William Franklin Graham Jr November 7 1918 February 21 2018 was an American evangelist a prominent evangelical Christian figure and an ordained Southern Baptist minister who became wellknown internationally in the late 1940s One of his biographers has placed him among the most influential Christian leaders of the 20th century As a preacher he held large indoor and outdoor rallies with sermons that were broadcast on radio and television some were still being rebroadcast into the 21st century In his six decades on television Graham hosted annual Crusades evangelistic campaigns that ran from 1947 until his retirement in 2005 He also hosted the radio show Hour of Decision from 1950 to 1954 He repudiated racial segregation and insisted on racial integration for his revivals and crusades starting in 1953 he also 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 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 preached to live audiences of 210 million people in more than 185 countries and territories through various meetings including BMS World Mission and Global Mission Graham was a spiritual adviser to US presidents and he provided spiritual counsel for every president from Harry S Truman 33rd to Barack Obama 44th He was particularly close to Dwight D Eisenhower Lyndon B Johnson one of Grahams closest friends and Richard Nixon He was also lifelong friends with another televangelist the founding pastor of the Crystal Cathedral Robert Schuller whom Graham talked into starting his own television ministry Graham operated a variety of media and publishing outlets According to his staff more than 32 million people have responded to the invitation at Billy Graham Crusades to accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior Grahams evangelism was appreciated by mainline Protestant and Roman Catholic denominations because he encouraged new converts to become members of these churches As of 2008 Grahams estimated lifetime audience including radio and television broadcasts topped 22 billion One special televised broadcast in 1996 alone may have reached a television audience of as many as 25 billion people worldwide Because of his crusades Graham preached the gospel to more people in person than anyone in the history of Christianity Graham was on Gallups list of most admired men and women a record 61 times Grant Wacker writes that by the mid1960s he had become the Great Legitimator 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 From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia
HydraHD
