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On November 7, 1918, William ("Billy") Franklin Graham, Jr., was born in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Revivals have always been a part of American life but the revivals following the Second World War were among the most far-reaching in the history of Christianity.
And it was Billy Graham who set the standard for revival meetings in the last half of the 20th century.
Graham was avowedly interdenominational using a team approach to his crusades, with soloists, advance men, associate evangelists, and song leaders. He made effective use of the media, including printing, television, and radio.
Billy Graham has seen estimated millions come to Christ. He led the way for the “big-ministry” evangelists and pioneered the use of media for evangelism. He also brought a tolerant, interdenominational approach to conservative Christianity.
Billy Graham began his international ministry with his Los Angeles Crusade in 1949. This crusade thrust him into national prominence. But just prior to this ministry-defining event, Graham had an experience that shaped his life forever.
For a short period, the unofficial title of North America's most prominent evangelist was a man named Chuck Templeton. But by this time, Templeton was coming under the influence of men who doubted the inspiration of Scripture.
Templeton began to share the books and ideas that were shaping him with Billy Graham. Only days before Graham drove to California, Templeton told him that by continuing to believe the Bible the young evangelist was committing intellectual suicide.
While speaking at a youth conference in the San Bernardino Mountains, Graham knew he had to get God's perspective on the matter, and he found it through solitude.
“I went back alone to the cottage and read in my Bible for a while, and then I decided to take a walk in the forest.”
There he recalled that phrases such as ‘the Word of the Lord came,’ and ‘thus saith the Lord,’ were used more than two thousand times in Scripture. He meditated on the attitude of Christ, who fulfilled the law and the prophets, who quoted from them constantly and never indicated that they might be wrong. As he walked he said,
“Lord, what shall I do? What shall be the direction of my life?”
He saw that intellect alone could not resolve the question of the Bible's inspiration and authority. Beyond that it ultimately became an issue of faith. He thought of the faith he had in many everyday things that he did not understand, such as airplanes and cars, and asked himself why it was only the things of the Spirit where such faith was considered wrong.
“So I went back and got my Bible, and I went out in the moonlight. And I got to a stump and put the Bible on the stump, and I knelt down, and I said, ‘Oh, God, I cannot prove certain things. I cannot answer some of the questions Chuck is raising and some of the other people are raising, but I accept this Book by faith as the Word of God.’” (John Pollack, Billy Graham: The Authorized Biography, pp 80, 81)
Graham went on from there to preach in more than eighty countries to over 110 million people. Millions more have heard him through television, radio, and film.
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