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94-476: William Franklin Graham Jr. ( / ˈ ɡ r eɪ ə m / ; November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018) was an American evangelist , ordained Southern Baptist minister, and civil rights advocate, whose broadcasts and world tours featuring live sermons became well known in the mid- to late 20th century. Throughout his career, spanning over six decades, Graham rose to prominence as an evangelical Christian figure in

188-593: A 1973 rally, attended by 100,000 people, in Durban , South Africa—the first large mixed-race event in apartheid South Africa—Graham openly declared that "apartheid is a sin". In Moscow, Russia , in 1992, one-quarter of the 155,000 people in Graham's audience went-forward at his call. During his crusades, he frequently used the altar call song, " Just As I Am ". In 1995, during the Global Mission event, he preached

282-469: A Christian message and usually accompanied by an opportunity to respond with a prayer for salvation . New opportunities for evangelism have been provided in recent decades by increased travel opportunities and by instant communications over the internet. Instant chalk board drawings (while storytelling), using bright poster chalk on large boards, along with ventriloquism and humor, have also been used in schools and churches and at beaches and river banks. In

376-576: A Presbyterian and Reformed church, committed to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and to the Bible as the Word of God." It listed some of its core commitments as: The ARPC takes a conservative view of the Bible, stating that "the Bible alone, being God-breathed, is the Word of God written, infallible in all that it teaches, and inerrant in the original manuscripts." The Holy Spirit reveals through the text that "God

470-783: A central government could be avoided. For decades, the Associate Reformed Church denounced slavery; however, in 1831, the church passed a resolution that members must free their slaves immediately or be denied communion. This led to a severance of churches in the Southern Synod--particularly in the Carolina presbytery--from the Northern Synod. In 1858, the Northern Synod of the Associate Reformed Church merged with

564-832: A conference center, Bonclarken , in Flat Rock, North Carolina . The conference center is surrounded by private property, many of whose owners trace their ARP roots to the beginnings of the denomination. Membership in the ARP Church is concentrated in the Southeastern United States, especially North Carolina and South Carolina. There are also numerous congregations in Florida , Georgia , Tennessee , Mississippi , Arkansas , Missouri , Oklahoma , and Virginia . The ARPC has churches in Canada and in most states of

658-689: A degree in anthropology . That same year, Robert Van Kampen , treasurer of the National Gideon Association, invited Graham to preach at Western Springs Baptist Church, and Graham accepted the opportunity on the spot. While there, his friend Torrey Johnson, pastor of the Midwest Bible Church in Chicago, told Graham that his radio program, Songs in the Night , was about to be canceled due to lack of funding. Consulting with

752-593: A distributor of these American Christian films in France, if Christian films are considered proselytism, all films are a form of proselytism, since films of all genres could each be said to carry a message. Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church After the Westminster Confession was signed by its drafters in 1643, some of the " Covenanters ", a Presbyterian group, left the Church of Scotland for

846-812: A guest on a 1969 Woody Allen television special, in which he joined the comedian in a witty exchange on theological matters. During the Cold War , Graham became the first evangelist of note to speak behind the Iron Curtain , addressing large crowds in countries throughout Eastern Europe and in the Soviet Union, calling for peace. During the apartheid era, Graham consistently refused to visit South Africa until its government allowed integrated seating for audiences. During his first crusade there in 1973, he openly denounced apartheid . Graham also corresponded with imprisoned South African leader Nelson Mandela during

940-592: A leadership position; they may be found preaching to large meetings or in governance roles. In addition, Christian groups who encourage evangelism are sometimes known as evangelistic or evangelist . The word evangelist comes from the Koine Greek word εὐανγέλιον (transliterated as euangelion ) via Latinised evangelium as used in the canonical titles of the Four Gospels , authored by (or attributed to) Matthew , Mark , Luke , and John (also known as

1034-528: A letter to Graham and informed him that allowing Daniel to speak at a crusade which occurred the night before the state's Democratic Primary "can well be interpreted as your endorsement of racial segregation and discrimination." Graham's advisor, Grady Wilson, replied to King that "even though we do not see eye to eye with him on every issue, we still love him in Christ." Though Graham's appearance with Daniel dashed King's hopes of holding joint crusades with Graham in

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1128-494: A library would be appropriate. Ruth Graham had said that she wanted to be buried in the mountains at the Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove near Asheville, North Carolina , where she had lived for many years; Ned supported his mother's choice. Novelist Patricia Cornwell , a family friend, also opposed burial at the library, calling it a tourist attraction. Franklin wanted his parents to be buried at

