Billy Graham Evangelistic Association President Franklin Graham believes 2012 will be one of the most significant years in U.S. history for Americans.

Graham, who is also the president of the Christian relief organization Samaritan’s Purse, stated in a year-end letter posted on BGEA’s website last week that the nation is in bad shape in a few key areas.

“We are beginning a new year, and I believe we are facing what could be one of the most significant years in our nation’s history,” wrote Graham, 59, who is the fourth of five children of evangelist Billy Graham and wife Ruth Bell Graham. more >>

Evangelist Franklin Graham raised concern over the rise of Islamism in the Middle East, saying it threatens America’s security but more than that it has put the lives of the Christian minority in the region at risk.

The fall of authoritarian regimes and ongoing protests against the ones that remain in power have created a power vacuum that the Muslim Brotherhood is exploiting to “establish Shariah law in every one of these countries and they will roll back the clock in the Middle East,” the son of Billy Graham told Newsmax Sunday.

Since a wave of protests began across the Middle East and North Africa in December 2010, the regimes in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya have fallen while President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen has agreed to step down and there’s a civil war underway in Syria. more >>

After nearly two years of serving in earthquake-ravaged Haiti, the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team is completing the mission and chaplains are set to come home, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association reported Wednesday.

More than 120 chaplains spent 22 months in the devastated country, after arriving in Haiti immediately following the Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake. Chaplains typically stayed for two-week periods and were rotated in and out regularly, said Keith Stiles, deployment manager of the Rapid Response Team.

“We were in clinics, orphanages and school. We worked with Samaritan’s Purse at the shelters … we ministered to Samaritan’s Purse volunteers in the camps at night,” said Stiles. more >>

Zambia is rejoicing after a recent Christian outreach program resulted in thousands embracing and even converting to Christianity.

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) coordinated the program known as My Hope.

It involved at least 60,000 believers who were encouraged to unite friends and family for prayer and ultimately to learn the word of God. more >>

Popular evangelist Billy Graham, who was hospitalized on Nov. 30 after having been diagnosed with pneumonia, was released Tuesday from the North Carolina hospital where he was admitted and plans to spend the Christmas holidays at home.

Graham returned to his Montreat, N.C, home in the afternoon after a six-day stay at nearby Mission Hospital in Asheville.

“I am grateful for the many thoughts and prayers expressed by individuals across the country and around the world during my stay at Mission Hospital,” he said in a statement upon discharge. “I also appreciated the wonderful treatment I received here from such caring doctors and nurses, and feel I have made some new friends. But I am especially looking forward to seeing my home decorated for Christmas and spending the holidays with members of my family.” more >>

Doctors attending to evangelist Billy Graham in a North Carolina hospital since last Wednesday said they were encouraged by the progress in his recovery from pneumonia even as he was able to watch his pastor deliver a sermon on television Sunday.

“Doctors are encouraged by Mr. Graham’s significant clinical progress, but have not yet set a date for discharge,” Merrell Gregory, spokeswoman of Mission Hospital in Asheville, N.C., said in a statement Sunday.

Graham’s family visited him in the hospital over the weekend, and he watched on television his pastor, Dr. Don Wilton of First Baptist Church in Spartanburg, S.C., deliver his regular Sunday sermon, Gregory said. She also said the 93-year-old evangelist is showing progress in his physical therapy and “walking more in the private corridor outside his room.” more >>