Extraordinary 9/11 virtual ‘candlelight’ prayer vigil to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the attack on the United States, takes place at the end of Greg Laurie’s Los Angeles Harvest at Dodger Stadium

The outreach was attended by 50,000 people and 5,934 decisions for Christ were recorded

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries
LOS ANGELES, CA (ANS) -- On Saturday, September 10, 2011, the night before the tenth anniversary of 9/11 national tragedy that rocked the United States, something quite extraordinary occurred at the conclusion of Greg, Laurie’s Los Angeles Harvest that brought some 50,000 people to Dodger Stadium, with 5,934 decision for Christ being recorded.

The virtual 9/11 cell-phone 'candlelight' vigil

The huge crowed were asked to download to their smart-phones, an App that replicated a burning candle and then, as the stadium darkened, they were asked to hold up their cell phones as The Katinas led the people in song in commemoration of 9/11.
The stadium was filled with reverence and awe after hearing Greg Laurie share the hope any and every one can have in Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord and Chuck Smith, pastor of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, said a prayer for the survivors of the 9/11 attacks.
Before that, Laurie had said, “Hope has a name and it is Jesus Christ.”
This was is believed to have been the largest gathering in the nation to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and took place as a contrast to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s decision to exclude any prayers from clergy at ground zero in Sunday’s official ceremony that was met with criticism from many Christian leaders, including Laurie.
The one-night evangelistic outreach, called the “Los Angeles Harvest,” was being hosted by more than 330 churches throughout Los Angeles County and beyond, and utilized 4,000 volunteers. In addition to the message presented by Laurie, the Los Angeles Harvest featured music from top name Christian musicians Chris Tomlin, Kirk Franklin, Jeremy Camp, and The Katinas, and an interview with special guest Louis Zamperini, a World War II prisoner of war survivor and a former American Olympic long-distance runner (1936, Berlin), who shared his story of faith.

Dan Wooding interviews Greg Laurie at Dodger Stadium (Photo: Alex Murashko Jr.)

Before the event began, which brought out the largest single-night crowd that has attended a Harvest Crusade in its 22 year history, Laurie, the pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, Calif., spoke to me about why he had chosen Los Angeles to hold this historic outreach.
“We’re here because this is Los Angeles, one of the most influential cities in all of the nation -- in fact in all of the world -- and we thought. ‘Let’s go to the epicenter of where so much media takes place to see if we in some way can influence the influencers,’” he said. “We’re coming here with the simple message of the gospel. I don’t know when there has been a large scale evangelistic event held in recent history and so we want to come back and say God loves you here in the City of Angels and you can come into a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.”
I then referred to 94-year-old Olympian and War Hero, Louis Zamperini, who was to be one of the speakers, and I asked Laurie why he had invited him to share his testimony.

Louis Zamperini lights the Olympic torch he carried at the 1984 Olympic Games(Photo: Brad Graverson)

He said, “Well Louis has an amazing story which is recorded in the book Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption [which was written by Laura Hillenbrand, the acclaimed author of Seabiscuit]. I’ve gotten to know Louis a little bit and I think he’s got one of the most mesmerizing stories I’ve ever heard of.
“It is a story of survival against all of the odds. But also Louis is a hometown boy and went to school here and also to USC. He even has an airport named after him called ‘Zamperini Field’ and actually, before he comes over here and joins us at Dodger Stadium, he’s going to be ‘flipping the coin’ for the USC-Utah game at the Coliseum. So we thought that we’ve got to have Louie here in his own city.”
The Los Angeles Harvest featured a message from Greg Laurie on Hope and music from Chris Tomlin, Kirk Franklin, Jeremy Camp, and The Katinas and the event was interpreted in Spanish and Korean, and signing for the deaf was provided.

Greg Laurie

During his message, and speaking of 9/11, Laurie said, “God did not do that. Wicked people did that.”
The evangelist/pastor went on to say that a poll found that the top question people have for God is why tragedies like 9/11, tsunamis and earthquakes happen, and why emotional turmoil of divorce and the death of loved ones occur.
Laurie said, “Maybe some of you are angry with God because something happened to someone you loved and you just can't reconcile that. How does God allow bad things to happen to good people? You know what, my answer is, I don't know?”
Laurie said the Bible teaches that believers will find out the answers to this and other questions when they're in heaven.
But Laurie said to go to heaven people must first of all accept Jesus as their personal Savior, confess their sins and ask for forgiveness.

The huge crowd of people at Dodger Stadium who flooded the field to receive Christ

After he made a call for people to receive Christ, thousands of Angelinos then streamed out onto the field to make a profession of faith in Christ, filling the outfield behind the extensive stage that stretched over first, second and third bases.
“That has never happened before,” a stunned Laurie said as he surveyed the completely filled outfield. “We made history tonight at Dodger Stadium.”
The Los Angeles Harvest outreach was extended around the world as it was broadcast live on the Internet at www.harvest.org. Also, there were “Behind the scenes” updates from Greg Laurie that were posted on his blog at blog.greglaurie.com, as well as on Twitter at twitter.com/greglaurie   and on Facebook at facebook.com/harvest.greglaurie 
With a trademark ability to present a straightforward gospel message in a culturally relevant format, drawing on the latest in current events, contemporary Christian music, and technology, Greg Laurie’s Harvest events have drawn more than 4.2 million people to stadiums and arenas around the world since 1990. Laurie also serves as senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, Calif., one of the largest churches in the U.S., and serves on the board of directors for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
Note: I would like to thank Robin Frost for transcribing the Greg Laurie interview.

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Dan Wooding, 70, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 48 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. He now hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on KWVE in Southern California which is also carried throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK and also in Belize and South Africa. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 200 countries. You can follow Dan on Facebook under his name there or at ASSIST News Service. He is the author of some 44 books. Two of the latest include his autobiography, “From Tabloid to Truth”, which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link.Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, has also recently released his first novel “Red Dagger” which is available this link.

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