Harvest Christian Fellowship

Harvest Christian Fellowship was founded in 1973 by Greg Laurie in Riverside, CA. Laurie has been the senior pastor since that time. Harvest is a megachurch with a congregation of 15,000 and growing. The eighth largest church in America and third largest in California, with satellite campuses in Eastvale (Corona, CA) and Woodcrest (Riverside, CA) and a dedicated campus in Orange County (Irvine, CA). As well as being the launching pad for the International Harvest Crusades, Harvest is involved in other various internal and external ministries.

The vision at Harvest Christian Fellowship is "Knowing God And Making Him Known." While being heavily evangelistic, Greg Laurie also preaches three Sunday morning services at 8:00 am, 10:00 am and 12:00 pm. A fourth service is also held at 6:00 pm and is entitled Sunday nights more by Greg Laurie. Harvest also offers a mid-week study every Wednesday led by Pastor Jeff Lasseigne in Riverside along with separate High School and Jr. High services. Laurie, himself, preaches at the mid-week study held every Thursday at Harvest Orange County. All Sunday and mid-week services are available as a live webcast and are archived for later viewing.[1]

In 1990 Greg Laurie started holding his first public evangelistic event which would soon be called the Harvest Crusades. Since the first Crusade it has been estimated that nearly 5.5 million people have attended in stadiums, amphitheaters, and like venues.

A typical Harvest Crusade begins with worship—a foundation that Laurie believes to be very important. After opening worship, songs from the Harvest Crusade Band (or local "praise teams" depending on the venue) and featured guest musicians perform and share stories of how they believe God has changed their lives. Since all Harvest Crusades are held at the invitation of local churches, it is not uncommon for local pastors and other special guests to offer prayers between musical performances. After the music is finished, Laurie presents a simple evangelical gospel message from the Bible, often advertised as a "down to earth talk about heaven." At the end of this message, Laurie invites the attendees to come forward toward the stage and publicly repent from their sins, profess their trust in Jesus Christ, and ask for salvation. After coming forward, each individual is greeted by a trained volunteer "decision follow-up counselor" from a local church. These counselors pray with the supplicants, answer questions, and provide them with free materials including a Bible.

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