This Friday kicks off the Greater Birmingham Festival of Hope with Franklin Graham. Read about the man local leaders say initiated the three-day event and how it came about.
Rising 180 feet in the air, Vulcan is one of the most recognizable features of the Birmingham, Alabama, landscape, and at over 100,000 pounds, the largest cast iron statue in the world.
With a hammer in one hand and spear in the other, Vulcan—named after the Roman god of fire and forge—is a symbol of Birmingham’s industrial roots in iron and steel. But this weekend, many locals are hoping the one true God will give the city an even greater foundation to build upon.
“I was wondering what the city could do to display unity. What would it be that we could rally around? And of course I couldn’t think of anything better than the Gospel itself.”
That’s Dr. Mike McLemore, who moved to Birmingham in 1974 after serving four years in the Air Force. Now, as executive director of the Birmingham Baptist Association, he’s serving as a co-leader for the Greater Birmingham Festival of Hope with Franklin Graham happening Friday through Sunday.
In just a couple of days, McLemore will see the answer to a prayer he began over a decade ago. That’s about the time he started joining around two dozen pastors each month to pray for revival and unity in Birmingham—that people would come to know Jesus Christ not only in their heads but in their hearts.
“The only way you’re going to see people change is to have a change of heart,” he said.
He knows and loves the city, but, like many who have lived there a long time, recognizes that some of its historical prejudices are still alive today.
“Birmingham is becoming a melting pot of a lot of groups,” he said, adding that the city has a growing black, Asian and Hispanic population.
Everyone has their biases, he continued, but with Christ, those biases can be overcome.
Over the years, the monthly prayer meetings with area pastors have also started including prayer for local churches, that all denominations will work together.
“We’re praying not only for unity among cultures, but also among the body of Christ,” McLemore said.
Those prayer meetings began in a room near the Vulcan statue, and in late 2013—as the city celebrated 50 years since the Civil Rights Movement, McLemore walked out to the foot of the statue, overlooking the city, to pray some more.
“I knelt down and just cried out to the Lord. We had been praying for revival for so long,” he said. He was ready for something big.
McLemore reached out to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association to ask about hosting a Franklin Graham Festival in his city—the same city where Billy Graham first preached in 1964, five months after a church bombing that killed four African-American girls.
While the city is still dealing with some level of mistrust among different cultures, McLemore said, “so much progress has been made over the last 50 years.” His prayer now is that people will put their trust in Christ, who can transform the community one by one.
After 10 years of praying for a revival in Birmingham, McLemore said now is the time.
“The environment is just ready and ripe for the Festival. This can be a catalyst for a lot of things that we feel like will happen even after the Festival is over. And it won’t ever really be over. … This could be a great spark in Alabama.”
You can watch the Greater Birmingham Festival of Hope live from Bartow Arena Friday-Sunday at BillyGraham.org/Live. Watch online at 7:30 p.m. ET Friday, 6:30 p.m. ET Saturday and 5:30 p.m. ET Sunday.
