By Wolfgang Polzer: ASSIST News Service

More than 1,000 men and women come forward during opening night.

(Katowice)—The evangelistic campaign ProChrist is experiencing an extraordinary response in Southern Poland. The meetings in the sports arena Spodek in Katowice are transmitted daily April 6 – 13 to 103 venues in Poland.

During the opening night 3,500 visitors flocked to the sports arena to witness the evangelistic program. When German evangelist Ulrich Parzany gave an altar call, more than 1,000 men and women came to the cross in front of the auditorium.

400 participants asked for spiritual counseling. The total attendance at all venues added up to 9,000, as ProChrist director Michael Klitzke told the evangelical news agency, Idea.

ProChrist in Poland is a joint venture of Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist churches in cooperation with the regional Ecumenical Council as well as the Catholic Fokolar Movement and the initiative “Light and Life”.

Local churches, the city of Katowice and ProChrist Germany share the financial burden. Polish churches provide the program; only Parzany’s sermons are translated.

ProChrist started in 1993, when Billy Graham preached in Essen, Germany. Since then five major international campaigns have been held with Parzany. More than 1,250 venues in Europe were involved in 2006, when ProChrist was transmitted from Munich.