Abuse Lawsuits Pile Up Against Greg Laurie & Harvest Christian Fellowship 

Plaintiffs claim church leaders knew of alleged abuse but left alleged abuser in place.

The number of lawsuits filed against Harvest Christian Fellowship’s founder Greg Laurie—related to alleged abuse of young men at a children’s home in Romania—now stands at 12.

Greg Laurie / Video screenshot

The original lawsuit was filed in September by two men claiming that Paul Havsgaard abused them at a children’s shelter in Bucharest, Romania.

Allegations include children being tied to radiators, being made to kneel down on walnut shells, being touched inappropriately, and being “pimped out” for sex.

The number of litigants has now risen to 12. The law firm representing the survivors said in a news release in September that it expects 23 former residents of the children’s home to bring complaints.

The most recent complaints were filed in November.

The court documents claim Laurie and Harvest Christian Fellowship, which sent funding to Havsgaard, were negligent in their supervision of Havsgaard, despite reports of suspected abuse.

An inspection team was allegedly sent to check on the ministry in Romania in 2004. Harvest and its leaders are accused of telling the inspection team that Havsgaard was too important to Harvest’s fundraising to remove. Havsgaard remained in his position four more years but Harvest progressively cut its funding until 2008 when Havsgaard returned to California, the Christian Post reported.

After the first lawsuit was filed, Harvest Christian Fellowship issued a statement, stating in part, “The allegations in the lawsuit shock one’s conscience, as they shocked ours. The allegations are serious and disturbing, but the target here should be the alleged perpetrator, not our church. This misplaced lawsuit wrongly targets Harvest and our pastor as a form of financial extortion. It does not seek the truth nor does it seek to stop the purported wrongdoer.”

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The lead attorney representing the plaintiffs, Dr. Ann Olivarius, claims Harvest and Laurie are responsible. “Through multiple decisions and actions in California, Harvest, Laurie and Schutte became effectively responsible for the tortured lives to which Havsgaard consigned our clients,” she said. “The abuse they have endured must be remedied. How Laurie did nothing to protect them, even after Harvest received powerful evidence of sexual abuse, is hard to understand. So is his decision to let them suffer ever since.”

Harvest Christian Fellowship was founded by Laurie in 1973 in southern California. The church has four campuses in California and Hawaii with about 15,000 in attendance.

Laurie has hosted Harvest Crusades evangelistic events for 30 years and claims that over 11 million people have attended and over 1 million people have made decisions to follow Christ.

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