2006 Billy Graham FBC New Orleans

"Out of this disaster is going to grow a new New Orleans. You [the pastors] are going to be the key to its progress because what is needed is a moral and spiritual renewal."

Billy Graham First Baptist Church New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS (BP)--Billy and Franklin Graham were welcomed to the sanctuary of First Baptist Church in New Orleans by a standing ovation from pastors, spouses and special guests March 9 for a time of prayer for the Grahams’ March 11-12 “Celebration of Hope” in the hurricane-ravaged city.
      The still strong voices of George Beverly Shea and Cliff Barrows led the group in worship. Barrows pointed out that the three men, Graham, Shea and Barrows, represent 267 years of collective ministry.

Amid New Orleans’ ongoing struggles with Hurricane Katrina’s devastation, Franklin Graham speaks to the media in the Lower Ninth Ward. Photo by Jerry Ward

NEW ORLEANS (BP)--Billy Graham, fielding a reporter’s question about the great lesson that can be learned from Hurricane Katrina, responded, “That there is much more to life than material things.”
The 87-year-old evangelist answered the query without hesitation and added, “There is a moral and spiritual strength that is needed not only in New Orleans and the Ninth Ward, but it is needed everywhere.
“We are living in a very tumultuous period in history,” he reflected. “With Katrina’s aftereffects and the war in Iraq and all these things going on, if ever the country needs to turn to God it is now.”