William Franklin "Billy" Graham Jr.
Born: November 7, 1918
Death: February 11, 2018
American evangelical Christian minister
Ordained Southern Baptist preacher
Celebrity status 1949 white, middle-class, moderately conservative Protestants
Spiritual adviser many US presidents; close to Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson (rumored to be close friend), Richard Nixon
Civil rights movements, invited Martin Luther King Jr (1957) speak revival New York City; bailed King Jr 1960s for arrests during demonstrations
Variety publishing/media outlets: 3.2 million responded during Crusades "receive Christ as personal Savior"
2008: estimated lifetime audience--2.2 billion people
Gallup list most admired men/women appearing 55 times (49 consecutive years)--more than any individual in world
Middle 1960s--"Great Legimator"; Middle 1970s--"America's Pastor"
EARLY LIFE
Parents: William Franklin Graham Sr (1888-1962) and Morrow Coffey (1892-1881)
Grew up on family dairy farm Charlotte, North Carolina
Oldest of four siblings; two sisters and a brother
Raised as Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church
Scottish decent
Along with sister, developed aversion to drugs and alcohol due to father forcing him to drink beer til he got sick after Prohibition of United States ended in 1933
Turned down for membership in local youth group being "too worldly"; Albert McMakin, worker on family farm, convinced Graham see Mordecai Ham, evangelist
1934, age 16, converted during revival meetings led by Ham in Charlotte
May 1936--graduated Sharon High School; attended Bob Jones College, Cleveland, Tennessee--dropped out, too legalistic, rules/coursework
Inspired/influenced Pastor Charley Young, Eastport Bible Church
Almost expelled: Bob Jones Sr--""At best, all you could amount to would be a poor country Baptist preacher somewhere out in the sticks.... You have a voice that pulls. God can use that voice of yours. He can use it mightily."
1937: transferred Florida Bible Institute (now Trinity College of Florida; now located Temple Terrace, Florida)--received calling 18th green Temple Terrace Golf and Country Club (now in front of today's Sutton Hall--Florida College)
Reverend Billy Graham Memorial Park established Hillsborough River east of 18th green where Graham said to paddled across in canoe to small island where preached to birds, alligators, cypress stumps
Graduated Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois degree anthropology 1943
Wheaton--accepted Bible as infallibe word of God; Henrietta Mears, First Presbyterian of Hollywood in Hollywood, CA; instrumental helping Graham wrestle with issue
FAMILY
August 13, 1943--married Wheaton classmate, Ruth Bell (1920-2007); parents Presbyterian missionaries in China; her father, L. Nelson Bell, general surgeon
Graham and Ruth--5 children: Virginia Leftwich (Gigi) Graham, born 1945, inspirational speaker/author), Anne Graham Lotz (1948) runs AnGeL ministries, Ruth Graham, 1950, founder/president, Ruth Graham & Friends, leads conferences, US & Canada, Franklin Graham, 1952, president/CEO Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, and president/CEO international relief organization, Samaritan's Purse, and Nelson Edman Graham, 1958, pastor, East Gates Ministries International, distributes Christian literature in China
19 grandchildren, numerous great-grandchildren; grandson Tullian Tchividjian, son of Gigi, senior pastor Coral Ridge Presbyterian Churc,h Fort Lauderdale, Florida
MINISTRY
During college, pastor United Gospel Tabernacle, other preaching engagements
Briefly pastored First Baptist Church, Western Springs, Illinois, not far Wheaton, 1943-44
Friend Torrey Johnson, pastor, Midwest Bible Church, Chicago, told Graham, radio program, Songs in the Night, canceled due to lack of funding; consulting with members of his church Western Springs, took over Johnson's program support from church, launched new program January 2, 1944, still called Songs in the Night, recruited baritone, George Beverly Shea, director radio ministry
1947, age 30, hired, youngest president, Northwest Bible College, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Originally intending to be chaplain for armed forces--but contracted mumps shortly after applying for commission; after brief recuperation, hired as first full-time evangelist Youth For Christ International (YFCI), co-founders Torrey Johnson and Canadia evangelist, Charles Templeton
Despite little formal training, traveled US & Europe as evangelist for YFCI
CRUSADES
Since ministry began 1947, conducted more than 400 crusades in 185 countries/territories on six continents--1st held September 13-21, 1947 at Civic Auditorium, Grand Rapids, Michigan, attended by 6,000 people--called Crusades after Christian forces conquered Jerusalem
BILLY GRAHAM EVANGELISTIC ASSOCIATION
Founded 1950 in Minneapolis, Minnesota; relocated in 1999 to Charlotte, North Carolina, included:
· Hour of Decision, a weekly radio program broadcast around the world for more than 50 years
· Mission television specials broadcast in almost every market in the US and Canada
· A syndicated newspaper column, My Answer, carried by newspapers across the United States and distributed by Tribune Media Services
· Decision magazine, the official publication of the Association
· Christianity Today was started in 1956 with Carl F. H. Henry as its first editor
· Passageway.org, the website for a youth discipleship program created by BGEA
· World Wide Pictures, which has produced and distributed more than 130 films
April 2013, BGEA kicked off "My Hope with Billy Graham" -- largest outreach, encourage church members spread gospel small communities after showing video message by Graham
Reference
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