By Brian Hobbs/Oklahoma Baptist Messenger PHOENIX (BP) -- The Baptist Messenger recently sat down with renowned evangelist and pastor Greg Laurie, who has been holding Harvest crusades, which are large-scale evangelistic outreach events throughout the United States and abroad, since 1990. In the interview, Laurie talks about the upcoming Harvest event scheduled for June 11 in Phoenix. The event will be held in conjunction with the Crossover evangelism events leading up to the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting on June 13-14. See interview with Laurie below. The Harvest America evangelism event coming to Phoenix, Ariz., will be held in conjunction with the SBC's annual meeting. You have teamed up with the SBC and the North American Mission Board to promote this Harvest America event. For our listeners who might be unfamiliar, can you talk about this outreach event and tell us what it is all about? Laurie: Kevin Ezell, who directs the North American Mission Board, came to us with the idea of Harvest Ministry to join forces, because we are all passionate about evangelism; we want to reach people. The problem for a lot of folks is how to get out there and do it. You know, a lot of folks come in from around … [Read more...]

By Shawn Hendricks and David Roach PHOENIX (BP) -- As this year's Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting approaches, SBC President Steve Gaines says fellow Baptists should anticipate emphases on prayer, evangelism and financial stewardship at the June 13-14 gathering in Phoenix, where the 2003 and 2011 annual meetings also were held. This year's annual meeting theme is "Pray! For such a time as this" based on Luke 18:1 and Esther 4:14. Gaines hopes that through a commitment "to fervent, frequent, faith-filled prayer," the SBC will become "a catalyst for spiritual awakening and revival." "I believe Southern Baptists can be used of God to spark a mighty movement of prayer, evangelism and discipleship across our nation and around the world," said Gaines, pastor of Memphis-area Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, Tenn. "If we will pray and abandon ourselves to the Lord, He will use us exponentially to take the Gospel to people." In addition to several seasons of prayer, Gaines said, annual meeting highlights will include a personal evangelism emphasis Tuesday evening (June 13) led by California pastor and evangelist Greg Laurie and a Wednesday afternoon (June 14) panel discussion on financial stewardship. Southern … [Read more...]