1222-551: A member of the Ku Klux Klan that integration was necessary, primarily for religious reasons. "There is no scriptural basis for segregation," Graham argued. "The ground at the foot of the cross is level, and it touches my heart when I see whites standing shoulder to shoulder with blacks at the cross." The friendship between Graham and John Stott led to a further partnership in the Lausanne Movement , of which Graham

1316-545: A minister. Graham was 15 when Prohibition ended in December 1933, and his father forced him and his sister Catherine to drink beer until they became sick. This created such an aversion that the two siblings avoided alcohol and drugs for the rest of their lives. Graham was turned down for membership in a local youth group for being "too worldly". Albert McMakin, who worked on the Graham farm, persuaded him to go see evangelist Mordecai Ham . According to his autobiography, Graham

1410-470: A parking lot. He attracted national media coverage, especially in the conservative Hearst chain of newspapers, although Hearst and Graham never met. The crusade event ran for eight weeks–five weeks longer than originally planned. Graham became a national figure, with heavy coverage from the wire services and national magazines. Pianist Rudy Atwood , who played for the tent meetings, wrote that they "rocketed Billy Graham into national prominence, and resulted in

1504-599: A political party. He gave his support to various political candidates over the years. In 2007, Graham explained his refusal to join Jerry Falwell 's Moral Majority in 1979, saying: "I'm for morality, but morality goes beyond sex to human freedom and social justice. We as clergy know so very little to speak with authority on the Panama Canal or superiority of armaments. Evangelists cannot be closely identified with any particular party or person. We have to stand in

1598-551: A poor country Baptist preacher somewhere out in the sticks... You have a voice that pulls. God can use that voice of yours. He can use it mightily." In 1937, Graham transferred to the Florida Bible Institute in Temple Terrace, Florida . While still a student, Graham preached his first sermon at Bostwick Baptist Church near Palatka, Florida . In his autobiography, Graham wrote of receiving his calling on

1692-661: A revival. Graham said that his planned retirement was a result of his failing health; he had suffered from hydrocephalus from 1992 on. In August 2005, Graham appeared at the groundbreaking for his library in Charlotte, North Carolina . Then 86, he used a walker during the ceremony. On July 9, 2006, he spoke at the Metro Maryland Franklin Graham Festival , held in Baltimore , Maryland, at Oriole Park at Camden Yards . In April 2010, Graham

1786-670: A sermon at Estadio Hiram Bithorn in San Juan , Puerto Rico , that was transmitted by satellite to 185 countries and translated into 116 languages. By the time of his last crusade in 2005 in New York City, he had preached 417 live crusades, including 226 in the US and 195 abroad. Graham spoke at InterVarsity Christian Fellowship's Urbana Student Missions Conference at least nine times – in 1948, 1957, 1961, 1964, 1976, 1979, 1981, 1984, and 1987. At each Urbana conference, he challenged

1880-428: A variety of media and publishing outlets; according to his staff, more than 3.2 million people have responded to the invitation at Billy Graham Crusades to "accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior ". Graham's lifetime audience, including radio and television broadcasts, likely surpassed billions of people. As a result of his crusades, Graham preached the gospel to more people, live and in-person, than anyone in

1974-467: A way that has to be up to the individual as he feels led of the Lord. A lot of things that I commented on years ago would not have been of the Lord, I'm sure, but I think you have some – like communism, or segregation, on which I think you have a responsibility to speak out.'" Evangelism In Christianity, evangelism or witnessing is the act of preaching the gospel with the intention of sharing

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2068-707: Is the professional school of Erskine College; it was incorporated into Erskine College when the latter was founded two years later. The Seminary became a separate but associated school in 1858 and was reincorporated into the College in 1925. Erskine merged with the Due West Female College in the first decade of the 20th century. Erskine became the first private denominational school in South Carolina to allow women instructors at that time. Since its inception, Erskine has provided training for students of

2162-745: The Associate Presbyterians to form the United Presbyterian Church of North America . The Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church of today traces its roots to the Synod of the South, formed in 1803. Almost immediately after forming the Synod of the South, the ministers looked into forming a seminary closer to home for the education of the ministry and the growth of the church. Many of the ministers were traveling for more than thirty days on horseback to attend Synod meetings in

