Thousands In Spain Prepare for "FestiMadrid con Luis Palau"
More than 8,500 local Christians attended a three-day pastors conference in Madrid last week to prepare for what may be one of Spains largest evangelistic events. Participating in the conference were pastors and church leaders from over 35 provinces of Spain, more than 70 churches and Christian organizations, and countries such as Germany, Argentina, and Holland.
With the focus of the conference being How to win Spain for Jesus Christ, Christian leaders met from their respective regions with the hope to reach out to a country that for years has been thought of as one of the most difficult mission fields. Even today, no more than 0.04 percent of the population in Spain claim to be evangelical. However local Christians have reported seeing amazing strides at sharing the Gospel with their nation in unprecedented ways with help from the Luis Palau Evangelistic Association (LPEA).
Prior to the conference, pastors and church leaders invited evangelist Luis Palau of the LPEA to help them reach their nation with the Gospel. Palau, who will be leading the "FestiMadrid" event, has led evangelistic events and met with national political and clergy leaders for more than four decades since arriving in America from his native Argentina. Each year, Palau stages four to six major festivals in the US and abroad. These world-class, full multi-media productions feature the biggest names in Christian musicamong them, Stephen Curtis Chapman, Mary Mary, Avalon, TobyMac, Third Day, and others.
During the conference, Palau shared and discussed the proposed plans for the conference with the multitude that had gathered. This past week, God gave Luis the opportunity to share the vision for Spain with thousands, the LPEA reported. Lord willing, next year Luis will share the Good News of Jesus Christ with tens of thousands.
While more than 1,000 pastors and church leaders participated in the conference, including other prominent Spanish-speaking evangelical leaders such as Jaime Miron, Dante Gebel, Andres Panasiuk, Frederico Bertuzzi, and Rene Gonzalez, more than 8,500 believers attended the FestiMardi kick-off event Saturday night.
With only 4,500 known believers living in Madrid city limits, a turnout of this size was historic in nature, reported the LPEA.
Before FestiMadrid," Palau will hold festivals in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota from August 7-8; Suva, Fiji from September 10-11; and Lima, Peru in October.
The LPEA is expecting the FestiMadrid to be one of the largest evangelistic events ever held in Spain.