Lives Redeemed in Indonesia

Rejoicing that their sins had been forgiven, hundreds left the Celebration of Love with Will Graham in Medan, Indonesia, having put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

More than 27,000 attended the two-night event, with over 2,400 coming forward during the invitation. But ministry leaders had already for months been witnessing God’s power draw souls to salvation.

Pastor after pastor sat down with the Rev. Robert Benedictus, the Celebration Committee’s chairman, to share the salvation stories spreading in their churches throughout the Celebration’s early outreach process.

Part of the process is the I Am Andrew program, in which Christians write down the names of unbelievers, pray for them and invite them to the Celebration.

“Not long after the ‘I Am Andrew’ class, people started coming to church and then were even baptized,” Benedictus shared. “One thing that gives me excitement is that the people who asked for baptism were not from a Christian household.”

Non-Islamic religions remain the minority in Indonesia, which has the highest Muslim population in the world.

In Indonesian Christian Election Church (GEKI), a staff member wrote the name of a friend on an I Am Andrew card. Soon the friend, along with his family, appeared at GEKI.

The Rev. Dr. Octavianus Nathanael, the event’s training, counseling and discipleship coordinator and a pastor of GEKI, witnessed the family’s story of spiritual transformation.

Nathanael shared the story on the morning of the first Celebration day: “The whole family accepted the Lord. They took their idols and threw them away. They gave their lives to Jesus. Three weeks ago, I was baptizing them.”

The family then invited loved ones to attend the Celebration and to hear Will preach the Gospel.

Many Indonesian churches have been praying for years for a Gospel proclamation event to reach their communities. God answered their prayers through the Celebration. In preparation, over 800 churches held more than 400 I Am Andrew classes involving about 450 congregations, and when the long-awaited event finally arrived in the Southeast Asian nation, the spiritual power the church had been seeing for months continued.   

An elderly woman sat in the crowd, listening. A burning desire to know God led her to attend the event. ThroughoutA her life, she had attempted suicide twice but failed each time. When Will invited those listening to walk to the front to put their faith in Christ, she was one of more than 2,400 who followed the call, ready to receive the message of redemption.

“The message that touched me the most is about how God has forgiven my sins,” she said. “Because when I look back to my past life, I realize I have sinned against Him. That’s why I came here. I want to repent. I want to get closer to God.”

Now she is praying for her son to experience the same redemption she has. He is already attending a Bible study.

Knowing miracles can happen at Christian events, another woman, who is a wife and mother, came to the event in hopes of witnessing one. Instead, she received the miracle of salvation.

On the opening night, attendees stood among a sea of blue and red plastic chairs, baking in the heat between the tiled ground and the setting sun, as Indonesian worship groups and worship leader Aaron Shust sang songs of praise with the crowd joining in.

After Will came to the podium, he began to tell the story of Barabbas, the murderer who was set free instead of Jesus.

“The Bible says we have all sinned,” Will explained, “and so in the eyes of God, we are the same as Barabbas. And Barabbas was under a death sentence. And guess what, so are you and I. The Bible says ‘for the wages of sin is death.’”

Will proclaimed the only hope for desperate sinners—the sinless Lord Jesus Christ.

“Jesus was willing to trade places with him. Jesus was going to take his death on the cross. And that is the Good News—that God loves you so much that He gave you a gift. That gift is forgiveness of sins. All you have to do is receive it tonight.”

“When Pastor Will preached, I realized that I have many wrongdoings,” she said with tears, “and I realized that I needed to repent, and so I repented.”

The Gospel message also became clear to a young man who attended the event after his church invited him.

“I learned how to give my life to God and realized how God died for me on the cross.”

About 300 churches received discipleship referrals containing the names of those who responded to the Gospel at the Celebration—47% of whom were age 25 or younger.

As Will finished his sermon on the final night, rain began to fall, building to a thunderstorm that prevented The Afters from closing with worship songs. Yet, the rain did not thwart attendees from pouring to the front to receive Christ. Indonesians filled the venue with hymns by singing “Amazing Grace” and “How Great Thou Art,” the words reflecting God’s powerful love in transforming the hearts of thousands who attended the Celebration. ©2025 BGEA