2256-570: The Four Evangelists ). The Greek word εὐαγγέλιον originally meant a reward given to the messenger for good news ( εὔ = "good", ἀνγέλλω = "I bring a message"; the word " angel " comes from the same root) and later "good news" itself. The verb form of euangelion , (translated as "evangelism"), occurs rarely in older Greek literature outside the New Testament , making its meaning more difficult to ascertain. Parallel texts of

2350-738: The Foursquare Church , was the first woman to use radio to reach a wider audience in the United States. In 1951, producer Dick Ross and Baptist evangelist Billy Graham founded the film production company World Wide Pictures , which would make videos of his preaching and Christian films. In 1960, more than half of the Protestant American missionaries were evangelical. American and European Pentecostal missionaries are also numerous, Pentecostalism can develop independently by non-foreign residents in various regions of

2444-499: The Modesto Manifesto : a code of ethics for life and work to protect against accusations of financial, sexual, and power abuse. The code includes rules for collecting offerings in churches, working only with churches supportive of cooperative evangelism, using official crowd estimates at outdoor events, and a commitment to never be alone with a woman other than his wife (which become known as the "Billy Graham rule"). Graham

2538-581: The Montgomery bus boycott in 1955, to join him in the pulpit at his 16-week revival in New York City, where 2.3 million gathered at Madison Square Garden , Yankee Stadium , and Times Square to hear them. Graham recalled in his autobiography that during this time, he and King developed a close friendship and that he was eventually one of the few people who referred to King as "Mike", a nickname which King asked only his closest friends to call him. Following King's assassination in 1968, Graham mourned that

2632-827: The RAI Convention Center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. At one revival in Seoul , South Korea, Graham attracted more than one million people to a single service. He appeared in China in 1988; for his wife, Ruth, this was a homecoming, since she had been born in China to missionary parents. He appeared in North Korea in 1992. On October 15, 1989, Graham received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . He

2726-1111: The Scots Irish later emigrated to the American colonies with Seceder ministers from Scotland in the mid-1700s. They settled with the Covenanters in Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Some churches of the Covenanter tradition and the Seceder tradition came together officially in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , in 1782. The Synod of the South was formed consisting of churches in North and South Carolina and Georgia in 1803 and still another in Texas. Each tradition put aside doctrinal differences to come together as long as oath-signing to

2820-544: The World Trade Center attacks ), Graham was invited to lead a service at Washington National Cathedral ; the service was attended by President George W. Bush and past and present leaders. He also spoke at the memorial service following the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. On June 24–26, 2005, Graham began what he said would be his last North American crusade: three days at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in

2914-544: The gospel and invite individuals to come forward (a practice begun by Dwight L. Moody ); such people were called "inquirers" and were given the chance to speak one-on-one with a counselor to clarify questions and pray together. The inquirers were often given a copy of the Gospel of John or a Bible study booklet. In 1949, Graham scheduled a series of revival meetings in Los Angeles , for which he erected circus tents in

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3008-510: The life of the mother . The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association states that "Life is sacred, and we must seek to protect all human life: the unborn, the child, the adult, and the aged." Graham leaned toward the Republicans during the presidency of Richard Nixon, whom he had met and befriended as vice president under Dwight D. Eisenhower . He did not completely ally himself with the later religious right , saying that Jesus did not have

3102-579: The 1850s however, it exhibited evidence of assimilation. It showed greater ecumenical interest, greater interest in the evangelization of the West and of the cities, and a declining interest in maintaining the unique characteristics of its Scotch-Irish past. In 2018, the ARPC had 22,459 members in 264 churches. The denominational office is located in Greenville, South Carolina . Also, the denomination operates

3196-542: The 18th green of the Temple Terrace Golf and Country Club, which was adjacent to the institute's campus. Reverend Billy Graham Memorial Park was later established on the Hillsborough River , directly east of the 18th green and across from where Graham often paddled a canoe to a small island in the river, where he would practice preaching to the birds, alligators, and cypress stumps. In 1939, Graham

3290-689: The 1960 campaign, Graham met with a conference of Protestant ministers in Montreux , Switzerland, to discuss their mobilization of congregations to defeat Kennedy. According to the PBS Frontline program, God in America , Graham organized a meeting of hundreds of Protestant ministers in Washington, D.C., in September 1960 for this purpose; the meeting was led by Norman Vincent Peale . This

