The Rev. Billy Graham, the world’s most prominent evangelist, died Feb. 21 at the age of 99. He will always be remembered as much more than a friend to Liberty University and the Falwell family. He was spiritual kin.
President Jerry Falwell, his wife, Becki, and their sons, Trey and Wesley, with the Rev. Billy Graham at Commencement 1997.
The kinship was built on a shared passion with my father, the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, to bring the salvation message about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ to the world.
Each man had his own unique style in delivering the Gospel message. Graham traveled the world conducting crusades that introduced millions to the truth that Jesus Christ died for their sins and offered salvation through belief in Him. He had a gift that no other evangelist had, and he used it. It was a simple Gospel, but nobody could communicate it like he did. He inspired so many people and gave them a reason to live.
My father was a relentless cultural warrior and often debated societal figures who were intent on lessening the impact of Christ’s teachings on modern society.
It was at Liberty where our families met with a common purpose. The Graham family embraced the idea of Training Champions for Christ.
Billy Graham speaks at Liberty University’s 1997 Commencement. Watch his full speech on YouTube.
The Rev. Graham gave Liberty’s Commencement address in 1997, the day his grandson, Will, graduated from Liberty. The Rev. Will Graham currently serves on the Liberty University Board of Trustees. His father, the Rev. Franklin Graham, has been a frequent speaker at Liberty and helped preside over my father’s funeral in May 2007. More of the Graham grandchildren and great-grandchildren have attended Liberty over the years.
I made a special trip to Chapel Hill, N.C., while I was in college in the early ’80s to attend a Billy Graham crusade. My wife, Becki, and I also attended his 90th and 95th birthday parties, as well as the opening of his library in Charlotte, N.C., about a month after my father died in 2007. The fact that four U.S. presidents spoke at that event was proof of how highly respected Billy Graham was.
The Rev. Jerry Falwell Sr. with the Rev. Billy Graham in 2005.
I always appreciated Billy Graham’s firm focus on his ministry. He wasn’t divisive; he didn’t take sides. His gift was to preach the Gospel, and he knew that anything else he did would take away from that.
The Christian faith has lost the greatest communicator it has had over the last century. So many Christian leaders today were converted through his ministry or through someone who was influenced by someone else who was converted through Billy Graham’s ministry, including my father.
When it comes to the Rev. Billy Graham, the words of the parable come to mind: “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”
