USA (MNN) — The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association is getting ready to celebrate a milestone. Their next television special chronicles the organization's early years, emphasizes the millions of touched lives and highlights its global impact today. The program began airing Sept. 20 on national Christian networks.
"My father was always willing to go anywhere, anytime, any place to preach the Gospel, and we are still doing that," Franklin Graham says in the program. "Everything that we do at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association is geared around taking this Gospel message to the ends of the earth."
The television special features rare footage from Billy Graham's historic visits to preach the Gospel in communist countries in Eastern Europe, along with audio and video from the ministry's earliest national radio and television broadcasts.
The program also follows the moving story of Monica Stuparu, a young woman who responded to the Gospel message when Billy Graham preached in Timisoara, Romania in 1985. Monica's commitment to Jesus Christ and her decision not to renounce it put her at risk of persecution, including the threat of losing her job. Twenty-three years later, BGEA returned to Romania for a Franklin Graham Festival, and Monica served as a counselor, leading several others who came forward at the invitation to receive Jesus Christ.
"Now, thinking back, I realize that God wanted me to be there, to participate in that divine service," said Stuparu of the 1985 Crusade.
Today, in addition to the large-scale gatherings, BGEA serves domestically and around the world by training Christians in various countries in relational evangelism, offering hope and comfort to those in crisis situations, reaching young people with music and a message to which they can relate, and more. The television special gives an overview of how God has used BGEA since its inception in 1950, and how He is working today through these dynamic ministries to reach people in the 21st century.
To watch the program online or to find air dates, click on the link at the top of our MNN homepage.