3384-547: The 1965 European Baptist Convention. Young also claimed that Graham had often invited King to his crusades in the Northern states. Former Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) leader and future United States Congressman John Lewis also credited Graham as a major inspiration for his activism. Lewis described Graham as a "saint" and someone who "taught us how to live and who taught us how to die". Graham's faith prompted his maturing view of race and segregation. He told

3478-691: The 90's (and now in the 2000's) Geoffrey Moran of Australia uses these "old school" methods as they are now new again for both children and adults. Ventriloquism is also returning to radio in the Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy style. In 1831, the Presbyterian Mission Agency was founded by the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America . Various evangelical mission organizations have specialized in evangelism throughout history. In 1792, BMS World Mission

3572-661: The ARPC and of other denominations. Recent years, however, have witnessed ARP ministers graduating from other seminaries. Along with other Presbyterian churches, the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church uses the Westminster Confession of Faith , the Larger Catechism and the Shorter Catechism as subordinate standards . In its 1990 Purpose Statement , the church declared that "we express our desire to continue to be

3666-570: The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association started "My Hope With Billy Graham", the largest outreach in its history. It encouraged church members to spread the gospel in small group meetings, after showing a video message by Graham. "The idea is for Christians to follow the example of the disciple Matthew in the New Testament and spread the gospel in their own homes." "The Cross" video is the main program in

3760-663: The Christian right ... His early years of fierce opposition to communism gave way to pleas for military disarmament and attention to AIDS, poverty and environmental threats." Graham was a lifelong registered member of the Democratic Party . In 1960, he opposed the candidacy of John F. Kennedy , fearing that Kennedy, as a Catholic, would be bound to follow the Pope. Graham worked "behind the scenes" to encourage influential Protestant ministers to speak out against Kennedy. During

3854-441: The Deep South, the two remained friends; the next year King told a Canadian television audience that Graham had taken a "very strong stance against segregation." Graham and King would also come to differ on the Vietnam War . After King's " Beyond Vietnam " speech denouncing US intervention in Vietnam, Graham castigated him and others for their criticism of US foreign policy. By the middle of 1960, King and Graham traveled together to

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3948-462: The Father gave His Son to save us from our sins." The Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church is a member of the World Reformed Fellowship , and the North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council . Membership in the International Conference of Reformed Churches was dropped in June 2011. The ARPC designates the Sunday nearest to January 22 as "Sanctity of Human Life Sunday," encouraging non-violent opposition to legalized abortion. In addition,

4042-464: The Gospels of Luke and Mark reveal a synonymous relationship between the verb euangelizo ( εὑαγγελίζω ) and a Greek verb kerusso ( κηρύσσω ), which means "to proclaim". Evangelism can include preaching or distributing bibles, tracts, newspapers and/or magazines, by the media, street evangelists, etc. The Bible records that Jesus sent out his disciples to evangelize by visiting peoples homes in pairs of two believers (cf. Luke 10:1–12 ). In

4136-400: The Midwest. It withdrew from the parent body in 1820 because of Confessional disagreements regarding the administration of sacraments. The Associate Reformed Synod of the West maintained the characteristics of an immigrant church with Scottish roots, emphasized the Westminster Standards, used only the Psalms in public worship, was Sabbatarian and was strongly abolitionist and anti-Catholic. In

4230-438: The My Hope America series, and was also broadcast the week of Graham's 95th birthday. Graham's early crusades were segregated , but he began adjusting his approach in the 1950s. During a 1953 rally in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Graham tore down the ropes that organizers had erected to segregate the audience into racial sections. In his memoirs, he recounted that he told two ushers to leave the barriers down "or you can go on and have

4324-402: The New World to avoid signing an oath to the monarch. These early believers seceded from the Church of Scotland over doctrinal differences. Some ministers stayed in the Church of Scotland to work out their differences. By 1739, a Scottish Presbyterian pastor Ebenezer Erskine led a group of ministers to leave the Church of Scotland who formed a separate group, the Seceders , which again opposed

4418-436: The North. While they were gone, the churches and the congregations suffered in their absence. The solution they agreed to work towards was an academy called the Clarke and Erskine Seminary, which later became known as Erskine College and Seminary . While the larger Presbyterian Church was a mix of Scottish and English Presbyterians , several smaller Presbyterian groups were almost entirely Scottish Seceders, and they displayed

4512-456: The Tenth Baptist World Congress of the Baptist World Alliance . In 1963, Graham posted bail for King to be released from jail during the Birmingham (Alabama) campaign , according to Michael Long, and the King Center acknowledged that Graham had bailed King out of jail during the Albany Movement , although historian Steven Miller told CNN he could not find any proof of the incident. Graham held integrated crusades in Birmingham on Easter of 1964, in

