Harvest Crusade there is a myriad of rough and tumble men–retired and active duty police officers, security guards, military, and others who give their time to keep this place safe?

But in addition to all those men, there are women who bring a soft touch to an otherwise hard ministry. Meet Stephanie Chapin. Stephanie’s been involved with Harvest and the Harvest Crusades for many years and has served in numerous capacities. Most of all, the Lord has used her in hospitality; she has that gift for sure!

Three years ago Stephanie was recruited to assist with the administrative side of security for the Harvest Crusades. Stephanie’s bright shining smile, the love of the Lord she exudes, and her beauty–inside and out–bring a little “pink” to an otherwise “blue” ministry.  Stephanie’s job was to build a team of beautifully humble women who check in each of the wonderful men who have given their time to keep us safe.

So security has a soft side; her name is Stephanie Chapin and the Harvest Crusades are blessed by the humble and kind service of her team.

Scharla and Michelle came to the Harvest Crusade together with a few others from a local sober living home in Orange County and found themselves on the field at the end of the night. Both of these women have been numbing the pain of past abuse with heavy drug usage.

Scharla grew up never going to church. She considered herself an atheist, but recognized later that she was more of agnostic and didn’t give much thought as to whether or not there was a God. She became addicted to heroin and meth. She recently heard a message by Ryan Reese, which is what began her journey to sobriety. Today she’s 95 days sober.

Michelle was born and raised Catholic, but never understood, or cared, much about Jesus’ great love. She was addicted to meth for six years but is now 6 months clean and met Scharla in the sober living home.

They consider themselves best friends now, and know that it was God that drew them together. The Holy Spirit led them down to the field as Pastor Greg gave the invitation and they said their hearts have been changed forever as well as their eternal destiny.

 I trust these beautiful women are going to do great things for God someday. He is a redeemer of souls, a redeemer of lives; One who works all things together for His good and makes all things new in the heart and life of His newly adopted daughters, Scharla and Michelle.

Jerry and Susie grew up in East Riverside, they met when they were just 9 and 11 years old. They began dating at a young age but kept it a secret from their parents. Jerry was a troubled teen and right after high school, he ended up in prison for home invasion. He was only out for 30 days before he was sent to prison for a second time, and the cycle continued after he was released. Jerry was in prison for a total of 7 years, but in the short time he was out, he kept his relationship with Susie, and she became pregnant the two times Jerry was released. The third time in prison, Jerry said he “wanted to forget about life outside”  so he stopped talking to his family, including Susie.

An inmate invited Jerry to a church service in the prison. He agreed to go but was hesitant. Jerry said the moment God spoke to him was when they played the song “Amazing Grace” because he said he felt the song was about him. “The song broke me! He loves a wretch like me?” Jerry said. After that night not much changed for Jerry until another inmate asked if he could pray with him; no one had ever prayed with him before so he agreed. After that prayer God started changing Jerry; he threw his pornography out and started reading his Bible. He saw God’s grace in the prison every day.

When Jerry was released he found Susie was addicted to speed and was lost. They started going to Harvest in Riverside and there someone asked Susie if they could pray for her and her family. At that moment Susie realized that they are a family, even though they were broken. “Everything we never knew we could have, God has given to us,” Susie said. God saved Jerry from ever going back to prison, and Susie from her addiction. They live a life that they never even thought was possible. They both have great jobs and four beautiful children.

Enrique Saldivar has a smile on his face as he sees the people rush in to grab their seats. He’s been working as an usher for over 16 years at Anaheim Stadium and says he enjoys the Harvest Crusade every year. The things he enjoys most are hearing the worship music and listening to Pastor Greg’s messages.

Thanks Enrique for all you do and we hope to keep making the SoCal Harvest a wonderful experience for you!

Nicole and Sky are praying that the sweet little girl they brought to the SoCal Harvest Crusade tonight will one day be theirs! They attend Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside where they are a part of the Foster & Adoption Ministry. They first came to Harvest to attend a screening of the movie Woodlawn, and loved the sense of community and family that they got from being there, so they decided to make it their church home. They drove from Hemet today to attend their very first Harvest Crusade. Nicole says she’s looking forward to worshiping with like-minded people, exalting and lifting up the name of the Lord!

Keep them in prayer as they attempt a successful adoption.

These three handsome young gentlemen made their way down to Anaheim from Torrance to attend their very first SoCal Harvest Crusade. They will also be serving as follow-up workers tonight.

Meet Edward (left), Oliver (middle), and Joaquin (right). They’ve been friends since kindergarten and have had quite a life together. I’m sure not one of them ever imagined they would be serving at a Harvest Crusade together. They’re norm was sex, drugs, rock-n-roll, and racing.

Edward gave his life to Christ after someone pulled a gun on him during a drug deal. His friend shot the man and Edward imagined his face on the victim’s face. It was then that God got Edward’s attention and he remembered all the times his friend, Emel, shared the gospel with him. His wife, Jennifer, had also attempted to get through to Edward with the love and truth of Jesus but Edward never listened. The day after his drug-deal-gone-wrong, Edward completely turned his life over to Jesus, who changed his life. Edward stopped drinking, stopped doing and dealing drugs, and started following Jesus.

