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WHAT:	Tonight's Harvest Jam to Feature Message from Greg Laurie, Music from Kutless, Jeremy Camp & Toby Mac, and X-Games Athletes
EVENTS:	Saturday, July 16 Harvest Youth Jam Angel Stadium of Anaheim Sunday, July 17 Southern California Harvest Angel Stadium of Anaheim	7 p.m./6:30 p.m. pre-concert (doors open at 5:30 p.m.) 7 p.m. (doors open at 5:30 p.m.)

The 16th annual Southern California Harvest Crusade kicked off a weekend of events at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on Friday night with some 20,000 people in attendance, many of them invited by friends to listen to top music by bands Casting Crowns and Delirious and a life-changing message by Riverside pastor and evangelist Greg Laurie.

Laurie delivered a talk entitled "God's Cure for the Troubled Heart," encouraging the audience that in times of terrorism, bombings, and the struggles of everyday life, "God's love can replace your fears." More than 1,600 people responded to Laurie's invitation to enter into a relationship with Christ, streaming onto the field of Angel Stadium to signify their commitment at the end of the night.

Called the "evangelist of the future" by Graham, Laurie draws on contemporary means to describe the relevance of faith in today's world at each Harvest Crusade event, but chooses to keep the message consistent and simple as he presents a message of God's love. Laurie's talks encompass topics that appeal to people of any age and answer questions like: Why am I here? Is God real? What happens when I die?

Harvest Jam Youth Night
The Harvest Crusade will continue to tonight with an evening program called Harvest Jam, specifically geared toward youth. In addition to a message from Laurie, Harvest Jam will feature music from Kutless, Jeremy Camp, and Toby Mac, as well as a pre-concert and Motocross exhibition by X-Games gold winner Nate Adams, X-Games qualifier Brian Dowdy, Dave Demangos, and Kyle Loza.

Volunteering at the Harvest Jam will be a group of teens from Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, Calif. These SWAT Teams (Student With a Testimony) travel to each Harvest Crusade city to personally invite local residents to attend. On Friday, the group of 45 teens passed out 8,000 flyers on the beaches and sidewalks of Southern California, and 81 people committed their lives to Christ through the course of conversation with the youth.

Spreading the Word Through New Technology
For those not able to make it to Angel Stadium during the weekend, each night of the Southern California Harvest Crusade will be broadcast live on the Internet (www.harvestcrusades.org) and, for the first time, portions of the crusade will be uploaded to iTunes nightly.

In a partnership between Harvest, The GodCast Network, and Life Spring, a series of four podcasts were produced during the week prior to the crusade, providing a background on the message the music, the people, and the experience of the Harvest Crusade. Six podcasts will be produced during the crusade weekend, including the nightly messages given evangelist Greg Laurie and the unique sound-seeing tours of all aspects of the crusade events, including interviews with attendees as well as musical guests. Finally, two additional podcasts will be produced after the crusade, focusing on the experience of those who attended. The podcasts can be found on the web at http://www.harvestpodcast.org or http://harvest.godcast.org.

Nightly Southern California Harvest events begin at 7 p.m. and are free of charge. Gates will open at 5:30 p.m. and Angel Stadium charges $10 for parking. Each night of the event will be interpreted in Spanish, Korean, Arabic, and Vietnamese, and signing for the hearing impaired will be provided.

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 15 largest churches in the U.S. During the past 16 years, the Harvest Crusades have drawn more than 3 million people to events in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Laurie's television program, Harvest: Greg Laurie, is the top-rated religious program in its timeslot on KTLA in Los Angeles. In addition to the Southern California Harvest Crusade, Harvest hosted 2005 events in Augusta , Ga. , Athens , Ga. , and Santa Monica , Calif. Harvest will travel to Newcastle , NSW, Australia , Sept. 8 – 11 and Christchurch , New Zeland, Sept. 14.

MEDIA NOTE: The Southern California Harvest Crusade is open to media. Media credentials may be picked up at Angel Stadium beginning at 4 p.m. each day, on the field level near the third base dugout. To arrange an interview contact Laura McGowan at cellular (847) 347-5206. For additional information or photos, access the Harvest Newsroom at newsroom.harvest.org.