Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham

Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham

Introduction

Billy Graham was born on November 7, 1918, the eldest child of William Franklin and Morrow Graham in Charlotte, North Carolina. By the mid-1960s, he had become America's preeminent evangelist (see evangelism), a friend of presidents, and one of the most admired men in the country. He would hold this position throughout the century, and in the 1990s he would deliver both the invocation at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton (1992) and the eulogy at the funeral of former president Richard Nixon (1994).

Graham was raised in a conservative southern Presbyterian (see Presbyterianism; South) household and internalized the values of that society, including a rejection of alcohol, pre- and extramarital sex, and profanity. In 1934, during a revival (see revivalism) in Charlotte led by the itinerant evangelist Mordecai Ham, Graham underwent a conversion experience and shortly afterward decided to become a preacher. Busby, Russ. Billy Graham, God's Ambassador: A Lifelong Mission of Giving Hope to the World. Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books, 1999, p. 42-47

In the fall of 1936, he entered Bob Jones University in Columbia, South Carolina, found the atmosphere too stifling, and transferred in January 1937 to Florida Bible Institute. Doing so earned him the animosity of Bob Jones, Sr., and as Graham showed openness to nonfundamentalist Christians (see fundamentalism) during the 1950s, this hostility would become more pronounced. While attending Florida Bible Institute in Tampa, Graham first joined a Baptist church. This began a longstanding and mutually beneficial connection between Graham and the Southern Baptist Convention. While at Florida Bible Institute, Graham experienced a period of emotional turmoil, including a broken engagement and an internal struggle about whether to enter the ministry. This struggle came to an end in 1938, when Graham surrendered to the call and committed himself to the ministry.

Discussion

After finishing at the institute, Graham entered Wheaton College (Wheaton, Illinois) in the autumn of 1940. There he met Ruth Bell, whom he married in 1943. After graduation, Graham began his ministry as pastor of the United Gospel Tabernacle in Wheaton. He resigned that position in 1945 to take up full-time evangelistic work with Youth for Christ. Between 1945 and 1949, Graham led Youth for Christ rallies in England and throughout the United States. He also served as president of Northwestern Bible College in Minneapolis (1947-51) after being personally chosen for that position by the school's retiring founding president, William B. Riley.

In 1949, one of the two events occurred that served to make Graham's career. The 1949 revival campaign in Los Angeles was accompanied by William Randolph Hearst's famous directive to his newspaper staff to "Puff Graham!" This favorable treatment in the media, including Life, Time, and Newsweek, and the conversions of several celebrities during the crusade, generated tremendous amounts of publicity for the young evangelist. Eight years later, Graham's 1957 New York City crusade brought the evangelical movement to a central position on the American scene. It was during the New York crusade that Graham committed himself and ...