Answered Prayers in Shreveport



Sunday, November 13, 2005
While Franklin Graham proclaimed the Good News of Jesus Christ during the last day of the Ark-La-Tex 2005 Franklin Graham Festival, dozens of volunteers sat in the on-site prayer room and prayed for a harvest of souls. Their prayers were answered as more than 340 of the 10,000-plus who attended that day made decisions for Jesus Christ. Throughout the course of the three days in Shreveport’s CenturyTel Center, more than 27,000 attended, and over 1,100 committed their lives to Christ.

Among those in the prayer room Sunday afternoon was Crystal Shaw, who prayed that God would draw many men, women, boys, and girls to faith in Christ, as He had during the previous two days’ meetings.

“It has been life-changing,” she said of the training she received in preparation for the weekend’s meetings. “I’m grateful. It put a fire in me. And I see the souls coming to Jesus, and that’s what it’s really all about.”

That fire has spread throughout this hurting region, as more than 270 participating churches preparing for the Festival have worked to respond to Hurricane Katrina's victims with physical and spiritual warmth. Shaw was one of many Christians who had been praying for months for the Festival—and who had gone through the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s Christian Life and Witness Course. On this final evening she was rejoicing in what God had already done in the Shreveport-Bossier City area.


In preparing for this Festival, BGEA has worked to show the love of Christ to the region, which faced a unique set of challenges very different than most areas preparing for an evangelistic Crusade. When Franklin Graham arrived in Shreveport this weekend, his first mission was to give struggling hurricane evacuees a new home. Leisa Cole-Johnson, her four children, and her brother were given keys to a new home and a chance to rebuild their lives.

“Hurricane evacuees have been through some harrowing times. The first step to helping these families return to some degree of normalcy is to give them a home and let these compassionate churches embrace them in the community,” said Graham.

On Sunday Franklin Graham told the story from Luke 19 of Zacchaeus, a hated tax collector in Jericho who cheated the people as he worked for the Roman government. Jesus called him, and he answered, putting his faith in Christ and repaying those he had cheated.

“Deep down inside, something was missing in Zacchaeus’ life, and he knew it,” said Graham. “Something was wrong. ... Something is wrong in your life, and you know it. Oh, you may put on the happy face. You may smile and tell everybody that everything’s OK, things are good, but deep down inside, you know something is missing. And that is a relationship with God’s Son, Jesus Christ.”

One of the hundreds that came forward to establish that relationship was a 62-year-old woman. In Graham’s words she had heard a challenge. “I was convicted that I haven’t been living right,” she said. She prayed then and there to rededicate her life to Jesus.

Nearby, a 14-year-old girl prayed to receive Christ for the first time, unsure of herself, but sure of the new hope she had discovered. “I’ve never done this before, but I feel free,” she told her counselor.

Kelvin Cochran, Fire Chief of the City of Shreveport and executive chair of the Festival, has been on the forefront of seeing to the region’s physical and spiritual needs in the wake of Katrina. Even as his career has prepared him to douse blazes threatening the lives and property of those he is sworn to protect, Cochran’s calling of faith has led him to fan the spiritual flames of revival in the Ark-La-Tech region. According to him, it is the spiritual need that has been greatest—and God has answered that need.

As Cochran said to the crowd on Sunday afternoon, “[We] have been praying for many years that a mighty move of God would converge upon our region. It is a certainty that He has answered our prayers in a mighty way.”


Saturday, November 12, 2005
CenturyTel Center was filled with excitement Saturday—and not only because of the S.O.A.R. slam dunk team’s high-flying basketball exhibition and the high-energy music of Dennis Agajanian, Salvador, the Katinas, Alfie Silas, Linda McCrary, and the Tommy Coomes Band.

Much of the excitement came from Christians throughout the arena sharing stories of what God is doing in the Ark-La-Tex region through the Franklin Graham Festival.

