NEW YORK (AP) – The final American revival meeting led by the Rev. Billy Graham opened Friday evening with thousands of people filling a city park for a last chance to see him.

Many arrived hours early to get seats for the first of three daily rallies that were expected to attract tens of thousands of people.

“Since this is his last one, I want to be here to honor him,” said Mary Jo Noia, a nursing supervisor from Brooklyn, who had volunteered at a Graham crusade in Boston and called it “life-changing.”

The Rev. A.R. Bernard, the New York pastor who helped organize the event in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens, began the crusade under a setting sun, calling the meeting a “farewell and close to 60 years in ministry” for Graham.

Graham, 86, is suffering from fluid on the brain, prostate cancer and Parkinson’s disease.

He uses a walker due to a pelvic fracture and is largely confined to his home in Montreat, N.C.

Yet the evangelist known as America’s pastor has vowed to preach on each day this weekend.

His pulpit has a movable seat hidden from view, so he can sit if he feels unsteady. His son and successor, the Rev. Franklin Graham, will stand by to preach in case his father is unable.

The weather forecast called for temperatures in the 90s over the weekend, but the stage is shaded by a massive canopy. There also is an air-conditioned tent backstage, where Graham can wait to go on, and nurses will be nearby if there is a medical emergency.

Graham has said this weekend’s meeting will be his last U.S. crusade. He is considering a request to hold a rally in November in London, but Franklin Graham said his father no longer adjusts well to time zone changes and does not like to be away from his wife, Ruth, who is also in ill health.

Graham has spent six decades on the road, preaching to more than 210 million people in 185 countries. He has been sought out by U.S. presidents and leaders worldwide and, more than any other religious figure, has come to represent the American evangelical movement.

He is winding up his career at the city that gave him one of his greatest triumphs.

In 1957, he held a revival meeting in Madison Square Garden that proved so popular, it was extended from six to 16 weeks. It was his longest rally ever.

This weekend’s event had also been planned for the Garden, but organizers moved the location to accommodate the anticipated crowds.

Seating will be available for 70,000, with room for overflow.

Thousands of volunteers from more than 1,300 New York area churches have been organizing the event, which is free to the public and will be translated into several languages.

Megan Mifflin, 18, traveled from Kansas City, Mo., with a mission group to volunteer, helping direct people who accept Christ but don’t speak English find counselors who speak their language. Mifflin and her friends stuck labels on chairs marking a section for Cantonese speakers. Graham’s address will be translated in 20 languages.

“I think it’s amazing how he can speak in such a short time and so many people come forward,” Mifflin said.

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On the Net:

Billy Graham Evangelistic Association: http://www.billygraham.org

AP-ES-06-24-05 2007EDT

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