Today on Listen Up: Making faith accessible. We go on location to visit
a library built to honour the message of the world’s most popular
preacher – Billy Graham.
He’s been called “the world’s most
popular preacher.” Spiritual counselor to the meek and mighty alike. At
88, Reverend Billy Graham is in the twilight years of life. His body is
wearing out. But a whole new generation is taking steps to see that the
message he proclaimed in 85 countries, on six continents continues.
At 88, Billy Graham is no longer physically spry – but his mind
is quick. He and his wife Ruth have 5 children, 19 grandchildren and 30
great-grandchildren. 85 family members turned out to honour him.
Billy Graham
"I feel like I’ve been attending my own funeral with all these
speeches. I know they all meant it. But I feel terribly small and
humbled by it all, and I feel I don’t deserve because it’s
been a whole team of people that have worked together, prayed together,
traveled together, believed God was going to do wonderful things
together."
Billy Graham
"This building behind me is just a building. It’s an
instrument. It’s a tool for the Gospel. The primary thing is the
Gospel of Christ, which Franklin has already outlined. I’m very
grateful for his leadership and pray that God will use this to speak to
many people who come through this facility, and I need your prayers and
I want to thank you again for coming today. God bless you. Thank you."
This is the new Billy Graham library, named for the man who’s
preached the Christian faith to 210 million people. It’s located
here in Charlotte, North Carolina, just 4 miles away from where Billy
Graham grew up in this reconstructed childhood home. But this is much
more than a memorial. It’s intended as a new way of telling the
message Billy Graham devoted his entire life to
The library is compared to presidential collections. But it’s not
about a term in office. It’s about a lifetime message. The only
book this library needed was a Bible. You won’t find other books
– only Bibles that Billy and Ruth used. Bibles and scores of
Scripture verses that inspired the Grahams and their workers.
FRANKLIN GRAHAM, President, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association www.billygraham.org
“You may want to call it a tourist attraction. I guess
that’s the way you all see it. But to us in the ministry, we see
this as a ministry. We can touch people’s lives as they come
through this library. It’s designed – the lobby is to be
like a barn, because that’s where my father began. He
didn’t begin in a stadium before millions of people. He started
in a barn, milking cows. And he’s proud of the fact that he was a
farm boy. And we want people to realize that this is where he started.
And God took him from a farm, here in Charlotte, literally to the ends
of the earth. The cow, for us, is a tool to engage children.”
Lorna: What does this mean to you personally to see this day?
Franklin:-
Well this is an opportunity for our ministry to take the gospel to
another generation. This library says Billy Graham – not on the
building – but it’s Billy Graham yes – but it’s
the message that Billy Graham preached. So as you come thru the cross
and as you go thru the library it’s about the message – the
Lord Jesus Christ. And I hope that every person that comes thru here
– if they don’t know Christ, they’ll ask him into
their heart. The gospel is clear in every room. We designed it so that
every room you go through, you’re gonna hear that God loves you,
that Christ died for your sins. That’s what this is about.
Lorna: You had to convince your dad this was a good idea. Tell me about that.
Franklin:–
Well – he didn’t want a monument to himself. And I
didn’t want that either. And neither did the board. But when I
explained to him that ‘Daddy – this could be a ministry
– and you could easily have several hundred thousand people a
year come and hear the gospel, he understood the importance of
that….That’s the message that I want every person that
comes to this room to understand. It’s the cross. Christ died and
shed his blood. The son of God gave his life on a cross like this, 2000
years ago for me, for my sins. And the cross is empty. JC is not still
hanging on a cross. The tomb is empty. Jesus Christ is alive. And
he’ll come into each and every heart if he’s invited. So
this is the message of this library – right here.
MEL GRAHAM Developer, Nephew of Billy Graham
“If you ask someone in the family or on the board … or
someone who knows Uncle Billy’s heart – we didn’t
build it to honour Uncle Billy at all. The intent is not to honour BG.
