Trace Billy Graham’s unexpected journey from a North Carolina farm to the largest arenas and stadiums in the world. For Billy Graham photos, stories, sermons and more, visit: https://BillyGrahamMemorial.org. Mr. Graham devoted his life to the message of Christ. To learn more about God’s love for you, visit https://StepstoPeace.org.
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all your life you’ve been searching for
feet joy happiness and some of you are
searching for purpose and meaning in
your life and you haven’t found it you
can have the greatest hope and courage
and joy and thrill that you’ve ever
known if you just let Christ come in
right now Jesus Christ identifies with
you and he looks at you tonight and he
loves you you start out with a little
bit of faith it may be a shaky wobbly
thing but if it’s in the Lord Jesus
Christ you don’t have to have faith
enough to hold onto him he’ll hold you
he gives you a joy and a peace and a
security and assurance and a happiness
and a sense of belonging and fulfillment
God is love God so loves the world that
whosoever believeth in him should not
perish but have everlasting life
whoever you are whatever you are
whatever you’ve done God loves you but
Christ is done for this farmboy Christ
can do for you what began with Billy
Graham’s simple decision to follow Jesus
Christ ultimately led to an exciting
journey of faith with international
impact all over the world people have a
difference in the way they react and
respond but not to the gospel when the
gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed I
just cannot see any difference
because man’s heart is rid of the same
the world over the word gospel means
good news good news that God loves man
God chose me I think to be an evangelist
which really is a communicator of one
simple message that God loves you and
that Christ died for you and my job is
to go and present price to those people
whose hearts God has prepared I’m
looking forward to that day when I’ll
see Christ face-to-face are you does he
live in your heart now
[Music]
born in his parents home in 1918 William
Franklin Graham was raised on the family
dairy farm just outside Charlotte North
Carolina as the son of devout Christians
I remember that I didn’t care anything
about God or religion a hell of the
devil or anything else I was just a
carefree kid having a big time doing
everything else that every other high
school kid was doing one day I came in
from playing baseball and my mother
asked me if I would go to church with
her that night she said well a powerful
man is going to preach tonight and I
went and I was looking out listening
intently to what he had to say but all
of a sudden he pointed back in my
direction and he said young man you’re a
sinner when the invitation was given I
just said more I’m going he says own
Louisville says the Lord has saved me
tonight’s as I know it we knew then that
the Lord had really gotten ahold of it
changed the whole direction of my life
and then about three or four years later
I felt called to preach wanting to know
more about God’s Word Billy convinced
his parents to let him leave the farm he
grew up on and attend the Florida Bible
Institute but in the years that followed
Billy began to wrestle with the
direction his life was taking not sure
he wanted to be a preacher
but not knowing which way to turn it is
a full moonlight night that I’ll never
forget it seemed to me that the Spirit
of God just came into my heart and a
tremendous surge of power and I knelt
down right there and I said Lord I’ll be
what you want me to be and I’ll do what
you want me to do and I’ll never change
this was a pivotal moment Billy would
reaffirm in his heart for decades to
come
I believe that the Bible teaches that
God has given some people the gift of a
teaching some the gift of the past
and some to get the van evangelist and I
believe that God gave me the gift of an
evangelist it was a calling to take the
message of hope and Jesus Christ with
boldness to anyone who would listen and
it began in small churches and revival
meetings I’d prepared for sermons I
remember the first time I have preached
in a church and I thought each one would
last 45 minutes and I preached all four
of them in 8 minutes
but Billy worked hard and practiced – Oh
Billy spiritual mentors at the Bible
School recognized his emerging gift for
preaching and after his graduation there
encouraged him to pursue his studies at
a larger College it was at Wheaton
College outside of Chicago where God
stirred the young man’s heart with a
whole new appreciation for the Bible
honing his skills in Bible study and
preaching disciplines that would serve
Billy Graham for the rest of his
ministry and it wasn’t Wheaton where
