Three hours before the gates opened, people camped outside the Moda Center, eager to secure the best seats at the PDX Crusade, one of the largest Christian revival meetings Portland has seen in decades.
Hosted by Athey Creek Christian Fellowship, a prominent megachurch founded by Pastor Brett Meador, the event aimed to draw attention to the spiritual needs of Oregon’s largest city.
Thousands traveled from across the region to attend, forming a line that snaked around the Rose Quarter. Noteworthy performers in modern Christian music, including Chris Tomlin and Zach Williams, entertained the audience.
“I’m really excited about it,” expressed Laury Lybrand of Portland, who patiently waited in line. “I haven’t seen anything like this in a long, long time.”
The revival, held during the first weekend of August, embodied a rock concert atmosphere. Smoke machines released plumes of mist, and stage lights danced, as volunteer leaders and attendees sang passionately, many with arms raised and tears in their eyes.
In his opening sermon, Meador encouraged attendees to dedicate their lives to Jesus and embrace the teachings of the Bible. He addressed some pressing issues facing Portland, including homelessness, crime, and a perceived erosion of faith in the community.
“Why is there so much darkness here?” Meador asked, challenging the crowd. “I believe it’s because we have often pushed Jesus — the real light of the world — out.”
While Meador’s message resonated with many, it also opened the door to deeper discussions about the city’s issues and the role of faith in addressing them. The revival’s focus on saving Portland’s soul has a longstanding historical context in the region, with evangelists targeting cities like Portland for nearly a century.
Athey Creek, under Meador’s leadership, has been engaged in efforts to revitalize faith in Portland for almost 30 years. He moved to the city in 1996, attracted by its designation as the “least churched city in America.”
Starting in a living room and then moving to Athey Creek Middle School, Meador has garnered a reputation for his verse-by-verse teachings of the Bible. The church now operates from a large facility in West Linn, with additional campuses in Hillsboro and McMinnville.
Meador has voiced his concerns over Portland’s liberal tilt and has often critiqued the city’s culture, particularly its protests and progressive policies. A promotional video for the crusade included footage of the 2020 George Floyd protests and images of tents lining city streets, highlighting what Meador considers the decline of the city.
“Portland is the tip of the spear in America of stupidity, wokeness and failure,” he said in a sermon on July 3, pointing to drag queen performances in the Oregon House of Representatives as symbols of moral decline.
In light of these views, Athey Creek’s Executive Pastor Rick Anderson spoke about the church’s mission to restore hope in a city that has faced numerous challenges. “Our heart is for Portland,” Anderson remarked, acknowledging the city’s struggles in recent years. “The Rose City has slowly declined in terms of its appeal.”
Historically, significant revivals have deep roots in the Pacific Northwest. Leah Payne, a professor of American religious history at George Fox University, highlighted that cities like Portland have often attracted evangelists looking to cleanse a perceived moral decay.
Despite having one of the lowest rates of religious affiliation in the U.S., the area has experienced a long-standing trend of low church attendance.
“For the last 100 years or so, revivalists have looked at cities like Portland as a special place where they need to focus their energy to clean out the godless state of the city,” Payne explained.
The famous evangelist Billy Graham held significant revivals in Portland beginning in 1950. His crusades frequently addressed the spiritual shortcomings of the city, emphasizing the need for revival. Meador has cited Graham’s efforts as an inspiration for the PDX Crusade he organized.
Revival events typically attract converts through altar calls, where attendees are invited to the front to accept Jesus Christ. “This context of the revivals is often where people will have these ‘born again’ experiences and have a shift in their life,” noted Susanna Morrill, a religion professor at Lewis & Clark College.
However, not all local leaders resonated with Athey Creek’s portrayal of Portland as spiritually desolate. Karyn Richards-Kuan, senior pastor at First United Methodist Church in Portland, expressed her disagreement with the narrative painted by Athey Creek.
“It sort of did paint this picture of Portland as a place of desperation, and they said that they believe that Jesus was the answer,” she remarked. “For me, there’s just so much more to it.”
Richards-Kuan highlighted the importance of diverse approaches to faith and community engagement, suggesting that Athey Creek’s focus on salvation overlooks other vital aspects of the city’s character.
Notably, local churches within Portland city limits had little participation in the organization of the PDX Crusade. Of the 17 supporting churches, none hailed from Portland itself, raising questions about the broader engagement of local congregations.
“It was all these congregations sort of looking into the city as this big, bad, dark place, rather than the congregations who are serving in the city and who see it as a place of great light and opportunity,” Richards-Kuan added.
For those who attended, the PDX Crusade delivered on its promise.
As Meador concluded his sermon, attendees streamed to the stadium floor, followed by volunteers providing Athey Creek-branded Bibles and resources.
By the end of the weekend, the church reported an impressive turnout of 35,000 attendees over three events, with 3,200 individuals responding to the altar call.
Some participants saw the success of the crusade as an indication of shifting attitudes towards religion in the Pacific Northwest. Brandon Porter of Newberg remarked on the influx of newcomers to the Willamette Valley, who feel there is a spiritual revival occurring.
Anderson indicated that Athey Creek is considering making the PDX Crusade an annual occurrence. “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,” he stated.
image source from：opb
