PDX Crusade brings major religious revival to Portland after decades

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A major Christian revival event in Portland, Oregon this month drew one of the city's largest faith-based gatherings in decades.

The PDX Crusade, hosted by Athey Creek Church in partnership with other churches, welcomed 35,000 attendees to the Moda Center in Portland on August 2-3, according to event organizers. The two-night gathering featured gospel messages and worship by popular Christian artists Chris Tomlin, Zach Williams, CAIN, TAYA, Anne Wilson, Kari Jobe and Cody Carnes. The church reported that 3,200 people came forward during the altar calls. Volunteers distributed Bibles and connected new believers with local churches, according to a CBN report.

The event was one of the most significant evangelical gatherings Portland has seen in decades. In 2020, an outdoor worship protest during the height of coronavirus restrictions drew between 4,000 and 7,000 people. Prior to that, the late evangelist Luis Palau hosted large festivals in Portland that combined music with food and preaching. His 1999 festival reportedly reached over 90,000 people.

PDX Crusade attendees, like Portland resident Laura Lybrand, were in awe of the turnout.

A megachurch in Portland, Oregon, held a religious revival event earlier this month that reportedly drew tens of thousands of worshipers. (@m-v-t on Youtube/iStock by Getty Images)

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"I’m really excited about it," she told Oregon Public Broadcasting as she stood in line for the event. "I haven’t seen anything like this in a long, long time."

Athey Creek senior pastor Brett Meador delivered Gospel sermons each night of the crusade in which he addressed the city’s struggles with homelessness, crime and lack of faith, according to the OPB report.

"Why is there so much darkness here?" Meador said to the crowd. "I believe it’s because we have often pushed Jesus — the real light of the world — out."

According to the Pew Research Center’s 2023–2024 Religious Landscape Study, the Portland–Vancouver metro area is the only one of the 34 largest U.S. metropolitan regions where religiously unaffiliated people outnumber those identifying as Christian (44% to 42%).

Meador, who moved to Portland in 1996 because it was considered the most irreligious city in America, views the region as ripe for revival. 

Two drag queens performed at the Oregon State Legislature on Wednesday, June 18. (Screenshot/Oregon State Legislature)

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The pastor previously decried the city's "stupidity, wokeness and failure," in a sermon in July, according to the report, after the Oregon House of Representatives hosted a drag performance to celebrate Pride month.

He hoped the PDX Crusade will be a catalyst for a spiritual awakening in the secular city.

"I believe the Lord’s doing a great work in Portland, and it’s evident here tonight," Meador said, according to KLove. "But we have more work to do and that’s why it’s important for us to declare that He is the light of the world." 

Some attendees suggested that the Pacific Northwest may be on the verge of a broader religious revival.

"I’ve just seen a number of different people over these last few months and years that are moving from different areas to the [Willamette] Valley, because they feel like there’s some sort of revival taking place," said Brandon Porter of Newberg, also speaking to OPB. "They feel like God’s called them here."

Some attendees of the religious crusade in Portland said they felt the region was on the cusp of a spiritual revival. (iStock)

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Athey Creek Executive Pastor Rick Anderson said that leadership is now considering whether to continue the crusade as an annual tradition.

"If the city of Portland reflects back and recognizes that this was a catalyst for reviving the church… and really bringing the love of Jesus to a lost and desperate world, we’re going to consider that a success," Anderson told OPB.

The Portland crusade followed another large religious revival event in Los Angeles in July.

Around 45,000 people packed Angel Stadium to attend pastor and evangelist Greg Laurie’s Harvest Crusade on July 19. Harvest Church said it was the second consecutive year the stadium had been packed out for the event and an additional 200,000 people watched the crusade online.

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