Billy was enlightened about the needs of
people beyond the borders of America due
in part to a young lady who was raised
in China
Ruth Bell was the charming daughter of
dr. Nelson and Virginia Bell who had
been medical missionaries in China it
was there that Ruth was born and spent
her for 17 years and where God ignited a
flame of compassion in her heart for
people all over the world she was a new
student at Wheaton College when Billy
arrived on campus well I remember when I
first saw him and he was dashing down
the steps of Blanchard two at a time and
my impression was there goes a young man
in a hurry this man that ran the
furniture truck I began to tell me about
this girl from China and then when I
finally saw her I was frightened to
death to ever ask her for a date but I
finally worked up enough courage to ask
her to go at Christmastime to the
Messiah
amande you I didn’t even know the man
but I just prayed and I said lord if you
will let me share his life I will
consider it the greatest honor possible
fortunately I didn’t know what lay ahead
I wouldn’t have had the nerve to pray a
prayer like that
Billy and Ruth married in the Blue Ridge
Mountains of North Carolina on August
13th 1943 and formed a partnership in
life and ministry that served as Billy’s
anchor for 63 years the first time I saw
I fell in love with her and I knew she
was the one I was going to marry and
they were three in our marriage there
was the Lord and there was Ruth and me
it was a love relationship my mother
loved my father and my father loved and
adored her and it was a partnership of
course she’s a great student of the
Bible and was a real good adviser she
was perhaps his first advisor there
wouldn’t be a Billy Graham without Ruth
Graham in the 1940s his Billy Graham
began his evangelistic ministry he
recruited several talented colleagues to
help no one was more valued than Ruth
who was rarely in public view but was an
active advisor to Billy behind the
scenes a team began forming one that
proved to be inspired as these men
served together for decades he had
written me and asked me to become his
gospel singer and I said to him you know
the only gospel singer I’ve ever known
about it was sing a verse or two and
then stop and talk a while but I have to
do that he’s Huckle and he said I hope
not
George Beverly Shea a well-known
musician and radio personality became
the beloved soloist for the Crusades as
the music and program director cliff
barrows would also host each Billy
Graham event and program throughout the
years
friends from high school and trusted
colleagues Grady and TW Wilson worked
behind the scenes to organize the
meetings long before they enjoyed
national prominence these men held a
somewhat impromptu meeting in Modesto
California
it was 1949 just before one of their
early crusade events bill mention to us
he said you know we know that
evangelists in the past have run into
difficulties have gotten involved in
things that have brought disrepute to
the cause of Christ and he said let’s
ask God to guard us for making those
mistakes the team decided to hold each
other accountable to four virtues
financial accountability moral integrity
respect for the local church and their
pastors and truth in publicity it became
known as the Modesto manifesto and it
was through this team that the mission
of the Billy Graham Evangelistic
Association came into focus to proclaim
the gospel of Lord Jesus Christ to all
they could buy every effective means
available to them
it was the foundation of integrity that
would serve the team well as the
ministry expanded beyond their wildest
expectations we were in Augusta Georgia
Augusta Georgia and along with that time
we heard were going to go to Los Angeles
and it’s gonna be a big tent the first
two weeks drew disappointing crowds and
the committee of leaders that had
invited the crusade to Los Angeles
considered ending the events then in the
third week popular radio host Stewart
Hamlin supported the crusade on his
radio broadcast and more publicity was
on the way one night I went and I saw
several photographers and there were
several reporters trying to interview me
all at one time and I said what has
happened why you here they said you’ve
just been kissed by William Randolph
iris the media until now had ignored
these events but with interest from the
head of the vast Hearst publishing
Empire national coverage was almost
instantaneous she
son of God has an end to every burden
that you carry the crusade was extended
from the original plan of three weeks to
eight with this singular event Billy
Graham became a household name
it was confirmation of his calling and
God’s faithfulness and we pray that in
these days we might see an old-fashioned
heaven-sent public Ghost revival that we
