Billy+Graham

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__**Billy Graham**__

People may know him for the many sermons he has preached, or they may know him as “America’s Preacher”. No matter how people know Billy Graham, almost everyone has heard of him. He has preached to the presidents of the United States and is the most known evangelist in the world.



=Early Years and Family= The world knows him as Billy Graham, but his real name was William Franklin Graham, was born on November 7, 1918. He lived on a farm in Charlotte, North Carolina. Billy Graham’s parents were William Franklin Graham and Morrow Coffey Graham. Graham was the first of four children; Catherine, Melvin, and Jean were his siblings. In 1934 he got saved listening to evangelist Mordecai Ham. When Graham was only seventeen he preached his first sermon. Graham went to Bob Jones College, in Cleveland TN, in 1936; after a few months, he left because he couldn’t adjust to the life style. In January 1937, he relocated to Florida Bible College (now Trinity College), graduating with a Bachelor of Theology degree, in 1940. While attending Florida Bible, Graham met the president, V. Raymond Edman, of Wheaton College. The Edman family admired his ability to preach and helped him to attend Wheaton from 1940-43. He majored in anthropology. There, he became pastor of United Gospel Tabernacle and he met Ruth Bell, daughter of the Southern Presbyterian surgeon and missionary, L. Nelson Bell. The Bells had been in China since 1916. On August 13, 1943, the two married. They have five children, Virginia, Anne, Ruth, Franklin, and Nelson.

=Ministry = In 1949, Graham held his first crusade, had an eight week long revival in Los Angeles. Ever since this triumph he has been the leading religious revivalist. His only pastorate was in Western Springs, IL. He also took over “Songs in the Night”, a radio program from Pastor Torrey Johnson. Pastor Johnson planned Chicago conferences and Graham spoke at some of them. Graham talked the popular Christian soloist, George Beverly Shea, into joining him. In 1945, Graham was hired to be the traveling representative for Youth for Christ. For four years Graham organized YFC chapters in the US, Europe, and Canada. In 1948, Graham resigned from YFC, but remained on the board of directors for a while. Graham started organizing his own rallies in which Grady Wilson and Shea worked alongside him. The first rally was in Charlotte, in 1947. Over the next decade, he did campaigns in every major city in the US, South America, Asia, Europe, and Africa. To avoid the appearance of sexual immortality, he never traveled, nor ate alone with any women other than Ruth. In 1950 he established the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

=Pastor of Presidents= Billy Graham was an advisor for presidents from Eisenhower to Bush. Graham helped get President Dwight D. Eisenhower elected. Eisenhower asked Graham to help him become closer friends with Nixon because his grandson, David was going to marry Nixon’s daughter, Julie. The next president Graham talked with was Kennedy. Graham had many talks with Kennedy, being called to the Oval Office on several occasions. The last time he talked with President Kennedy was at the National Prayer Breakfast. Graham also talked with President Johnson. Johnson and Graham seemed quite close. Because of their friendship Johnson told Graham “Billy, one day you’re going to preach at my funeral…” which he did. Graham was an advisor to Nixon. Graham was at Nixon’s mothers’ funeral. The two of them talked a lot. Graham preached at the first White House service under Nixon. After Nixon he visited President Ford. When Ford went to the hospital for a blood clot, Graham visited him and prayed for him. Ronald Reagan and Nixon talked as well. Reagan asked Graham to come to his inauguration ceremonies. Reagan also invited Graham and his wife to several state dinners for visiting foreign leaders. Graham talked with Bush Senior. In January 1991, Graham had a private lunch meeting with President Bush. Clinton and Graham became acquainted as well. Clinton first saw Graham when he was 11 in Arkansas. Graham was friends with the entire Bush family. Graham spoke with George W. Bush at the National Prayer Breakfast. Finally Obama and Graham met. On April 25, 2010, President Obama drove to Asheville and met with Billy Graham and his son, Franklin. During this meeting, they talked about their time in Chicago. As the president was leaving, they said a prayer. Graham prayed for wisdom for the president and for the nation; the president thanked God for Graham’s life.

=International influence= Not only was he influential in the US, but he also had international fame. Some of the countries that he visited include North Korea, China, Soviet Union, Japan, Yugoslavia, East and West Germany. Many of the countries have less religious freedom than in the US, yet he held crusades there and met many of their leaders.

=Organizations founded/ helped= He was involved in Youth for Christ. With them, he went many places, sharing the Gospel of Christ with thousands of people. Graham was involved with Northwestern University, becoming its president in 1947 after its founder died. In 1950 he launched the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. He created World Wide Pictures in 1953. This Christian movie studio produced many films including //The Hiding Place, The Ride, The Climb, Last Flight Out, Something to Sing About,// and //A Vow to Cherish//. In these films, the problems of the protagonist are solved though faith in Christ.

=Graham Today= In 1995, Franklin took over his father’s ministry. Graham’s wife died June 14, 2007. Graham is now 92 years old. Graham has struggled with many things like hydrocephalus, prostate cancer, Parkinson’s disease, a broken hip, and pneumonia. On May 15, he was released from the hospital where he was treated for pneumonia and he is recovering at home.

__**Billy Graham Analysis**__ Billy Graham has been one of the most influential people ever. What shaped is life? What impact has he had? =Influenced By= Growing up Billy Graham was influenced by many things and many people. His grandmother was one of them. She and her husband, Ben, had a strong faith in God. Before she died, she said, “I see Jesus. He had His arms outstretched toward me. And there’s Ben! He has both of his eyes and both of his legs.” Graham grew up on a farm. When you live on a farm you are taught hard work. Both of his parents were Southern Presbyterians; theirs was a strong, faith-based household. Graham also grew up during the Great Depression, so he learned that money was valuable. When Graham was eighteen, he worked as a salesman for Fuller Brush Company. According to one of the employees, he was the best salesman. Being a salesman taught him about communicating a message, human nature, and a lot about himself. One of the first pastors that influenced Billy Graham was the Evangelist Billy Sunday. Billy Sunday was a baseball player before he became a preacher. The second pastor that he saw was Mordecai Ham. He was a travelling salesman before he became a preacher. Graham had done both of those things.