4606-445: The US had lost "a social leader and a prophet". In private, Graham advised King and other members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Despite their friendship, tensions between Graham and King emerged in 1958, when the sponsoring committee of a crusade that took place in San Antonio , Texas, on July 25 arranged for Graham to be introduced by that state's segregationist governor, Price Daniel . On July 23, King sent

4700-576: The United States and abroad. According to a biographer, Graham was considered "among the most influential Christian leaders" of the 20th century. Beginning in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Graham became known for filling stadiums and other massive venues around the world where he preached live sermons; these were often broadcast via radio and television with some continuing to be seen into the 21st century. During his six decades on television, Graham hosted his annual "crusades" , evangelistic live-campaigns, from 1947 until his retirement in 2005. He also hosted

4794-424: The United States, then a student at Dallas Theological Seminary. In 2007, there were over 10,000 Baptist missionaries in overseas missions around the world. Some consider evangelism to be proselytising , while others argue it is merely free speech. The fact that evangelicals speak about their faith in public is sometimes criticized by the media and it is often associated with proselytism. According to

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4888-414: The United States. There are separate synods in Mexico and Pakistan. The ARP Church was among the first to send missionaries to China as early as 1880. The ARP Church sponsors missionaries internationally through World Witness. The ARP Church is affiliated with the North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council and shares a common theology with other conservative Presbyterian denominations. It holds to

4982-512: The University of Minnesota during InterVarsity's "Year of Evangelism" in 1950–51, a 4-day mission at Yale University in 1957, and a week-long series of meetings at the University of North Carolina's Carmichael Auditorium in September 1982. In 1955, he was invited by Cambridge University students to lead the mission at the university; the mission was arranged by the Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union , with London pastor-theologian John Stott serving as Graham's chief assistant. This invitation

5076-456: The aftermath of the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church , and toured Alabama again in the wake of the violence that accompanied the first Selma to Montgomery march in 1965. Following Graham's death, former SCLC official and future Atlanta politician Andrew Young (who spoke alongside Coretta Scott King at Graham's 1994 crusade in Atlanta), acknowledged his friendship with Graham and stated that Graham did in fact travel with King to

5170-448: The borough of Queens, New York City. On the weekend of March 11–12, 2006, Graham held the "Festival of Hope" with his son, Franklin Graham . The festival was held in New Orleans , which was recovering from Hurricane Katrina . Graham prepared one last sermon, "My Hope America", which was released on DVD and played around America and possibly worldwide between November 7–10, 2013. November 7 was Graham's 95th birthday, and he hoped to cause

5264-432: The conversion of a number of show-business personalities". In 1953, Graham was offered a five-year, $ 1 million contract from NBC to appear on television opposite Arthur Godfrey , but he had prior commitments and turned-down the offer to continue his live touring revivals. Graham held crusades in London that lasted 12 weeks, and a New York City crusade at Madison Square Garden , in 1957, ran nightly for 16 weeks. At

5358-399: The denomination officially calls homosexuals "to repentance, cleansing, and deliverance in the saving power of Jesus Christ." Evangelist Billy Graham attended the Chalmers Memorial ARP Church in Charlotte, North Carolina , as a child; his parents were members of the congregation. Graham was later ordained as a Southern Baptist minister. The noted Southern writer Erskine Caldwell was

5452-492: The evangelicals, freedom of religion and freedom of expression allow them to discuss their faith like they would discuss other topics. Christian films made by American evangelical production companies are also regularly associated with proselytism. According to Sarah-Jane Murray, screenwriting teacher at the US Film and Christian Television Commission United, Christian films are works of art, not proselytism. For Hubert de Kerangat, communications manager at SAJE Distribution,

5546-460: The family moved about 75 yards (69 m) from their white frame house to a newly built red brick house. He was raised by his parents in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church . Graham attended the Sharon Grammar School. He started to read books from an early age and loved to read novels for boys, especially Tarzan . Like Tarzan, he would hang on the trees and gave the popular Tarzan yell . According to his father, that yelling led him to become

5640-419: The great task of world evangelization." The movement remains a significant fruit of Graham's legacy, with a presence in nearly every nation. Graham played multiple roles that reinforced each other. Grant Wacker identified eight major roles that he played: preacher, icon, Southerner, entrepreneur, architect (bridge builder), pilgrim, pastor, and his widely recognized status as America's Protestant patriarch, which

5734-412: The history of Christianity. Graham was on Gallup's list of most admired men and women a record-61 times. Grant Wacker wrote that, by the mid-1960s, he had become the "Great Legitimator", saying: "By then his presence conferred status on presidents, acceptability on wars, shame on racial prejudice, desirability on decency, dishonor on indecency, and prestige on civic events." William Franklin Graham Jr.

