TAIPEI- The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has accepted the invitation from the 15 major church denominations and evangelical Christian organizations in Taiwan to host an evangelistic festival next year.
The date is set to be Oct. 23 thru Oct. 26 at Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall.
Representatives of the 15 major church denominations and evangelical Christian organizations have already held a committee meeting in preparation for Taipei Franklin Graham Evangelistic Festival.
During the meeting, senior pastor of the Taipei Bread of Life Church Rev. Chow Shen-chu was elected as president of the preparatory committee.
The members of this committee come from different groups and churches in Taiwan, including Chinese Baptist Convention, Presbyterian Church of Taiwan, Home of Christ Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church of Taiwan, etc. Rev. Hsia Chung-Jeng from Chinese Christian Evangelistic Association will be the general secretary of the committee.
Born in 1952, Franklin Graham is the forth children of the great evangelist Billy Graham. Billy Graham has preached to live audiences of nearly 215 million people in more than 185 countries since his ministry started in 1947. Billy Graham is 88 years old with failing health.
He has been suffering from Parkinson's disease for about 15 years, has had fluid on the brain, pneumonia, broken hips, and it has been recently revealed that he is suffering from prostate cancer. Inheriting his father’s ministry, Franklin Graham is currently the president and CEO of BGEA. He preaches the word around the world while serving as the president of Samaritan's Purse. He has maintained a good relationship with leaders of many countries.
Franklin Graham spent his childhood in the Appalachian Mountains outside Asheville, North Carolina and is living in Boone, North Carolina. In 1974, the 22-year-old Graham became a Christian in a hotel room while he was on a trip to Jerusalem.
Shortly after becoming a Christian, Graham joined Dr. Bob Pierce, founder of the organization Samaritan's Purse on a six-week mission to Asia. It was during this trip that Graham decided to devote himself to world relief. In 1979, after the death of Pierce, he became the president of Samaritan's Purse.
Graham began conducting evangelistic events in 1989. Each year, he conducts at least five Graham Festivals around the world as an evangelist associated with the BGEA.
Since 1989, he has preached to more than three million people. In November of 2006 Franklin Graham held an evangelistic festival at Ryukyu Islands in Japan attracting 30,000 people to listen to the Good News at the country where only 1 percent of the total population is Christian.
In July 2007, Franklin Graham Festival attracted a crowd of 23,000 in Ukraine and in August 18,000 in Ecuador. In the middle October and late November this year Graham Festivals will be held in Busan Korea and Hong Kong respectively.
Source: Chinese Christian Evangelistic Association
[Editor's note: Ian Huang in Taipei contributed to this report.]