=Influence to the World= Billy Graham has influenced the world in many ways. Graham went to Berlin in 1966 for the World Congress on Evangelism. This meeting had 1,200 evangelical leaders from 104 different nations. In 1974 he attended the International Congress on World Evangelical in Lausanne, Switzerland. This meeting had about 2,400 representatives from 150 countries. The greatest achievement he had, however, was when he led two Billy Graham Evangelical Association sponsored conventions in 1983 and 1986 in Amsterdam. There was a third scheduled for the year 2000. At this convention there were 13,000 people from 174 countries. At the conventions he talked about the basics of fundraising, how to use videotapes effectively, and sermon composition. He changed the way preachers preached to people, the way it was broadcast to people, and was more involved with politics and foreign affairs than most evangelists. Billy Graham was an admired and respected man. He was number seven on Gallup’s list for people who are admired. Between 1950 and 1990 he was on the Gallup list frequently. President Reagan awarded Graham the highest honor for civilians, the Congressional Gold Medal. He also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Graham has given sermons to more people than anyone on the planet! Graham wasn’t the only evangelist to have a pass to the White House, but he was the only preacher to have a pass to the White House for eleven straight administrations, both Republican and Democrat. Presidents counseled with him. Graham has ministered to four generations of the Bush family, starting with Bush senior’s mother down to Bush Jr. and his sister, Doro. Bill Clinton once said, “I am here because of the public Billy Graham and the private Billy Graham. When he prays with you in the Oval Office or upstairs at the White House, you feel he is praying for you. Not for the President.” Carter said that “I’m just one of tens of millions of people whose spiritual life has been shaped by Billy Graham”. Rick Warren, author of Purpose Driven Life, quotes Graham as his mentor. Over eight million people have heard Graham preach in person. Through films, radio, and TV, countless more millions have heard his message. As a result, almost three million people have accepted the invitation to Christ.

Graham went to Hungary in 1977 for a crusade. Also, he went to the communist Soviet Union four different times! He was the first Evangelist to preach behind the Iron Curtain. In Budapest and in Moscow he preached to massive crowds. Following these meetings he was invited to Beijing, China and Pyongyang, North Korea. This was never done before! One of the Soviet leaders of education said “We hate Christians; even the best of them must be regarded as our enemies.” Many prime ministers, every president from Eisenhower to Clinton, the queen, the pope, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Johnny Cash, have been Graham’s friends. Within the category “achievements in religion”, a //Ladies Home Journal// survey put Graham second only to God. Graham has met many people including Mother Teresa, Winston Churchill, Prime Minister Golda Meir (Israel), King Hussein (Jordan), Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (Great Britain), Mikhail Gorbachev, President Kim Il Sung (North Korea), Pope John Paul II, Queen Elizabeth II, and Mrs. Gandhi, Prime Minister Hatoyama, Madam Chiang Kai-shek, and President Boris Yeltsin (Russia). Along with meeting many people in power, he went to many countries. Some of them include Germany, North Korea, France, Great Britain, India, Japan, Iran, Egypt, Argentina, Russia, Mexico, China, Poland, Yugoslavia, South Africa, Czechoslovakia, and Columbia. Throughout his life, he has touched many lives, and has been one of the most influential people to live on this earth. Unlike some preachers, his message hasn’t changed; only the people he preached to. Few people have touched as many lives as Billy Graham.

**__Work Citied __** "Billy Graham | Christian History." //ChristianityToday.com | Magazines, News, Church Leadership & Bible Study//. 8 Aug. 2008. Web. 26 May 2011. . "Billy Graham." //Christian History Magazine//. 2011. Web. 26 May 2011. . "Billy Graham: Quotes, Early Life, Family, Ministry, Later Years, Politics, Controversy, Awards and Honors, Books Authored, and a List of Books by Author Billy Graham." //Trade Books for Free, Book Swap, Trade Audiobooks » PaperBack Swap//. Web. 26 May 2011. . "BGEA: World Wide Pictures." //BGEA: Billy Graham Evangelistic Association//. Web. 19 May 2011. . "Evangelist Billy Graham Admitted To Hospital For Pneumonia, Condition Stable." //Medical News Today: Health News//. 12 May 2011. Web. 19 May 2011. . "Obama, Billy Graham Pray Together - Washington Times." //Washington// //Times - Politics, Breaking News, US and World News//. 25 Apr. 2010. Web. 19 May 2011. . <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Gibbs, Nancy, and Michael Duffy. "Billy Graham: "A Spiritual Gift to All" - TIME." //Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com//. 31 May 2007. Web. 26 May 2011. <http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1627139,00.html>. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">"Ruth Bell and Billy Graham Marriage Profile -- The Marriage of Ruth and Billy Graham." //Marriage -- THE Starting Place for Exploring Marriage and Marriage Issues//. Web. 19 May 2011. <http://marriage.about.com/od/celebritymarriages/p/billgraham.htm>. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">"The Archives Bulletin Board." //Wheaton// //College: Home//. Web. 17 May 2011. <http://www.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/bulletin/bu0405.htm>. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Graham, Billy. __Just As I Am.__ New York: Harper SanFrancisco, 1997.