Thank you.

C.G. from Cicero

Here is a letter from Mark Jobe (Lead Pastor of New Life Community Church in Chicago):

Hey Harvest Team;

I know you must be exhausted after these past couple of weeks. As a pastor for 25 years in this city I wanted to say “thank you” for investing in Chicago.

We had hundreds of people from our church bring friends and participate in the crusade. Please let the people at Harvest Church know that we appreciate their willingness to release and bless other cities through Pastor Greg and the Harvest Crusade team.

Yesterday I met with a 27-year-old business man. He told me with a big smile on his face that finally his fiancée who had been attending church for a year, but would resist committing her life to Christ, went forward at the Crusade. He himself accepted Christ about three weeks ago; yet he was concerned that she was not responsive. He explained that she and her family had been hurt through tragedy years ago and hardened their hearts towards God. The Sunday night emphasis on HOPE in the midst of tragedy struck a chord in her heart. She finally understood and made a decision to follow Christ. I’ve heard many other stories like this.

On behalf of our pastoral team and New Life congregations I want to congratulate you for your hard work, servant hearts, and faith for our city.

Blessings,

Mark Jobe

www.newlifechicago.org

Partners in Ministry,

My heart is full today with gratefulness to the Lord for what He did at the Harvest Crusade with Greg Laurie last weekend. For more than a year, together, we prayed, planned, prepared, and God chose to make our efforts fruitful. Thank you for your valued partnership in this important event for the Gospel.

Here’s some specific information over which you can rejoice and thank the Lord: Greg Laurie’s team tells me that 47,600 people attended, 4,758 responded to the invitations, and that 105,733 watched it online. By now, all of the people who responded have received a letter from one of our churches, they are getting a phone call, and each of them will receive a Gospel of John—one chapter each day.

And hey, check out the stats, photos, blogs and the archived Webcasts. Please send this link to your church family and encourage them to forward it. In addition to the fruit that we saw in Allstate Arena, nearly 1,000 people indicated a commitment to Christ while viewing the Webcast.

We have so much for which to thank the Lord. One of those things is the unity from our common bond in Jesus Christ that we experienced throughout the preparation for the Crusade. I pray that God will continue to use us collectively to spread the Gospel and lift high the name of Jesus throughout Chicagoland for many years to come—or until He returns for us.

“So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:11

If you have any questions, concerns, or feedback about the Crusade, please send those to me.

Rejoicing with those who rejoice,

Dr. James MacDonald

• 47,600 attended
• 4,758 responded to the invitations
• 105,773 watched it on the live webcast

The Lord is truly “able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.”

By now, everybody that came forward has received a letter from a participating church, a phone call reinforcing their response at Allstate, and will get additional follow-up phone calls, e-mails, and texts. We entered data each night and everyone that came forward has already received an email from Pastor Greg. We will email them all a chapter a day of the Gospel of John (beginning yesterday). Here is the link to the welcome email.

All indications are that we were in the right venue, had the right music, and as we hoped, the Chicago area churches responded by bringing out lots of lost folks. It will go down as one of the best outreaches we have ever done.

We are chipping away at the budget. The offerings at the crusade were very strong. The local churches have contributed significantly and are close to making their part of the budget. The business/individuals are also getting closer. To be very clear, all our memories of the outreach should be about the spiritual fruit of the last 15 months, NOT about fundraising. If someone wants to contribute they can do it online by clicking here, or send a check (made out to Chicago Harvest) to the office:

Greg Laurie Chicago Harvest
505 State Street, Des Plaines, IL 60016
(847) 460-5991

Visit chicago.harvest.org to see stats, photos, blogs, and the archived webcasts.  We had almost 1,000 people indicate a commitment to Christ while viewing the webcast.

If you have a story or testimony to share from the Chicago Crusade, please send it my direction. We LOVE to hear the life-changing stories.

As good as the weekend was, I think the Lord has even bigger and better things in store for Chicagoland!

Pastor Ron Case

47,600 GATHER AT ALLSTATE ARENA OVER WEEKEND FOR

GREG LAURIE: CHICAGO HARVEST

 “The Harvest Crusade is Chicago-Area Christians at their finest.”—Rev. James Meeks

RIVERSIDE, Calif., September 27, 2010—Chicago’s rich history of evangelism repeated itself this past weekend, September 24 – 26, when 47,600 Chicagoland residents descended upon Allstate Arena to listen to a message of hope presented by Southern California pastor and evangelist Greg Laurie during the first-ever Greg Laurie: Chicago Harvest.  By the end of the three-day event, 4,758 people made decisions to put their faith in Jesus Christ.

