Billy Graham

Today's news of the passing into glory of Billy Graham reminds me of the great debt I owe to his ministry.  It has come in the form of people whose lives were changed during his London evangelistic meetings, several of whom have been key leaders in churches I have served.

Not so long after arriving in the (now) London Borough of Haringey, I had reason to travel to the old site of his 1950s Haringay Arena  meetings.  It is now a retail park.  You may not find the Lord there but you will find plenty of casual workers waiting for vans to pick them up for another illegal (?) day's work.  It was a stark reminder that times move on.

Sixty plus years later secular and social pressures would make such an evangelist and such an event very difficult to keep on its intended track of winning souls for Christ.  Mind you, the harshest things I have seen written about Billy Graham and/or his ministry have been written by (alleged) Christians and it is unlikely that any contemporary internet troll could come up with anything any more vitriolic.

Billy Graham diligently rose above all such political and theological spewing anger and simply preached Christ.  Was he always infallibly true?  Of course not.  Did he point people toward the One who is?  Of course he did.

It is easy to complain about a signpost.  It's worded incorrectly, it has spray paint on, it should be positioned differently, the typeface is ugly, the colour is wrong.  In the end, if it points uncounted numbers of people to the right destination - that is a good signpost.

And when it is gone, it will be missed unless it is replaced.

And today we miss Billy Graham.

“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.” Billy Graham