In the Big Apple, around 13,000 people gathered at Madison Square Garden for the third and final Harvest Crusade evangelistic outreach of the year. The attendees were there not only there to see Grammy-nominated MercyMe, or Relient K, nor The Katinas.

All were there for a common purpose - to meet our Lord and Savior - and more importantly, to bring their unreached friends and families to hear and experience the love of God.

The Harvest outreach evening was opened up with a prayer from New York pastor A.R. Barnard, followed by music from The Katinas alongside a 300-member community-wide choir which got the crowd up on their feet.

Pop- punk group, Relient K, was the second act of the night. The Ohio quintet come from a Christian background, though the band is discreet about it, their lyrics use "You" and "Him" to refer to God.

Seven-time Dove winner, MercyMe sang their hit "God with us", moving some members of the audience to tears.

Although the music covered genres ranging from pop to gospel to rock, all of it opened the way for Laurie's message.

"It's great to see God in the Garden again!" Pastor Greg Laurie, the founder of Harvest Crusade told the excited crowd after coming on stage.

Laurie went on to share the story of Nicodemus from John 3, the Pharisee who came to Jesus at night to ask how he can experience rebirth. Nicodemus was the one that had everything in his life, but a hole in his heart, something was missing. Pastor Laurie compared Nicodemus' story to our life story, people these days are chasing material dreams but that is not the way to receive eternal life.

"If you want to know that you will spend eternity in Heaven, you must receive the eternal gift that God wants to offer you tonight. Did you know you can be a good or moral person and not have a relationship with God? I don't care how old you are, God can change you. I don't care how moral you are, you still need Christ," he continued.

By the end of the evening, 1,380 stepped forward to make a profession of faith in Christ.

"It's been awesome," testified Rose Davidson from New York. "I came here with my two teenage daughters and their friends and they all went up to accept Christ."

"I was praying that they would (go to accept), but you don't see any evidence that they're seeking. But when God's Word is preached, its powerful, doesn't matter where we think we are in life, God just moves in us," Rose shared about the event, choking up.

"My life feels radically changed," shared Sharon Mitchell from New Jersey.

Pastor Laurie also shared with the audience the difficulties he has gone through this year.

"Of course, this has been the hardest year of my life because this is the year that my son, Christopher, died,” said Laurie before heading into the last Harvest Crusade of 2008 on Sunday.

The evangelist's 33-year-old son died in a car accident on July 24 on his way to Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, Calif., Laurie's 15,000-member church.

"Don't think of me as a pastor, think of me as a regular guy. I'm just a father who misses his son, but I'm a person who found that God's strength was there for me during the lowest moment of my life,” Laurie shared after a video of his son Christopher was shown.

"If I didn't have Christ in my life, I don't know how I could bear it. But because I am a Christian and because Christopher is a Christian, I know I will see him again,” Laurie said.

Next year, Harvest Crusades will begin with a three-night event in Rapid City, S.D., in May.