Harvest Crusade Brings in 40,000 on Its Last Night

ANAHEIM — The evangelical Harvest Crusade drew an overflow crowd of 40,000 to Anaheim Stadium on its final night Sunday, bringing the total for the four-day event to more than 142,000.

"It exceeded our expectations," Harvest Crusade spokesman Bryan St. Peters said. "It was tremendous. Overall, the crusade was so well-received that [Pastor Greg Laurie] announced from the platform that we would be planning a 1998 crusade in Anaheim."

The four nights of prayer, sermons and Christian rock reminiscent of the 1960s' Jesus Movement marked the eighth time that Laurie has brought his crusade to Anaheim.

St. Peters said about 1,000 churches from the Los Angeles Basin participated in the event. About 125 Orange County churches dedicated financing and volunteers. Those churches will now follow up with letters to those who made commitments at the crusade.