On Feb 18, 2017, Will Graham, the great-grandson of Bill Graham and associate evangelist of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, preached the message of the Gospel in the Dushu Lake Church, Suzhou, Jiangsu. An estimated 1800 people attended the evangelistic meeting.
This marks the fourth time for the evangelist to preach in China, who also came in 2012, 2014 and 2015. Before his sermon, Denver & The Mile High Orchestra (DMHO) leads a musical worship, singing famous hymns including Nothing but the Blood of Jesus, John 3:16 and Solid Rock.
Together with his elder brother, Roy Graham, who came to China last year, gave his greeting to the Chinese people on behalf of the Grahams.
Will Graham spoke first about his family. His grandparents, Bill Graham and Ruth Bell Graham, who came to Huai'an 25 years ago. At that time, a lot of Chinese waved to Ruth for she was the daughter of the city. What's more, his great-grandfather Dr. Nelson Bell preached the gospel in Jiangsu 101 years ago. In a video, Dr. Bell said with Huai'an accent, "I'm a Christian who loves you very much. God loves the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
Citing John 3:16, Will Graham told that the greatest gift from God is Jesus Christ. The Bible tells that there is a God, who creates everything and also human beings. Adam and Eve were hand-made by God, in the image of God. They had a perfect relationship with God.However, sins entered the world through their obedience against God. God had to banish them from the Garden of Eden along with curses. He also gave him a promise, the first promise of hope, "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." Christ, who died on the cross, fulfilled the promise and paid the debt. It's a free gift of forgiveness and all we have to do is to trust him.
Will gave an example that he brings gifts to his three children when he's back from travel. Actually, his children don't deserve them and they can get gifts just because he loves them. The only thing they do to get them is to receive them. Then how do we get the gift from God? By putting our trust in the Lord and receiving the salvation.
After the sermon, he gave an altar call and some 120 people said the prayer to accept Jesus as their savior.
The next day he would deliver the good news in Kaile Church of Changzhou, a prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu.
