“When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.” Billy Graham was that person, when he stood up and spoke, people sat still and listened. Billy Graham is one of the greatest evangelists who ever lived and he has impacted millions with a simple message of God’s truth.
Billy was born to William and Morrow Graham on November 7, 1918, in Charlotte, North Carolina (“Billy Graham” 1). He was born on a dairy farm, in a little white house (Graham 3). Billy was born into a loving family. His parents were loving, but had different religious views than him (“Billy Graham” 1). Billy grew up to be a Baptist even though he did not live in a Baptist home while he was growing up.
Billy was the oldest of four Graham children (“Billy Graham” 1). Since Billy was the oldest, he was always in charge if his parents were gone. Billy’s sibling right under him was his sister Catherine (Graham 4). He also had a younger brother named Melvin (Graham 9). Billy’s youngest sibling was Jean, who was born a little before he went off to college (Graham 21). Billy, as the oldest in the family, was a role model for his younger siblings.
Billy was trying to be a role model, but he didn’t have the greatest role model. Billy’s grandfather William Crook, who he was named after, wasn’t the greatest influence. He was a heavy drinker and cussed like a sailor. Those were two things Graham didn’t want to show his younger siblings (Graham 3). During his childhood, his father and his Uncle Clyde ran the dairy farm his family lived on (Graham 6). Billy was a young boy when he started helping around the farm (Graham 9). Billy learned that one of the things he needed to show his younger siblings was that hard work and dedication paid off. Billy’...
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...ple in this day and time need to hear a couple of sermons from Billy Graham. Billy Graham’s influence will outlive him and his reward will continue to grow until the end of time.
Works Cited
"Billy Graham." n.d. The Biography Channel Website. Web. 7 Febuary 2014.
"Billy Graham and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association-Historical Background." 1996. Wheaton College. Web. 28 Febuary 2014.
Garfield, Ken. "The Graham Succession." Christian Century. 2009: 26-28. Web.
Graham, Billy. "Billy Graham: 'My Heart Aches for America'". 19 July 2012. Billy Graham
Evangelistic Association. Web. 3 March 2014
Graham, Billy. Just As I Am. New York: Harper Paperbacks, 1998. Book.
Martin, William. "Billy Graham." 2000. Christian History. Web. 10 Febuary 2014.
Powell, Patricia. "The romance of Ruth Bell and Billy Graham." 1997. Good Housekeeping. Web. 1 March 2014.
to it because his fate did not lead him there. Billy applied the fact that he had to accept
...erson & by not doing everything that his parents said he was able to find out the truth which I think, in the end would have made his relationship with his parents much stronger. Billy was very restricted & confined by the expectations placed on him by his family & as well as society & because of this was not able to express himself or find his own personal happiness but through dance he was able to discover who he really is & what he loves & by pursuing it he became a much stronger person, it even enabled him to stand up to his father in showing him how much he loves dance & in doing so also stood up to society & gender stereotypes, this made Billy a much stronger person, throughout the movie it also shows how Billy is able to make a better personal relationship with his father & his brother Tony who he grows closer to as he becomes his own person through dance.
The American Evangelical Story: A History of the Movement, by Douglas A. Sweeney. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2005. 208 pages. Reviewed by Susan L. Schulte.
In this story Billy is faced with a wide range of undeserved punishments, but shows good through all of them with his strong will and determination. He accepts the things that happen to him in a levelheaded manner, which works to keep the story from becoming a tragedy. The first instance of undeserved punishment is the death of Billy’s family. Not only was he unable to help them in any way, there was no good reason for it to happen. While Billy could lose all hope, become depressed, and angry at the world or at God for this injustice, he instead sets out to right the wrong.
For almost a quarter century Billy Sunday was a household name in the United States. Between 1902 when he first made the pages of the New York Times and 1935 when the paper covered his death and memorial service in detail, people who knew anything about current events had heard of the former major league baseball player who was preaching sin and salvation to large crowds all over America. Not everyone who knew of the famous evangelist liked him. Plenty of outspoken critics spoke of his flashy style and criticized his conservative doctrines. But he had hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of loyal defenders, and they were just as loud in their praise as the critics were in their criticism.
