William "Billy" Graham

William Franklin Graham Jr. was born in Charlotte, North Carolina on November 17, 1918. Graham was raised on a dairy farm by William Franklin (deceased 1962) and Morrow Coffey Graham (deceased 1981). In 1943, he married his wife Ruth McCue Bell, and had four children Virginia 1945, Anne Morrow 1948, Ruth Bell 1950, William Franklin, Jr. 1952, and Nelson Edman 1958.

At age eighty, he keeps fit by swimming, playing with is nineteen grand children, and from aerobic walking, in the mountains of North Carolina, where he currently lives. Billy Graham told Time Magazine in one article about his life before becoming a preacher. "I lived on a farm. The only difference was I had to get up early in the morning and go milk cows. When I came back from school that day, I had to milk those same cows. There were about twenty cows I had to milk by hand. That was before they had those machines. I loved being a farmer. But God called me to this work that I'm in now. I knew it was God calling. I said, "Yes. I will follow what God wants me to do." And so I went to two or three schools to get education. Then I became a pastor of a church. Then I went into evangelism."

Graham got his first lesson of the world's way of the mysterious God, while he was a teen working on his father's farm. Graham's father who was a working man had a calling to go out and become a preacher, but because of the farm, he never got the chance to do so. Instead, he tried to live his own passion through his son, Billy Graham. He was raised by two strict Calvinist parents, who showed him that hard work and honesty was the way all people should live in Gods World. Although Graham rejected these views by his parents, he was still influenced spiritually from his upbringing.

a young Billy GrahamAt age seventeen, Graham was in a position similar to many other seventeen years olds. Graham was popular with the girls, played sports such as basketball and baseball, but was lost on what his future would have in store for him. During this time, an evangelist named Mordecai Ham came to Charlotte to have a three-month revival. He never took too much to the idea, because he did not want to be stuck in a long and boring job that would make him sorry he was ever born. When all of Graham's options for summer nights ran out, he decided to go to the revival, and to see what it was all about. All the time keeping in the back of his mind how he grew up in such a religious family and how his father always wanted him to take up preaching.

One night, Ham was speaking out against sinners and Graham felt that he was talking directly to him, although he was considered a good kid. So to escape the direct gaze of Ham, he joined the revival choir. Graham began to listen to Ham daily. He became captivated by his words and how he spoke of God as if he knew him personally. Graham felt he was now ready to follow Jesus and devote his life to God. Like most of his peers who lack direction once they graduate, Graham blindly enrolled at Bob Jones College in Cleveland, Tennessee for the simple reason that Jones' preaching had once impressed his mother. If Graham did not know who he was prior to entering school, he soon learned that he was not meant to be a Bob Jones student. He found the discipline to be absolutely restrictive and the theology to be at odds with the notions of God that were swarming in his head. They urged Graham and the rest of the young evangelists at the Jones school to practice their preaching. Graham was nervously waiting for a call from any church, to be asked to speak in front of the congregation. Finally the day came when he got a call from a small church near Palatka, which wanted him to give a sermon in the church. That night he rehearsed his message that he was going to use, that he timed to be about two hours long. But being so young and eager, Graham stood up in front of the crowd that gathered to listen to his sermon, and he blurted the whole thing out in only ten minutes. The people were stunned and many were asking themselves if he was a real preacher or just an impostor. This led Graham to have many doubts in his mind, doubts that he agonized over day in and day out. The stress was building on the young man's shoulders and he was finding it hard to sleep at night.

One night when he could not sleep, he went for a walk in downtown Tampa to clear his head. Trying to preach wherever he went, so he could make himself feel that he was needed as a preacher, led him into trouble. He walked by a sleazy bar, and he protested to people inside, that they were living a life that was leading them to suffer in hell. The bar keeper did not think too kindly to that so he threw Graham across the street. To add to his never-ending disappointments in life, Graham gave a sermon in his hometown in Charlotte where his family were present. But contrary to being proud of him, they were so embarrassed that his sisters tried to hide themselves from the rest of the congregation by slouching in their seats and covering their faces in their Bibles. This led Graham to decide that he had to change his "You are a sinner. Christ died to pay for your sins. But you must accept Christ to be saved." mantra.

