Celebration of Hope 2008
"The excitement does not stop there…this is only the beginning."
So who would have thought that the first weekend in April 2008 would see nearly 2500 people commit their lives to Christ in one event?! Well that is exactly what happened at the Odyssey in Belfast at the Franklin Graham ‘Celebration of Hope’. We saw over 30,000 people come from all over Northern Ireland to hear Franklin Graham preach the Gospel message of Hope.
The past 10 months has seen 400 Churches working together in planning and praying for Celebration of Hope through ‘Operation Andrew’. Many Christians committed themselves to pray for their non-Christian friends and family to come to know Jesus as their Saviour and hopefully bring them to the event. The event was solely for the purposes of those people to hear a Gospel message being preached by Franklin Graham.
Music was provided by international artists Tree 63 and 29th Chapter, and local musicians Robin Mark, Keith and Kristyn Getty and the Ian Hannah Band. Amongst the excitement of musical artists we saw Ireland rugby star, Andrew Trimble and NI international football star, Stuart Elliott give their testimonies.
Of the 2500 people giving their lives over to Christ that weekend, 1100 of those were young people that stepped forward at the youth night on Saturday. It was an awesome privilege for me to sit on stage that evening and watch as they took their first step in their faith to come to the front of the arena.
The whole weekend was full of excitement and what an awesome experience it must have been for many Christians who were sitting beside the people they had been praying for knowing that they had heard the Good News of Jesus Christ. Not only that but for so many to watch as their loved ones walked up to the front of the arena and commit their lives to Christ must have been a moment that they will never forget.
The excitement does not stop there…this is only the beginning. It is now over to the Churches to disciple those people who made a step of faith over that weekend and for the rest of us to pray that they will continue this amazing journey that they have just begun.
Laura Bush