One man said that he had invited his nephew, niece, and another relative to come from Houston, more than 240 miles away, to attend the Festival. The nephew, 17, had been very concerned about his 16-year-old sister’s spiritual condition. They arrived late, but they heard the message, and at the invitation the nephew led his sister in a prayer to accept Christ. Then the girl went down to find a Festival counselor. As it so happened, the counselor also lives in Houston.

Earlier in the day, more than 3,400 people had attended KidzFest, featuring Bibleman, who encouraged children to become friends of Jesus. Then, in the afternoon, on the parking lot of the CenturyTel Center, 10 teams competed in the semifinals and finals of a three-on-three basketball tournament held in conjunction with the Festival. The teams had made it through two previous weekends of competition. Each competition included a presentation of the Gospel.

On Saturday evening, Franklin Graham began his message by asking, “Is your name written in the Lamb’s book of life?” He explained that everyone who becomes a follower of Christ has his or her name written there.

The message struck a responsive chord in many, as more than 320 people came forward at the invitation. Among them was a freshman at Centenary College. He had come with a group invited by friend who works with athletes on campus. The friend described what happened at the invitation:

“All of a sudden, I heard him start sniffling. He got up in front of everyone and started walking down. He’s a big, tall basketball player. I asked him about it later, and he said, ‘I was battling myself. I knew I wasn’t a Christian; my name wasn’t in that book.’ I started to bawl, because this is a guy I’ve grown to love so much. And then a girl to my left, also a basketball player, started to cry. She asked me, ‘Do I have to go down?’ I said, ‘Well, you don’t have to, but I’ll go with you.’ So we walked down.” Afterward, the group went to the friend’s house to celebrate new lives in Christ.


Friday, November 11, 2005
Bettye Ann McQueen was a senior at Byrd High School when Billy Graham came to Shreveport, La., for a Crusade in April 1951. McQueen attended church regularly and sang in her church’s youth choir, so she decided to sing in the Crusade choir as well. But as the Crusade progressed, she realized that she had never committed her life to Christ.

“I was embarrassed to be in the choir when God was leading me to make a decision,” McQueen said. “I was thinking, ‘All my friends think I’m a Christian. I can’t do it. God, You’ll have to call me by name.’”

McQueen recalls that Mr. Graham addressed people in the crowd who were holding back from making a decision. He pointed to a section of seats and said, “There is a John.” He pointed to another section and said, “There is a Mary.”

And then he called the name Betty. “The Lord used it,” McQueen says, “and I made my way down.”


She later spent 31 years as a missionary in Nigeria, working with university students in a predominantly Muslim area. Now retired, she is back in Shreveport and is serving as a counselor for the Ark-La-Tex 2005 Franklin Graham Festival, coming full-circle spiritually as she helps people come to Christ at another BGEA event in her home city.

The Festival opened to a crowd of more than 7,300 who heard music from the Tommy Coomes Band, Dennis Agajanian, Nicole C. Mullen, the Festival choir and a special Festival Gospel choir. In recognition of Veteran’s Day, a color guard from Barksdale Air Force Base presented the colors.

Franklin Graham asked all veterans and current members of the armed forces to stand and be honored. And in this area that now houses many former residents of Gulf Coast cities destroyed by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Graham also asked hurricane evacuees, and those who have helped evacuees, to stand.

Graham noted that many people’s hearts were touched as television news programs showed rescuers lifting people to safety from rooftops after Katrina. He explained that Jesus is the one and only Rescuer of our souls, saying, “You can have everlasting life. But you’ve got to come through Jesus. There is no other way; it’s not Jesus plus something else, it’s not Jesus plus this, Jesus plus that. It’s Jesus, and Jesus Christ alone. It is Jesus Christ that came out of heaven down to this earth on a rescue mission.”

When Graham invited people to put their trust in Christ, 168 responded, with 113 making first-time decisions for Christ. Among them were a 16-year-old girl and her father who, along with the rest of their family, were displaced from New Orleans’ Ninth Ward. Both accepted Christ. The girl, who only a few weeks ago lost her earthly home, said, “I want to be sure where I’ll spend eternity.” Photos/Illustrations: Chris Capozziello/©2005 BGEA