Equipping the Next Generation to Love and Serve Ahead of Buenos Aires Festival | Billy Graham Evangelistic Association

In November 1991, more than 250,000 people heard Billy Graham proclaim the Gospel at the Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires, along with millions more via satellite broadcast.

Thirty-four years later, after decades of political and economic instability, believers who received Christ during that Crusade remain steadfast in their faith, knowing that what God did then, He can do again.

With great excitement and faith, these Argentinian Christians are waiting to see how God will call a new generation to come to Jesus Christ next week at the Esperanza Buenos Aires Festival with Franklin Graham.

Buenos Aires will be the third city in Argentina where Franklin Graham has preached, following Festivals in Mendoza (2002) and Rosario (2003).

More than 2,400 churches are partnering with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) to organise this outreach and reach their city for Christ. Local congregations have also collaborated with the ministry to hold more than 700 Christian Life and Witness Course (CLWC) classes with over 37,000 attendees. CLWC equips believers to live out their faith and effectively share the Gospel, and it provides the training they need to serve as prayer counsellors during the evangelistic event.

A prayer counsellor prays with a young man who came forward to receive Jesus Christ as his Saviour after Billy Graham preached the Gospel in Buenos Aires in the early ’90s.

Physical and Spiritual Needs

Three times a week, volunteers from Iglesia Transparente church prepare about 30 hot meals and then load them into a recreational vehicle. They make sure they have plenty of towels and clean clothes in different sizes, personal hygiene products, and pocket Bibles before heading to areas of the city where homeless people gather.

At first, these volunteers would bring them a meal and share Jesus with them, but they soon realised there was another great need.

“We could go home, take a hot shower, and go to sleep,” said volunteer Horacio Brogna. “But they couldn’t.”

In a country where RVs are rare, this church group managed to adapt one of these vehicles to operate a hot shower inside—another amenity they can now offer the homeless population.

As volunteers continue their ministry, they’re also inviting the homeless to attend the Esperanza Buenos Aires Festival with Franklin Graham. They said they feel better prepared to minister in the streets since taking CLWC.

“The Christian Life and Witness Course was very simple and very clear, and it is helping to mobilize young people,” shared Benito Bongarra, senior pastor of Iglesia Transparente. Many of his church members have been actively sharing the Gospel in their communities.

“There is no doubt that Buenos Aires has become a historic place in the movement of the Holy Spirit through the churches,” said Festival Director Chris Swanson. “We believe that God is going to impact all of Argentina, and what better place to start than in the capital.”

Members of Iglesia Transparente have experienced the excitement and joy that’s sweeping over believers throughout Buenos Aires. Here, they serve locals who are homeless with a hot meal, a shower, and the only message that can give them eternal hope.

Please pray that God will prepare the hearts of thousands of people in Buenos Aires to come and hear the Gospel message on November 7–8 at Vélez Sársfield Stadium. Pray that many will begin a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.