Reflecting on the legacy of Billy Graham
In light of the passing of one of the most significant Christians of our era, we asked leading Christians what they considered was a significant, yet perhaps underappreciated element of Billy Graham’s life, ministry and legacy. We were not looking for eulogies, biographical sketches or well-known details of his life. Rather, we hope to help articulate the Christian and cultural significance of Graham’s life and work. Evaluating a giant like Graham in so short a space as we have here allows only for the briefest comment, but we are overjoyed with the depth and breadth of what our wonderful contributors have provided.
We asked: “Please reflect on a specific (perhaps even overlooked) aspect of Billy Graham’s legacy, describing both its importance as well as its lasting influence on the church and society.”
› Chris Brooks, pastor, radio host, campus dean:
The spiritual legacy of Billy Graham is well known, but yet impossible to full capture in mere words. However, far less known is the social impact of the life and ministry of Dr. Graham. Today, I am grateful for his bold declaration, in 1953 at his Chattanooga Crusade, that he would no longer preach to segregated audiences. This announcement was not well received by many. There were donors who threatened to withdraw their support, but Billy Graham forged ahead in his conviction that racial injustice was an intolerable offense to the gospel.
Later, in 1957, Dr. Graham invited his friend Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to join him onstage in
New York. Again, there was resistance by some, but the two men stood tall and bold for the gospel of Jesus Christ that night and beyond. Today, I celebrate the legacy of gospel-centered racial equality that Billy Graham preached and lived. It is an encouragement to my generation and a reminder that God is looking for tough-minded, tenderhearted men and women; those who can think critically and live compassionately. These are the type of people that God will use to change the world!
› Jim Daly, Focus on the Family president and author of “When Parenting Isn’t Perfect”:
There will never be another man like the Rev. Billy Graham. For more than seven decades he was a minster of the Good News, preaching, evangelizing and counseling with U.S. presidents world leaders. Millions came to know Jesus as Savior through his Gospel crusades.
When he passed away, one of his most famous quotes went viral on social media: “Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God.” He was still preaching the Good News!
Dr. Graham’s enduring
humility struck me the most. He seemed unfazed by his access and influence. He lived the scrupulous life his entire life. And he never lost sight of the church’s primary calling: evangelism and the defense of sound doctrine.
He was a man who appealed to people of every class and culture. He was approachable and down-to-earth. He didn’t fancy himself a theologian and crossed denominational lines throughout his storied ministry. The world is a poorer place with his passing. But we will see him again!
› Ed Stetzer, Ph.D, Billy Graham Distinguished Chair of Church, Mission and Evangelism and executive director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College:
While most articles and memorials portray Graham as a famous Christian or as “America’s pastor,” this is not how Graham wanted us to remember him. Graham’s true legacy — why so many people are celebrating him — is not that he was famous. Graham’s place in American history is due to his singular devotion to making someone else famous.
Winsome, intentional and gracious, Graham distinguished himself in American culture with his singular devotion to making Jesus famous. In fact, when someone commented to Graham that he had done some great things, his response was, “God has done some good things through me.” At the heart of his vision was the simple belief that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was the needed answer for a struggling world.
It’s really an odd thing: Graham was world famous for talking about someone else.
› John Stonestreet, president of the Colson Center and co-author of “A Practical Guide to Culture”:
What strikes me most about Billy Graham’s story and extraordinary impact was how unlikely they are. Some of Graham’s success can be attributed to extraordinary talent, oratorical skills, his strong team and other things. But it can’t explain how this self-described “farm boy” would become, well, Billy Graham.
Timing is part of the story: God called Graham to ministry at an extraordinary time in American church history. After the Scopes trial of 1925, American evangelicalism had largely retreated from public life — perceived by a hostile public to be nothing but backwoods fundamentalism.
But then arose four faces of an evangelical resurgence: Fuller Seminary, Christianity Today Magazine, the National Association of Evangelicals and, most important of all, Billy Graham, who leapt onto the national stage in the unlikeliest of ways: a 1949 evangelistic crusade in, of all places, Los Angeles.
So what was it? His “golden” voice? His calm demeanor? His ability to connect with the powerful? His humility? His innovative use of new technologies? His impeccable integrity? All of these things certainly contributed to his life and influence. But his answer, when he was asked by CNN’s Larry King in 2005: “It’s the message …”
› Owen Strachan, Ph.D, associate professor of Christian theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and the author of “Re-enchanting Humanity: Biblical Anthropology for the 21st Century” (B&H Academic, 2019):
America has not known what to do with Baptists since its founding. Originally persecuted, ignored and derided, Baptists became by the 20th century the major force in American evangelical life. No one more personified this ascendancy than Billy Graham. Over the years, Graham suffered many attacks from skeptical voices; he was derided as a bumpkin and dismissed as a simpleton, a habit that continues.
But here’s the surprising truth, given the snark: Graham was a very smart man, keenly interested in the life of the mind. I did my doctoral work on Graham’s project, with theologian Carl F.H. Henry and pastor Harold Ockenga, to begin a top-tier Christian university. Crusade University never came off, but Graham did help found two of the most consequential religious academic institutions in the world: Fuller Theological Seminary and Gordon-Conwell Divinity School. Graham also began Christianity Today, which he intended to be a thought journal aimed at thinking Christians.
Further, while Graham was not an academician and never claimed to be, his was a theologically driven ministry. Like evangelicals of all tribes, he believed in the inerrancy and authority of Scripture, the inherent dignity of all people, the saving power of Christ’s cross and the sure return of the Son of God.
The Baptists may never go highbrow; the potluck is a stubborn thing. But as with Graham, they will surprise you, if you pay attention.
› John D. Woodbridge, research professor of church history and the history of Christian thought, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School:
Billy Graham repeatedly and sincerely gave credit to the Lord for any good that came from his ministry. But a brief remembrance of Graham’s spiritual background and message does shed light on other factors that shaped his career. First, Billy Graham was thoroughly convinced that the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ transforms lives (Romans 1:16). At age 16 in Charlotte, North Carolina, Graham was converted to Christ through the fiery preaching of Mordecai Ham, a Southern revivalist. Graham described his experience of being born again (John 3:1–16): “Have you ever been outdoors on a dark day when the sun suddenly bursts through the clouds? Deep inside, that’s how I felt. The next day the flowers and the leaves on the trees looked different. I was finding out for the first time the sweetness and joy of God, of being truly born again.”
In his lengthy evangelistic ministry, Graham called upon his audiences to repent of their sins, accept Christ as their Lord and Savior, and be born again. Graham reminded his audiences that everyone has sinned and is going to die some day and answer to a holy God for those sins. He urged his audience to get right with God before it was too late. In his crusade “invitations,” he called upon them to come just as they were to Christ.
[Contribution excerpted from Woodbridge’s recent article in First Things.]
From BreakPoint, Feb. 26, 2018; reprinted by permission of the Colson Center, www.breakpoint.org.