Over 10,500 Attend Festival Tasmania with Franklin Graham

Franklin Graham and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association went Down Under for last weekend's evangelistic festival in Hobart, Tasmania, bringing a message of eternal impact to the more than 10,500 who attended the three-day event.

By Kenneth Chan, Tuesday, March 15, 2005

After more than 90 festivals in locations from Johannesburg, South Africa, to Tupelo, Miss., Franklin Graham and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association went Down Under for last weekend's evangelistic festival in Hobart, Tasmania, bringing a message of eternal impact to the more than 10,500 who attended the three-day event.

According to the BGEA, the total number of those who attended Festival Tasmania with evangelist Franklin Graham nearly tripled local pastor' estimates of how many people are in church services on any given Sunday.

As the first crowd gathered in Hobart's Derwent Entertainment Center for the first meeting of the Festival, Graham mentioned his recent encounter with the Victoria Cross, an ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) War Memorial that was placed there to honor fallen soldiers who died protecting the freedom of Hobart's citizens.

While trekking through the city's hilly streets, Graham noticed the high, proud memorial, on top of which stood a blood red cross. "You can't help but notice it," Graham said Friday evening, according to the BGEA. "The inscription [at the bottom] reads, 'Lest We Forget.'

"We salute these men who have preserved freedom," he told the crowd. "And we honor what they have done with their lives."

Graham went on to share the first and highest meaning of the familiar symbol--the message of salvation found in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. "I want to talk about that cross at the very top of that Memorial," said Graham.

Speaking from John 19:1-5, Graham related the humiliation and torture that Jesus Christ suffered on his way to the cross. "Pilate had Him flogged and a crown of thorns placed on His head," he explained. "He went through that for us. ... He came on a rescue mission for your soul."

"You just have to make the step," said Graham on Friday night, and repeated his challenge to consider the cross of Jesus throughout the weekend's meetings. Hundreds responded by making decisions for Christ.

Of those attending the Festival, more than 600 made a decision for Jesus Christ, with more than 400 praying to receive salvation for the very first time, the BGEA reported.

Prior to the event and even during, hundreds of Christians participated in neighborhood campaigns to individually invite more than 35,000 people to the meetings. Siebrand Petrusma, Visitation Chair, reported that there were very few negative responses to the easygoing "doorknobbing." On Saturday as Christian artists Dennis Agajanian and Jars of Clay played in an outdoor park, volunteers approached people with smiles and shared information about the Festival.

"Christianity and the Gospel are put on the agenda in the community. ... It's just opened so many doors of opportunity," said the Rev. John Tongue, Festival Ministry Chair. Tongue believes that this public effort will have a lasting effect on Hobart.

Following the conclusion of Festival Tasmania, Franklin Graham will now cross the Bass Strait to Australia's mainland and the city of Melbourne, Victoria, to hold Festival Victoria. The BGEA reported that some 750 churches are participating in the three-day festival, which begins this Friday at the Telstra Dome in Melbourne and ends this Sunday.