Harvest 2000 Comes in!
(from June 2000 "Pastors' Link")

What an amazing time! After a year or more of build up, Harvest 2000 with Greg Laurie finally hit Wollongong. We didn't know what to really expect. Interest had been building. Bumper stickers seemed to be on every car around the city. People were asking 'What's Harvest 2000?' But who would come - how many? We weren't sure.

But come they did! 3,200 on Thursday 25th May, 4,500 on Friday 26th May, 6,000 on Saturday 27th May, and 4,700 on Sunday afternoon 28th May 2000 - all up, a total of 18,400 people. And as the message of hope and meaning to be found in Jesus was preached, people responded. In an unheard of way, unheard of in Wollongong at least, people flocked from their seats to commit or recommit their lives to Jesus Christ - 156 on Thursday, 233 on Friday, an incredible 810 on Saturday at the Youth Jam, and a further 370 on Sunday in the final meeting, making 1,569 commitments in all. The response on Saturday night surprised even the Harvest Team, being a greater percentage than usually seen in US crusades. It was obvious that the Lord was touching lives here in the Illawarra. As well as those attending the meetings at the Entertainment Centre, untold numbers heard the messages as the meetings were downloaded to the Internet. People in California, other US states, as well as in various places around Australia, logged onto the Harvest Website to view or hear the message, not only in English, but also in Arabic, Serbian/Croatian, Spanish or Chinese.

In addition, Saturday lunchtime at Belmore Basin (Wollongong Harbour) was an amazing experience. What seemed like a thousand people lined the foreshore. After some music, Greg Laurie spoke for a few minutes, and then around twenty pastors walked out into the water in a line, ready to baptise almost a hundred people. It was a moving sight - pastors of the One Church of Jesus Christ in the Illawarra, Anglicans, Baptists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, Church of Christ, and others, baptising people into the One Church. Many of us felt the emotion of the moment - not just rejoicing in the baptisms of the individuals, but rejoicing to see such a manifestation of the unity of God's people here in the Illawarra. We sensed the rejoicing in the Heart of the Father. We felt something of the joy in the Heart of Jesus in seeing His prayer being answered for His Illawarra family, 'May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.'

There was much more, of course, to Harvest 2000 than just the four meetings at the Entertainment Centre:

The Operation Lydia doorknock the weekend before saw over 100,000 homes visited with invitations to Harvest, something never done in any previous Harvest Crusade in the US.
Teams sharing the message of the Gospel in music and word visited more than twenty High Schools in the lead up to Harvest. There was obviously a flow on effect in the Friday night Youth Jam.
The 50+ Seniors Morning at the Church of Christ on the Tuesday before Harvest saw a few hundred seniors listening to the gospel as it was shared by Dudley Foord. Many responded, making their peace with God.
Financially, the budget for Harvest of $250,000 was met - nearly all the money had come in prior to the meetings, something unheard of by Harvest Crusades in US. An incredible effort - with special thanks to the energy and vision of Dave Eldridge from Dapto. (There are still some prints of the painting by David Hart, 'Baptism at North 'Gong', for sale, by the way). The offering at Harvest, after all expenses had been met, will now go to future combined churches outreach in the Illawarra. Sunday's offering is going as a 'love offering' to the Harvest church for continuing evangelistic outreaches - Greg Laurie gets nothing personally from a Crusade.

Where to from here? There is plenty of work in following up those who made commitments at Harvest. The ninety or so churches who committed to Harvest now hold the baton. The ones that put in the most effort prior to Harvest are obviously reaping the benefits. We need to pray for effective and faithful follow-up. But beyond that, there is now an awareness that what has begun doesn't finish here. The Executive Pastors of Harvest will be meeting in the next few weeks to consider what the Lord wants His church to do together in the days ahead. We need to pray for clarity of vision, and the commitment to continue what the Lord has begun.