Billy Graham Opens Historic Four-Day Revival in LA
Rev. Billy Graham opened a four-day evangelistic crusade in the presence of a 45,000-strong crowd Thursday night, bringing a message of hope and the possibility of a new beginning.
Fifty-five years after his first Los Angeles tent revival launched him into worldwide prominence, renowned evangelist Billy Graham opened a four-day evangelistic crusade in the presence of a 45,000-strong crowd Thursday night, bringing a message of hope and the possibility of a new beginning.
"Do you feel your life has been a failure? Is your life turned upside down? Do you wonder which way to turn? The choice you make tonight will affect your whole life. It will also affect where you spend eternity," Graham told the thousands gathered for the opening night at the Rose Bowl, as reported by the Associated Press. "Where will you be 100 years from now? You won't be here. ... The cross guarantees a future life."
It is the same simple message that Graham, 86, has devoted a lifetime to preaching—the Gospel message of Jesus Christ.
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The Greater Los Angeles Billy Graham Crusade, Graham’s seventh in Los Angeles and his 416th worldwide, marked his return to the area that hosted one of his most important appearances—the historic 1949 crusade in the “canvas cathedral” at the corner of Washington and Hill streets that brought him and his ministry to national attention.
Graham looked frail but smiled, AP reported. He appeared to gain strength, as he called on the crowd to confess and repent for their sins—a call to which 2,500 responded as they came to the stage to be connected with local churches, some smiling and many in tears.
Larry Ross, a spokesman for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, told AP that crowds were likely to grow as the crusade moves into the weekend.
“We really believe that God has anointed Billy Graham and used him over 55 years in his crusades,” honorary chairman of the Crusade executive committee Rev. Lloyd Ogilvie told reporters Tuesday. “He began here at Washington and Hill streets in Los Angeles, and Los Angeles has loved and prayed for and encouraged him all through the years.
“There is no greater city in the world than Los Angeles. And yet there is no city in the world with greater needs than Los Angeles. And that’s the reason that a couple of years ago, a group of us decided we needed a spiritual awakening in Los Angeles and in southern California.”
Ogilvie asked, rhetorically, “Where should we turn for that but to the greatest evangelist since the Apostle Paul?”
With 18.5 million people representing 140 countries and 196 language groups in the Greater Los Angeles area, Crusade Director Jeff Anderson sees far-reaching fruit from this Crusade. “The outreach potential to impact the world as it is gathered in Los Angeles is very real,” says Anderson. “The spiritual leaders of the Greater Los Angeles area are expecting an explosion, a revolution, and a movement.”
Even before the opening night of the Crusade, thousands of people had heard the Gospel during Crusade-related events, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) reported. More than 60 meetings have been held in correctional facilities throughout the area since June, with more than 6,000 inmates attending and some 2,000 making decisions for Jesus Christ.
In addition, the Crusade’s “Love in Action” committee has held 27 “Feasts of Faith” in 20 urban communities around Los Angeles, where thousands of needy families were fed, over 10,000 Bibles distributed, the homeless received hygiene kits, and all were invited to Saturday’s program at the Crusade.
When the Greater Los Angeles Crusade was announced in February, Graham said, “I feel somewhat like the Apostle Paul in wanting to go back to places where we have ‘preached the Lord to see how they are doing.’ More important, however, there is a new generation that needs to hear the Gospel since our last crusade there in 1985.”
Graham reiterated that sentiment when he spoke to Crusade committee members at a reception on Sunday. “I am so honored to be here and believe God is going to give a great outpouring of His Holy Spirit,” he said. “Not because of me; in fact, I’m not looking backward at all to 1949—I’m looking forward to 2004 at the Rose Bowl.”
Since 1949, Graham has held five more campaigns in the Greater Los Angeles area, and altogether, more than 75,000 individuals have made decisions for Christ.