From the urging of a good friend, Graham left the Bob Jones school and enrolled in The Florida Bible Institute. It has been said that it was in this school where Graham finally came to terms with his life. He realized for sure that he was supposed to be a preacher, because this group focused on the beloved God rather than a vengeful one, and Graham finally found his purpose for his existence.

After graduation from the Florida Bible Institute, Graham enrolled at Wheaton College, which is considered the Harvard of Christian colleges. It was at this college, that he received training in the fine art of the pulpit and also where he met his future wife, Ruth Bell. It was then that he made a promise to himself that someday he would be heard by every Christian on the green world that God created. Following graduation from Wheaton, Graham entered what would be considered a transition state that lay somewhere between formal education and the great preacher that he had become. During this time, he amassed several personal skills that would benefit him once he began his own ministry, and also made contact with people that would later work with him.

Ruth Bell Graham, beloved wife of Billy Graham, wrote over a dozen books during her lifetime. A mother of five, Ruth had a lively spirit and was completely devoted to Jesus Christ. She passed away on June 14, 2007 at the age of 87.Immediately following graduation, He took a pastorship at Western Springs Church near Chicago. He left this job to travel with Youth for Christ, an evangelistic movement geared especially for young people and returning servicemen. Youth for Christ was different in its approach than other evangelistic movements in that it focused on the benevolence of God rather than the God who was quick to invoke wrath. The message was displayed with upbeat music and flashy clothes. Graham stayed with them from 1945 until 1948, and there is no doubt that what he learned influenced him in his own ministry. To this day, Graham will tell you that he sees God as a loving father rather than a harsh judge. It was in Youth for Christ, while preaching from one place to another, that he became known as a very charismatic speaker. Graham now had matured, from the young boy who was full of doubts, to a man that could speak to large masses of people, who were often left in silence.

From 1947 until 1952, Graham was the president of Northwestern Schools, which was a system of Christian colleges in Minnesota. He changed Northwestern Schools, to be like another Wheaton, in order to train more evangelists. It was his time at this school that Graham developed administrative skills that would later help him in the formation of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. But Graham left the Youth for Christ, in order to obey his call to preach to the masses of the world. Graham thought the best way to accomplish this was to go on his own and try to reach as many people as he could with the message of God.

In 1949, in the city of Los Angeles, a group of men who called themselves "Christ for Greater Los Angeles" had invited Graham to come and hold meetings there, because they were impressed with his ability to speak to a crowd. When at first Graham had questioned the invitation, they found more money and more church support. Apparently things were pulling together to bring Graham to Los Angeles. He came and on September 25 opened a series of meetings that not only left the city of Los Angeles changed forever, but vaulted Graham's previously unassuming ministry into a national spotlight and into the decade of the fifties. The meetings began slowly with little press coverage and relatively low attendance. Empty seats were easily seen in the early nights in the Canvas Cathedral, a tent erected specifically for the crusade. The tide turned, however, when Stuart Hamblen, a well known radio celebrity invited Graham to be a guest on his show. Having boasted earlier to Graham that with his endorsement he could fill the tent, Graham was eager to accept the invitation. In many ways he was not far off in his boasting. Hamblen was well known up and down the West Coast for his popular radio show, heard every afternoon for two hours. Especially once news of Hamblen's own conversion at one of the meetings reached the airwaves, people came to see what was so great that everyone on the radio was talking about. A second media break came when Randolph Hearst, owner of newspapers across the country including two major ones in Los Angeles, inexplicably told his papers to "puff Graham." They did and when Hearst's papers "puffed Graham," his competitor's papers followed suit. Soon the Los Angeles campaign was being talked about and read about nationwide. The crusade was extended from its original intended length of three weeks to a length of eight weeks, at which point the tent was still being packed, but the organizers physically could not continue. On November 20, nearly two months after it began, the crusade closed.

Graham has been said to be "The Man of the Fifties," because with help from the media, his fame grew and so did people's faith for the almighty God. But the fifties took their toll on Graham and his health. He traveled to countless American cities, as well as many foreign lands, among them Australia, Indian, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and most of the European countries. This left Graham feeling tired and worn out. So Graham looked to the words of the bible for inspiration.

