Free, Family-Friendly Events to be held in March 2012 in Gainesville and Terrell

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

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 21, 2011 /Standard Newswire/ -- The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) announced this week that two Will Graham Celebrations will take place in Texas on back-to-back weekends in March 2012. The Red River Will Graham Celebration will be held at Gainesville High School in Gainesville, Texas, on March 16-18, and the Trinity Valley Will Graham Celebration will take place the following weekend, March 23-25, in Terrell, Texas, at the Terrell ISD Performing Arts Center.

"I know that God will do amazing things across the region over the coming months as the churches partner together and collectively pray and work toward these events," said Graham, who visited both cities earlier this week for launch events attended by pastors and church leaders.

"It will be an exciting time to bring churches and civic groups together as a unified body to bring about spiritual renewal in our community," said Johnny Leftwich, who will serve as the chairman of the Celebration General Committee for the Red River Will Graham Celebration. "I believe you will see a unity of our churches and community from combining their efforts resulting in changed lives for the glory of the Lord."

His enthusiasm was echoed by his counterpart in Terrell. Dena Risinger, chairwoman of the Celebration General Committee for the Trinity Valley Will Graham Celebration, said, "I can see God's hand at work every step of the way, and I cannot wait to see what He has in store during the journey and at the destination point."

All Celebration programs will be free and open to the public, and will feature music from top Christian artists and challenging and inspiring messages from Graham.

The Red River and Trinity Valley Will Graham Celebrations will mark a return to the Dallas area nearly four years after Graham held a multi-day outreach in Burleson, Texas, south of Fort Worth. More than 16,000 attended the Greater Johnson County Will Graham Celebration at Burleson High School in May 2008. Graham's most recent U.S. Celebration took place in Ocean Grove, N.J. in May 2011, with 13,871 attending the three-day Jersey Shore Will Graham Celebration.

Will Graham is the third generation of Grahams to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ under the banner of the BGEA. Will is the grandson of Billy Graham and the oldest son of Franklin Graham, and has spoken on six continents. Thus far in 2011 he has held multi-day outreaches in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Philippines and Kenya. Follow Graham on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/WillGraham4 and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TellaGraham.

For more information, please visit www.billygraham.org. Get BGEA news updates on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/BGEAnews.