William Franklin Graham Jr.was born on November 7, 1918, in Charlotte, North Carolina. Later known as Billy Graham, he grew up on a dairy farm during the depression and made a commitment to Jesus Christ in 1934. (BillyGraham.org) He received a bachelor’s in Theology from the Trinity College of Florida and later graduated Wheaton College in Illinois with a degree in Anthropology (Biography.com). For a short time, Billy Graham was a pastor. Then, he became an evangelist which later became his life’s work. Billy Graham died on February 21, 2018, in his home at Montreat, North Carolina.
Billy Graham’s greatest contribution to the world was his evangelism. He preached, in person, to almost 215 million people. (BillyGraham.org) His missionary trips, or Crusades as he called them, reached into 185 countries, including the Soviet Union and North Korea (Wikipedia). In addition, his crusades were filmed and he talked on radio stations to reach more people. He even started radio stations such as University of Northwestern’s KTIS (UNWSP). Throughout his life, Billy Graham had a great attitude about people and always attempted to point them toward Jesus.
One time, Billy Graham was on a talk show with Woody Allen. When Allen joked about going to a revival with Graham in exchange for Graham watching one of his shows with him, Graham immediately agreed. While some of the talk show was joking, from Graham’s tone of voice and other accounts of him, I believe he was serious about his offer. During the same show, Graham answered Allen’s questions about Christianity.
From Billy Graham’s time in evangelism and his counseling of presidents, he will be remembered as America’s pastor. Wherever he worked, he always shared the Gospel. He did not care about slight theological differences if he had the chance to work with others to further God’s mission.
Billy Graham once wrote about his death:
Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it? I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God.
Works Cited:
Billy Graham Evangelical Association. (2018). Billy Graham Biography. Retrieved from https://billygraham.org/about/biographies/billy-graham/.
The Biography.com website (February 21, 2018). Billy Graham biography. Retrieved from https://www.biography.com/people/billy-graham-9317669 UNWSP History 1948-1966 (n.d.) Retrieved from https://unwsp.edu/about-us/history-heritage/1948-1966.
Vladimir Zworkin. (2017, January 29). Woody Allen and Billy Graham (1969) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BEa_DqbEYE.
Wikipedia. (2018). List of Billy Graham’s crusades. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Billy_Graham%27s_crusades.
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