Thousands of rural Australians have heard the grandson of legendary evangelist Billy Graham preach at evangelistic rallies in the NSW country towns of Moree, Gunnedah and Tamworth.
Nearly 400 people made a commitment to Christ.
Will Graham, a North Carolina-based minister, was the major speaker at the evangelistic ‘Reality Events’ held across north-western NSW between May 21 and May 30.
Others participating in the events include former Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson (the organisational driving force behind the campaign). Colin Buchanan, Andrew "fishtail' Fisher of Jesus V8 fame and a number of Christian rock bands.
The "Reality Events' culminated with a major rally in the 3000-seat Tamworth Regional Entertainment Conference Centre.
Helen Lear from Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) says that across all 20 different local events, contact was made with 12,000 people.
Nearly 5,000 people attended events where Will Graham preached, with 372 of them making a faith commitment.
However it wasn't just the number of people attending the events which pleased the BGEA.
"We were really encouraged by the number of churches from the region that got involved, they came together to work for the kingdom which doesn't happen very often," Ms Lear said. "We were also really encouraged with the motivation of the Christians in the area. It is clear that God is still working in them and has reignited their passion for ministry."
The evangelistic rallies were organised after Will Graham met Australian church leaders in May 2009 as part of the 50th anniversary of his grandfather’s Australian crusades.
Moree
In Moree about 500 youth and 500 adults turned up to hear Will Graham on the weekend of May 22 and 23.
At both events Will Graham gave a powerful invitation for people to put their trust in Jesus.
In total 82 people made commitments and all were counselled by trained local Christians.
It was an extraordinary turnout for a town with just 10,000 residents.
"We were able to see a large turnout and a wonderful response to the gospel," Mr Graham says.
For the Reality Youth Night, Planet of the Stereos, a Sydney-based Christian pop band, had the young people rocking to their music before local youth worker, Steel Sutton, gave his testimony.
"We also witnessed the local churches of Moree working beautifully together," Mr Graham says. "I heard many comments that this was one of the first times that had all the local churches working together on a single evangelistic outreach."
Future Graham tours
Leigh Brown from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) says the rural tour of small towns is "very unusual" for the organisation.
However he says Mr Graham may return to Australia before too long, with churches in the Bathurst-Orange, Armidale and country Victorian regions interested in similar evangelistic tours.
