Luis Palau last week spoke in Marseilles, at the biggest gathering of evangelical pastors in the Provence region of France for over 25 years.

Church leaders from across the denominational spectrum came together to put their enthusiastic seal of approval on the Festival Season of Service that will take place in France's second largest city next May.

In a part of Europe not renowned for church unity, nearly 200 pastors came when organisers had originally hoped for a maximum of 120.

Luis Palau and his son Andrew have pioneered this “Festival” model of region-wide evangelism across the world over the last ten years, from North and South America to Africa and Europe.

Luis was involved in a Festival in the Highlands of Scotland last June and Andrew has just completed an outreach across southern England. This will be the first time the “Festival” evangelistic model will take place in France.

Festivals combine Gospel presentations in the open air with entertainment from professional Christian musicians, including classical, rock and roll and dance acts. Aimed specifically at family audiences, young people in particular are attracted by the high octane extreme sports demonstrations from professional BMX bikers and skateboarders. In addition, local churches are encouraged to reach out to serve their local communities in highly practical ways as part of the Season of Service that takes place in the weeks leading up to the mission.

Nigel Gordon of the Luis Palau Association said: “France is well known for being at best somewhat indifferent to the Gospel. However, Luis has always had a great heart for the French people, and the enthusiastic response of local pastors from across a wide denominational spectrum is an answer to prayer and is very encouraging for the future.

“We therefore hope and expect that Marseilles/Provence Season of Service and Festival 2011 will be a huge success.”