Ghana’s President Joins Franklin Graham at Festival in Accra

26,500 Attend Ghana Jesus Festival at Accra Sports Stadium

ACCRA, Ghana, April 30, 2012—More than 1,250 churches of various denominations and some 5,500 local volunteers joined together with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association this weekend for the culmination of a year of work in the Accra area preparing for the Ghana Jesus Festival with Franklin Graham. The first evening of the event included a visit from Ghana's president, John Evans Atta Mills, who joined Franklin Graham on the stage and welcomed the crowd.

Local pastors said that having so many churches working together from different denominations was unprecedented in Ghana. During the festival, April 28-29, the Ghana Jesus Festival with Franklin Graham drew 26,500 people with 2,436 responding to Graham's invitation to commit their lives to Jesus Christ.

"Here in Ghana we have had many churches coming together, mobilizing, praying for months for their neighbors," said Graham. "We believe this will have a tremendous impact on the city."

In addition to the many people who worked directly with the festival, more than 16,000 people completed the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s Christian Life and Witness training classes.

Since 1989, Franklin Graham has held an average of seven Festivals each year as an evangelist for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

Graham's 2012 festival schedule includes events in Sendai, Japan (March 2-4); Accra, Ghana (April 28-29); Budapest, Hungary (June 1-3); Riga, Latvia (June 9); Rochester, N.Y. (June 16-17); Green Bay, Wisc. (Aug. 18-19); Buffalo, N.Y. (Sept. 22-23); and Ottawa, Canada (Sept. 29-30).

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