One hundred and twenty thousand people flocked to Hong Kong Stadium last weekend for the last prayer session of the Franklin Graham Festival. The son of famed US evangelist preacher Billy, the Reverend Franklin Graham had been spreading the word to Hong Kong audiences - and via live broadcasts to Macau - over four days.
His aim was to bring 'new life, new power' to the faithful, garnering many hoped-for converts. Tens of thousands of people heard music, sermons and prayer over four days and nights. They paid nothing to join in, but contributed to collections held during the services.
It was Mr Graham's first such venture into Hong Kong, after several successful visits by his father in the past. He also brought his son, yet another William Franklin Graham, to help out.
The meetings took a year and a half to organise and cost local churches HK$18 million to host.
But impressing the faithful of Hong Kong was not the only goal of this festival.
As with any big business working in Hong Kong, the larger goal is the 1.3 billion people on the mainland. And, as for anyone breaking into the mainland, that means nurturing government connections.
High-level delegations from the mainland accepted invitations to the festival in Hong Kong. Attending the event were five mainland officials, led by Guo Wei, director of the Foreign Affairs Department under the State Administration for Religious Affairs, and the Reverend Teng Fuk-chuen, vice-president of the Three Self Patriotic Movement committee.