Billy Graham

The evangelist Billy Graham remains one of the most well-known figures of the 20th century. In this episode, Stephen Nichols walks us through his life, from humble beginnings on a dairy farm to preaching to millions of people.

Welcome back to another episode of 5 Minutes In Church History. Last week we talked about Carl Henry, and this week we’re going to talk about the other architect of modern evangelicalism. The household name Billy Graham. He was born William Franklin Graham in 1918, outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, on a large dairy farm. Graham’s family were Presbyterian. As a youth, he memorized the Westminster Shorter Catechism, and his mom made sure that he had a steady stream of books coming his way, mostly biographies and missionary histories. At fifteen years of age, he attended a revival meeting held by Mordecai Ham in Charlotte, and there he made, in his own words, “a decision for Christ.” He both sought salvation, confessing his sinfulness and praying for God’s mercy, and he simultaneously dedicated his life to God. He went off to study at Bob Jones College, and he spent one semester there, and then he went further south to the Florida Bible Institute in Tampa.

In 1939, Graham left his Presbyterianism behind, was baptized as a believer, and ordained in the Southern Baptist Convention. He then went on to Wheaton College from 1940 to 1943. While a student, he was pastor of the United Gospel Tabernacle, and there he met Ruth Bell. She was from a missionary family in China. Her father was a medical missionary, L. Nelson Bell. We talked about him; he was one of the founders of Christianity Today. Well, they were married, and they would go on to have five children together. In the mid-1940s, Graham’s career as an evangelist really started taking shape. He had been preaching for over a decade. He was recognized by pretty much all who knew him to be extremely gifted. And so, in 1945, he devoted himself full-time to itinerant speaking. Largely, this was through Youth for Christ. It was also from 1947 to 1952, while he was busy itinerating and speaking, that he served as president of Northwestern College in Iowa, and it was in the middle of that in 1950 that Graham came out from Youth for Christ, and along with his wife and fellow evangelist, Grady Wilson and his longtime song man Cliff Barrows, that the four of them formed the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

Well, let’s go to that pivotal year, the year just before he founded the BGEA, and that is 1949. And there in Los Angeles, Graham held his two months long crusade. Thousands were coming to hear him preach and news of this made its way up the Pacific Coast Highway to the newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. And when Hearst saw Graham and heard him speak over the radio, Hearst sent a two-word telegram to all of his reporters in newspapers across the United States, and the telegram simply read, “puff Graham.” And almost instantly, Graham became a household name across America. Through the 1950s, he held crusades not only in America but in London and across the European continent. And then in 1957, he held his massive crusade in Madison Square Garden in New York City. Graham had a weekly radio broadcast, The Hour of Decision.

Over the forties, through the zeroes of this century, Graham preached to millions upon millions of people. He was considered pastor to the presidents from Harry Truman through George W. Bush. He was probably one of the most well-known figures of the twentieth century. He’s written eighteen books, including his autobiography, Just As I Am. In June of 2005, Billy Graham held his last crusade, and it was in New York City. Throughout all those decades of preaching, Billy Graham had a simple message: you must be born again. Billy Graham, born November 7th, 1918, died February 21st, 2018. He was ninety-nine years, four months, and fourteen days old. Those old dairy farmers are a resilient breed. That’s Billy Graham. And I’m Steve Nichols, and thanks for listening to 5 Minutes in Church History.