Nearly 1,000 make decisions at Mobile-area festival

God will forgive you. He will take your guilt, He’ll take your shame and He’ll set you free tonight if you come to Him through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.” 
   
This was the message Evangelist Franklin Graham presented to the more than 19,000 who crowded into the Mobile Civic Center April 21–23 for the Gulf Coast Festival, organized by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and more than 300 Mobile-area churches. In response, 935 people made a decision.
   
“We’re not going to let any of these people fall through the cracks,” said Don Bond, pastor of Springhill Avenue Baptist Church, Mobile, and chairman of Mobile Association’s evangelism committee. “Every church I’ve talked to is excited about this and busy about the follow-up. Real revival is taking place.”
   
The festival reached people with artists including FFH, CeCe Winans and the Gaither Vocal Band; a performance each night by a massive choir of area singers; and video footage of personal testimonies from well-known Alabamians such as former Auburn football player Chette Williams and former Alabama football player Shaun Alexander.  
   
Graham used the example of a recent visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center outside Washington to emphasize the choice people have when it comes to God. He stressed that just as those men and women were crippled from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan so were all people as sinners “crippled spiritually before God.” 
   
Preaching from 2 Samuel 9, Graham recounted the story of King David sparing a crippled boy named Mephibosheth for the sake of his best friend, Jonathan, the boy’s father. Graham related the situation to the fact that God demonstrated His love for all and spared their lives for the sake of His Son, Jesus. Mephibosheth had a choice to either accept or reject David just as all people have the choice to accept or reject Jesus.
   
Children were not left out of the festival activities as Bibleman, a Christian superhero played by Robert T. Schlipp, led a service for them and their parents the morning of April 22. There were 316 children who accepted Jesus.
   
One of those was Michael Chandler Garcia, the 6-year-old son of recording artist Alicia Williamson Garcia who performed at the festival. 
   
“The Lord had impressed on my heart that Michael was very close to making a decision for Christ, and when Bibleman presented the gospel, he asked his dad to go down front with him,” Garcia said. “He prayed to receive Christ, and his little life has been different — his little light is shining.”
   
Terry Wilken, the festival director, was “very pleased with how the festival went,” and he commended the churches in the area for doing what they do.
Bond said he couldn’t have asked for a better response. “It’s really, really good to see the way people have pulled together to introduce Christ to a generation who might not know Him the way we’ve come to know Him.”
   
Thomas Wright, director of missions for Mobile Association, agreed. “The greatest impact in Mobile County is still to come as believers apply the lessons of the festival in their churches.”