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5828-460: The infallibility and inerrancy of the Bible. The church does not ordain women as ministers or elders, though it does permit local sessions to determine whether to ordain female deacons. Having been originally formed by a merger of two denominations holding to exclusive psalmody , this was the practice of the ARP Church until 1946, when its synod allowed the use of hymns other than the Psalms; each congregational session has right of discretion concerning

5922-565: The issue. He settled it at Forest Home Christian Camp (now called Forest Home Ministries) southeast of the Big Bear Lake area in southern California . While attending Wheaton, Graham was invited to preach one Sunday in 1941 at the United Gospel Tabernacle church. After that, the congregation repeatedly asked Graham to preach at their church and later asked him to become the pastor of their church. After Graham prayed and sought advice from his friend Dr. Edman, Graham become their church's pastor. In June 1943, Graham graduated from Wheaton College with

6016-478: The latter's 27-year imprisonment. In 1984, he led a series of summer meetings—Mission England—in the United Kingdom, and he used outdoor football (soccer) fields for his venues. Graham was interested in fostering evangelism around the world. In 1983, 1986 and 2000 he sponsored, organized and paid for massive training conferences for Christian evangelists; this was, at the time, the largest representation of nations ever held. Over 157 nations were gathered in 2000 at

6110-665: The library site. When Ruth Graham died, it was announced that they would be buried at the library site. In 2011, when asked if he would have done things differently, he said he would have spent more time at home with his family, studied more, and preached less. Additionally, he said he would have participated in fewer conferences. He also said he had a habit of advising evangelists to save their time and avoid having too many commitments. After his close relationships with Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon , Graham tried to avoid explicit partisanship. Bailey says: "He declined to sign or endorse political statements, and he distanced himself from

6204-440: The main group and had doctrinal differences. Ebenezer Erskine and his brother Ralph Erskine preached sermons that later became the inspiration for the Associate Reformed Church in the American colonies. The monarch moved some of Ebenezer Erskine's followers to the northern Irish province of Ulster to quell religious disputes among Catholics and Protestants. These Ulster Scots Seceders and the Catholics continued to battle and some of

6298-443: The matter of music in worship. At the 207th General Synod, a new ARP psalter was approved for use in the denomination to encourage the increased use of Psalm singing in public worship. In 1837 the church established an academy for men in Due West, S.C. , which in 1839 became Erskine College , the first four-year church-related college in that state. Erskine Theological Seminary , established as Clarke and Erskine Seminary in 1837,

6392-413: The members of his church in Western Springs, Graham decided to take over Johnson's program with financial support from his congregation. Launching the new radio program on January 2, 1944, still called Songs in the Night , Graham recruited the bass-baritone George Beverly Shea as his director of radio ministry. In 1948, in a Modesto, California hotel room, Graham and his evangelistic team established

6486-407: The message and teachings of Jesus Christ . It is sometimes associated with Christian missions . Christians who specialize in evangelism are often known as evangelists , whether they are in their home communities or living as missionaries in the field, although some Christian traditions refer to such people as missionaries in either case. Some Christian traditions consider evangelists to be in

6580-432: The middle to preach to all people, right and left. I haven't been faithful to my own advice in the past. I will be in the future." According to a 2006 Newsweek interview, "For Graham, politics is a secondary to the Gospel ... When Newsweek asked Graham whether ministers – whether they think of themselves as evangelists, pastors or a bit of both – should spend time engaged with politics, he replied: 'You know, I think in

6674-480: The prayer committee. This took place in Lausanne , Switzerland (July 16–25, 1974), and the movement which ensued took its name from the host city. Its purpose was to strengthen the global church for world evangelization, and to engage ideological and sociological trends which bore on this. Graham invited Stott to be chief architect of the Lausanne Covenant , which issued from the Congress and which, according to Graham: "helped challenge and unite evangelical Christians in

