Top 20 Images of 2012

“... a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance ...” — (Ecclesiastes 3:4)

One year after the Japan Tsunami, the March 2-4 Tohoku Celebration of Hope remembered those who had been lost and spread the Gospel of Christ to a nation in pain.

In a country less than one percent Christian, the Celebration of Hope drew 11,000 people, making it the largest evangelistic event in the history of Sendai.

Will Graham in Gainesville, Texas, during back-to-back March weekend events in the Lone Star State: “There are people here, in small towns, that need to know about Jesus Christ. The need is great right in our own back yard.”

The first Easter event at the Billy Graham Library March 31 was a special time for children. When asked what she learned, one 8-year-old said, with child-like faith, “Jesus died for our sins.”

In the west-African nation of Ghana, 26,000 braved the heat at Accra Sports Stadium for the April 28-29 Ghana Jesus Festival.

Locals took the message to the streets in Ghana’s capital city.

The BGEA Rapid Response Team deployed more than 50 crisis-trained chaplains as two massive Colorado wildfires—one near Colorado Springs, the other near Fort Collins—left hundreds homeless during the summer dry season.

Franklin Graham, BGEA president and CEO, on his knees in Budapest, Hungary before the June Reménység Fesztivál.

Flash mob mania hit the Baltic Youth Festival on June 9 in Riga, Latvia, where one marathon day saw two evangelistic events draw 20,000 from nearly a dozen countries in a region known for some of the world’s highest suicide rates.

Newsboys drummer Duncan Phillips set the stage for Franklin Graham to share the Gospel with two high-energy worship sets at Arena Riga. “I believe Jesus is the only hope for this generation,” Phillips said.

Aurora, Colorado was shattered by a mass shooting that took the lives of 12 and injured 58 others. BGEA sent 37 chaplains, who spent three weeks in Aurora ministering to more than 1,700 people.

Lacey Sturm’s powerful song and testimony impacted lives at Rock the Lake events in Buffalo, Green Bay, Rochester and Ottawa. “I thought about killing myself, like Lacey told us,” said one teen, who committed her life to Christ. “I don’t think I would have walked up here without Lacey.”

For two days in August, Leicht Park was packed with energy, as Rock the Lakes Green Bay drew 24,000 to the riverfront for music and the Good News of Jesus Christ.

More than 15,000 Canadians heard the Gospel in Ottawa, Ontario, including hundreds making life-changing decisions to follow Christ. It marked BGEA’s fifth Canadian outreach in three years.

Despite a steady rain and cool temperatures, nearly 6,000 braved the elements on a Sunday in Ottawa. “I'm soaked to the bone,” one volunteer said. “But if only one person came to Christ this weekend, it was so worth it.”

My Hope with Billy Graham, a nationwide outreach across both the U.S. and Canada, was officially launched at the Billy Graham Training Center in early October. The “Living Room Crusade” will culminate the week of Nov. 7, 2013.

South Sudan became a new nation in the summer of 2011. In October 2012, the Hope for a New Nation Festival brought more than 98,000 to Juba to help lay a spiritual foundation for the world’s newest country.

Hurricane Sandy hammered the East Coast in late October. The Rapid Response Team, in conjunction with Samaritan’s Purse, responded immediately to help meet physical and spiritual needs.

More than 140 chaplains deployed in Sandy’s wake, sharing the hope and love of Christ with over 6,000 affected by the storm in New Jersey and New York.

When the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School rocked Newtown, Connecticut and the entire country on December 14, some of BGEA’s most seasoned crisis-trained chaplains were deployed to provide emotional and spiritual help in the midst of an unspeakable tragedy.