November 7, 2008
The Rev. Billy Graham no longer gives the altar call to stadiums filled with thousands, watching as hundreds come forward in repentance as cameras flash. The booming voice that echoed Gospel power has quieted in recent years, as Graham has turned over the trademark crusades to his son, Franklin, and grandson, Will.
But as the pioneering evangelist turns 90 today, his career still colors America's perception of what it means to be an evangelical.
Tens of thousands of people sent in birthday cards and stories of Graham's impact in their lives to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) over the past month. The organization, which Graham founded in 1950, will collect the stories and share them with Graham at a private birthday celebration.
"I will never forget the opportunity that I had to lead a young couple to Christ and mentor them into active members of a local church at your Ottawa Crusade," one person wrote. "God has used you mightily, and may His blessing continue to fall on you."
Others remember Graham's televised broadcasts as a regular part of life.
"When I was a child in the 1960s my brother, our friends and I would play ball in our backyard every evening after dinner," another man said. "Every so often, Mom would appear at the back door of the house and holler real loud, ‘John, Marvin, you come home. Billy Graham's on!' Our friends would laugh and mimic mom in a whiney voice, ‘Go home, John. Billy Graham's on!' Then they would all laugh as we left. My brother and I didn't mind at all. We would go home immediately. I have to tell you that those television crusades set the standard of living our lives a lot higher than they would have been."
The son of a North Carolina dairy farmer, William F. Graham made his own decision for Christ in 1934 at a revival meeting. He graduated with a degree from Wheaton College and married Ruth Bell, who became his greatest support and the family stalwart as he traveled, in 1943. Just six years later at a Los Angeles crusade, the young preacher found himself launched into a lifelong calling, as the three weeks of scheduled revival meetings in Los Angeles stretched into eight packed weeks and drew national attention.
Though he never had a church of his own, Graham arguably has preached to more souls than any other pastor ever. He reached more than 215 million people live through his meetings and countless others over TV and radio programs. Even after his final crusade in New York in 2005, he has remained an evangelist with rockstar-like fame and Pope-like respect.
Daughter Ruth Graham remembers that her father weathered the constant attention with a humble desire to just get out the Gospel.
"I said, ‘Daddy, how'd it go?' And he said, ‘When I'm preaching, I feel like I'm at home.' He just loves to preach because he loves people," Ruth said in a 2006 interview with Crosswalk.com. "There's not a public faith or a private faith, and he is very consistent."
Few other men have held such influence across such a wide spectrum of American culture. Graham has graced the cover of TIME and other national magazines multiple times, starting in 1954, and earned a spot in the TIME 100 most influential people list. He has counseled every president after Harry Truman, and was counted a close confidante by the Reagans, Bill Clinton, and the Bush family. More than one of his 28 books has enjoyed extended time on the bestseller lists, and Graham hopes to pen one more book before he leaves this earth. Perhaps most incredibly of all, Graham's personal code of conduct has precluded any hint of public or sexual scandal, allowing his testimony to carry farther than most.
Meanwhile, the organization he founded has grown to include a host of domestic and international ministries. Graham still sits on the BGEA board as his health permits, though the leadership duties have been turned over to Franklin Graham, who now leads the large-scale festivals that Graham inaugurated.
The Dare to Be a Daniel project focuses on youth evangelism training, while the Rapid Response Team hurries crisis-trained chaplains to disasters such as Hurricane Katrina. A whole media division has sprung up around programs such as "Hour of Decision" to include My Hope World Evangelism through Television and Decision magazine. Christianity Today magazine was also founded by Billy Graham, though the magazine is not officially part of BGEA.
Billy and Ruth Graham's five children have all inherited their parents' sense of ministry, albeit in different ways. Their work ranges from authorship to diplomatic work with China, from speaking about their father to heading up the children's aid organization Samaritan's Purse.
Ruth, named after her late mother, remembers that her father kept in constant touch with she and her siblings through letters, and would call her mother every evening at five. Even from afar, he kept his family in focus as a ministry along with his revivals.
"We would listen to ‘Hour of Decision' every Sunday afternoon and that would originate from wherever he was," Ruth said. "So we felt like we were there. We could hear daddy's voice. And at home, he was always full of stories of what had happened when he was gone, the people he'd met and the lives that were changed."
Graham's legacy extends over continents and into thousands of souls. And therein lies his greatest legacy of all - he stands as a testimony of a willing heart can do in the hands of a powerful God.
Do you have a story to share about Billy Graham's influence on your life? Send him a birthday message to encourage and congratulate him on his 90th birthday.
