CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Computer hackers denied thousands of Christians the opportunity to take part in the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization in Cape Town, South Africa, this week.
A cyber attack was made on the "GlobaLink" Web site set up by the congress so believers could attend the week-long conference remotely from around the world.
Organizers at the event won't say for sure, but sources inside Lausanne leadership suspect the attacks are coming from China.
The Chinese government kept 200 house church Christians from attending the conference.
Despite the set backs, the Lausanne Congress event has been a success so far. The conference will end Oct. 25.
Lausanne, but as well as those who were back in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1974 as well as those who were part of Lausanne II in Manila, Philippines."
Attendee Vonette Bright was in West Berlin, Germany, in 1966 with Billy Graham, as hundreds of evangelicals met to share ideas of how to spread the gospel worldwide. Eight years later, Graham held the first Lausanne Congress in Switzerland.
"It was a time when we were talking about strategy," she recalled.
Bright and her late husband Bill Bright co-founded Campus Crusade for Christ, an organization that has touched countless people worldwide with the gospel.
"I've come (to Cape Town) with such anticipation to see greater unity in the body of Christ and that we might link arms together to really demonstrate what Christianity really is to the world," she said.
Paul Eshleman also attended this year's Lausanne Congress. He's founder of "The Jesus Film," an evangelistic movie project that's been seen by billions across the globe.
For Eshleman, the task of evangelizing the whole world is far from over.
"The Scriptures says that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, but we have four thousand languages that have no Scripture," he said. "Jesus told us to make disciples of all nations and we still have thousands, over 3,000 people, groups that have no church, no missionary and no one even planning to go."
Young people at the conference have a deep respect and gratitude for men like Billy Graham and others who have labored for the Great Commission.
"They inspire us to consider how our generation will respond to the challenges of our times," said Michel Oh of the Lausanne Younger Leaders Team.
"To see people twice, three times my age that have so much fire and so much passion that has remained for so long I can see that my race can be run by the example of those set before me," added Canadian attendee Jeremy Weber.
As more than 4,000 Lausanne participants prepare to scatter from Cape Town to the the ends of the earth, they go with a renewed passion about completing the race, and with the inspiration of those who have gone before them.