|PIC1|After visiting the U.S. Gulf Coast five times in relief efforts since Hurricane Katrina's landfall last year, evangelist Franklin Graham will be providing a spiritual anchor of hope for the storm victims this weekend.

Picking up the pace after his father Billy Graham said farewell at his final evangelistic crusade in New York, Franklin is making no pause this year to spread the message of hope. Just coming out of his first major festival in Asia, Franklin Graham is now headed to the New Orleans Arena where thousands of the Katrina-affected population will attend the Celebration of Hope on Mar. 11-12.

An added word of encouragement will also come from 87-year-old Billy Graham, if health permits, for those in the Gulf States.

More than 215 churches, many of which have opened their doors to provide relief and support, have joined in a larger effort to offer the acceptance of Jesus Christ to the tens of thousands who have lost virtually everything.

The New Orleans festival follows Franklin Graham's largest festival ever in Manila, Philippines this past month. At least 317,600 people attended the Metro Manila Franklin Graham Festival. Although the Asian land was familiar to the evangelist who has done continuous aid work with the evangelical aid organisation Samaritan's Purse, it was Graham's first evangelistic event in Asia.

|AD|"I’ve been all across Asia for our aid work with Samaritan's Purse, and I've always loved the people in this part of the world," said Graham in a released statement.

In December 2004, Samaritan's Purse responded to an urgent call from churches after a massive typhoon killed more than 1,000, by building more than 100 homes in the Philippines.

"It’s a new beginning for so many lives and for partnership and ministry as we look to other events in Asia in the near future," he said.

Following a similar slate of aid work and a Festival of Hope, this weekend's event comes after the aid agency assisted more than 7,000 families and homes and provided US$38 million in aid work.

The festival will feature top Christian artists including Point of Grace, George Huff, Nicole C. Mullen and Ricky Skaggs. Pre-festival events will begin Wednesday with a visit to the devastated areas, possibly with Billy Graham.

The Celebration of Hope festival is the second of eight Franklin Graham festivals scheduled for 2006.





Audrey Barrick
audrey@christianpost.com