Festival of Hope

The goal of the Festival of Hope was to involve and motivate a large number of Christians from different churches to share together with as many residents of Latvia as possible, regardless of age, nationality, social status, faith or political views, a message of hope based on the historic foundation of Christian values.
To organize the Festival, the Festival of Hope executive committee and 19 organizing committees were formed. The executive committee included its chairman, Bishop Peteris Sprogis of the Union of Baptist Churches in Latvia, as well as Archbishop Janis Vanags of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia, Bishop Nikolajs Gribs of the Latvian Pentecostal Union, President Vadims Kovalevs of the Latvian Evangelical Alliance, member of the Saeima Inese Slesere, and Festival Director Viktor Hamm, head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association's ministry in Eastern Europe. More than 560 churches of different denominations and 4,000 volunteers took part in organizing the Festival.

Festival Attendance

Altogether 44,350 people attended the Festival. More than 38,150 people attended the Festival of Hope at Arena Riga, and more than 6,200 people attended the Festival of Hope for children at the Prieka Vests church.
The prayer and blessing service was attended by 2,290 people.
During the three evenings of the Festival of Hope, a total of 2,125 people made a commitment to give their lives to Jesus by coming forward in the Arena Riga hall and filling out a respondent card. Another 155 people made their choice by telephone. These people called the Festival helpline after the Festival of Hope broadcast on Latvian Christian Radio and Latvian Television. The number of people who came forward and called was larger, but the figures mentioned refer only to those respondents who filled out cards.

Transport and Seat Reservations

About 17,000 people arrived at the Festival of Hope on more than 420 previously reserved buses from 130 cities, towns and villages. Travelling to the Festival of Hope and back home, the buses covered more than 130,000 kilometres on Latvia's roads. Reserved buses also came to the Festival of Hope from neighbouring countries, Estonia and Lithuania.

Christian Life and Witness Courses

In Latvia, 3,748 people completed the Christian Life and Witness courses; in Riga alone they took place in 12 different churches and centres. In total, the courses were held in 150 different locations in Latvia and Lithuania. More than 100 people attended the training course for Christian Life and Witness instructors. More than 1,000 people trained in these courses served as spiritual counsellors at the Festival of Hope and the children's Festival of Hope.

Andrew Movement

The Andrew Movement involved 939 people who prayed for 9,624 people. It is known that not everyone who was prayed for within this movement has yet given their life to Christ, but we encourage participants to remain in the movement and continue praying.

Prayer

Since December 10, 2009, evening prayers at 22:00 were begun within the Festival of Hope. Christians were invited to pray both for the Festival and for friends wherever they were at that moment. People could learn prayer needs by calling the prayer phone line. A Prayer Newsletter was regularly sent to church members responsible for prayer and to friends of the Festival. In 2010, as part of the Festival, two special days of prayer and fasting were organized for churches to pray and fast for the Festival of Hope. A week before the Festival of Hope, a 10-day, 24-hour continuous Prayer Relay began, inviting people to sign up and pray in 15-minute intervals for the Festival of Hope. The Prayer Relay included representatives of different ages and different denominations. During the three Festival days at Arena Riga, a special Prayer Room was organized, where Christians could pray during the Festival of Hope. After the prayer and blessing service, from November 4 at 22:00 until November 7 at 18:00, a continuous prayer and worship event took place at Riga Old St. Gertrude Evangelical Lutheran Church, with 32 leaders taking responsibility for it.

Social Work and Work with Children

In the spring months of 2010, young artists and authors aged 6 to 12 could take part in the children's creative competition "Colour Hope". Of about 400 submitted new works, an exhibition of about 300 drawings travelled through several churches in Latvia and concluded at Riga City Council. This summer and autumn, the Festival of Hope gave 8 camps attended by almost 250 children, teenagers and young people from children's homes and low-income families, aged 7 to 19. In 2010, within the Festival of Hope, the international charity organization Samaritan's Purse, led by Franklin Graham, together with churches of different Christian denominations, carried out the Operation Christmas Child campaign, through which almost 60,000 gifts were delivered to children in Latvia.

Youth.

On June 5, 2010, the youth event HOPE took place in Riga, gathering around 2,000 young and energetic people. Bands including Jorspeis, Man-Hu, Vestnieciba, and Valdis Indrisonoks with his band performed. After the event, young people were entertained at an afterparty by McPaul and others. The queues also continued for the bikers' offer to take a motorcycle ride. Young people travelled to the event from many places in Latvia, including Liepaja, Rezekne and even Lithuania. In September 2010, a three-day youth bicycle ride, "For Hope!", took place, in which young people rode for one, two or three days from Ventspils, Liepaja, Kuldiga, Valka, Jekabpils, Saldus, Valmiera, Cesis and other places to meet at Arena Riga. The bicycle ride concluded in Mezaparks with a small concert and a proper meal. Both young people and churches were active, as were the drivers who hosted and accompanied them.

