In Wake of Devastating Flooding Festival Brings Hope to Mexican State of Tabasco

112,000 Join Franklin Graham for Festival de Esperanza in Villahermosa

VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico, June 9, 2008—Flooding washed across Tabasco, leaving nearly 80 percent of the Mexican state under water last fall.  A reported 20,000 people were forced to seek emergency shelter, and more than a million were impacted in some way by the massive flooding as people lost homes, belongings, and livelihoods.  This weekend it wasn't water, but a flood of people that came to Parque Tabasco in Villahermosa - as 112,000 joined Franklin Graham for a Festival of Hope.

"Last October, we all were watching and praying as the floods came.  Today I had a chance to visit some people who are still in tents, whose homes were lost and have not been rebuilt.  We are praying for you and the government of Mexico," said Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.  "Maybe you feel tonight that God doesn't love you, that you're little in God's eyes.  I'm here tonight to tell you that you're important to God.  I want you to know that God loves you.  He loves you, and He loves Tabasco.  Christ died for all of Mexico."

During the three-day event, 9,492 people responded to Graham's invitation to make a commitment to Jesus Christ. On Saturday morning,31,000 kids packed Parque Tabasco for "Festiniños," a program of fun drama and music that teaches children about God's love, where 4,374 children and parents responded to the invitation to follow Jesus Christ.

Thousands of volunteers and 890 area churches partnered with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association to hold the event.  Each night, crowds heard Graham's message about hope and forgiveness, along with energetic Latin music by local and international artists, including Spaniard Marcos Vidal, Lilly Goodman from the Dominican Republic, Panama's Jaime Murell, guitarist Dennis Agajanian with the Gutierrez brothers and the California-based Tommy Coomes Band.
 
Earlier in the week, Graham, who also heads the international Christian relief organization Samaritan's Purse, helped hand out gift-filled shoe boxes collected by their Operation Christmas Child project to underprivileged children who have been living in tents and temporary shelters with their families since losing their homes in the disaster.  This was just one element of the Samaritan's Purse relief efforts in and around Villahermosa since that time to help flood victims. The organization has also delivered tons of relief supplies to China and Myanmar and has disaster teams on the ground in both countries.

Earlier this year Graham held Festivals Belfast, Northern Ireland and Knoxville, Tenn.  Upcoming events will be held in Timisoara, Romania (July 4-6); Charleston, S.C. (Sept. 19-21); and Taipei, Taiwan (Oct. 30-Nov. 2).

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