Thousands hear about Christ in Peru

Peru (MNN/LPEA) — Luis Palau’s “Great music. Good News!” festival came to Lima, Peru this past week in an historic campaign for the world evangelist and author. In six days close to 650,000 people heard God’s message of salvation, with a documented 41,000 making first-time decisions for Christ.

Palau was invited by the country’s political leadership and hundreds of churches to bring his festival of Christian music and celebration to Peru’s capital city of eight million. In recent years, the capital region has been torn by political unrest, sporadic terrorist attacks, unemployment and widespread poverty.

On his first full day in the city, Palau met nonstop with Peru’s national leaders, including President Alejandro Toledo Manrique, Mayor Luis Castaneda Lossio, and members of the Peruvian Congress. Long time Palau team member Ruben Proietti said, “In my 25 years with Luis Palau, there has never been a day quite like this, where so many top leaders of a nation were eager to receive Luis and listen to his counsel on the relevance of Jesus Christ to governing a nation.”

Events with business leaders, women’s groups and congressional leadership provided expanded opportunities for Palau to share God’s relevance to their lives and work. A press conference drew most of Peru’s national and regional press, including national television crews that followed the evangelist throughout the campaign.

The week of celebration concluded with two historic Luis Palau Festival events at Lima’s massive Campo Marte Park. Musical artists Yuri and Jose Luis “El Puma” Rodriguez, both superstars throughout Latin America, headlined a world-class lineup of Christian entertainers. On Friday night, an estimated 300,000 filled the park. On Saturday, the crowd swelled to over 350,000. A children’s program with a Noah’s Ark theme drew another 15,000.

Palau, who has shared the Gospel in 70 countries face-to-face to over 70 million people, said the most significant result of the festival was the 41,000 Peruvians who filled out a decision card confirming their commitment to become followers of Jesus Christ. The number of decisions was among the highest ever seen by the Palau ministry.

“An unprecedented 30,000 Christians were trained and prepared as “Friends of the Festival” to counsel new inquirers,” said Latin American Ministries director Dr. Jim Williams. “They made it possible to reach out to the thousands who responded to Luis’ message.”

A number of Luis Palau Festivals are scheduled for the coming year, including events in Madrid, Spain, Mendoza, Argentina and Washington D.C.