She was in tears and so was the audience.

Channel 23 anchorwoman Jackie Parks surprised a crowd of thousands at Bakersfield College with a moving testimony of her battle with cancer.

“There is hope for the future. God is in the palm of your hands. All you have to do is accept him,” she said.

Parks’ story was one of the many highlights of the Kern County Festival 2004 with Franklin Graham, held April 2-4 at Memorial Stadium, a huge celebration involving thousands of Christians worshipping, praying and answering Graham’s call to come forward to commit their lives to Christ.

Graham, the son of the Rev. Billy Graham, selected Bakersfield from among several competing cities for his only North American appearance this year.

“I understand you had many cities from which to choose to bring this festival. This is the only festival you will conduct in the United States, this year,” said Bakersfield Mayor Harvey Hall during the event.

“People are praying for their neighbors and friends, inviting them to the Franklin Graham Festival, in many instances bringing them here to the Bakersfield College stadium to hear the message of hope,” Hall said.

The audience for the first day of the event filled the bleachers and extra seats, overflowing onto the grassy end of the football field.

It began with an energetic pop approach from the Tommy Coomes Band. Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder were supposed to appear, but Skaggs fell ill and Lee Greenwood appeared singing his best-known song, “God Bless the U.S.A.”

On one side of the stadium, more than 1,500 choir members sang, “Stand up, stand up for Jesus,” while wearing bright-blue Franklin Graham shirts.

Graham appeared later in the evening with a hopeful message.

“What is the hope for this great nation of ours? Can any one person or political party solve the problems that we face as a nation without God’s help? There is no hope for this country without God,” he said.