OREM, Utah (BP) – Utah Valley University, where a gunman killed conservative commentator and outspoken Christian Charlie Kirk in September, will host a Harvest Crusade event featuring evangelist Greg Laurie on Nov. 16.
“We’re going to go to that place of darkness, and we’re going to turn on the radiant light of Jesus Christ and proclaim the Gospel that Charlie believed,” Laurie, senior pastor of Harvest Church in Riverside, Calif., said. “What was meant for evil will be turned to good.”
“The Harvest Crusade: Hope for America” is a one-night free event to be held at the UCCU Center on the UVU campus. Worship will feature Chris Tomlin and Phil Wickham with Laurie bringing the Gospel message.
Two years of Harvest Ministries’ collaboration with 150 churches in the Salt Lake City metro area had been focused on planning a Harvest Crusade. After Kirk’s assassination, those churches requested the timetable be moved up. That means six weeks of focused preparation will have gone into the Nov. 16 event.
“They said, ‘Our community is devastated and we need the hope that only Jesus can bring,’” Laurie shared.
Rob Lee, state executive for the Utah-Idaho Southern Baptist Convention, is on the event’s steering committee. About 20 UISBC congregations are part of the 70-plus evangelical churches that will serve as host sites to participate remotely.
“Pray for Nov. 16 and pray for Greg to be able to share the Gospel clearly and effectively so the students and folks in Utah County hear the true biblical Gospel and understand it,” Lee said. “We’re talking about spiritual warfare. We need folks to share about it online and invite their friends to watch it, or if there is a host church in their area, to go and participate. We want this to not just be for northern Utah, but for all people to hear the Gospel.”
Churches can sign up as a host site here.
The crusade will be livestreamed at Harvest.org, YouTube, Facebook and on the Harvest+ app. A “3:20 Prayer Calendar” inspired by Ephesians 3:20 encourages participants to pray each day at 3:20 a.m. and p.m. leading up to the event.
Although Kirk’s death will always be tied to the university, one goal for the event is to turn the focus back to his life.
Kirk was more well-known as a political commentator prior to his death. In the days after, though, widely shared videos of him giving his testimony and engaging with college students about faith matters elevated Kirk’s identity as a Christian.
“We know a lot more about that now,” Lee said. “I have some close friends who were there on Sept. 10. They said Charlie started things off like he did everywhere else – sharing his testimony. He answered questions about evangelical Christianity and Mormonism. He shared his faith and the Gospel.
“And right after that, he was shot. The last thing he did on the campus was bear his witness for Jesus and salvation.”
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