Franklin Graham Kicks Off 2007 Festivals in Panama

|PIC1|Evangelist Franklin Graham kicks off an ambitious preaching schedule this year with a three-day festival in Panama today.

This is the first time Graham will be holding his world-renowned evangelistic festival in the Central American country and, so far, the weather is treating the Graham team well. The days are hot and the evenings are like spring-time weather, according to Graham's spokesperson Jeremy Blume.

With the support of 747 area churches, Graham, 54, is scheduled to preach the gospel for the next three nights at Estadio Nacional de Panama (National Stadium in Panama), which seats nearly 30,000 people. He will be accompanied by musical artists Marcos Witt, Marcos Vidal and Crystal Lewis.

Loads of buses are expected to transport people to hear a message of hope.

More than 673,645 people heard the good news at festivals held last year. Ecuador saw its largest outreach ever with more than 140,000 people and Graham plans to go back to the South American land in August this year.

Other cities Graham is scheduled to preach at this year are Norfolk, Va.; Binghamton, N.Y.; Kiev, Ukraine; Busan, Korea; Tacoma, Wash.; and Hong Kong.

Last week, the evangelist, who took over the reigns of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association when his father Billy Graham retired, met with Sudan's Muslim president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir. It was his second meeting with the Sudanese president and he continued his effort to evangelize Bashir.

While crediting Bashir in his efforts for peace in war-torn Sudan, Graham pushed for religious freedom to allow Christians in north Sudan to build churches.

The Franklin Graham Festival of Hope Panama is scheduled for Feb. 22-24.