Huge Crowds Gather for Franklin Graham Festival in Moldova

Tens of thousands packed the National Stadium in Chisinau, capital of Moldova, for the three-day Franklin Graham Festival of Hope.

A total of 93,907 people attended the Festival, previously unimaginable in a country where just 15 years ago Christians were imprisoned by the Communist regime for practicing their faith. By the last night of the Festival, 6,920 people had accepted the invitation to put their faith in Jesus Christ.

In total more than 700 churches and 3,700 volunteers from across the denominational spectrum took part in the Festival, with translators brought in to translate the message specially into Romanian and Russian, the two majority languages of Moldova.

The Festival is one of the largest religious events to have taken place in Moldova, with crowds each night exceeding expectation, with some people travelling up to four hours to reach the Stadium. More than 1,200 buses and trains were mobilised specially to transport people from remote areas of the country to and from the event.

Franklin, who came to Moldova at the behest of pastors, leaders, and churches, said: "Years ago I drove to the border of this country, looked through the heavily guarded gate, and prayed that one day you would be free and I would have an opportunity to come back."

He continued: "Now I am here with tens of thousands of you, and this is a free nation, but I want you to have a spiritual freedom found in the hope and love of Jesus Christ."

The Festival included performances by local artists, as well as international, including John and Anne Barbour from the U.S. performing in both English and Romanian, and award-winning guitarist Dennis Agajanian. A 2,000 strong choir added to the list of musicians from Moldova, Belarus, Ukraine, Italy, and Romania.

The success of the event has led to some 40 leaders in Eastern Europe extending their own invitations for Graham to hold Festivals in their countries too. The next Festival in the region will not be until Kiev, Ukraine, in 2007.

Festivals planned for later this year are Corpus Christi, Texas, from 19 – 21 August, and Shreveport, Louisiana, from 11 – 13 November.