More than 28,000 people gathered at the Angels Stadium in Anaheim, California for the 3-day-long SoCal Harvest. The opening of this huge evangelist event happened on Friday night with a message from Evangelist Greg Laurie and his talks with former mobster Michael Franzese.
The focus of this first night was on the God who forgives sins. "If God can forgive and change a man such as Michael Franzese or Paul of Tarsus (from the Bible) then God can change even you.. God can forgive you of every sin you have ever committed because the Bible says that with God all things are possible." Said Laurie after interviewing Franzese, who committed his life to Christ while in solitary confinement in prison.
Laurie added, "Guilt is not always a bad thing. Guilt is a symptom of a deeper problem and the deeper problem is sin. You feel guilty because you've sinned. It means your conscience is working. Sometimes you have to feel bad before you can feel good."
Michael Franzese was once described as the "Prince of the Mafia". He shared how he was once involved with the Colombo crime family and built a reputation as one of the top 50 richest mafia bosses in the mid-1980s. However, while serving time at a federal prison, the mobster had an encounter with Christ and committed his life to him.
Another important point that was raised during the message is that we should not dwell on our sins from the past. Laurie used the metaphor that God is a "big eraser" to emphasize this point. The title of the message was "The God Who Loves and Forgives", and at the end, Laurie led an altar call where he requested the crowd that anyone who wishes to commit or re-commit their lives to Christ to come forward. Laurie led the brave people who came up in a prayer asking for forgiveness and also acknowledging Jesus as Savior and Lord.
Other music artists were invited to perform for the night. Phil Whickham, NEEDTOBREATHE and the Harvest band were there to perform. For the remaining 2 nights of Harvesters, more performers will be invited including Skillets, Crystal Lewis and the Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter Christ Tomlin. Greg Laurie will continue to deliver messages during the next two nights.