found nation from coast to coast
there’s a little boy speaking to you now
and even while I’m talking that little
boys is safe that’s what I need I need
Christ I need God I’m going to ask you
to surrender to that little voice
because that little voice is the voice
of the Spirit of God invitations for
Crusades continue to pour infant church
groups all across the nation the next
few decades became a whirlwind of
opportunity for Billy Graham from all
over America in 1954 a committee of
church leaders in England arranged for a
series of crusade meetings in Great
Britain at the time London was the
largest city in the world but the event
was threatened by vocal members in
parliament who didn’t want the American
evangelist to hold a public event there
after much prayer God opened the doors
and just as the Los Angeles Crusade
created a watershed in America the
London Crusade marked a breakthrough in
Billy’s international prominence
attendance was over two million
culminating with the final meeting in
Wembley Stadium soon the Billy Graham
Evangelistic team made their way across
Europe to places like Stockholm
Amsterdam Berlin the message of this
book is the message of God he bought
choppiness bullet in Paris you must
receive Christ
and in 1956 into Asia including India
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Japan Oh God they love the world and
eventually South Korea I want to talk
about the greatest man that ever lived
over a million people from all over
Korea came to hear the gospel of Jesus
Christ on almost every continent from
Australia to Canada give your life to
Christ in it to Latin America and beyond
that God loved not even yet God opened
the doors to take the good news in to
all the world
I think the millions of people around
the world that maybe have never heard of
Christ yet Christ has spoken to their
hearts and they’re prepared to listen
and my job is to go and present Christ
to those people whose hearts God has
prepared his billy’s ministry grew so
did his family through the years the
Grahams were blessed with five children
we didn’t realize that Daddy was well
known or anything but I guess when when
look magazine and Time magazine and Life
magazine it would come to the house with
daddy’s pictures on the front we began
to realize there’s something special
here national prominence brought
increased demands on Billy’s time and
the call to preach around the world
would often keep him on the road and
away from his family for several months
at a time
sometimes I imagine you feel like a
stranger to your own family okay well I
really do the last time I was home I’d
been away seven months I didn’t
understand the difficulties that my
mother was going through saying goodbye
to my father knowing that he’s going to
be going not just for a week but for
four months six months incredible lady
mother I never in my lifetime ever heard
her complain never heard her say a
negative word about my daddy a lot of
times I would go down this driveway here
with tears in my eyes I didn’t want to
go because I needed to be several weeks
or months before I had Sarah by the way
what I asked you one question
did you go to church last Sunday could
you make it last month you have a winner
now early in his ministry Billy
understood the power of the media to
reach more people for Christ greetings
ladies and gentlemen and welcome to
another a love decision even hosting a
long-running television program and a
weekly radio broadcast have you received
him by a definite act of faith Billy was
a natural television personality I think
Billy went on all those shows because he
always was spreading the message he
answered the questions but it always
came back to Christ as your Savior price
luxury have you’ve been reading the
Bible I see a few valiant Commandments
yes I know
in Commandments can be broken in your
heart by thought and intent so in that
sense we’re all guilty and that’s the
reason the Bible says that everybody’s a
sinner even it is a sinner
[Music]
it comes as quite a surprise though we
never sought fame he saw that his
growing recognition gave him an
unparalleled opportunity to spread the
gospel what is your purpose my purpose
is to win as many people to him now and
I’m doing it because he ordered us to he
said go into the whole world and
proclaim this message that God loves
people
that he’s interested in people he wants
to help them in their present situation
and he wants to save their souls people
often refer to my grandfather’s
America’s pastor and I think it would be
a term like that my grandfather would
blush at because he never set out to be
that Reverend William Billy Graham’s
untiring evangelism spread the word of
God to every corner of the globe and
