Pastor Greg Laurie of Harvest Christian Fellowship recently hosted a mass baptism event that more than 50,000 people attended. According to reports, roughly 2,000 people were baptized at Pirates Cove in Orange County, California. Notably, Laurie’s ministry had also just hosted a massive evangelical event that drew tens of thousands of attendees and saw thousands of baptisms.
The megachurch pastor noted that his ministry’s evangelical efforts baptized roughly 2,000 people at the Cove and brought them to faith in Christ. During a recent sermon, Laurie celebrated the major accomplishments they have achieved in the past year. “In twelve months, we baptized 6,500 people!” the pastor said excitedly.
“I see that God is working. As you know, the last great spiritual awakening, the Jesus Movement, happened in California, and we’re praying, ‘Lord, do it again,’” he stated. “This is where we used to baptize people during the Jesus movement days,” Laurie added. “[My wife] Cathe and I were baptized there, too. This is where we also shot the scenes for the Jesus Revolution film.”
The Christian Tribune recently reported on the monumental 2024 Harvest Crusade that was hosted at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California. The event has been hosted annually for the past three decades by Pastor Laurie and seeks to baptize attendees. This year, the event drew a crowd of approximately 50,000 people, with thousands of in-person and online baptisms.
Laurie wrote on social media, “What a night! Angel Stadium was packed to capacity! 45,000 people filled the stadium. Thousands were not able to get in. Countless thousands more watched online around the world. The focus of the Harvest Crusade is calling people to Christ. So many responded to the invitation. I will give you numbers when I receive them, but thank you all for your prayers and support and as always, To God Be The Glory! People like to write California off. But God is not done with our state. The last great spiritual awakening, the Jesus Revolution started here. I pray it will happen here again!”
On the Harvest Crusade website the evangelical event gave glory to the Lord, stating, “To God be the Glory!” A message added, “Angel stadium was so full last night for the Harvest Crusade the Fire Marshall closed the doors. Despite this, people outside stayed and joined the worship. Amazing! You can watch the Crusade in its entirety on our YouTube channel. More information is coming in on online viewing and professions of faith. I can tell you this- 50,000 attended and over 3,500 made professions of faith! Let’s be praying for them that they would grow spiritually.”
Among the star-studded line up at the event, famous actor Dennis Quaid spoke and shared a powerful message of faith. “The most important thing is to be authentic,” Quaid stated. “I’m a Christian. That’s who I am…I have a personal relationship with [Jesus].” He added, “I could feel right now in this big stadium — can’t you feel the Holy Spirit right here, right now?” he added.
Featured image credit: Joshua Initiative on YouTube, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Greg_Laurie,_2019_(gAs7GBjo6-o).jpg