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I just got back from Los Angeles and it is so much warmer in Montana. I just had to take the opportunity to say that because there aren’t too many times a year where that is true!

I was down in California hosting the first ever Harvest crusade at Dodger stadium. It was unbelievable. 340 churches came together and partnered with Greg Laurie to amplify the gospel in this city that has the eyes of the world on it. Over 50,000 people filled this historic venue and there was so much energy and excitement that you could feel it. All the musicians did a phenomenal job and Greg seriously brought it.

When the invitation came so many people flooded on the field that the fire marshall wouldn’t allow any more to come and people stood in the aisles to pray to receive Christ! Follow up counselors tried their best to get to them all and 5,900 decisions were registered but many more had Bibles passed to them. It was crazy.

Since the event was on the eve of the tenth anniversary of September 11th, the night ended with a very special time of remembering. Pastor Chuck Smith lead us in a prayer for America and then all the musicians sang ‘God bless America’ as the lights were cut and everyone in the stands held up digital candles on their phones. Then Chris Tomlin lead us in a time of worship that gave me chills. Hearing the voices of 50,000 worship Christ was overwhelming. It was a taste of heaven. I was overcome by the thought that this is what our nation needs most. Jesus is the change that the world is looking for.

The stage was set for God to move. He did.

Hooray for LA!

Chris Tomlin. In addition to being the most sung songwriter in the United States he is also a laid-back and kind person who is super focused on making Jesus famous. It was an honor to work with him again.

After the event I preached on Sunday at Harvest so Greg could recuperate. Always an honor to preach for him. Now it is time to enjoy this warm weather…while it lasts! You can watch the archive of the LA crusade here.

Last night 32,000 people gathered at Angels stadium and 3,045 people made public professions of faith in Christ! I am always in awe at these events as I stand there watching God move so powerfully in the hearts of so many and it is a massive honor to get to be apart of these events.

There was music from Kutless, Crystal Lewis, and David Crowder Band; Greg Laurie brought the heat in the pulpit with a message on the conversion of Levi the tax collector.

Legendary pro-surfer Bethany Hamilton also came and shared her story last night. She had her arm bit off by a shark and then went on to surf professionally. Amazing. If you haven’t seen Soul Surfer, the movie based on her life, you have got to check it out. Her faith in Christ and desire to be used by Him is all over it. It was a real joy to get to meet her.

There is no sound on earth I love as much as the sound of people praying to ask Christ to come into their hearts. This weekend I had the chance to listen to thousands of voices doing just that after Greg Laurie preached the gospel and called people to respond to it at a three-day Harvest Crusade. To make it even sweeter, this all took place in Seattle, a city that is known for a lot of things: coffee, technology, recycling, dog lovers, hybrid automobiles, music etc; but a love for the gospel is not usually the first thing that comes to mind. In all 4,225 people made professions of faith over the course of the weekend!

I have been serving with Greg Laurie and the Harvest team for a number of years and it is a huge thrill to be apart of these awesome evangelistic outreaches across the country. Unless you have been to one, there aren’t words that can do it justice–it just blows me away to watch God moving in such a huge way, in so many people’s lives at one time, as the powerful message of the cross goes forth. One thing that made this particular crusade extra fun was the fact that since it took place in the NorthWest, a team from fresh life was able to load up on a bus and participate in the event. They passed out thousands of invites, served as ushers, new believer counselors and did whatever they could to help support the weekend. Several staff members from the Harvest Crusades complimented me on how awesome the team was. I wasn’t suprised–Fresh Lifers are hard core!

The crusade took place at Key Arena, right underneath the Space Needle, here is a shot I grabbed, on my phone, one night while walking out of the venue.

On Friday night I had the opportunity to interview former NBA player, and current head coach of the University of Washington Huskies mens basketball team, Lorenzo Romar during the crusade. He is the Pac-10 Conference’s longest-tenured coach and widely respected throughout collegiate basketball. Currently the Huskies are 17th in the nation. He talked about how despite his success, he was empty on the inside until he realized he needed to be born again and have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

It was a lot of fun meeting and interacting with a few of the different pastors from the 300+ churches that came together to support the event. It was especially great to meet Judah Smith from the City Church. I have watched his teachings before and appreciate his ministry.

And of course, being in Seattle lead to the consumption of TONS of great coffee…in addition to hitting up Peet’s (one of my faves) it was fun to try the Clover brewed coffee from Starbucks. These Clover machines are like french presses in reverse and rely on gravity to brew. They cost 10,000 bucks apiece and are only in a hundred or so locations. They definitely make a great cup of coffee.

It was also fun to visit Mars Hill’s Ballard campus on Sunday morning and go to a church service where I wasn’t preaching. During the service Mark had Greg come up on stage and they talked about the event. Their worship band was phenomenal and the message from Mark Driscoll was super refreshing. He taught out of Luke 12, about why we shouldn’t worry. The big takeaway truth was that “God doesn’t want to take your stuff, He wants to take your stress.” It was definitely a trip to be sitting in a church service in Seattle while simultaneously preaching the first Soldier On message in Montana via video. I heart technology.

Huge weekend in the Windy City! 47,600 people attended over the course of the weekend and 4,758 people made professions of faith in Christ! All three nights were webcast live and over 105,000 tuned in to the crusade digitally, and many responded to the invitation. All three nights are archived so if you want to watch them you can here. There are also amazing photos from each night that were taken by a crazy talented photographer.

I shot a little footage with my phone over the course of the weekend and threw it together into a little lo-fi recap video on a plane this morning. (it was early–so please keep that in mind!) But included is an ample dose of Skillet’s pyrotechnics and a little rejected footage from an interview I did with Jeremy Camp for my twitter. Enjoy.

There is one more Harvest Crusade left this year–it is in Seattle in November so keep that event in prayer and get more info at harvest.org.

Here’s a little video that I shot on my phone in between emcee segments and then threw together on the mobile iMovie software. It amazes me how far technology has come! It also amazes me to watch the gospel proclaimed with power and people come to Christ by the thousands, and that has been happening at the SoCal harvest for 21 years!

You can help support the Harvest Crusades–just text the letters, HC to 20222 to make a donation of $10. (you will receive a confirmation text and you need to respond “yes” to confirm you want to) And pray that God moves in power tonight!