Organised by a local committee, chaired by Graham McLennan, Reality Orange saw 17 local churches working together. "It's been a great response. The Christian Life and Witness classes, which were run earlier in the year, were excellent. Five hundred people attended and that was what brought all of us together," Graham said. "We were also encouraged to specifically invite people whom we knew to come and hear Will Graham preach under the Operation Andrew program," he said.
The weekend kicked off with a luncheon at the Orange Ex-Services club last Friday (May 4) attended by the Mayor of Orange, John Davis and the Member for Orange in the NSW Legislative Assembly, Andrew Gee.
They were joined by 200 guests who heard host Karl Faase interview former radio broadcaster Stephen O'Doherty about coming to faith. Will Graham then spoke about his grandfather and how he was called to preach, before bringing an evangelistic message.
The remainder of the weekend's events were held in the Orange Function Centre. The youth night on Friday night featured well known bands 'Jonnday' and 'Compliments of Gus.'
Families were invited to the Saturday night event which featured children's entertainers 'The Toads' and an interview with Home and Away actor, Lynne McGranger, who spoke about her Christian faith.
At each event, Will Graham spoke about faith in Christ and the importance of making a personal commitment. At the conclusion, Will invited people to come forward as a sign of their willingness to make their decision to follow Jesus.
The weekend ended with a Sunday afternoon meeting which featured an interview with Kate Bracks, winner of the television reality show, MasterChef in 2011. A resident of Orange, Kate spoke about her search for 'something to believe in' and then how she had committed her life to Christ in her early 20's.
Each of the live events in the Orange Function Centre were webcast via the internet around the world.
A total of 711 places watched the webcasts over the weekend, including in India and Ireland. The Orange Sudanese community met in a local home with ten counseling packs provided by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. The local Korean community were invited to watch the webcast at the Orange Prayer House with the Chinese community hearing Will's message in a local church. (The webcasts can be seen at: reality2012.org)
Attendance for the three days was 2,200 with 127 people responding to Will's invitation.
Orange Reality committee member Bruce Bennett said the weekend was a great success. "The numbers who attended, the quality of the artists who performed and the enormous volunteer effort was nothing short of fantastic. It must also be said that Will Graham himself, both as a speaker and as a person, was a breath of fresh air. He brought a simplicity and transparency to both his message and his manner, that made it hard not to like him," said Bruce.
"It was also hard to miss his simple message about the need to get real about Jesus," he added.
Reality meetings continue in Bathurst on May 9th and Lithgow, May 11–13. Mr Graham will also speak at a supporters breakfast at 7.30am in Sydney on Monday, May 14 at Wesley Mission, 220 Pitt Street, Sydney.
For more information, visit www.billygraham.org.au