Joaquin went to Catholic school growing up. He knew who Jesus was but never read the Bible and didn’t fully understand just how much Jesus loved him. One August he was having bad nightmares three nights a week about our nation being taken over. They seemed very real to Joaquin and it terrified him. That prompted him to go to a Christian church where he heard a message preached about the last seven words Jesus spoke when He was on the cross. The Holy Spirit moved and for the first time Joaquin truly heard just how much Jesus loved him; how He shed His blood on the cross because He loves Joaquin. Joaquin started going to his local church and now attends Calvary Chapel South Bay (along with Edward and Oliver).

Oliver, just 10 months old in the Lord, was into fast cars and fast living. As a result, he had been in numerous motorcycle and car wrecks. Oliver was also in the Navy for four years, where he served two terms in Iraq. Many times Oliver should have died. In 2002, Oliver experienced God in a real way when, after a motorcycle accident, he had an “out-of-body”experience. Unfortunately, his life didn’t change. He knew God was real but he hadn’t turned his life over to Him. Ten months ago Oliver went to Hillsong in Los Angles where the Holy Spirit got a hold of him and he turned his life over to Jesus, who is now his Lord and Savior.

So here they are now, tonight, their first time at a Harvest Crusade, ready and willing to serve the Lord as follow-up workers.

We are saved to serve, and Edward, Joaquin, and Oliver are three prime examples of that.

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Luis and Nea are expecting their second child. They rededicated their lives to the Lord one year ago at the Harvest Crusade. They committed to making this a yearly tradition for their family because they realized the importance of raising their children in Gods ways. They are excited for the worship and the message and are so happy to be here!

Brought up in church most of their lives, they didn’t realize their need for a personal relationship with the Lord until recent years. For Cody and his wife, it was the birth of their baby girl, Lylah, that motivated them both to rededicate their lives to the Lord so that they could raise her to know God. The whole chapter of Acts 9 is tattooed on Cody’s left leg. He described the inspiration for his tattoo: “It starts out with Saul on a murderous streak living an evil life, until he encounters God on the road to Damascus, and then he is changed into what I like to call a hard-core apostle for Jesus; that’s what I want to be.”

This is Daniel’s first crusade; he rededicated his life to the Lord last year and has never been to a Christian concert or seen anything like the Harvest Crusade. He is looking forward to experiencing the awesome worship and message!

People keep asking, “How did you feel as you watched the AT&T stadium fill to overflow capacity?” The simple answer was, “amazing and overwhelming,” but those words were a mask of hyperbole hiding what my heart told me – which was “finally!”

You see, there have been many, many nights over 27 years in other much smaller arenas, where we have labored as hard, prayed as fervently, and yet looked up to see many empty seats. In those moments, I would reflect of the opportunity that was lost and it would always leave an empty feeling in the pit of my being.

But not this time, not in this huge, magnificent stadium and home of the Cowboys, not in Dallas /Ft Worth! This time, as ONE church we stood shoulder to shoulder in ONE moment – with every seat taken, with thousands of others who couldn’t get in – with Christians who believed the proclamation of this ONE gospel to be necessary, even vital.

That is what made Harvest America, March 6th, a most satisfying evening. Could it be that it marked a moment in time where the church in America decided once and for all that it is the message of the gospel that will turn our nation toward righteousness, that it is the gospel alone that will bring social justice, that it is the gospel that fosters lasting hope in the hearts of men?

Not only were each of the 82,000 available seats in the stadium filled with people attentive to hear Greg Laurie explain what it means to follow Jesus, but some 2,000 churches around the nation held Harvest America events in their churches and live-streamed that same message into their sanctuaries. And while they did that, another 4,000 or more small group host venues gathered in living rooms and café’s and assorted places where only a Wi-Fi connection was necessary to bring that same message to the ears of their guests.

All told, over 6,300 people made professions of faith in Christ in the stadium setting, while thousands of others made similar professions of faith in living rooms and churches around the country. This is what can happen when Christians boldly come forward to stand with the apostle Paul and say “I am not ashamed of the gospel, IT is the power of God unto salvation.” This is what happens when the church grabs hold of the idea that is “through the foolishness of the message preached (proclaimed, heralded, broadcast!) that God has chosen to save those who would believe!”

Some will still say the days of large scale “mass evangelism” are dead. It is only dead in their hearts and in their minds. Others will say these big events are not effective, that most of these decisions will not last, I will say, “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?”

I do not, will not, give consent to the idea that proclamation of the gospel in the public arena is passé’ or dead. On the contrary, it is very much alive and yes, still a primary means by which people are brought face to face with their sin, eye to eye with a Savior, and to the very heart of repentance and forgiveness!

Harvest America was a demonstration of that. It was not the end all, nor will it ever be that. But it is a statement to the church that in order to reclaim our nation from the degradation of its ways, political solutions are not sufficient, political leaders are not capable, and acts of social justice make us feel better, but they don’t actually make us better! Only the gospel that can change the hearts of men is sufficient to that end!

John Collins
Executive Director
Harvest America