Evangelist Greg Laurie has been forced to take down a series of billboards depicting him holding a Bible, advertising his upcoming Harvest outreach. The ads had been posted at a popular mall in Southern California.
Laurie and Harvest Crusade contracted Irvine Company, a real estate company in Southern California, to advertise the upcoming SoCal Harvest. The event will be held August 17-19 at Angel Stadium and is expected to draw tens of thousands of people. The company agreed to post large billboards promoting the crusade at Fashion Island, a prestigious outdoor mall in the center of Orange County.
However, after claiming the religious imagery on the ads provoked multiple complaints, including a “serious threat,” the Irvine Company reportedly mandated the billboards be modified. Harvest complied with the request and resubmitted new ad artwork without the image of the Bible. Ultimately, however, the changes were not enough to resolve the situation as the Irvine Company decided to completely remove all the advertisements and billboards for the crusade.
“There was nothing overtly religious about it,” John Collins, Harvest Executive Director told CBN News.
The Bible depicted in Laurie’s hand did not have a cross, religious symbols or even the word “Bible” on it.
“We changed it to a more simplified ad that simply said ‘Harvest,’ giving the dates and some of the musical artists that are going to be with us. Then they came back and said they just wanted the ads completely removed, and they refunded us,” he explained. {eoa}
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