“The third bullet was for the filthy flamingo, who stopped dead center in the road when the lethal bee buzzed past his ear. Billy stood there politely, giving the marksman another chance.” This clearly illustrated the child-like person Billy is. Instead of duck and cover, Billy stands there as if he were playing a board game he didn’t want to play and in protest did not move his player. He doesn’t truly grasp the distraught situation he is in and he most certainly doesn’t comprehend it. By not looking out for his own interest he becomes an infantile creature depending on the civil duties of others.
Tracy, Joseph. The Great Awakening: A History of the Revival of Religion in the time of Edwards and Whitefield. 1841. New York: Arno & NY Times, 1969.
Mills, Jeannie. Six Years With God: Life Inside Rev. Jim Jones's Peoples Temple. New York: A&W Publishers, 1979.
...ompared to Martin Luther King Jr. for being a great leader. From his amazing persuasion, he changed people’s thoughts and opened their minds. His legacy remains still today, influencing many young and old hearts in all orientations.
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) was born in Atlanta, Georgia, where his father was pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church. He attended public schools (skipping the ninth and twelfth grades) and entered Morehouse College in Atlanta. He was ordained as a Baptist minister just before his graduation in 1948. He then enrolled in Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania and after earning a divinity degree there, attended graduate school at Boston University, where he earned a Ph.D. in theology in 1955. At Boston University, he met Coretta Scott; they were married in 1953.
"This is the Hour of Decision with Billy Graham, coming to you from Minneapolis Minnesota" Billy Graham, has preached to more than 210 million people through a live audience, more than anyone else in history. Not only that, but Mr. Graham has reached millions more through live televison, video and film. This has led Billy to be on the "Ten Most Admired Men in the World" from the Gallup Poll since 1955 a total of thirty-nine times. This includes thirty-two consecutive more than any other individual in the world, placing him as the most popular American for about forty years. This essay is going to talk about Graham's personal life, and what kind of family he grew up in and im also going to talk in detail about how he became an evangelist, because I feel it is very important yet interesting. His accomplishments in the fifties are uncomparable, so I will be including a considerable amount of information concerning that topic. Finally I will be talking about his personal achievements, books written, and how he has been a companion to some of the American Presidents. William Franklin Graham Jr. was born in Charlotte, North Carolina on November 17, 1918. Graham was raised on a dairy farm by William Franklin (deceased 1962) and Morrow Coffey Graham (deceased 1981). In 1943 he married his wife Ruth McCue Bell, and had four children Virginia 1945, Anne Morrow 1948, Ruth Bell 1950, William Franklin, Jr. 1952, and Nelson Edman 1958. At age eighty, he keeps fit by swimming, playing with is nineteen grand children, and from aerobic walking, in the mountains of North Carolina, where he currently lives. (Billy Graham Best Sellers, 1999) Billy Graham told Time Magazine in one article about his life before becoming a preacher. "I lived on a farm. The only difference was I had to get up early in the morning and go milk cows. When I came back from school that day, I had to milk those same cows. There were about twenty cows I had to milk. By hand. That was before they had those machines. I loved being a farmer. But God called me to this work that I'm in now. I knew it was God calling. I said, "Yes. I will follow what God wants me to do." And so I went to two or three schools to get education.
Sweet, Leonard I. Communication and Change in American Religious History. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1993.
In society and culture, leadership has the paradigm of a great and powerful person, who makes change in a miraculous and unconventional way. Since the beginning of time, people have completed heroic acts against evil and sin, but in many cases it is those who have the lesser appearance and humble disposition who have established the greatest acts of heroism. In the Bible, the Israelites and Hebrews waited for God to send a high and mighty king to save them from the oppression of the Roman government, but instead they were blessed with a little baby boy, born of poor parents who grew up to be a carpenter, yet won over death giving all humanity the opportunity to save the most important aspect of life; their soul. Leaders are always are depicted as government officials or society’s finest, but it is more important to treasure and follow a leader whose life you can duplicate because of their character, because their life pushes you to be better and elevates you to be a better person. Jesus Christ not only is the greatest leader of the church, but has the greatest life for society and humanity to pursue.
“ Meyer. 916-17 Emanuel, James A. “Hughes’s Attitudes toward Religion.” Meyer. 914-15. The. Hughes, a.k.a.
Douglas, J. D., Philip Wesley Comfort and Donald Mitchell. Who's Who in Christian History. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1992.