The Face and Voice of Modern Evangelism
My one purpose in life is to help people find a personal relationship with God, which, I believe, comes through knowing Christ.
Billy Graham, biography, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association
Tall, with deep-set eyes, a strong chin, and a straight spine, Billy Graham has a smooth, powerful, baritone voice that seems to reach from the ear to the soul. Even as an elderly man in his nineties, he leaves a lasting impression.
More than 215 million people in 185 countries have heard him speak; hundreds of millions more have heard him over radio, television, film, and the internet. For over seventy years he has proven to be a man of singular purpose, displaying a dedication to evangelism seldom seen.
He is the face and voice of modern evangelism, not only in the United States but throughout the world.
Baseball Field to Pulpit
Born in 1918 near Charlotte, North Carolina, Graham grew up like many boys with his penetrating gaze set on a career in baseball. It was a dream he would never have opportunity to pursue. Growing up during the Depression, he spent his childhood and teenage years working on his family’s dairy farm, spending his off-time reading.
At the age of fifteen, in the fall of 1934, he attended a revival preached by Mordecai Ham, a traveling preacher. Soon after he felt a call to ministry and attended several colleges: Bob Jones University, which he found too strict; Florida Bible Institute, where he began preaching; and then Wheaton College in Illinois. It was at Wheaton where he met a young woman who would become his wife: Ruth Bell, the daughter of a missionary surgeon.
After college he became the pastor of First Baptist Church in Western Springs, Illinois. His time as pastor was short, and that church would be his only local ministry.
Youth for Christ International was a new organization founded in the mid-1940s. It focused on reaching young people through mass rallies. Billy Graham left his church to become the organization’s first full-time employee. He preached throughout the United States and overseas. Graham would forever be associated with evangelistic crusades.
The Canvas Cathedral
In 1949 Billy Graham set up a tent at the corner of Washington Boulevard and Hill Street in Los Angeles. The tent was nicknamed the “Canvas Cathedral.” A three-week crusade was planned, but the crowds kept coming. The effort stretched to eight weeks.
Graham was just thirty years old. In one afternoon over six thousand people attended the services, and hundreds of others had to be turned away. They walked the aisle by the score. It was a pivotal moment in the evangelist’s career.
Some have seen a connection between the success of the 1949 Los Angeles event with newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, who sent a telegram to his editors: “Puff Graham.” Whether this was a factor to the effort’s success or not is impossible to ascertain.
In 1950 Graham founded the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) and established headquarters in Minneapolis. Years later, it would be moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, near where Graham lived. The organization enabled Graham to more efficiently and effectively take the message to the world.
The BGEA proved to be a progressive group, using whatever medium it could to promote the message. The Hour of Decision was a BGEA radio program that broadcast around the world for over fifty years. The organization also arranged to have Graham’s sermons shown on US and Canadian television. Millions tuned in for every show. BGEA’s Worldwide Pictures has produced well over one hundred movies and documentaries with Christian themes.
My Answer is a syndicated newspaper column distributed by Tribune Media Services that has run for over thirty years. Another print medium is the well-known magazine Christianity Today and its family of periodicals. Started by BGEA in 1956, with Carl F. H. Henry as editor, the magazine continues to bring in-depth and topical material to its readers.
Billy Graham is the author of thirty books, many of them bestsellers. Peace with God (1953) was well-received and reflected Graham’s message in a clear, straightforward manner, much like his preaching.
Graham, who started as a small church preacher, has used every possible means to take the gospel to the world. The BGEA’s annual report reads like that of a major corporation. It is one of the busiest ministry enterprises in history.
Preaching
Age and illness have kept Dr. Graham from preaching duties in recent years. That work has shifted to his son Franklin Graham, but the elder Graham will always be remembered for his pulpit skills. Billy Graham’s style has changed over the years. During the 1949 Los Angeles crusade, he spoke like a machine gun, with carefully enunciated words, and sounded every bit like the “sawdust trail” evangelists of the previous generation. Such preaching was effective. His earnest appeal, rapid delivery, serious enthusiasm, and pulpit craft made it impossible not to listen.
Over the decades his cadence and style changed somewhat, but never his message. He always delivered a sermon anyone could understand. White-collar professionals and blue-collar laborers alike found themselves riveted to Graham, hanging on every phrase. The power of his preaching was not diminished when delivered over radio, television, or the big screen. Many consider him one of the greatest communicators to have ever lived.
He was also fond of using current illustrations, anecdotes drawn from his life or some current event. Often these were told with humor, something that allowed his audience to relax. He could, in the same message, sound like a friendly next-door neighbor and a moment later like an Old Testament prophet. The news of the day provided material for his sermons. He had no reluctance in quoting a story from a magazine or newspaper.
His message was directed at the heart of the listener, and the goal was always the same: salvation for each person.
Celebrities
Graham was comfortable around celebrities, many of whom were drawn to him, fascinated by the preacher. In 1969, he made a guest appearance on an interview show with Woody Allen. Allen was an agnostic Jew and Billy Graham a Southern Baptist preacher. Graham looked relaxed and the two shared a conversation. In the end, Graham made sure to invite the comedian to the crusade he was leading. Graham also made an appearance on the television game show What’s My Line? in 1960. Again, his natural charm was unmistakable, and again, he made a point of his mission to take the gospel to the world.
Politicians found him a source of encouragement, although some may simply have wanted to be seen with a man of Graham’s stature and one who had the ear of millions. He became an acquaintance and sometimes counselor to US presidents from Eisenhower to Clinton, although he pulled back some after Watergate, fearful that close political ties could damage his work. Richard Nixon instructed one of his advisors to maintain contact with Graham every few weeks. On December 30, 1969, Nixon wrote a memo to his chief of staff Robert Haldeman: “On the political side, I would like you to follow up with Billy Graham in his work with Negro ministers across the country. He feels this is our best chance to make inroads into the Negro community. I am inclined to agree with him.”1
Such associations brought criticism, which is to be expected. Politics divides more people than it unites. While Graham was supportive of the civil rights movement, he seldom lobbied for any other cause.
Other problems arose from his dealing with US presidents. Harry S. Truman, a Baptist, later claimed to distrust Graham and said, “he was never a friend of mine when I was president.”2 The Nixon tapes contain a section where Graham appears to agree with Nixon’s anti-Semitic views. Graham’s life and writing show that he had no such feelings, but he nonetheless apologized for any offense caused.
Criticism
One criticism haunted Graham, whose approach to evangelism was to ignore denominationalism. At times he would be supported by liberal Christian groups. Graham’s critics were quick to bring that to light, but Graham refused to be bullied. His goal was to take the message everywhere he could, and he didn’t care who made it possible as long as he was free to preach as he saw fit. As he told the National Association of Evangelicals, “I intend to go anywhere, sponsored by anybody, to preach the gospel of Christ, if there are no strings attached to my message.”3
Success always brings out the critic, but Graham persevered, proving his approach was correct, godly, and honorable. He would focus on the gospel, not the complainers.
America’s Pastor
On September 14, 2001, while the world was still reeling from the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center towers, Dr. Graham, in response to an invitation, led a memorial service at the Washington National Cathedral. He had done something similar for the families of those lost in the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995.
Billy Graham has been, and remains, America’s pastor.
Age and illness have taken their toll. At this writing, Dr. Graham is in his early nineties and plagued with medical issues. For over fifteen years he has battled Parkinson’s disease, a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system. He’s also been hospitalized for severe ailments including pneumonia, bronchitis, and other issues. The media reports each time he’s hospitalized, proof that he remains in the hearts of the American people—and the world.