First on Fox: Christian evangelist Franklin Graham announced the creation of the Billy Graham Defense Fund on Saturday, June 22, while preaching on his “God Loves You” tour in Glasgow, Scotland.
Speaking to a crowd of more than 7,500 at the OVO Hydro arena in Glasgow, Graham said the fund would help promote religious freedom in the UK and was partly funded by legal winnings awarded at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Fox News Digital. learned from the association.
Graham is president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse, founded by his father, the late Billy Graham.
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“We have taken a stand for the Gospel and for religious freedom in the United Kingdom. Now we will use these funds from this battle against cancel culture to help other Christians who may be threatened into silence,” Franklin Graham said.
In 2020, he was abandoned in all places for his planned UK tour.
Franklin Graham announced the creation of the Billy Graham Defense Fund while preaching in Glasgow, Scotland on June 22. The fund will support religious freedom in the UK. (Billy Graham Evangelical Association)
The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association filed suit against the original tour venues, claiming the cancellations were due to religious discrimination.
“Since this week, everyone legal disputes with the originally planned tour locations have been resolved in a manner that BGEA considers favorable,” the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association said in documents shared with Fox News Digital.
“This is a victory, not just for us, but for all Christians and churches in the UK,” Graham said.
Graham hopes other people in the UK will be able to preach their faith without fear.
The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association received approximately $650,000 from its lawsuits in the United Kingdom, a press release states.
The organization also took legal action in 2018 after Franklin Graham ads were removed from buses in Blackpool, England.
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A judge ruled in favor of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and the town of Blackpool apologized in 2021, according to the release.
With this new fund, Graham hopes that more people in the UK will be able to preach their faith without fear.
The Bagpipes performed at the “God Loves You Tour” stop in Glasgow, Scotland on June 22. The free event also featured several Christian artists. (Billy Graham Evangelical Association)
“There are so many problems in our society and people are looking for hope,” he said.
“We know that true hope can only be found in Jesus Christ, so we must support one another in spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ, whatever it takes.”
Graham continued: “I pray that this will encourage Christians in the UK to continue to live and share their faith freely and boldly. »
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Saturday’s stop in Glasgow was Graham’s second event in the United Kingdom on this tour.
On June 15, Graham preached to 8,300 people in Birmingham, England.
Graham was joined on the tour by musicians Michael W. SmithTaya, Dennis Agajanian and the Tommy Coomes Band, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association told Fox News Digital.
Both events were free.
More than 320 churches have partnered with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association for this weekend’s event. Pastor Alex Gillies from Glasgow told the organization that events like these are sorely needed in Scotland. (Billy Graham Evangelical Association)
More than 320 area churches partnered with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association for the event, the release said, and more than 100 buses brought attendees to Glasgow to see Graham and hear the gospel message.
"Maybe you’re here tonight and you want to know,"Who is Jesus‘” Graham told the crowd in Glasgow, as shared by Fox News Digital.
“Nothing is going to help Scotland apart from Jesus.”
“Jesus Christ is the Son of God and He came on a rescue mission to save you from your sins. The Bible tells us that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that everyone who would believe in Him perish not but have everlasting life,” he said.
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Alex Gillies, pastor of Victory Christian Center in Glasgow, and his wife Charlotte said Scotland desperately needed a message like that delivered by Graham.
Franklin Graham and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association are expected to return to the UK in 2025, where Graham will preach in London. (Franklin Graham/Samaritan’s Purse)
“Our church is in a very deprived area. We see a depression, Mental Health problems, financial problems – we see everything,” the couple told the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association after the event.
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“And it’s not just our church, these are people all over Scotland. Nothing is going to help Scotland except Jesus,” they said.
Events like these, they say, “give hope to pastors and churches like ours, because in the midst of all this chaos, people are searching (for Christ). This gives us a lot of hope” .
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Franklin Graham and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association are expected to return to the United Kingdom in 2025, the organization told Fox News Digital, where Graham will preach in London.
