10,000 at SoCal Harvest Ask Jesus Into Their Life at Angel Stadium and Online
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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.”
“The kingdom is churches, God’s people coming together to advance and expand His kingdom — can’t do it separately, you need to do it together — and so Stadia is so committed to God’s kingdom, planting churches, people coming to Christ, being discipled…,” he said. “That’s who we are amongst the urban poor and under-resourced communities and so it’s a beautiful marriage.“When we think of LA together we also think of Stadia and World Impact together. We need to come together to move God’s kingdom forward.”
“This night represents a beautiful and extremely significant partnership and relationship between churches in Orange County and our local government and community,” said Erin Kim, who is a foster parent trainer through Social Services and Saddleback Community College and enjoys supporting the foster care community as a volunteer through Mariners Church in Irvine. “As the light of the world, the local church should be loving and serving the families and children in our community and no one church can do it alone.“We need to work together, we need unity and a common vision to love and serve the vulnerable among us.”Vision Night For OC organizers said that each night there are nearly 2,700 children in Orange County's Foster Care System that “go to bed with their heart's crying and silently wishing they had their own permanent loving family.”“As long as one of these vulnerable children is waiting for that loving, permanent family to take them home, we will not rest,” leaders of the initiative group stated. “With the help of our local government this can be accomplished through a church-to-church strategy working together for a united goal.”Organizers are asking churches of any denomination or non-denomination to join them for “a night that will go down in history” as the result of churches partnering together to find families for every vulnerable child in the system.Representatives from the County of Orange are scheduled to attend along with dozens of churches in Orange County to launch this vision.“This event has been years in the making and it will be a night you don't want to miss,” organizers said.
Dr. Clarke and I joined many in our extended networks in immediately denouncing on social media the violent racism on display last weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia. I am aware that, for many in Fuller's extended network, Facebook is not a primary form of communication, and I wanted to extend to you as well a distillation of our shared perspectives on this critically important issue.The evil of racism so vividly unveiled in Charlottesville last weekend is tragically intertwined with American church history. But it needs to be said that nothing about white nationalism flows from the heart of God. May white—and all—followers of Jesus say and live a resounding NO to any form of white nationalism. As urgent as it is and must be for all Christians to condemn white nationalism, it is also urgent and necessary for white Christians like me to grasp, to repent of, and to turn from the long history by which our Christian faith has been used to accrue to us personal and systemic power and privilege simply because we are white.Events of last weekend in Charlottesville cry out for the need of white Christians to look at this pervasive and insidious evil that subverts the Jesus we claim and profess. By our racial sin, the name of Jesus is scandalized. We recently welcomed Clifton Clarke to Fuller to partner with us in leadership of the Pannell Center for African American Church Studies, and I personally am committed to standing together with Dr. Clarke in this, our shared mission.Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy.Mark LabbertonPresident___We need to unequivocally speak in plain terms stating that white supremacist neo-fascist Nazi groups are an evil scourge in this country. White nationalism, white supremacy, white privilege, white silence, and racial fragility all drink from the same pot—the maintenance of white privilege.Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” What we saw in Charlottesville on August 11 and 12 was the hate that hate produces. In the hours immediately after the Charlottesville riots, I called for white evangelical leaders to swiftly respond and for white people of conscience to speak out about white privilege. I thank my brother Mark for his leadership and courage in having already joined me in denouncing the extreme, white supremacist, male-dominated groups in America who are heirs of those hate groups emboldened by the rise of Nazi Germany in the 1930s.The chilling images of hate-filled protesters in 2017 America carrying torches, chanting slogans steeped in the history of bigotry, racism, and anti-Semitism is an affront to our faith in Jesus Christ and the biblical teachings we hold dear. We, the Fuller community, reaffirm our unshakable commitment to diversity, equality, and the value of all people created in the image of God.This partnership is why I came to Fuller, and I am committed to standing together with Dr. Labberton in this, our shared mission.Committed to the love that love produces,Clifton ClarkeAssociate Dean of the William Pannell Center for African American Church Studies and Associate Professor of Black Church Studies and World Christianity
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TogetherLA: Describe your initial reaction to the events that transpired in Charlottesville.Erwin Raphael McManus: It was probably a combination of disgust, disappointment, and hopefulness.Disgust because there should be no room for movements of hate such as white supremacy and Nazism. It's astonishing that people can be so ignorant, fearful, and filled with hate.Disappointed because I love this country and expect better from us. The undercurrent and subculture of racism and white supremacy have always been here but now they have been emboldened to go public as they feel their views have been validated and normalized.Hopeful in that this is not a new problem in our society and it has been allowed to thrive in the darkness of denial and silence by the white majority and unjust legal system. Their boldness to go public has brought them to the light and the darkness cannot prevail over the light. I am convinced most Americans- yes even white Americans- are committed to justice and equality for all people. I am convinced that most Americans are disgusted and even ashamed that Nazism is alive and well in this country that fought to defeat its evil ideology.TLA: Your call for the church to respond “NOW!” as you posted on Twitter obviously reflects urgency. Why?McManus: It is inescapable that the Evangelical church is seen as married to the present administration in Washington. Silence in this moment would be perceived as agreement and adherence to white supremacist ideologies.There is no neutral ground here. You either speak against racism or you add credence to their views. I am convinced the Church is the greatest hope for humanity and for creating a new world where everyone is valued and embraced regardless of differences.This is a critical moment in history and I want the church on record and on the right side of history.TLA: How should the church respond?McManus: As they have all weekend after Charlottesville. They must openly, emphatically, and clearly denounce White Supremacy and any ideology associated with Nazism.Then we need to advocate for social justice and reform so that all minorities are protected not only under the law but