They are meeting at the RAI International Exhibition and Congress Centre daily to hear inspirational messages and practical teaching. Dozens of languages are spoken in the crowded corridors that link the RAI's enormous meeting rooms. About 7,000 evangelists and their families are housed nearby and commute by special trains. Africans, Western Europeans, Slavs, Latin Americans and Asians live and eat together. Participants danced and sang as they waited for transportation to return to their dormitories Sunday night, clapping and chanting hymns in their native languages.
Expectations are high.
Billy Graham's vision is to impart passion for evangelism. Evangelists need inspiration and encouragement, Corts said, and the conference will affirm them in their ministries and teach them new techniques and strategies. He began his ministry as an itinerant evangelist 28 years ago. The best thing they will take away from this is the connections, the relationships they will form with others. The conference opened Saturday night with a procession of ministers into the darkened auditorium.