After months of preparation, the Festival of Hope (Festival de Esperanza) with Franklin Graham will take place this Friday and Saturday in Cúcuta, Colombia.
Once considered a "forgotten city" compared to Colombia’s larger metropolitan areas, Cúcuta's population of 750,000 has recently swelled to an estimated 1 million with the influx of migrants from Venezuela.
Thousands of men, women and children from Venezuela have been forced to start a new life in the Colombian city, which sits less than four miles from the border. After fleeing economic and political turmoil, many migrants own little more than the clothes on their backs.
With the participation of hundreds of churches and thousands of believers across the region, the Festival of Hope was organized in just six months—half the time it usually takes to prepare for an evangelistic outreach of its size.
During a visit to the border late last year, Franklin Graham witnessed the crisis firsthand and was moved by the plight of the people in the region. At the invitation of Colombian believers, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association started planning a multi-day evangelistic event featuring live music and the Good News of Jesus Christ.
The soccer stadium where the event will be held this weekend can seat tens of thousands of people who need to hear about the God who knows and loves them.
“Will you pray, with urgency, for the many more people in and around Cúcuta—residents and refugees—who desperately need the lasting hope and transforming power of the Gospel?” asked Franklin Graham.
