Steve McQueen's Missing Bullitt Car: The Big Reveal [EXCLUSIVE VIDEO]

In the process of working on a biography and documentary about Steve McQueen (with Marshall Terrill), Harvest pastor Greg Laurie took a special interest in the discovery of the long-lost car used in the film Bullitt.So much so, that Laurie sent car fanatic and pastor Steve Wilburn of Core Church LA to Mexicali, Mexico to witness the official validation of the iconic 1968 Ford Mustang GT.Wilburn, a former pastor at Harvest, took the recent opportunity to help promote the upcoming documentary (Steve McQueen: American Icon) at SoCal Harvest by bringing a member of his church, who is rebuilding the car, to the press room. The documentary helps to reveal McQueen’s journey to a faith in Jesus, not common knowledge about the actor described as Hollywood’s “King of Cool.”“When I called Ralph Garcia (Jr) about this car I’m thinking there’s no way this guy has the missing Bullitt. This car has been missing for 49 years,” Wilburn said. He told TogetherLA.net [WATCH EXCLUSIVE VIDEO BELOW] that Garcia was able to relay facts about the car, including photos, to him that began to convince him that the vehicle was authentic.Wilburn said that from the moment the conversation about the car began, Garcia conveyed that he simply wanted the car to help glorify God.Garcia had heard about Laurie’s effort to tell the story of McQueen at last year’s Harvest event. Five months later, Garcia found the Bullitt car and contacted Laurie and was then referred to Wilburn. He went to Core Church LA to meet with Wilburn and “fell in love” with the church and became a “Core Church family member.”Laurie wrote about the discovery of the car:This wasn’t discovering the Ark of the Covenant or the Ten Commandments, but the discovery stopped me dead in my tracks for two reasons.First, I own a 1968 Bullitt myself. Not the original, of course, but a very close replica. You can call it my “midlife crisis!” People either “get it” or they don’t. On more than one occasion, when I have parked it in the lot, I will return with two or more admirers (always guys) standing by it with lots of questions.Secondly, this story was of special interest to me because I’ve just spent a year of my life working on a new biography and documentary of Steve McQueen (with Marshall Terrill).McQueen was Hollywood’s “King of Cool” for a reason. His legacy lives on in a new generation as his image is ubiquitous in culture (especially hipster culture). He also still appears in modern films like the recent remake of The Magnificent Seven. Yet, for most boomers like me, we can’t forget when we saw the original version of The Great Escape as McQueen played Virgil Hilts in a role that propelled him to super-stardom. Then there’s his role as the detective Frank Bullitt.He literally flies his car through the streets of San Francisco in what is regarded by many as the greatest car chase scene in cinematic history. Steve McQueen was not cool because he drove the Bullitt car. The Bullitt car was cool because Steve McQueen drove it.At the time, Steve McQueen was the number-one movie star in the world, and he is still used as a point of reference for masculinity and “coolness” to this day. He was (and is) the definition of an American icon.Only in America – with America’s dream – could McQueen transform his hardscrabble beginnings into epic stardom. Yet, until late in his life he struggled to find meaning in life, and he suffered because of it.It might have been because he was born into a home of an alcoholic mother and a father that left him early in life, but eventually he found himself on the wrong side of the law more than once. Then, as his star began to rise higher and higher he began to chase harder and harder after every pleasure this planet had to offer.But notwithstanding all his fame and fortune, a colossal vacuum lived rent-free in Steve McQueen’s heart, a yawning chasm, a lack of purpose rooted in the absence of functional, involved parents. He spent his whole life avoiding his mother and searching for his father—searching for someone or something to stand in for him, someone to love him.He had the best cars money could buy, the most beautiful women at his beck and call, drugs galore, booze until the well ran dry, and much more.While still the top movie star on the planet, and with all the money and power in the world, he decided to search for more than this world could offer. That was the story I was interested in, and I chased it till I found it. Everyone knew about McQueen’s Bullitt! but I wanted to find McQueen’s salvation. Read full post here.READ>> Las Vegas Shooting: ‘Lord, We Need You Now;’ Firestorm of Reactions

10,000 at SoCal Harvest Ask Jesus Into Their Life at Angel Stadium and Online

ANAHEIM, Calif. — More than 10,000 people made professions of faith in Jesus Christ over the 3-night (Aug. 18-20) SoCal Harvest evangelistic event held at Angel Stadium in Anaheim with more than 138,000 watching in attendance and online.The follow-up to the throng of new believers began each night when those walking onto the outfield grass first prayed to receive Jesus, were met by a volunteer field counselor, and asked to give their contact information, including the church that may have invited them to the event.Richard Garcia, of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, is the lead pastor over the follow-up team for Harvest events and at the church just east of Orange County.Garcia said he enjoys his job so much that it’s hard for him to think of what he does as work. He’s been at every Harvest event since the first one held 27 years ago, first attending, then the next one as a follow-up worker. “I never stopped. I just kept going on,” he said.When asked by TogetherLA.net what he finds most exciting about leading Harvest’s follow-up team, he said, “It has to be hanging around new believers because they have new believers zeal. It’s kind of like that new car smell, but I think of it as times (multiplied by) a billion, that zeal that they have when they first accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior. They are on fire.“As much as they need me as the mature Christian, I need them as well because they are on fire and so it’s contagious. I’m contagious to them and they are contagious to me because I get reminded of ‘going back to your first love’ (Rev 2:4). I see them cry (in joy) and raise up their hands during worship, and I’m excited. My passion comes from them.”

This year’s SoCal Harvest came on the heels of the chaos in Charlottesville and high political tension in the nation. Greg Laurie kicked off the outreach on the first night with his message, “A Second Chance for America.”“The solution for America is not a political one, it's a spiritual one,” Laurie told the crowd on Friday. “We need God.”Harvest’s executive pastor, John Collins, told TLA that current events such as the tragedy in Charlottesville coming right before SoCal Harvest often serve as a catalyst for the message of hope delivered by Laurie and musical guests.“Those kind of things provide a great platform from which you can present the Gospel,” Collins said. “The answer isn’t cutting off free speech or protesting. The best option that we have is to simply present the Gospel. This provides a backdrop from which the Gospel can be shared.”He added, “In the Church we all come together under the banner of Christ and there’s no barriers. All those barriers were knocked down according to Ephesians. The Lord did away with those through the sacrifice of Jesus. Even though it seems to be a bad week for the nation, it’s a great rally time for the Church.”