The Chicago Harvest was hosted by more than 220 area churches—from the Southside of Chicago to neighboring cities like Naperville, Crystal Lake, and Lake Forest—and united congregations across denominational and cultural lines.  “The Harvest Crusade is Chicago-area Christians at their finest,” said Reverend James Meeks of Salem Baptist Church of Chicago during the opening night of the Chicago Harvest.  Pastor James MacDonald of Harvest Bible Chapel in Rolling Meadows commented, “I’ve been a pastor in Chicago for 25 years and this is an unprecedented show of support among churches in our community.” 

As soon as the doors of Allstate Arena opened on Friday evening, crowds streamed into the venue, and by Sunday evening there was standing room only.  Many of those in attendance came to listen to music from top Christian recording artists like the David Crowder Band, Kirk Franklin, and Steven Curtis Chapman, but the crux of the event was the message presented each night by Laurie.  Laurie’s messages addressed topics like, “What Do You Live For?” and “A Second Chance at Life,” as he explained how each of us can put our faith in Jesus Christ.

The Sunday night program, called “An Evening of Hope,” repeated this message in a unique way as Greg Laurie joined with musicians Steven Curtis Chapman and Jeremy Camp to vulnerably discuss issues of sorrow and the hope that can be found in Christ in the midst of crisis.  Both Chapman and Laurie lost children in automobile accidents in 2008, and share a common desire to offer encouragement to people who are suffering loss of any kind. 

Speaking from personal experience about the death of his son, Christopher, Laurie told the crowd gathered, “No matter what you are going through, you are not alone in your grief and pain—God is with you.  Maybe you’ve come here tonight with a troubled or broken heart, but you don’t have to have a troubled heart if you put your faith in Jesus.”

Laurie continued, “Which would you prefer: a nice, safe flight and a crash landing, or a bumpy flight and a soft landing?  If you don’t believe in Jesus, this life is as good as it gets, so enjoy it.  If you are a believer, this is as bad as it will ever be.”

Apart from the crowds gathered at Allstate Arena, people from 37 countries around the world watched the Chicago Harvest live, with 105,773 connections made to the live Harvest HD webcast.  In addition, 1,042 webcast viewers filled out online cards indicating that they prayed with Laurie to make a commitment of faith.  Each evening of the Harvest Crusade is archived and available for viewing at www.harvest.org.

Video podcasts and blog accounts of each message were also made available at http://blog.greglaurie.com/, as well as “behind the scenes” updates from Greg Laurie on Twitter at http://twitter.com/greglaurie and on Facebook. 

Greg Laurie, who founded the evangelistic Harvest Crusade events in 1990, also serves as senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, Calif., one of the largest churches in the U.S.

During the past 21 years, the Harvest Crusades have drawn some 4.1 million people to events in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.  Laurie also serves on the board of directors for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse.

The final 2010 Harvest Crusade event is scheduled for Seattle, November 5–7.

Christina said it gave her comfort to hear Greg say that we don’t always have an answer for why bad things happen.  “For so long I have been asking why is this happening to me?  I don’t get comfort in knowing other people have tragedy, but it gives me hope to know I’m not alone in my experience with sorrow and pain.”   Tonight she knew it was time to let go of the anger and begin reaching out to God for comfort.  “I’ve been crying all night, but now my tears are because I’m so happy.”

“Through tears and sometimes broken voices, three prominent Christian leaders on Sunday night declared they still trust in God despite ongoing pain from the death of young loved ones.

Evangelist Greg Laurie and singer/songwriter Steven Curtis Chapman spoke candidly about their ongoing struggle and pain from the deaths of their children – 33-year-old, Christopher Laurie, and 5-year-old, Maria Sue Chapman – who both died in separate car accidents two years ago.

‘It’s hard to lose grandparents. It’s hard to lose parents. But to lose a child, it’s just not the way it’s supposed to be,’ said Laurie, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Southern California, to a crowd of over 16,700 at the Allstate Arena on the final night of the Chicago Harvest event.