This would revitalize his energy and send him back out to the world, with his Bible in hand to preach to all of God's children. It seemed now that Graham was drawing people from all parts of the world, with people from all different walks of life, and with different denominations. But Graham noticed that while he was reaching many people he was only one man, and that did not seem like enough. He came to the decision to use the media to his advantage and share the Lord's messages to people over the air waves. Graham decided to enter a new realm that was changing the face of the fifties, the radio. The radio in the fifties was a powerful way to transmit information to normally inaccessible people such as the elderly and the sick.

Graham started with a small Christian show called Songs in the Night in a station in Chicago. He was well received in Chicago and later he started his hour long radio show that still is running to this day "The Hour of Decision." At its peak, the show was heard on twelve hundred stations coast to coast by millions of people. Due to the immense reviews for his radio show, Graham decided to venture into yet a new form of media - Television. "The Hour of Decision" television show opened a new window to the public, because people could now not only hear him but it seemed like they were in a service with him. The TV show lasted from 1951 until 1954. Throughout all of his public televison appearances, his popularity grew and he had a vision for film to be a way to spread the gospel. But in times when films were considered the work of the devil, Graham looked at it by saying "...thousands of unconverted will come to a film that will never hear a preacher." Graham was a man of the media, a man who knew what people watched, listened to, and wanted to read. Graham saw the media as a way of ensuring that many people heard the gospel in order that they might believe. For, according to the verse, how can they believe if they have not heard? By using media, Graham allowed people to hear, and in the fifties people were definitely listening to the media.

Billy Graham's faithful wife, Ruth knew exactly where her place was in the family because she rarely traveled with him on his crusades, instead she stayed home. She was a hard working housewife who had to give all of her attention to her four children to pick up for Billy's absence. Ruth Graham was a very wise woman and a very devoted Christian, who Billy consulted often for advice.

Graham also figured he could reach many people's hearts through literature. So in 1952, he started writing a weekly article that was being published in five hundred thousand newspapers across the United States. He has written eighteen books, and all of them have become best sellers. The most successful book he wrote was "Just As I Am" which was written in 1997. It got one of the highest award that you can receive for a book, the triple crown. This book was based on his 60- year career of being a preacher, from his beginnings and the struggles he endured, to the triumphant man that exists today.

Billy Graham has had many relationships all over the world with world leaders. His biggest relationships have been with United States presidents. Most of these presidents used Graham's popularity with the people of America to pass on important ideas and statements to them. Eisenhower and Kennedy were the first of the presidents to consult Graham on major public issues, and they embraced Graham's opinions as high as they held their own. Nixon, Ford and Johnson increased the consulting of the evangelist preacher and was proclaimed "America's Pastor." Nixon once told Graham "When you went into the ministry, politics lost one of its potentially greatest practitioners." They have said that Billy Graham's finest moment was when he showed up to the side of President Bush, to fight against Iraq, and put an end to the war in that part of the world. His presence showed that the Gulf Crusade was, if not Christian, then at least biblical.

Franklin, son of Billy Graham was appointed CEO of BGEA. At age 22, after a period of rebellion and traveling the world, Franklin committed his life to Jesus Christ while alone in a hotel room in Jerusalem.When Graham was asked which president has most influenced his life and which president has most surprised him, he took a while to answer. "Very difficult, because I've had the privilege of knowing nine or 10 and I've known several of them very well including the present president. I couldn't answer that question because each has influenced me to a certain extent. I suppose I was closer to a few than I was to others. And the first president that I knew was Eisenhower, and before he became president he asked me to come to Paris where he was the head of SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe). I went to Paris and got acquainted with him, and then when he was nominated, he asked me to come to his hotel in Chicago because he thought I could help him write speeches. I think he was soon disillusioned, but he did accept some suggestions I made on religious matters because he did want a spiritual message in his speeches to the American people. Eisenhower was a very religious man." On the other hand, not all presidents considered Graham as high as others have in the past. President Harry Truman called Graham a "counterfeit". Some people have said that one statement may have lost him his re-election attempt the following year, because the people thought so very highly of Graham. One anonymous reporter even stated after Truman lost the election "You don't run for office among us by proclaiming your skepticism or by deprecating Billy Graham."