more importantly by our cultural values and ethic. The law cannot change the human heart. Government is limited in its ability to effect culture. This is the role and responsibility of the Church. Only Jesus can move us from hate to love.TLA: What do you see happening in Los Angeles in regards to church unity? Are they getting together? How?McManus: The Church is not segregated by region or cities. That's an antiquated view of the world. We are united with churches all over the world working towards common goals based on shared values. Mosaic is one of the most racially diverse churches on the planet. Our community and extended church family is global and completely integrated.TLA: What are the ramifications of Charlottesville for the church as you see it?McManus: Perhaps the most significant ramification for many churches is that if your church is racially homogenous it will be essentially irrelevant. The future belongs to those who have the courage to create it. We need a new humanity. We need a new expression of community. We need the Church to bring the world together. This makes me excited. There is so much opportunity here. I'm grateful that Mosaic began creating the new expression of the Church over twenty years ago. We are not reacting to a crisis. We are acting on a conviction and a calling.TLA: Is there something in your new book, The Last Arrow, that ties into how you feel today about current events?McManus: The Last Arrow transcends a moment or an issue. It is a call to move beyond self-indulgence to a life of sacrificial service. In 
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So churches absolutely must change and adapt if they will remain relevant to the culture.I realize many Christian leaders don’t like that terminology, so let me clarify that God’s Word, the Gospel, Jesus, and the church as Jesus intended it to be have always been, are now, and always will be relevant without our help. But we often hold on extra-biblical traditions and ideas that severely limit our ability to communicate with a young generation, an influx of immigrants, and a culture being shaped by its technology and entertainment more than its religious and historical roots.In other words, if Satan’s goal is to blind the minds of those who don’t know Christ to the Gospel, we often help by handing out blinders such as inauthenticity, racism, ethno-centrism, traditionalism, and political power struggles driven by fear and selfishness.But if God’s desire to enlarge his family matter . . . if people who are lost forever without the Gospel matter . . . and if the church of the future matters . . . we will embrace the pain of change for the win of seeing more people meeting Jesus.I don’t have all the answers, but I think I have a few, and they are rooted in my understanding of the Gospel’s effect on a community and my experience interacting with thousands of pastors and churches in the last few years. As I look at the landscape of stable or slightly declining existing churches that are fighting hard to stay afloat in the current of a rapidly changing culture, I see some common factors that must be addressed by church leaders. Here are some tough questions I believe every church ought to honestly ask:
In April, a Justice Rising team went to Syria, "going from house to house meeting with those who suffered from war," Watts writes. "Over a cup of thick coffee and some small cookies we asked many people what their greatest needs were. Without hesitation they all replied, 'When you leave, tell the church not to forget about us. We are watching them from here and we see how many are responding to Syria. But we need them. Tell them this is our greatest hour of need, and we need the help of the global church community.'”In the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, a school recently re-opened after being closed for two years as the result of the conflict, according to Justice Rising. The organization wants to help the school and its students.The school was founded with Christian roots and fights against extreme ideology in a predominantly Muslim context. Some of the best teachers have fled, students are traumatized by the war, money is hard to come by and bombs are a constant reminder that each day could be their last."We as a church have the opportunity to respond and support the 880 students that are currently attending this school," Watts wrote. "Teachers need to be paid, materials need to be purchased and the building needs to be repaired from the bombing."Watts continued, "As the sound of bombs could be heard in the distance, Cassandra (Justice Rising Co-Founder) asked at what point they should respond and become worried. Their response: 'We don’t know. We don’t know when they will strike. When a bomb comes and you feel it hit the house, that’s when it’s a concern. But we don’t know when that will be. So we keep living. All we know is that God is good. Even still. He is our protector.'”Justice Rising team members asked the headmaster of the school why he continued to stay and work in Syria, "surely no one would have blamed him for leaving."“After the war, everything was damaged in a critical way. All the furniture was stolen. We had nothing. But we knew the power of education. That is the greatest tool to end terrorism, building schools. So we restarted and opened up our classes. We are growing a generation that knows what the word ‘love’ means,” he said.Every house we visited we seemed to find individuals who were rising up in the midst of conflict, having a stare down with war and coming out with an attitude that said, “I’m not a victim to this situation, but an architect of it” (Quote by: Simon Sinek).
In Isaiah 58, the prophet Isaiah is commanded by God to confront the hypocrisy of His people and to make clear the pathway to God’s blessing. The people of Israel were divorcing the practical implications of their relationship with God from their spiritual worship toward God. Their delight in the commandments of God was false and manipulative because their actions were oppressive and harmful toward fellow image bearers of God.When our commitment and delight in God are not expressed in our relationships to people, our faith is dead. A pursuit of God in prayer without the pursuit of God in practice is false religion. Often the pursuit of justice and the talk of ethics are put up against the pure Gospel message or ministry of evangelism and making disciples.Ethics and justice aren’t secondary to who God is. Ethics and justice are a part of who God is.... 
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“For Christians, we say that the common baseline is the cross,” he explained. “When we see injustice we look back to the cross and say that Jesus is the solution. When we see economic poverty issues [in] our city we look back at the cross and say that Jesus has an answer to that.”Whether someone is of a certain denomination or no denomination is not the issue when it comes to providing a solution, he said.“The common bond that we share as brothers and sisters in Christ is that we can look at the cross together and say Jesus did it all for me,” Pitre said. “When that humbles us, when that makes us soft, then we can look at our brother or sister who’s walking next to us, they might not look like us, act like us, dress like us, think like us and say I’ll walk with you.”He added, “That is the joy that I find in our city. That is the joy that I find in the folks who come into the city, the folks who have lived here for so long, the folks who have said, ‘This is my town, walk with me.’ It’s a very open, very encouraging place to be if you just embrace it and say, ‘This is mine, too.”