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| Ruth and Billy Graham, 1980 |
Having preached to millions in person on every continent, Billy Graham has earned recognition as the first world-wide symbol of Christian evangelism.
The Billy Graham Crusades have been held in most of the major cities in the United States and in more than fifty foreign countries. The largest Crusade attendance occurred in Seoul, Korea, in the spring of 1973. Seoul security officers reported that one million one hundred thousand people attended the closing meeting. Dr. Graham spoke to the worshipers through an interpreter.
Billy Graham is among the most widely read non-fiction authors living today, and his books have become an important arm of his world-wide ministry. His books, The Jesus Generator, (1971) has been published in fifteen languages. Peace with God, (1953) is now available in thirty-eight languages.
Dr. Graham’s books have established several book publishing records. Angels—God’s Secret Agents sold a million hardback copies in the first ninety days after publication. (Dr. Graham gave his entire earnings from the book to Wheaton College.) The large American publishing house, Doubleday, had not before had such a demand for a non-fiction book. Dr. Graham’s 1977 book, How to be Born Again, is believed to have had the largest first printing ever accorded a hardback edition by an American book publisher.
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| At the 1981 National Prayer Breakfast in
Washington, D.C., Billy Graham chats with President Reagan and his wife, Nancy. |
Dr. Graham’s counsel has been sought by presidents
and kings. His appeal to both the secular and non-secular worlds is shown by the wide
range of groups that have honored him. These recognitions range from addressing the
President’s National Prayer Breakfast to the Gold Award of the George Washington
Carver Memorial Institute, and from the Speaker of the Year Award to the Salvation
Army’s Distinguished Service Medal. Graham regularly is listed as one of the
"Ten Most Admired Men in the World" and has been named "Man of the
Year" by Time magazine.
William Franklin Graham, Jr., known to the world as Billy Graham, was born on November 7, 1918 near Charlotte, North Carolina to William Franklin and Morrow Coffey Graham. The first of four children, he was raised in a Christian family which regularly attended the Associated Reformed Presbyterian Church.
In 1934 Evangelist Mordecai Fowler Ham preached a series of revival meetings in Charlotte, stirring up considerable controversy with his charges of moral laxity in Charlotte high schools. Attracted by the controversy, Billy Graham attended the meetings and Ham’s preaching led him to commit his life to Jesus Christ.
In the fall of 1936, Billy Graham entered the Bob Jones College in Cleveland, Tennessee. Although he contemplated the possibility of Christian work, he could not adjust to campus life at the college, and left after a few months. He transferred in January, 1937, to Florida Bible Seminary (now Trinity Bible Institute) from which he graduated in 1940 with a Bachelor’s Degree in theology. He began preaching on street comers and at rescue missions and small churches.
While still in Florida he met family members of V. Raymond Edman, president of Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. They recognized Billy Graham’s preaching ability and Christian character, and Dr. Edman arranged for him to complete his education at Wheaton College. He entered Wheaton College in 1940 and was graduated in 1943 with a Bachelor’s Degree in anthropology. While still a student, he continued to preach, becoming pastor of the United Gospel Tabernacle in downtown Wheaton.
At Wheaton College, Billy Graham met fellow student Ruth Bell, who later became his wife. A daughter of a distinguished missionary surgeon, Dr. L. Nelson Bell, Ruth spent her girlhood in China and Korea. After graduation in August, 1943, the Grahams were married and began their first pastorate at a Baptist church in the Chicago suburb of Western Springs. After serving there a little over a year, Rev. Graham succeeded Torrey Johnson, another pastor, on the religious radio program, Songs in the Night. He preached on the air every Sunday evening and persuaded George Beverly Shea, a popular Christian soloist, to join him. Months later Billy Graham left the radio program and the Western Springs church to become vice president of Youth for Christ based in Wheaton. In 1945 the local Youth for Christ organizations throughout the country merged together, forming one organization under Torrey Johnson’s leadership. Rev. Johnson made Billy Graham his assistant.
For the next four years, Billy Graham traveled all over the United States, Canada and Europe speaking at rallies and organizing Youth for Christ chapters. He had a deep impact on individuals and large groups because of his sincerity and personal dynamism. Gradually, as he began to hold evangelistic rallies on his own, his work for Youth for Christ tapered off, and in 1948 he resigned from the staff, although remaining an active friend of the organization.
Working with Billy Graham in his crusades were George Beverly Shea, choir director and master of ceremonies, Cliff Barrows, and associate Evangelist Grady Wilson. (Grady and his brother, T. W. Wilson, were boyhood friends of Billy Graham.) He was becoming well-known in American evangelical communities, and at the end of 1949 Billy Graham attained a sudden and unexpected national prominence. At his revival in California that became the Los Angeles Crusade, there occurred a dramatic conversion of a California underworld figure, Jim Vaus, and a famous Hollywood entertainer, Stuart Hamblen, as well.
The Hearst newspapers from coast to coast, on a direct order from William Randolph Hearst to "puff Graham," gave the Los Angeles Crusade lavish front page exposure and other newspapers followed suit. The campaign, originally intended to last three weeks, lasted seven.
Next, Billy Graham went to Boston for a series of
campaigns and again the results were spectacular. Moving on to Columbia, South Carolina,
Dr. Graham met publisher Henry Luce, who arranged to have articles written on Graham for
his publications, Time and Life Magazines.
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| Billy Graham, Bible in hand,
addresses a Crusade. |
In the next decade, Graham held his now famous crusades in major American, African, Asian, South American and European cities. As his fame increased, criticism abounded as well. Some claimed him to be an Elmer Gantry type—using evangelism for personal gain. Billy Graham rarely answered the critics. He felt his primary task and call from God was to preach the Gospel, and he would accept help from anyone who did not place restrictions on his message. To counter complaints and ensure a smoothly running, businesslike organization, Graham, his wife and co-workers incorporated the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. At the same time Graham began his weekly radio program, The Hour of Decision.
The organization, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota still plans and coordinates Graham’s evangelistic meetings and other activities. Besides its dealings in evangelism, the BGEA and its subsidiaries, Grason Company and World Wide Pictures also publishes periodicals, books, records, audio tapes, films and radio programs. Billy Graham has also written several books, including the best sellers Angels (1975) and How to be Born Again (1979).
Dr. Graham has also been influential in the founding of Christianity Today Magazine in 1955, organizing the World Congress on Evangelism in Berlin in 1966, Decision Magazine which has a circulation of more than three million copies and the International Congress on World Evangelization in Lausanne in 1974.
In 1980, Dr. Graham dedicated the Billy Graham Center on the campus of Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. This multi-million dollar, five-story building houses archives documenting on the history of American Protestant evangelism and missions, a library of thousands of volumes on evangelism and missions, and a museum with exhibits on the history of Graham’s ministry. The building also houses the graduate school of Wheaton College, offering Master of Arts degrees in four fields—Christian Ministries, Communications, Psychological Studies and Theological Studies.
Said Dr. Graham at the dedication of the structure which bears his name, "I envision this as the center for world evangelism. It is more than an investment in bricks and mortar; it is an investment in people and programs which will affect lives around the world for Christ."
Since 1945, Graham and his wife have lived in Montreat, North Carolina. The couple has five children—three daughters and two sons, and 15 grandchildren. P. Kenneth Gieser