Over the course of his career, Graham is one of the few men never to have been caught up in any kind of scandal, whether they be financial or sexual. This has kept Graham's image as a pure wholesome man with nothing but the love of God to share with all the people of the world. Today at age eighty, Graham has been slowed down because he is stricken with Parkinson disease. Although he has had an amazing life that has led him around the world countless times. It has been said that he has been in every country at one time or another, from the smallest African village to large cities such as New York City spreading the word of God. Fulfilling the goal that he had set for himself from the start, that someday he would be heard by every Christian on the green world that God created.

Evangelist Billy Graham took Christ literally when He said in Mark 16:15, “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.”

Mr. Graham has preached the Gospel to more people in live audiences than anyone else in history—nearly 215 million people in more than 185 countries and territories—through various meetings, including Mission World and Global Mission. Hundreds of millions more have been reached through television, video, film, and webcasts.

Since the 1949 Los Angeles crusade vaulted Mr. Graham into the public eye, he has led hundreds of thousands of individuals to make personal decisions to live for Christ, which is the main thrust of his ministry.

Born November 7, 1918, four days before the Armistice ended World War I, Mr. Graham was reared on a dairy farm in Charlotte, North Carolina. Growing up during the Depression, he learned the value of hard work on the family farm, but he also found time to spend many hours in the hayloft reading books on a wide variety of subjects.

In the fall of 1934, at age 16, Mr. Graham made a personal commitment to Christ through the ministry of Mordecai Ham, a traveling evangelist, who visited Charlotte for a series of revival meetings.

Ordained in 1939 by a church in the Southern Baptist Convention, Mr. Graham received a solid foundation in the Scriptures at Florida Bible Institute (now Trinity College in Florida). In 1943 he was graduated from Wheaton College in Illinois and married fellow student Ruth McCue Bell, daughter of a missionary surgeon, who spent the first 17 years of her life in China.

After graduating from college, Mr. Graham pastored the First Baptist Church in Western Springs, Illinois, before joining Youth for Christ, an organization founded for ministry to youth and servicemen during World War II. He preached throughout the United States and in Europe in the immediate post war era, emerging as a rising young evangelist.

The Los Angeles crusade in 1949 launched Mr. Graham into international prominence. Scheduled for three weeks, the meetings were extended to more than eight weeks, with overflow crowds filling a tent erected downtown each night.

Many of his subsequent early crusades were similarly extended, including one in London which lasted 12 weeks, and a New York City crusade in Madison Square Garden in 1957 which ran nightly for 16 weeks.

Billy Graham with ex-President Bill ClintonToday, at age 88, Billy Graham and his ministry are known around the globe. He has preached in remote African villages and in the heart of New York City, and those to whom he has ministered have ranged from heads of state to the simple living bushmen of Australia and the wandering tribes of Africa and the Middle East. Since 1977, Mr. Graham has been accorded the opportunity to conduct preaching missions in virtually every country of the former Eastern bloc, including the former Soviet Union.

Besides evangelism, radio, television, and films, Graham was involved in many literary endeavors, including the books Calling Youth to Christ (1947), Revival in Our Times (1950), America's Hour of Decision (1951), Peace With God (1953), The Secret of Happiness (1955), World Aflame (1965), The Challenge (1969), The Jesus Generation (1971), Angels (1975), and How To Be Born Again (1977), and the newspaper column, "My Answer."

Throughout his career, Graham had critics of varying degrees of intensity. The criticisms generally fell into four different categories. Fundamentalists accused him of "ecumenical evangelism," that is, corrupting his message by accepting help and support from pseudo-Christians. Liberal Christians often wrote that he cared too much for evangelism and not enough for helping to ease the social ills of society. Some also attacked the crusades for being mechanical spectacles which moved people through emotionalism and left little in the way of results. Some evangelists felt he was too close to rulers and men of power who used him to increase their own legitimacy. These criticisms became particularly persistent in the mid-1970s because of Graham's friendship with Richard Nixon, then enmeshed in the Watergate scandal. Graham rarely answered critics, except to state that he felt his primary task, his calling from God, was to preach the Gospel, and he would accept help from anyone who did not place restrictions on his message.