Billy Graham TV Program Welcomes Christmas with Vintage Clips, Ministry Highlights
by Staff
December 1, 2009
CHARLOTTE, (christiansunite.com) -- Classic and contemporary combine as the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) welcomes the Christmas season with a television program focusing on the birth of Christ and a look back at 2009 ministry efforts. The program is airing now through Christmas on national Christian cable television networks.The program will celebrate Christmas with encouraging words and a Bible reading from Franklin Graham, along with timeless nostalgic clips of Christmases-gone-by with Billy Graham. "We open our packages and we sing together and we watch the excitement on the faces of our children," Billy Graham says in a black-and-white clip from 1952. "But at the same time, Christ is at the very center of all our Christmas celebration."
The program also looks back at 2009 and highlights three of the key BGEA outreaches. The first ministry featured is the Rock the River Tour, the teen-focused series of evangelistic concerts that took place along the Mississippi River in July and August with artists like Flyleaf, Kirk Franklin, Red, Skillet and Lecrae, combined with challenging messages from Franklin Graham.
The program then takes a looks at the ministry of the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team, the network of crisis-trained chaplains who deploy into disaster areas to appropriately offer love and hope in the midst of tragedy. The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team recently wrapped up a deployment to Georgia after rainstorms flooded entire neighborhoods. Chaplains have comforted and prayed with more than 1,600 homeowners in the area north of Atlanta following the floods.
The final ministry spotlighted is My Hope World Evangelism Through Television, through which more than nine million people have come to know Jesus Christ. My Hope combines grassroots relationships and nationwide TV broadcasts to reach entire countries with the Gospel. It has been implemented in more than 40 countries since 2002 and will take place in two more nations in December.
The program also introduces the latest BGEA Web site, www.ransom.tv, a portal geared toward youth that will feature Christian music artists, athletes and others sharing with teens what Christmas used to mean to them before they found Christ, and what it means to them today. The site will go live Sunday, December 6.
To view the program online, and to find dates, times and networks for program airings, visit www.billygraham.org/tv.
About BGEA
The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) proclaims the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ throughout the world by every effective means available. From its headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., BGEA directs a wide range of domestic and international evangelism ministries, including: large- scale festivals led by evangelists Franklin Graham and Will Graham; Dare to Be a Daniel, a youth evangelism training project; My Hope World Evangelism Through Television; the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team, offering the hope of Jesus Christ in the midst of tragedy; and many others through print, television, telephone, radio and the Internet. For more information, please visit www.billygraham.org and twitter.com/BGEAMediaPR.
