BGEA Announces South Texas Franklin Graham Festival 2005
Franklin Graham Festival to be Held at American Bank Center Arena, August 18-21, 2005
The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) announced last Tuesday that its president and CEO, Franklin Graham, will hold an evangelistic festival next year at the American Bank Center Arena in Corpus Christi, Texas. The South Texas Franklin Graham Festival 2005, slated for Aug. 18-21, will be an outreach effort by local church and civic leaders in cooperation with the BGEA to encourage thousands to pursue a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ.
“I look forward to bringing a message of hope to Corpus Christi,” said Graham, who recently accepted local church leaders’ invitation to lead the festival. “People will hear a lot of music from award-winning artists, personal stories, and most importantly, an opportunity to accept a challenge that will change their lives.”
More than 150 clergy and church leaders from the Greater Corpus Christi area attended the Festival announcement meeting, Tuesday, Dec. 7, at the Harbor Playhouse. During the meeting, Cliff Atnip of Cobb, Lundquist & Atnip, Inc. was named chairman of the General Festival Committee.
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The General Festival Committee, comprised of local volunteers from the Greater Corpus Christi area, will assist in the planning and operation of the South Texas Franklin Graham Festival. As the Committee chairman, Atnip will oversee the nine-month Festival preparation process.
“I am very pleased to see Franklin Graham commit to come to Corpus Christi,” said Atnip. “I am even more excited to think about how this will unite the Christian churches in our community and change lives in our city.”
According to the BGEA, Franklin Graham has held an average of seven Festivals each year as an evangelist for the association since 1989. In 2004 Franklin Graham preached to a combined 264,435 at Festivals in Durban, South Africa; Bakersfield, California; Tijuana, Mexico; Halifax, Canada; and Temuco, Chile.
At the moment, Graham is also scheduled to lead two other festivals prior to the South Texas Festival. Festival Tasmania 2005, to be held in Hobart, Tasmania is slated for Mar. 11-13, and Festival Victoria 2005 in Melbourne, Australia is slated for Mar. 18-20.
