Franklin Graham Draws Surprising Turnout in Japan

A large turnout at Franklin Graham's first evangelistic festival in Japan astonished local pastors who had invited the evangelist.

|PIC1|Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, returned to the States Tuesday from the three-day weekend festival that drew 30,792 people to the Chatan Sports Complex in Okinawa - the southernmost prefecture where much of the United States military bases in Japan are concentrated.

Okinawa is reported to have 13 US military bases with 150,000 American citizens living on the island. Leading up to the festival, hundreds of Christians opposed the evangelistic event on account of Graham's support for the war in Iraq, according to Ecumenical News International. US troops were dispatched to Iraq from Okinawa Island.

"We think that joining the festival and saying 'Amen' to his message as 'the word of God' would constitute an act that supports the American war on Iraq," the opponents of Graham's festival said in a 31 October statement addressed to the chairperson of the festival's executive committee, the Rev Mamoru Kuniyoshi.

Nevertheless, the Graham festival surprised local organisers when tens of thousands showed up over the weekend and more than 1,942 people responded to the invitation to put their faith in Jesus Christ. The surprise also came in the context of the country being only 1 per cent Christian and the average church having only about 40 members. Most are either Shinto or Buddhist.

With more than 130 participating churches from various denominations, the festival marked the first time that local Okinawa churches and international and English speaking churches joined together for such an event.

Although this was Graham's first time holding a festival in Japan, the event was tailored specifically for the Japanese community through such children's programmes as Kids Quest and a family festival and local music artists. Graham's message of Jesus Christ was also impressed upon the Japanese over the three nights.

Upon visiting the Peace Memorial at the site of the Battle of Okinawa - one of World War II's bloodiest battles - Graham commented, "Seeing more than 200,000 civilian and military names written in stone at the Peace Memorial here is an overwhelming experience."

"Peace has since come to Okinawa, but I'm here to talk about an eternal peace that we all can have in our hearts through Jesus Christ," said Graham with hopes of bringing the gospel message to both the Japanese and US military personnel on the island.

The Japan Festival was Graham's final evangelistic event of the year. Next year's festivals are already being planned for in Hong Kong, Korea, Ecuador, Panama, Ukraine, Binghamton, New York, Tacoma, Washington, and Norfolk, Virginia.