19,700 Attend Three-Day Event on the Campus of Auburn University

Contact: Erik Ogren, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, 704-577-2109, eogren@bgea.org  

AUBURN, Ala., March 29 /Standard Newswire/ -- The East Alabama West Georgia Will Graham Celebration reached a crescendo last night as Will Graham, alongside some of the top bands in Christian music, presented the Gospel at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum on the campus of Auburn University. A total of 19,700 people attended the three-day event -- the most ever for a Will Graham Celebration -- including the Sunday night overflow crowd of 12,000. More than 795 came forward at the invitation to surrender their lives to Jesus Christ.
 
Throughout the weekend, Will challenged the audience to look at eternity. "Some of you are out there thinking, 'I'm going to do some good things, and hopefully they'll outweigh the bad things and I'll get to Heaven.' My friends, nothing can be further from the truth," he shared from the stage. "Truth is not an idea. Truth is a person; the person of Jesus Christ."

Will was joined on stage by a variety of Christian musical artists, including hip hop artists Trip Lee and Canton Jones, southern rock band DecembeRadio, country music legends Diamond Rio, and two 2010 Dove Award nominees for Artist of the Year: Skillet and TobyMac. Matthew West, who has the most played songs on Christian radio in 2008 and 2009, performed every evening. Matthew came to know Jesus at the age of 13 through the preaching of Will's grandfather, Billy Graham.

On Saturday afternoon a special program for children, called KidzFest!, featured musical group GoFish and speaker Tommy Toombs.

"I've had friends from Columbus, Ga., to Birmingham, Ala., who have told me that their faith has been impacted and deepened by Will's messages and the words and music of the artists," said Banks Herndon, the chairman of the local Celebration executive committee. "Nearly everyone I've spoken with has said that the most powerful part of the services was seeing firsthand hundreds of children, students and adults respond to Will's invitation to let Christ become the Master of their lives."

Rev. Clifford Jones, pastor of Greater Peace Missionary Baptist Church and the chairman of the Celebration's pastor's committee, added, "Almost two years ago we started on this journey, and as we traveled on our way God has done a marvelous work in this city. God has brought together churches, denominations and ethnicities, and we continue to work together today. This is just the beginning."

As Will prepared to return home to the mountains of North Carolina, he said, "It's my prayer that those who came forward these past few days will ultimately change Auburn, Lee County and beyond. This has been a blessed weekend."

More information on the East Alabama West Georgia Will Graham Celebration can be found at www.willgrahamcelebrations.com and www.billygraham.org.

About Will Graham: Will is the third generation of Grahams to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ under the banner of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Will is the grandson of Billy Graham and the oldest son of Franklin Graham. Since beginning his evangelistic ministry with youth-oriented, one-day events in Canada, Will has spoken to audiences across North America, Australia, India and other parts of Asia and South America.