COURTESY OF HARVEST CRUSADE
Greg Laurie will lead the Harvest Crusade in Hawaii for the sixth time next Saturday and July 20. Switchfoot, below (left), and Crystal Lewis are among musical acts scheduled to perform at the crusade's Oahu and Maui events.
Evangelist Greg Laurie returns
next week with popular Christian
musicians and hip sermonizing
A concert by popular Christian musicians and preaching delivered in current cultural idiom is what viewers expect when evangelist Greg Laurie brings his Harvest Crusades to Hawaii next weekend.
Switchfoot, Crystal Lewis and Seven Simple Pieces will perform at the free event at 7:30 p.m. next Saturday at the Waikiki Shell.
The four-member local band Olivia will replace Seven Simple Pieces at Harvest Maui, 7:30 p.m. July 20 at the Lahaina Civic Center amphitheater.
It is the sixth time that the pastor from Riverside, Calif., has brought his modern version of a traditional revival meeting to the islands. Laurie is famous for using examples from the news, sports and entertainment worlds to enliven his biblical messages.
More than 30 local churches are planning for the event, with the emphasis on what happens after Laurie and the musicians leave the stage. Dozens of volunteers will work in the crowds to reach out to people moved to step forward to make a declaration of faith.
"Our goal it to help facilitate folks who made a decision that night, to connect them with some Bible-teaching churches, to help them in their walk with the Lord," said Pastor Mike Stangel, of North Shore Christian Fellowship.
"Some will be there as follow-up counselors to answer questions, pray with people and give out free Bibles," he said. "People behind the scenes are ready with letters inviting them to various churches."
Training seminars for the volunteers will be held next week, said Stangel, who has worked with the Harvest Crusades on previous island visits, the most recent of which was in 1998.
An arena event like the crusade "brings an excitement. We get to hear Christian musicians from the mainland we normally wouldn't hear here," he said.
Crystal Lewis is a Dove Award winner, and Switchfoot has been nominated for Grammy and Dove awards.
Laurie will speak on the impact of faith amid events in recent years with the theme "Peace in a Chaotic World," according to a release.
"Any Christian will be built up," Stangel said, and listeners new to the faith "will hear a clear presentation of the word of Jesus Christ."
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