500 CHURCHES UNITE FOR FESTIVAL OF HOPE

500 HAITIAN CHURCHES UNITE FOR FESTIVAL OF HOPE
(PitchEngine) - Source - Billy Graham Evangelistic Association

Marking One Year Since the Devastating Earthquake, Evangelist and Relief Worker Franklin Graham Leads January 9 Event

PORT-AU-PRINCE - Through his aid organization Samaritan’s Purse, Franklin Graham has spearheaded $30 million in relief efforts for Haiti - and now Graham has been invited by churches in the battered nation to lead a Festival of Hope on January 9.

“It’s very important right now, the message of hope. The people of Haiti need hope,” said local pastor Vladimir, who Iost his wife and daughter in the earthquake. “That’s the reason why it’s important to have the festival. Not only a festival but a festival of hope.”

More than 500 local Haitian churches have come together for one common purpose: to remind their neighbors, friends and families that hope is not lost. They have asked Graham to deliver the Gospel message of God’s unconditional love for the people of Haiti.

WHEN: Sunday, Jan. 9 at 2:30 p.m. (doors open at 1 p.m.)

WHERE: National Soccer StadiumWHO: Franklin Graham and music by Michael W. Smith, LeCrae, the Tommy Coomes Band and Dennis Agajanian

The event will stream live Sunday, Jan. 9 at 1:30 p.m. ET on
www.billygraham.org/HaitiLive.

In addition to covering all the costs of the event, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) is using businesses in Haiti for all logistical and production needs to support the local economy.

Both the BGEA and Samaritan’s Purse have been working on the ground since the initial disaster providing both spiritual and physical relief.

The BGEA has responded to the crisis in Haiti by sending chaplains to help victims deal with their emotional and spiritual stress. Trained chaplains have comforted and prayed with more than 17,000 people that have lost friends and loved ones or been injured by the earthquake. The organization has also held five training sessions to equip local churches for outreach.

Samaritan’s Purse has responded by providing: transitional housing for 10,030 homeless families, 36 community water filters each providing 10,000 gallons of clean water a day, 8,882 metric tons of food, 850 latrines, 14 shiploads of relief cargo, and 35 chartered relief flights. In recent weeks with the outbreak of cholera, Samaritan’s Purse medical teams have treated more than 6,500 patients.

Franklin Graham has visited Haiti several times in the past year, including a trip in December to hand-deliver shoe box gifts to needy children. A project of Samaritan’s Purse, Operation Christmas Child is giving 250,000 shoe box gifts to poor and neglected children in Haiti.