‘It was the hardest day of my life,’ he declared. ‘But let me say something else. On the hardest day of my life, God was there with me.’

Laurie, whose eldest son Christopher died just months after Chapman’s daughter’s passing, emphasized that he is a normal human being who feels pain just like anyone else.

‘Look, being a preacher doesn’t give me some advantage,’ Laurie said. ‘All those services I preached don’t necessarily help me. But I want you to know that God was there and God has been there.’

‘[I]f God had not been there with me, I wouldn’t be here tonight, trust me when I tell you that,’ he said. ‘I would have probably given up preaching.’

The theme of the final day of the Chicago Harvest was ‘An Evening of Hope.’ Chapman and singer/songwriter Jeremy Camp, whose first wife Melissa died of cancer at the age of 22, joined Laurie on stage to share about their pain and to testify that God has been faithful to them despite their great loss.

Chapman’s youngest daughter, Maria Sue, who was adopted from China, died just eight days after her birthday. She was accidentally hit by the car her older brother was driving into the driveway of their home in Franklin, Tenn.

‘The Gospel is true. These are the moments where that anchor has to hold. If it doesn’t hold then we’re gone because the tsunamis are hitting,’ said Chapman during a Q&A session with Laurie. ‘But that anchor did hold and it continues to hold, the hope that I will see heaven in the face of my little girl again.’

The multi-Grammy-award winner said that after two years, there is a new normal in his family life. But every day now is defined by that tragedy and there are still very hard days.

‘There are still those days. I am being honest, but today is one of those days,’ said Chapman, whose voice broke several times while singing songs from his latest album dedicated to Maria Sue. ‘I’m needing to hear [this message] tonight.’

‘We have this hope as an anchor and we drop it whenever we need it,’ he added.

Later in the night, Camp took the stage and shared that he cried about five times that night while listening to the speakers on stage share about losing their children. Camp, whose first wife died nearly 10 years ago, said that he still has scars from his first wife’s death.

But he declared with conviction, ‘God’s hope is real; it’s real.’ He said he felt God’s presence the strongest in his life immediately after his wife’s death.

That evening, 1,203 people on site accepted the invitation to follow Jesus Christ, while another 577 online viewers made the same decision. In total, 47,600 people attended the Sept. 24-26 Chicago Harvest event, and 4,758 people made decisions to dedicate or recommit their lives to Christ.

It took 18 months of planning and the help of more than 220 Chicago-area churches to organize the three-day outreach. The event was the first large-scale evangelistic event in the Chicago area in nearly 15 years. The theme of ‘hope’ ran throughout the evening programs.

Founded in 1990, the Harvest events with Greg Laurie have drawn more than 4.1 million people around the world.”

Moments after this final evening came to a close, New Life’s Senior Pastor, Wilfred De Jesus, lauded the combined effort involved in bringing this crusade to be. His hope is that, going forward, the 200+ churches would “not stay fragmented, but would look to the future to do greater things for the kingdom.”

His parting words echoed the thoughts of many: “Praise God for Greg Laurie and the Harvest Crusade. This would never have happened without them.”

Dr. Meyer’s hope is that this would not simply be an event-centric unity, but one that, by its authenticity, powerfully declares Someone truly supernatural is on the move in this planet.

“Any church can collaborate on an event, but to build relationships will take work, and will require us to care more about the fame of Jesus than the fame of our churches.”

Watching multitudes make their way down to receive Christ, Joe Carlson of Moody Radio concurred with a sense of awe. “The church in Chicago has come together for a first step—spiritual commitment is being born here! This is God at work, and we get to be part of it.”

Amen!

Dee and her team members visited local parks and other points of interest to talk with the people about Jesus. That might sound scary to some—approaching a stranger to start a conversation about the direction of their life. Dee explains that she was a little timid at first, but with her faith in the Lord and encouragement from her youth leader she was bold in her testimony.

She had personally led several people to Christ this weekend. She was able to talk to two high schoolers about the meaning of true love—that Jesus alone is more than enough. Searching for true love in possessions or popularity will leave you empty in the end. Those two high school girls made commitments to Christ right there on the spot!

My experience with this teenager was both uplifting and convicting. It was a challenge to me and to you all on sharing our faith in boldness and love! Sure it can be scary, but our God goes before us and prepares our way.

So my twentysomething faith just got inspired by this teenager’s faith. And I couldn’t be happier!