More than 300 churches work to bring Graham evangelistic festival to Mobile

The city of Mobile and surrounding areas are experiencing religious unity like never before, according to local pastors and leaders. As more than 300 churches work with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) to organize the upcoming Gulf Coast 2006 Festival with Franklin Graham, leaders from many denominations are joining hearts and hands to reach the lost for Jesus.
   
The festival events, scheduled for April 21–23 at the Mobile Civic Center, are open to the public. In addition to nightly messages from Franklin Graham, participants will experience music from award-winning artists including Andrae Crouch, CeCe Winans, Alicia Williamson Garcia, FFH, Joy Williams, the Gaither Vocal Band and Lynda Randle.
   
Thomas Wright, director of missions for Mobile Baptist Association, said the association’s evangelism committee first met in 2004 to begin the process of inviting Franklin Graham to the Gulf Coast. “They conducted the initial negotiations and involved other evangelicals in the area,” Wright said. “They saw their dream come true when the Graham organization agreed to host a festival for the Gulf Coast in Mobile.”
   
Don Bond, pastor of Springhill Avenue Baptist Church, Mobile, and chairman of Mobile Association’s evangelism committee, initially contacted the BGEA to organize a Mobile event. “In our view, Christianity has become increasingly marginalized by the advances in the secular world,” he said. “We felt it was very desirable to raise everyone’s consciousness, at the same time, of the need for peace, which, in our experience, is found only when you know the Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.”
   
Wright added that to date, more than 70 of the 105 Mobile Association churches have helped financially to make the festival happen or have attended sessions for training to do counseling and follow-up.
   
Mobile festival director Terry Wilken said area church leaders have signed up hundreds of volunteers for the event. 
   
“We have a need for a lot of volunteers at the festival, and a lot of them come from churches. We’re planning to have an 800- to 1,000-voice choir from the local churches and they’ll perform each night.”
   
According to Wilken, the unity of churches from more than 40 denominations and various ethnic backgrounds has been building over the months of preparation. He feels this attitude has a lot to do with hurricane-relief efforts in which churches worked together to meet those needs.
   
“We look at that as the physical rescue, and eight months later, we’re looking at this as the spiritual rescue,” Wilken said. “When we come in, the whole concept is bringing churches together. You set aside all the denominational differences and work together to reach our city for Christ. If that happens, that is going to leave a lasting legacy that’s going to be there long after the festival leaves town. We are very encouraged because we’ve seen the church in action.”
   
Wright believes the Franklin Graham festival is helping churches raise awareness about the relevance of the evangelical church in a secular culture. “Many legitimate spiritual questions have arisen in the wake of (Hurricane) Katrina’s devastation,” he said. “The prayer, publicity and witness training are raising awareness that caring Christians are ready to respond biblically to those questions. We are working quickly to prepare our churches with trained evangelistic ministry leaders and committees so the results of the festival can be conserved and expanded long after the event is over.”
   
Gerald Anderson, pastor of Second Baptist Church, Semmes, in Mobile Association, looks forward to experiencing the festival and reaching out to new Christians once the event has concluded. “We will go out and visit the people that will come forward during the [festival] during the invitation time, if they are in our neighborhood, and try to make a one-on-one connection with the new believers, giving them an opportunity to become a body of believers. That’s what we’ve been training people to do.”
   
Bond sees the festival’s potential for reaching people worldwide, since the Gulf Coast attracts a large population of people from around the world. “A festival here will not only impact this area but the home countries of the internationals who are residents or guests of our city. What happens here for the cause of Christ will actually reverberate all around the world.”