Billy

Recently, our family visited the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, North Carolina. I highly recommend it for families and individuals who have any interest in Christianity, politics, and/or 20th century world history. The “Library” is not a row of bookshelves, but rather an interactive museum covering most of Graham’s 99-year life. Somehow this one man was privileged to counsel 11 US presidents and meet with multiple global leaders like Kim Il-Sung of North Korea.

I never attended one of his crusades, but I grew up toward the end of his public ministry. I remember people at church talking about this moment in 1995 when Billy “preached to the whole world.” (see photo below) They quoted Matthew 24:14 “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” The conclusion was that Billy fulfilled prophecy and from then on there was nothing else that was preventing Jesus from returning to earth. 1995 also happened to be the same year that the first Left Behind book was published. You can imagine what kind of impression this left on me as a young Christian! It was an exciting time to look forward to the immanent return of Christ.

Michael Oh, the Global Executive Director of the Lausanne Movement, said he asked Billy Graham, Why did you start the Lausanne gatherings? (see video below) He said, “We didn’t know each other.” Meaning Billy had been all over the world, working together with believers from many nations and tribes. He saw how God had transformed lives in all these different communities. He saw the desires of all these people who spoke different languages to reach the world for Christ. “But we didn’t know each other.”

Since then there have been 3 “Lausanne” global gatherings, with the next one planned for 2024:

1974: Lausanne, Switzerland

1989: Manila, Philippines

2010 Cape Town, South Africa

2024: Seoul, South Korea

What a privilege it is to live in a time when the global body of Christ can gather and labor and worship together! I’m grateful God gave Billy Graham the vision for the world’s Christians to know each other.