Originally published in Christian Post
Will Graham, the grandson of well-known evangelist Billy Graham, says that his grandfather is preparing hard for likely his last sermon in November and has started filming for “My Hope America with Billy Graham.”
“This is so exciting for me as a grandson to see my granddaddy end well. He can’t see well; he can’t hear well. So it’s hard for him to study the Bible,” Will Graham told The Christian Post last week. “So he’s trying to memorize and get things just right for the few minutes he will be before the camera.”
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“My Hope America with Billy Graham” is a massive nationwide evangelistic effort to take place throughout November (Billy Graham turns 95 on Nov. 7) in which Christians will invite their neighbors and friends who don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ to their home for a meal and invite them to watch the TV broadcast of “My Hope America with Billy Graham,” or the DVD version where Billy Graham will share his new message.
After the message, Christians can share their personal testimony about how Jesus gave them hope and what He is doing in their life today, and lastly they will ask their friends if they want to make a decision to receive Jesus Christ. In addition to the TV and DVD version of “My Hope America with Billy Graham,” people can also watch it on their laptop as well as their mobile devices.
According to Graham, his grandfather has done a “fair amount of filming” and will be doing more in the next few months. “We’ll usually shoot about 20 minutes of him at a time, and out of that will come his sermon,” he says.
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World evangelism through TV
The “My Hope” project began in 2002 with the goal to do world evangelism through television. Instead of Billy Graham delivering the Gospel message to a stadium full of people, he would be broadcasted on national television or be shown on DVD in people’s homes and be able to reach millions of people. The first Mi Esperanza (My Hope) project took place in El Salvador in 2002, with more than 60,000 Operation Matthew house parties taking place.
My Hope calls on Christians to become a “Matthew” and host a viewing party for the Billy Graham message. Like Apostle Matthew invited people into his home to meet Jesus (Matthew 9:9-10), Christians around the world can also invite their friends and family into their homes to hear the Gospel message.
The My Hope television outreach has taken place in Costa Rica, Honduras, Russia, Venezuela, Columbia, Bolivia, Peru, Argentina, Moldova, India, Mexico, Philippines, Singapore, Brazil, Thailand, Haiti, Spain, Portugal, Zambia, among others.
According to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, My Hope has reached 57 countries to date, and more than 10 million people have chosen to accept Jesus Christ as a result of the project. Each person who makes a decision through My Hope fills out a response card, and they receive encouragement and discipleship through the host family under the leadership of a local pastor, and are integrated into a local church. Nearly 300,000 churches worldwide have participated in My Hope.
This November will be the first time My Hope will be brought to North America, with the event aimed at reaching people living in the United States and Canada.
“Ever since my granddaddy’s last public Crusade in New York City in 2005, he’s had a burden to preach one more message to America,” said Will Graham to CP. “He cares so deeply about people and he wants to see them know Jesus.”
Billy Graham’s latest book, Nearing Home: Life, Faith, and Finishing Well, released in October 2011, was a reflective guide on growing older with grace and finding God’s purpose as one ages. Will Graham sees the My Hope with Billy Graham event in November as another effort by his grandfather to “end well” and preach the Gospel as long as he can.
