SAINTS OF OLD - BILLY GRAHAM (PART 2)

Preaching Career Begins

After graduating from high school, Billy enrolled at Florida Bible Institute, now Trinity College, and began to lead prayer meetings at a nearby trailer park and downtown mission hall. He also preached at a local church, as an ordained minister of the Southern Baptist Convention. Other churches began inviting him to speak.

In 1940, Billy enrolled at Wheaton College in Wheaton, IL, studying anthropology. He graduated in 1943 and two months later married a fellow student – Ruth McCue Bell, whose parents were missionaries in China. Billy applied to become a U.S. Army chaplain but was told he needed pastoral experience first, and therefore accepted a call to a small Baptist church in Western Springs, IL.

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While there, he was offered the opportunity to host a 45-minute religious program called “Songs in the Night” on Chicago’s largest radio station. It was there he met and became friends with Canada’s George Beverly Shea, a soloist on the show.

In 1945, Billy was invited to become the first full-time organiser for Youth for Christ – establishing a lifelong path for him as an evangelist.

National Profile

Four years later, while Billy was conducting evangelistic meetings in Los Angeles, the news media began covering him. There were local stories, but also in the wire services and in Time, Life and Newsweek magazines. What was initially supposed to be a few weeks of meetings attracted such large crowds that they continued for months. Shortly afterward, Billy began a national weekly radio program – “The Hour of Decision” – that continues today on hundreds of stations in the U.S., Canada and overseas.

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During this very busy period, it became apparent that a formal organisation would be needed to manage the growing momentum of a ministry that was once informally known as the Graham- Barrows Campaigns. In 1950, papers for incorporation were filed in St. Paul, MN, and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) was born with the following mission: “to take the message of Christ to all we can by every effective means available to us.”

Since then, the BGEA has been comprised of a team of men and women who work and pray, behind the scenes and in plain view, to make it all possible. “We have a whole team of people and most of us have been together for nearly 50 years. I’m introduced as though I’m doing it all . . . but it’s the Lord using this group of people,” Dr. Graham said.

Around the World

“I have had the privilege of preaching the Gospel on every continent in most of the countries of the world. And I have found that when I present the simple message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ . . . He takes that message and drives it supernaturally into the human heart,” said Dr. Graham.

God’s word was spoken through Billy Graham in humble sincerity to millions over the decades. Of himself he admited, “I am not a great preacher, and I don’t claim to be a great preacher . . . I’m just communicating the Gospel in the best way I know how.”

Family

On August 13, 1943, Graham married Wheaton classmate Ruth Bell, whose parents were Presbyterian missionaries in China. Her father, L. Nelson Bell, was a general surgeon.^[33] Ruth died on June 14, 2007, at the age of 87.^[34] The couple were married for almost 64 years.^[35]

Graham and his wife had five children together: Virginia Leftwich (Gigi) Graham (b. 1945), an inspirational speaker and author; Anne Graham Lotz (b. 1948), runs AnGeL ministries; Ruth Graham (b. 1950), founder and president of Ruth Graham & Friends, leads conferences throughout the US and Canada; Franklin Graham (b. 1952), serves as president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and as president and CEO of international relief organization, Samaritan's Purse; and Nelson Edman Graham (b. 1958), a pastor who runs East Gates Ministries International, which distributes Christian literature in China.

At the time of his death at age 99 in 2018, Graham was survived by 5 children, 19 grandchildren (including Will Graham and Tullian Tchividjian), 41 great-grandchildren and 6 great-great-grandchildren.

Graham died of natural causes on February 21, 2018, at his home in Montreat, North Carolina, at the age of 99.

On February 28 and March 1, 2018, Graham became the fourth private citizen in United States history to lie in honor at the United States Capitol rotunda in Washington, D.C. He is the first religious leader to be so honored. At the ceremony, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan called Graham "America's pastor". President Donald Trump said Graham was "an ambassador for Christ".

A private funeral service was held on March 2, 2018. Graham was buried beside his wife at the foot of the cross-shaped brick walkway in the Prayer Garden on the northeast side of the Billy Graham Library. Graham's pine plywood casket, handcrafted in 2006 by convicted murderers at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, is topped with a wooden cross nailed to it by the prisoners

SOURCE:https://billygraham.org.uk/billy-grahams-story/ & https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Graham

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Today, the same message is communicated to hundreds of thousands, bridging gaps of distance and change. Of this new day, Dr. Graham said, “God has given us new tools to do His work – electronic and visual tools, such as radio, films, television, and telephones – and each of these has played an important role in the expansion of our ministry.”

From living room audiences, gathered around radios and television sets, to packed stadiums, images of God at work in the world are entrenched in the hearts and memories of generations. Taken literally is the invitation to “come just as you are” to Christ, and countless lives begin anew.

SOURCE: https://billygraham.org.uk/billy-grahams-story/