6768-542: The president of Northwestern Bible College. The first Billy Graham Crusade was held on September 13–21, 1947, at the Civic Auditorium in Grand Rapids, Michigan , and was attended by 6,000 people. Graham was 28 years old then, and would rent a large venue (such as a stadium, park, or even a street); as the crowds became larger, he arranged for a group of up to 5,000 people to sing in a choir. He would preach

6862-552: The process of assimilation into the broader American religious culture. Fisk (1968) traces the history of the Associate Reformed Church in the Old Northwest from its formation by a union of Associate and Reformed Presbyterians in 1782 to the merger of this body with the Seceder bodies to form the United Presbyterian Church in 1858. It became the Associate Reformed Synod of the West and remained centered in

6956-467: The radio show Hour of Decision from 1950 to 1954. He openly repudiated racial segregation , at a time of intense racial strife in the United States , insisting on racial integration for all of his revivals and crusades, as early as 1953. He also later invited Martin Luther King Jr. to preach jointly at a revival in New York City in 1957. In addition to his religious aims, he helped shape

7050-735: The revival without me." During a sermon held at Vanderbilt University in Nashville on August 23, 1954, he warned a white audience, "Three-fifths of the world is not white. They are rising all over the world. We have been proud and thought we were better than any other race, any other people. Ladies and gentlemen, I want to tell you that we are going to stumble into hell because of our pride." In 1957, Graham's stance towards integration became more publicly shown when he allowed black ministers Thomas Kilgore and Gardner C. Taylor to serve as members of his New York Crusade's executive committee. He also invited Martin Luther King Jr. , whom he first met during

7144-542: The same text, Jesus mentioned that few people were willing to evangelize, despite there being many people who would be receptive to his Gospel message . The child evangelism movement is a Christian evangelism movement that originated in the 20th century. It focuses on the 4/14 Window which centers on evangelizing children between the ages of 4 and 14 years old. Beginning in the 1970s, a group of Christian athletes known as The Power Team spawned an entire genre of Christian entertainment based on strong-man exploits mixed with

7238-503: The second-largest source of missionaries in the world, after the United States and ahead of England. In July 1999, TopChrétien, an evangelical Christian web portal and social network , was launched by Éric Célérier, pastor of the Assemblies of God of France and Estelle Martin. In January 2007, GodTube , a site for sharing videos related to Christianity, especially evangelical, was founded by Christopher Wyatt of Plano, Texas in

7332-466: The thousands of attendees to make a commitment to follow Jesus Christ for the rest of their lives. He often quoted a six-word phrase that was reportedly written in the Bible of William Whiting Borden , the son of a wealthy silver magnate: "No reserves, no retreat, no regrets". Borden had died in Egypt on his way to the mission field. Graham also held evangelistic meetings on a number of college campuses: at

7426-490: The two remained in touch, meeting for the last time at a National Day of Prayer meeting in February 1963. In his autobiography, Graham claimed to have felt an "inner foreboding" in the week before Kennedy's assassination , and to have tried to contact him to say, "Don't go to Texas!" Graham opposed the large majority of abortions, but supported it as a legal option in a very narrow range of circumstances: rape, incest , and

7520-807: The world, notably in Africa, South America, and Asia. Youth with a Mission was founded in 1960 in United States by Loren Cunningham and his wife Darlene. The Christian Broadcasting Network was founded in 1961 in Virginia Beach , United States, by Baptist minister Pat Robertson . In 1974, Billy Graham and the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization organized the First International Congress on World Evangelization in Lausanne . In 2004, South Korea became

7614-403: The worldview of a huge number of people who came from different backgrounds, leading them to find a relationship between the Bible and contemporary secular viewpoints. According to his website, Graham spoke to live audiences consisting of at least 210 million people, in more than 185 countries and territories, through various meetings, including BMS World Mission and Global Mission event. Graham

7708-506: Was 16 when he was converted during a series of revival meetings that Ham led in Charlotte in 1934. After graduating from Sharon High School in May 1936, Graham attended Bob Jones College . After one semester, he found that the coursework and rules were too legalistic. He was almost expelled, but Bob Jones Sr. warned him not to throw his life away: "At best, all you could amount to would be

7802-584: Was 29 when he became president of Northwestern Bible College in Minneapolis in 1948. He was the youngest president of a college or university in the country, and held the position for four years before he resigned in 1952. Graham initially intended to become a chaplain in the Armed Forces , but he contracted mumps shortly after applying for a commission. After a period of recuperation in Florida, he

