A Kürt, 1989 (9. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1989-05-01 / 5-6. szám
1989. május—június 11. oldal In what will be a first in eastern Europe, Billy Graham will preach the Gospel in The Peoples Stadium, a 75,000-seat public outdoor stadium in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday evening, July 29. With all the churches cooperating, and with permission from the government leaders, this invitation has been offered and accepted with the same opportunities for ministry that occur in Mr. Graham’s meetings throughout the world. • Special.trains and buses will be added to the systems that will handle the influx of people, not only from Budapest but from throughout the country. As people make plans to attend, many will be coming great distances because thay have all day Saturday to travel. • A number of days prior to the meeting a panel discussion of Hungarian church leaders, state officials and representatives of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association will be aired on Hungarian television so that the people will learn more about Mr. Graham, his message and his worldwide evangelistic ministry. • A Hungarian television interviewer is coming to the United States to prepare a special video interview with Mr. Graham, which will be shown on Hungarian television. • A press conference will be held in Budapest in which Mr. Graham will be interviewed by Hungarian and foreign press from the East and the West. • During his time in Hungary, Billy Graham will have meetings with ranking church leaders and state officials. • Announcements will be published in church and secular newspapers about the evangelistic meeting in The Peoples Stadium. • Posters will be placed in public places throughout the country, informing people of the time, the place and the purpose of this evangelistic opportunity. • Choir members from churches of many denominations will come together as a large choir at the stadium meeting. • Counselors will be trained, Operation Andrew will be encouraged, and prayer meetings will be planned for maximum impact of the Gospel. • Persons responding to the invitation to receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord will be counseled by believers who have taken the training classes, and each inquirer will then be referred to the church of his or her choice for further follow up. Billy Graham Team associates Dr. Walter H. Smyth and Dr. Alexander S. Haraszti (who serves as an adviser to Billy Graham for eastern European affairs) have made several trips to Hungary. “This will be a totally new experience in a Commu-Billy Graham to hold an outdoor evangelistic meeting in a public stadium nist country,” Dr. Haraszti says. Traditionally religious activities in Communist countries are confined to church property. This will be the first time a public outdoor stadium has been made available to Mr. Graham for an evangelistic meeting. This is not Billy Graham’s first preaching mission to Hungary. He first went there in 1977, preaching to overflow crowds in churches in Budapest; in Debrecen, a city in eastern Hungary; and in Pécs, where half of those in attendance were young people. Then, at the conclusion of his tour, Mr. Graham preached to 15,000 in an outdoor meeting at a church youth camp 20 miles outside Budapest. In 1981 Billy Graham returned to Hungary, where he was awarded an honorary doctorate conferred by the Reformed Theological Academy at Debrecen. Dating from 1538, the academy is reputedly the oldest Protestant seminary in the world. Mr. Graham returned to Hungary a third time in 1985 to preach in a public indoor sports arena in Budapest, and at a large outdoor meeting which spilled into a public square in Pécs, where police estimated the crowd at 20,000. These were the first evangelistic meetings held on public property since World War II. Now Billy Graham returns again, this time to the capital city’s largest outdoor stadium. Everywhere in the world, as Christians are hearing about this unprecedented opportunity, they are praying individually and in prayer groups that God will use this openair public stadium meeting for the spread of the Gospel throughout the nation of Hungary. The Christian people in Hungary are excited and awed at the opportunity they have in this event to bring many of their countrymen to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Ox Compiled by “Decision” editors from reports submitted by Dr. Alexander S. Haraszti
