Franklin Graham Shares Gospel with 437,000 Ethiopians in Spot Infamous for Communist Rallies
Evangelist Franklin Graham preached the powerful message of the gospel to more than 400,000 people over the weekend in a massive public square that was once infamous for its Communist rallies.
Hundreds of thousands of people worshipped Jesus at Meskel Square for the "Encountering God Ethiopia" outreach.
It was a major turnout of 437,000 people hungry to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ for the two day-event.
"This is my 11th trip to Ethiopia, but the first time I have ever held a crusade here. What a joy it was to see 117,000 people come to Meskel Square (the name means Cross Square) to hear the Gospel message," Graham shared on Facebook after the first night's event.
"We praise God for the many who came forward at the invitation to put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Savior," he added.
More than 1,600 evangelical churches in the country worked with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) to plan the outreach. The event featured live music from more than a dozen local musical groups and Christian artists from the U.S., and on both nights Graham closed out the evening with a message.
According to BGEA, the historic outreach took place more than 60 years after Rev. Billy Graham shared the gospel in the capital of Addis Ababa.
"I am so grateful for each and every one who has come. My father Billy Graham was here 65 years ago to this very day," Graham told the crowd on Saturday. "He loved the people of Ethiopia."
He continued, "If you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I'm going to give you an opportunity tonight. God loves you, but our sins separate us from God. All of us have sinned. Every one of us is guilty, we have fallen short of God's standards. But God so loved Ethiopia, He sent His Son from heaven to save Ethiopia. And tonight He will save you if you repent and believe on the Name of His Son, Jesus Christ."
On the first night, 117,000 people attended and on the second night 320,000 were in attendance.
"The square was so full, thousands of people spilled into the nearby streets to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ," reads a BGEA press release.
The ministry reports that 4,000 people made decisions for Christ and many of these new believers will be discipled by local churches to help them grow in their walk with the Lord, BGEA reports.
"I have no words to express my heart. My eyes were full of tears to see so many people respond to the good news that was preached. This is what we wanted—we have been praying many years for a moment such as this," Rev. Dereje Jemberu, general secretary of the Ethiopian Council of Gospel Believers Churches, told the ministry.
"I thank God for what He is doing in Ethiopia and what He has done this weekend. This has helped encourage and motivate evangelical churches to continue to work together to understand one another and to organize activities to reach as many people as possible with the hope of Jesus Christ," he added.
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