After 12 months of preparation and prayer, churches in Mexico City are ready—and waiting.
This weekend, Franklin Graham will proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Mexico City at the Esperanza CDMX Festival (February 17-18)—just over a year after more than 52,000 people from across this great metropolis heard the Good News.
So why is he returning? In a metro area of more than 22 million people, so many more still need to hear of God’s love. Churches have embraced this evangelistic outreach with a passion, and they are eagerly waiting to see what God will do this time.
In the 12 months since the previous event, local churches have welcomed new believers, walking alongside them every step of the way through the ups and downs of their new life in Christ.
And while discipling and encouraging those new believers, they have not stopped sharing the message of Christ’s love with others.
In fact, churches need more than 900 buses—to bring friends and family members who don’t know Jesus Christ as their Savior—to the two-night Esparanza CDMX Festival at Palacio de los Deportes.
One of those buses will come from the church Bajo la nube de su presencia (Under the cloud of His presence), where Leticia serves in leadership.
When Leticia and her husband heard that the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) was bringing evangelism classes to local churches, she didn’t realize her modest church on the outskirts of the city would be considered to host a training.
But she—and her small congregation—were overjoyed to learn that BGEA would bring the Christian Life and Witness training to their church. They committed to utilize the training and begin sharing the Gospel with family and friends in their area.
“We really encouraged the members to embrace the vision,” Leticia shared. “We told them, ‘God is going to do it. You just have to set your heart to be used by God, because the one who does the work of convicting people is the Holy Spirit.’
“We set out to invite people from our community. We started to seek fellowship with people, to invite them for coffee.”
Over the past year, Leticia’s church has been discipling those who responded to Franklin Graham’s invitation at the 2023 Festival, as well as many others from their community.
“Before last year’s Esperanza Festival we were 30 or 40 people. Now some Sundays we have 120 people in the service,” Leticia said. “We have been walking with them, praying with them, helping them to grow in the Lord.”
Many other churches in Mexico City have testified to what God is doing as the church unites in prayer and goes outside its four walls to share Jesus Christ with a world thirsting for hope.
“The churches are very motivated because they saw the impact of last year’s Festival,” said Chris Swanson, senior director of Crusades and Development in Latin America. “They saw that this is an opportunity for Biblical church growth.”
And since Leticia already saw what God is able to do, she has no doubt that the Lord will do a mighty work during and after the upcoming Festival.
“Our plan is to do the same: to continue to share the Gospel at every opportunity and invite many to the Esperanza Festival,” she said. “This year we resolved to fill the bus only with new people, and we are organizing for those of us who are already in the church to go in cars.”