Choir

At the Festival of Hope in Riga, a combined church choir of more than 800 voices performed. In preparation for the large event, 5 concerts took place in the regions: in Jelgava, Valmiera, Talsi, Liepaja and Riga.
In April, a seminar for Festival of Hope church choir conductors was held at Matejs Church in Riga, with the goal of beginning timely preparation of the choirs for the Festival. More than 60 choir conductors and worship group leaders gathered at the seminar.

Women's Conference

On May 7 and 8, 2010, almost 600 women attended a conference for women in Riga, "Only One Thing Is Needed", where the speaker was Dorothy Selebano from South Africa, president of the Women's Department of the Baptist World Alliance.

Seminars and Meetings

In preparation for the Festival of Hope, several organizational seminars and meetings took place in Latvia's regions. In May, nine motivational seminars for church leaders were held on topics such as "Work with New Christians" and "About Group Reservations", both in Riga and in Latvia's districts, as well as in Lithuania. In total, they were attended by more than 500 church leaders from 270 churches of different denominations. Altogether, in preparation for the Festival of Hope, there were 8 committee meetings and 5 pastors' meetings and prayer dinners. Two of these meetings were joint gatherings for committees and pastors.

Program at Arena Riga

During the Festival, widely known musicians from Latvia and other countries of the world appeared on stage. Grammy and Dove Award-winning musician Michael W. Smith performed. Also taking part were jazz pianist Huntley Brown from Jamaica, guitar virtuoso Dennis Agajanian from the United States, John and Anne Barbour from the United States, Ieva Akuratere, the Riga Cathedral Boys' Choir, the Three Tenors (Guntars Rungis, Miervaldis Jencs, Nauris Puntulis), Ingus Petersons, Artis Gaga, Janis Kursevs, Eugene Udovin from Ukraine, Alexander Patlis from Belarus, Vaidas Vysniauskas from Lithuania, Rebecca Kontus from Estonia, Valdis Indrisonoks with his band, as well as the groups Vestnieciba, Slieksni un griesti, and the Riga Gospel Choir led by Raili Orrava and Janis Maslovskis. The combined church choir included around 800 singers from all over Latvia. A symphony orchestra also played at the Festival, and the evening program was hosted by Kristaps Talbergs. Each evening Franklin Graham shared a message of hope, interpreted by Aigars Bastiks. The Festival program was also translated into Russian, Lithuanian, Estonian and sign language. Everyone interested could attend the Festival free of charge.

Franklin Graham's Visit to Latvia

Franklin Graham is president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and executive director of the international charity organization Samaritan's Purse, which works in more than 100 countries around the world. His arrival at the Festival of Hope in Latvia was one of seven such festival visits around the world that year. During his visit to Riga, Franklin Graham met with President of Latvia Valdis Zatlers, Metropolitan Alexander of the Latvian Orthodox Church and other denominational leaders, and also gave an address at the Latvian National Prayer Breakfast.

Media and Advertising Campaign


Throughout the year, the Festival of Hope was widely covered, especially in regional media, including interviews and articles on radio and in the national press. We are grateful for the broad coverage of Festival of Hope information in Christian media. Special thanks go to Latvian Christian Radio for broadcasting the three Festival of Hope evenings, creating and placing advertisements, frequent news items and the Festival of Hope radio program, which could be heard from February 6 on Saturdays with a repeat on Mondays. LTV1 broadcast the third evening program of the Festival of Hope on Sunday evening. Television also showed two BGEA films and two reviews. Every other week, friends of the Festival, media and church leaders received the Festival of Hope newsletter. The Festival of Hope website www.ceribasfestivals.lv was maintained, where people could learn more about the Festival's year-long activities and latest news. During the Festival week, website traffic increased by 20,000 users. Festival of Hope updates could also be followed on social media: facebook.com, twitter.com and draugiem.lv. Because of the nature of social media, Festival of Hope news was passed on from friend to friend. Regularly, Festival of Hope news and informational materials were published on more than 200 church websites. The Festival of Hope advertising campaign began in October and concluded with the close of the Festival of Hope. In Riga, 200 advertising posters were placed in bus-stop and street advertising stands. One large-format advertising stand was placed by the Freedom Monument. Because successful cooperation developed with Riga City Council, 150 advertisements were placed on Riga Design poster columns. Within the advertising campaign, 400,000 invitation flyers were printed. Posters and invitation flyers were placed in Lido, Hesburger, Chili Pizza and Maxima locations throughout Latvia. Invitation flyers were distributed to more than 560 churches, where church members received them and gave them to their family members and friends throughout Latvia. Invitation flyers were handed out by 4 organized groups in Latvian cities and 19 groups in Riga. During the Festival, many people in Latvia were touched by God. We believe that God's work in Latvia continues and that no seed sown will return without fruit. Inspired by the Festival, many of us Christians have become bolder in proclaiming the gospel.