I apologize to the great State of North Carolina for saying this, but I recall only two people when thinking about that special Southern drawl from the Tarheel State: Coach Roy (“dad gum”) Williams and, far more significantly, Billy Graham.
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Dr. Graham, 99, died last Wednesday, Feb. 21, in Montreat, NC.
Much about his life is widely known. He was regularly listed by the Gallup organization as one of the “Ten Most Admired Men in the World,” making an unparalleled 57th appearance (and 51st consecutive appearance) in 2013. He was also featured on the covers of Time, Newsweek, Life, U.S. News and World Report, Parade and numerous other magazines and has been the subject of many newspaper and magazine feature articles and books.
Billy Graham preached throughout the United States and in Europe in the post-war era, emerging as a rising young evangelist. The Los Angeles Crusade in 1949 launched Graham into international prominence. Scheduled for three weeks, the meetings were extended to more tha
n 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 that lasted 12 weeks, and a New York City crusade in Madison Square Garden in 1957, which ran nightly for 16 weeks.
Billy Graham came to Kansas City several times. He conducted three crusades here among the countless worship services he organized worldwide. He was dubbed the “top evangelistic salesman of his message in our era” for reasons even the faithless recognized.
Amid the chaos throughout America in 1967, his 10-day “Heart of America Crusade” at KC’s old Municipal Stadium attracted 364,000 people — with 53,000 going forward to accept Jesus Christ in one night. Stadium groundskeeper George Toma once quipped how a Billy Graham crusade could do more damage to grass than a rodeo.
Dr. Graham, contrary to the opinion of President Lyndon Johnson at the time, said the country’s morality was in decline. He visited Harry Truman, both while Truman worked at the White House and in Truman’s retirement at Independence. He repeated visits to KC, speaking to ministers at conventions. In 1981 while here for one such occasion, he visited people at Truman Medical Center who were wounded in the Hyatt Regency skywalk collapse.
Throughout his career and ministry, Graham preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to more people in live audiences than anyone else in history — nearly 215 million — through various meetings, including Mission World and Global Mission. Hundreds of millions more have been reached through television, video, film and webcasts.
His last visit to Kansas City was a 2004 crusade held in Arrowhead Stadium. He was 85 years old, recuperating from two falls and dealing with Parkinson’s disease. But he still had a way of motivating people to seek Jesus.
Unfortunately in today’s context, the prominence of Billy Graham seems by comparison in decline. For instance, his weekly newspaper column, “My Answer,” was relegated to the comic strip pages in the Kansas City Star. I recall a letter to the editor where a reader lauded that editorial decision en route to railing against Christianity. Billy Graham just happened to be the messenger, as scripture explains.
Apparently, too many of us aren’t listening to messengers of the gospel. There is so much more noise competing for our attention.
Immediately under the KC Star front page article announcing the death of “America’s pastor” was a large photo of student protesters at a rally against gun violence on the steps of the old Florida Capital in Tallahassee, one week after the deadly shooting at the high school in Parkland, FL.
The next day’s edition included an advertising insert from a popular sports equipment chain touting hot deals for Glock handguns, including one with “NEW! Robin’s Egg Blue frame and titanium slide” (I guess for women). Then I read elsewhere in that same edition about the idea of equipping school teachers with guns. Odd, isn’t it …how our President says 20% of public school teachers should pack guns during a time when we don’t trust teachers to appropriately discipline students by corporal punishment. We won’t give teachers a paddle … but we give them a gun?
The next day’s front page news reported on the grand jury indictment against Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens. This followed allegations that Greitens threatened a woman with blackmail to cover up a 2015 extra-marital affair, leading up to a felony charge of invasion of privacy.
And so on. And on. And on.
Reprinting Billy Graham’s columns to help us focus on the gospel of Jesus Christ should return to front page prominence in our society, don’t you think?
Dr. Graham offered advice and shared opinions. He was a personal confidante to business leaders and presidents, and participated in many Presidential inaugurations. He worked to consistently keep the focus on the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Oh, Billy Graham knew personal frailties like every man. His public persona had blemishes, too. Many say Dr. Graham changed too slowly and was too timid on civil rights for African Americans during the 1960s. He was also criticized for being too loyal to Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal in the 1970s.
But I read where he continues to set an example even as he’s put to rest. Contrary to an entire industry that seems to promote materialism when it comes to burying the dead, Billy Graham made arrangements to rest in a plywood coffin made by prison inmates. This is no empty gesture, just more evidence of his personal faith in God.
He chose to be buried next to his wife Ruth, who died in 2007. Graham is survived by his five children: Gigi, Anne, Ruth, Franklin and Ned, 19 grandchildren and many great-grandchildren.
In contrast to many other prominent evangelists, Billy Graham’s organization has no taint of financial scandal during many decades of service. He kept the message focused on Jesus, about repenting from sin to receive salvation. He did not waiver from this, the Great Commission.
I never personally met Billy Graham. But I know him as head of the organization that once delivered a movie entitled “The Cross and the Switchblade” to a little movie theater in Sedalia, MO, numbering me among the millions of souls his witness reached. I can hear his Southern twang, a familiar voice clearly delivering the gospel of Jesus Christ through a black-and-white TV night after night in our old farmhouse home.
Perhaps like you, I feel like I knew him well.
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PUT THIS IN A BOX:
On Thursday Dr. Billy Graham’s last newspaper column was published — right beside the daily horoscope and TV schedule (given much more space). He approved his final question-answer column shortly before his death.
Q: How would you like to be remembered?
A: “I hope I will be remembered as someone who was faithful — to God, to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to the calling God gave me as an evangelist, and as a husband, father and friend.
“I take comfort in Christ’s promise of forgiveness, and in God’s ability to take even our most imperfect efforts and use them for His glory.
“By the time you read this, I will be in heaven, and as I write this I’m looking forward with great anticipation to the day when I will be in God’s presence forever.
“I’m convinced that heaven is far more glorious than anything we can possibly imagine, and I look forward not only to its wonder and peace, but also to the joy of being reunited with those who have gone there before me, especially my dear wife Ruth. The Bible says, “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12).”