More than 10,000 people in Cambodia chose to spend their Saturday evening at the Love Phnom Penh Festival with Franklin Graham. People traveled across the capital city and surrounding provinces to attend night one of the two-day outreach.
Vans like these helped transport people from remote regions to the event. This particular group drove more than two hours to get to the center of Phnom Penh, where the Festival was held.
Smiles didn't leave the faces of many Festival attendees as they sang, danced and prayed together.
During such a picturesque evening, it's hard to imagine Cambodia's painful past. Over the last 50 years, the country has weathered war, genocide and various power struggles. Pictured is a memorial from the infamous genocide in the 1970s, when nearly a quarter of the population was killed.
Many in this mostly Buddhist country believe suffering is inevitable. Franklin Graham brought a different message, a message of good news. “Did you know God has a plan for your life?” he asked the crowd Saturday night.
Earlier in the day, Graham visited a local church to deliver Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes to excited children aged 2-14. The hand-packed gifts came from believers all over the world who want young people to experience the love of Christ.
Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) staff and volunteers have been praying over this Gospel opportunity for months. As the Festival began under blue skies Saturday, God's hand in the evangelistic event was evident.
Dancers from the Khmer Inheritance Artists Association brought cultural flavor to the Festival stage.
A talented lineup of Cambodian and American musicians, including national favorite Jimmy Kiss, helped soften hearts for the Gospel message.
“Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.” —Psalm 141:2
For his first sermon of the weekend, Franklin Graham related the Biblical story of the Prodigal Son to his own faith journey. “We have a vacuum inside us, and that vacuum can only be filled by God Himself,” he explained.
The powerful message, straight from God's Word, held the large audience captive.