made him one of the most inspirational
spiritual leaders of the 20th century
the international attention would also
bring in before American presidents and
world leaders beginning with President
Truman Billy spiritual counsel was
welcomed by every subsequent president
in the nation’s highest office I think
it’s through him that I found myself
praying even more than a daily basis he
would be consulted by men and women of
power in many countries on matters of
faith a trusted confidant behind the
closed doors of leaders his reputation
is above reproach all suspicion and he’s
been a christ-like figure people see him
as the great evangelist but there’s a
warm personal side chain that we bushes
have been privileged to see he was a
highly intelligent highly articulate
highly charismatic man of profound faith
who was nevertheless a man he’s set for
himself the highest possible standards
he has a Pitta Myers absolute integrity
from the public ministry you made in the
image of God you were made to glorify
God he’s one of the great evangelists of
our nation’s history his Crusades are
legendary the size of his crowds were
magnificent throughout the years because
of the message and without God there’s
an empty place in your life that could
be filled tonight right tonight by a
simple surrender to Jesus Christ
I consider the call to the ministry the
highest and most marvelous calling in
the world because it’s an eternal
calling and I wouldn’t trade places with
any president or any King
God was calling me and I said Lord I’ll
go where you want me to go and I’ll be
what you want me to be I’m Yours our job
is to call out a people for his name
confronting the world with the claims of
Christ and that’s what we’ve been doing
in our organization and that’s what
you’ve been doing in your churches
scattering seed and these seeds the
seeds of the gospel and they fall upon
good ground and bring forth good fruit
internet evangelism
is one of the most successful
evangelistic programs that this
organization has ever done when people
have questions about spiritual matters
or religion they go online so it’s
important to be there with the gospel
the rapid response team chaplains go at
a moment’s notice into some of the
toughest areas of the world to Minister
the gospel the Lord Jesus Christ the
peace that Jesus brings just who washes
over the person we pray with it’s been
exciting to see what God has done at the
Billy Graham library everyday lives are
changed it’s about the gospel we’re
going to continue to our Crusades
tonight you can surrender your life to
Jesus Christ and he will forgive you
he’ll
he’ll make you into a new creation we
must prepare the ground and sow the seed
of God’s Word and water it what is our
message Christ alone as the savior of
men go into all the world and preach the
gospel to every creature there is no
excuse ever for hatred there is no
excuse ever for bigotry and intolerance
and Prejudice we’re to love that God
loved up crossing into uncharted
territory
Billy refused to allow intense criticism
to keep him from sharing the good news
with everyone regardless of race his
decision to confront racism and
injustice in America and other parts of
the world raised the respect of many to
the ire of others
this is the way the truth and the life
Billy had perceived invitations to
preach in South Africa but refused to do
so until he can preach to a
non-segregated audience openly
challenging apartheid religion and don’t
let anybody ever tell you that it’s
quite a black balloon he belongs to the
whole world and he said to the thousands
their apartheid is sin it’s it’s wrong
it’s not right with God and the papers
Karen I know that God has sent me out as
a warrior to preach the gospel and I
must continue until he gives the signal
that I’m to stop in the height of the
Cold War
he and his ministry boldly took their
message to the Communist Soviet Union
where Christianity had been repressed
the hope lies at the foot of the cross
it helped to undermine the communist
system I think he was one of the forces
that kept a window open to the human
spirit I’ve traveled over this world a
great deal now and I feel that I’m a
part of a great mosaic of the human race
that God has created each made in His
image
each needing the gospel of Christ each
having the same basic problems and
desires and longings and I’m a part of
that
there are many things about God that I
don’t understand or comprehend I accept
his revelation of himself by faith when
natural disasters caused devastation the
Billy Graham team reached out to those
in need
offering physical and spiritual
assistance living the word of the gospel
in prayer and action
they brought hope during seemingly
hopeless times while we preach the cross
