Over 4,000 Respond to Gospel during Franklin Graham’s Southern Border Tour

The tour began Feb. 24 in Brownsville, Texas, and will conclude March 9 in Chula Vista, California. Stops include McAllen, Texas; Laredo, Texas; Eagle Pass, Texas; Del Rio, Texas; Presidio, Texas; El Paso, Texas and Tucson, Arizona.

After seven stops, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association reported that over 33,000 heard the Gospel preached while more than 4,000 surrendered their lives to Christ. 

During the interview with CBN News, Graham explained he felt the Lord leading him to preach in multiple border communities that are struggling.

“This is kind of a forgotten part of the United States,” he said. “You have cartel people who take advantage and smugglers that take advantage and you’ve got just good people that live here that get caught in the middle of all of this stuff and they have to deal with it.”

The tour also included preaching by Graham with translation in Spanish as well as bilingual worship featuring musician Marcos Witt and former Hillsong singer Taya. In Eagle Pass, thousands gathered at the Maverick County Amphitheater for the evangelistic event.

“It’s a breath of fresh air with all the kind of negative news towards Eagle Pass,” said Gus Castaneda.

Anahi Martinez, a high school senior, said she had great expectations for the evening. “I want them to come to know that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior but I also wanted to bring revival to the church,” she said.

Due to the large influx of migrants crossing into the U.S, the Eagle Pass community has been greatly impacted in the past year. The Eagle Pass Fire Department recovered a record-breaking number of bodies in the Rio Grande River. Meanwhile, the state of Texas is constructing a base surrounding Del Rio sector to shelter 1,800 troops.

“Our law enforcement officials are seeing things that they’ve never seen before,” Pastor Brian Sisneros of Access Church said. “It affects them psychologically, it affects them emotionally.”

Churches in Eagle Pass and other locations on the tour have spent months preparing with discipleship and evangelism training.

“I’m praying that there’s a lot of people that are saved,” Pastor Abner Chavez Gallegos at New Journey Church said.

Meanwhile, Pastor Don Crabtree at Tree of Life Church shared he’s encouraged by the work that churches had done ahead of Graham’s tour.

“Churches are definitely coming together and unity is what it’s all about,” he said. “That’s what’s going to bring revival.”

Image credit: ©Getty Images/John Moore/Staff

Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for Christian Headlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.