(dramatic music)

- 8.7 Million, that's howmany people Greg Laurie

has shared the gospel with,

through his crusades andwebcasts, over the past 50 years.

And it all began because he was willing

to become a world changer.

(wind whooshing)

- [Reporter] Radio Bibleteacher Greg Laurie

is the senior pastor ofHarvest Christian Fellowship,

one of America's largest congregations.

- [Greg] Open that Bible.

- [Reporter] Since 1990,more than 5 million people

have attended his Harvest Crusade,

hearing the one truththat can change the world.

- And the only thing that canbring about lasting change

is the gospel of Jesus Christ,

where people committheir lives to the Lord.

- [Reporter] The latest ofPastor Laurie's many books

is "World Changers."

He clearly shows howGod uses ordinary people

to do extraordinary things.

- And please welcomeback to "The 700 Club,"

Greg Laurie, Greg, great to see you again.

- Wendy, good to see youtoo, thanks for having me on.

- Yeah, last time you were here in person,

now virtually, but still good to see you.

What does it mean to be a world changer?

Why do you think God uses ordinary people

to do extraordinary things?

- I think so he'll get all the credit,

and all the glory, you know.

As you look at Hebrews 11, and this book,

"World Changers," based on Hebrews 11,

which is sort of like theheroes of faith hall of fame,

you'll see that pretty much everyone

in this hall of faith,was a flawed person.

David made it, we know that he was guilty

of immorality and murder in effect.

Daniel makes it.

We find that so many flawed characters,

Samson is in there, people that messed up,

people that were human,just like you and I are,

but here's one of thepoints I'm trying to make

is God is not looking for perfect people.

He's looking for ordinary people.

God does not call the qualified.

He qualifies the called,

and he's not looking for ability

nearly as much as he islooking for availability,

just someone to say,"Lord, here I am, send me."

- Amen, well, your journeyto become a world changer

actually started on a California beach,

when you were just 17, what happened?

- Well, I was just a brand new Christian,

and I always had this fear

that God was going to call me to preach.

I was out sharing my faith,and telling others about Jesus,

But one day I went downto one of these baptisms

that we were holdingduring the Jesus movement,

in the early '70s, CalvaryChapel was putting them on.

As it turned out, I was too late,

and there was a group of Christians

sitting around in a circle, singing songs,

and there was no real leader.

So I sat down, and joined them,

and I had a little somethingI read in the Word that day,

and I shared it, and while I was talking,

a couple of girls joined us, and said,

"Ask the pastor if he'll baptize me."

And I said, "Wait, I'm not a pastor."

But then they thought, "Well,I guess I could baptize them."

And so I took these girls down.

Now I have 30 people following me.

Remember, I'm not a pastor yet.

I'm just a person going to church.

I'm leading 30 peopledown to this little spot

where the baptisms were held.

I baptized these two girls,and as I'm coming out,

the Lord spoke to me as clearas day, and said preach,

'cause a little crowd hadgathered up on the rocks,

and I preached my firstsermon, but I wasn't afraid.

So here's the point.

We're commanded by Jesus togo and preach the gospel.

It doesn't mean you have to yell.

You don't even have to project your voice.

It means you communicated.

But again, I got a glimpseof my future on that day,

and I realized that God could use

such a flawed person like me,

certainly he could use anybody.

- That is an amazing story, amazing.

All right, well what is frangilism,

and why should we all be involved in it?

- Yeah, frangilism, it's an acronym.

It doesn't mean onlyevangelize people named Fran.

F-R-A-N, F for your friends,R for your relatives,

A for your associates,and N for your neighbors.

So who do I go into all the world,

and proclaim the gospel to?

My friends, my relatives, my associates,

and my neighbors.

Or a simpler answer, everybody.

You know, simplify it this way,

go into all of your world,and preach the gospel.

Wendy, we just showed a moviecalled "A Rush of Hope,"

that we did in the place ofour crusade this weekend,

because we couldn't meet inthe stadium, due to COVID-19.

It's available at YouTube.

If you go to my GregLaurie channel at YouTube,

you can see it, it's an hour long.

I did it with the Erwin brothers,

who did "I Can Only Imagine."

It's a cinematic crusade.

We put it out over the weekend,

we saw 1,600,000 peopleview it, and best of all,

14,000 people, excuse me, 16,000 people

made a profession of faith.

I think in this worldwe're living in right now,

with all the chaos of COVID, and rioting,

and uncertainty in the economy,

and of course the presidential election,

people are afraid, people are scared,

people are searching,

and we have the answer with the gospel.

So this book, "World Changers"

is a book encouraging youto go into all your world,

and make a difference.

- The cover too, it's so happy.

I can't wait to finish reading it.

Well, you've been inministry 50 years, Greg,

and you show no signs of slowingdown, what keeps you going?

- Well, yeah, coming back towhat I talk about in this book,

right after Hebrews 11, whichis a hero's hall of faith,

is Hebrews 12, of course.

And it says, therefore,since we're surrounded

by such a great cloud of witnesses,

we should lay aside the weightthat so easily beset us,

or slows us down, and look unto Jesus,

the author and finisher of our faith.

So basically the authorof Hebrews is saying,

in light of the fact thatthese men and women of God

were used so powerfullyin their generation,

therefore we shouldrun this race we're in,

looking to Jesus.

So the answer to yourquestion is I do it for Jesus.

I don't say that to sound hyper-spiritual.

I'm simply stating a fact.

I don't do it for the applause of people.

I don't do it because it's my job.

I do it because I wanna please the Lord.

And I wanna hear him say to me one day,

"Well done, good and faithful servant,

enter into the joy of your Lord."

So he's given me a calling,he's given me gifts,

just like he has given everyonewatching gifts as well.

And I wanna use those gifts for his glory,

and I've been called, among other things,

to be an evangelist, whichis to proclaim the gospel.

So my objective is to reach as many people

as I can, while I can.

- Well, at the end of the day,your relationship with Jesus

is the only thing that satisfies.

If you're a Christian,you know that to be true.

Greg, you've written more than 70 books.

Your latest is called "World Changers:

How God Uses Ordinary Peopleto Do Extraordinary Things."

You want to get ahold of this.

The stories will encourageyour faith, so please do that.

Thanks so much for beingwith us, Greg, God bless you.

- Thank you, thanks for having me on.