with one we also give a cup of cold
water with the other he has often been a
healing voice and a calming Shepherd
bringing comfort and solace to a
troubled nation during seasons of crisis
this event reminds us of the brevity and
the uncertainty of life we never know
when we too will be called into eternity
my prayer today is that we will feel the
loving arms of God wrapped around us and
will know in our hearts they will never
forsake us as we trust in Him
I think one of my ministries as I get
older Stu Hale p– advised and counseled
younger evangelists and put it their
disposal whatever we have learned as a
result of his international experiences
Billy Graham’s vision for reaching the
world began to broaden after much prayer
the team began an immense effort to
train evangelists and provide resources
for them to reach the remote parts of
the globe and I see those hundred thirty
millions and I say Oh God
you have said go into all the world and
declare this message that’s our job as
evangelists in 1983 1986 and again in
2000 the Billy Graham Evangelistic
Association invited thousands of
evangelists to gather in Amsterdam
worship and intense training that
brought worldwide impact Amsterdam 2000
was a funder and this is one of the
things that’s come out of dr. Graham’s
ministry it isn’t just that millions of
people have been one to have faith in
Jesus Christ also thousands upon
thousands of new evangelists have been
born out of his ministry sometimes I get
so sick of seeing the name Billy Graham
as though I’m the whole thing and I know
that it’s a work of many people being
used of the Lord and offering their
special gifts to us
I’ve heard people say who’s gonna
replace you but I granted over the years
we’ve had evangelists that have come
from around the world for training and
my father has said each time they are
the ones who are going to replace me
it’s a privilege for me to be able to
present to you my father dr. Billy
Graham daddy in the late 1980s
Franklin Graham joined his father’s
ministry as festivals have traveled the
world carrying on Billy’s mission of
proclaiming the message of Jesus Christ
tonight and come by faith to His Son
Jesus Christ God will put his arms
around you it’ll say welcome home in the
years that followed Billy spent less
time in the public eye and more time
writing until his last crusade in New
York in 2005 drawing almost 200 thousand
people I go to prepare a place for you
said Jesus and where I am there you can
be also throughout his ministry Ruth’s
had been Billy’s constant companion even
when they were far apart they shared
their later years together in love and
prayer in the home she had built for
them until her passing in June of 2007 I
love her very much and I thank God for
such a wonderful Christian wife who
stood by me all these years as I’ve
traveled all over the world proclaiming
the gospel so it hasn’t been all that
hard sticking beside him it’s been
nothing but pure joy most of the time
it’s from pure joy as they met at 98% of
the time there’s 2% she’s not sure about
I’ll try to find out what that is 2%
make it interesting
there’s hope there’s joy this purpose
this meaning because he lives I can face
tomorrow I’ve become an old man now and
I’ve preached all over the world and the
older I get the more I cling to that
hope that I started with many years ago
and I have confidence as I stand before
God at this moment that there’s nothing
between me and the Savior because Christ
has forgiven my sins and it brings a
great joy and a great peace to me
because I know where I’ve come from I
know why I’m here I know where I’m going
and I don’t have any doubts about
wherever you are whoever you are rich
poor black white whatever your color
razor cream you can say yes to Jesus
Christ you and you alone in the quiet
arena of your heart will have to make
that decision I’m looking forward to
going to heaven that’s going to be a
great occasion
and I’m looking forward to seeing Christ
face to face and seeing old friends
again and living the life that the Bible
describes so beautifully God loves you
I’m asking you tonight to commit your
life to Jesus Christ you can have joy
and peace and happiness in your life
such as you’ve never known I would like
to be considered a person who had
integrity and he was faithful to his
calling and who loved God with all his
heart mind and soul
beginning with a simple expression of
faith at age 15 speaking around the
world with clarity and conviction Billy
Graham’s ministry has delivered the
message of hope and Jesus Christ
throughout the world for over 80 years
now through the millions whose lives
were changed by Christ that ministry
lives on
[Music]
[Laughter]
now I’m going to live a billion years
and I’ll only have begun
you