7896-593: Was 91 and experiencing substantial vision, hearing, and balance loss when he made a rare public appearance at the re-dedication of the renovated Billy Graham Library . There was controversy within his family over Graham's proposed burial place. He announced in June 2007 that he and his wife would be buried alongside each other at the Billy Graham Library in his hometown of Charlotte. Graham's younger son Ned argued with older son Franklin about whether burial at

7990-553: Was a founder. It built on Graham's 1966 World Congress on Evangelism in Berlin . In collaboration with Christianity Today , Graham convened what Time magazine described as "a formidable forum, possibly the widest–ranging meeting of Christians ever held" with 2,700 participants from 150 nations gathering for the International Congress on World Evangelization . Women were represented by Millie Dienert , who chaired

8084-509: Was born on November 7, 1918, in the downstairs bedroom of a farmhouse near Charlotte, North Carolina . Of Scots-Irish descent , he was the eldest of four children born to Morrow (née Coffey) and dairy farmer William Franklin Graham Sr. Graham was raised on the family dairy farm with his two younger sisters Catherine Morrow and Jean and younger brother Melvin Thomas. When he was nine years old,

8178-894: Was close to US presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower , Lyndon B. Johnson (one of his closest friends), and Richard Nixon . He was also lifelong friends with Robert Schuller , another televangelist and the founding pastor of the Crystal Cathedral , whom Graham talked into starting his own television ministry. Graham's evangelism was appreciated by mainline Protestant denominations, as he encouraged mainline Protestants, who were converted to his evangelical message, to remain within or return to their mainline churches. Despite early suspicions and apprehension on his part towards Catholicism —common among contemporaneous evangelical Protestants—Graham eventually developed amicable ties with many American Catholic Church figures, later encouraging unity between Catholics and Protestants. Graham operated

8272-1234: Was founded in Kettering , England by William Carey . In 1814, the American Baptist International Ministries was founded by the American Baptist Churches USA in United States. In 1865, OMF International was founded by Hudson Taylor in England. In 1893, in Lagos in Nigeria, SIM was founded by Walter Gowans , Rowland Bingham , and Thomas Kent . Samuel E. Hill, John H. Nicholson, and William J. Knights founded Gideons International , an organization which distributes free Bibles to hotels, motels, hospitals, military bases, prisons, schools, and universities, in Janesville in Wisconsin, United States, in 1899. In 1922, Canadian evangelical evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson , founder of

8366-562: Was greeted with much disapproval in the correspondence columns of The Times . In 1950, Graham founded the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) with its headquarters in Minneapolis . The association relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina , in 2003, and maintains a number of international offices, such as in Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Buenos Aires . BGEA ministries have included: In April 2013,

8460-468: Was hired as the first full-time evangelist of the new Youth for Christ (YFC), co-founded by Torrey Johnson and the Canadian evangelist Charles Templeton . Graham traveled throughout both the United States and Europe as a YFCI evangelist. Templeton applied to Princeton Theological Seminary for an advanced theological degree and urged Graham to do so as well, but he declined as he was already serving as

8554-591: Was on a par with Martin Luther King and Pope John Paul II . He served as a trustee of the International Mission Board in the late 1950s and trustee of the SBC's Radio and Television Commission in the late 1960s. Graham deliberately reached into the secular world as a bridge builder. For example, as an entrepreneur he built his own pavilion for the 1964 New York World's Fair . He appeared as

8648-750: Was ordained by a group of Southern Baptist clergy at Peniel Baptist Church in Palatka, Florida . In 1940, he graduated with a Bachelor of Theology degree. Graham then enrolled in Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois . During his time there, he decided to accept the Bible as the infallible word of God. Henrietta Mears of the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood in California was instrumental in helping Graham wrestle with

8742-551: Was shortly before Kennedy's speech in Houston , Texas, on the separation of church and state; the speech was considered to be successful in meeting the concerns of many voters. After his election, Kennedy invited Graham to play golf in Palm Beach, Florida , after which Graham acknowledged Kennedy's election as an opportunity for Catholics and Protestants to come closer together. After they had discussed Jesus Christ at that meeting,

8836-620: Was the only person functioning as a minister who received a star in that capacity. On September 22, 1991, Graham held his largest event in North America on the Great Lawn of Manhattan's Central Park . City officials estimated that more than 250,000 were in attendance. In 1998, Graham spoke to a crowd of scientists and philosophers at the Technology, Entertainment, Design Conference. On September 14, 2001 (only three days after

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