The intent is to honour the Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel message
that he has faithfully proclaimed for 60 years. It comes straight from
God’s word – it’s the good news of the gospel –
which is all can enter heaven from the foot of the cross – which
is the reason for the cross on the front of the architecture –
thru Jesus, God’s son – and that’s the message that
my uncle has proclaimed for 60 years. It’s what the Bible says.
It’s what the Bible teaches. We believe the Bible is God’s
holy inerrant word and so this wasn’t built to honour BG. It was
built to continue his message – long after Uncle Billy’s
gone and in heaven – this is to continue his message that
he’s been teaching in person for 60 years.”
DEREK GRUNER Library’s Architect
"Well my firm has done work for the BGEA for about 20 years – a
good number of buildings. And when we were granted the commission for
this project, the weight – the magnitude of this project
outweighed everything we had done previously. There was a sense among
the architects in my company that if all of us as architects could only
do one more project for the rest of our lives, this would truly be it
because of the admiration that we all have for Mr. Graham is difficult
to put into words… Again, it goes back to the magnitude of what
we were trying to do. You do a building to honour a man who really
didn’t even want the honour"
THE MESSAGE OF BILLY GRAHAM
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting
life. God is a god of love and mercy and grace and forgiveness. He
doesn’t want you to die. He doesn’t want you to go to
judgment. He doesn’t want you to go to hell.”
“There are people here tonight that he’s spoken to and
you’re ready to leave without Him … whatever your race,
whatever your religion, JC is a person in your life. He’s not a
creed. He’s a person. … I don’t have to be judged. I
don’t have to go to hell. I don’t have to be lost. My soul
has been redeemed. I’m going to heaven. But first, I have to
repent of my sin and receive Christ as my Lord and Saviour … God
is a god of love. He loves you. And if there’s one thing I want
you to take from this great park when you leave here today it’s
this. God loves you. God loves you. God loves you. He takes away all of
that stuff that causes all the trouble and he gives you a peace and a
joy and a sense of forgiveness that you never knew before.”
Lorna:
Dr. Allison, 210 million people – unprecedented as the
world’s most loved preacher. What made his message so universal?
Lon: I
believe his message was universal cause he really understood that human
hearts are the same the world over. Underneath the diversity of
cultures are the same human hearts – everybody created in
God’s image. Billy Graham understood that, so he just drove right
into the heart.
Lorna: What were those human heart factors?
Lon: He
would often start by dealing with felt needs that human beings were
feeling. For instance, fear of death. Longing to be loved. Guilt. Just
the inherent guilt of not living up to our own standards or
God’s. Billy understood these things as common, universal needs.
Lorna: There’s
a real sense that they want to preserve the timelessness of that
message that came out of the crusade microphones – that came out
of all the radio shows, the televison work. Is this a timeless message?
Lon:
Elements of it are timeless. The gospel itself is timeless. What God
has done for humanity in pouring out his love, shown in Christ –
timeless. We have to understand every culture we’re speaking that
timeless message into. So yes – the core of the message is
timeless, but it’s being delivered in new addresses all the time,
so we really need to study the cultures to understand where the culture
aches, so the timeless message of the gospel can be brought into it.
Lorna:
And some people would still say, I don’t know how to get to God.
How would you describe what that journey looks like today?
Lon:
Well if someone were to say to me, like you, I don’t know how to
get to God, the first thing I’d say to him is, you can relax,
because the Christian message says, it’s God that gets to you.
And if you’re having a longing in your heart, you should see that
as God beginning to draw you to Himself. The second thing I would say
is pray. And say, God, there’s a longing, a hunger in me. Show
yourself to me thru your son JC. And probably what God will do is link
you to some other people that believe it to start telling you about it
– you’ll find yourself flipping tv channels and stopping on
a preacher where you would never have stopped before – to just
listen – because God is drawing you. He loves you. He loves the
whole world – that’s why he sent his son JC to die –
to forgive us of all of our wrong --- so enjoy the search is what I
would say to a person like that, because God is with you.
“One of the great challenges we face in the future is that our
message needs to be tied in to the way that we live. And I think
it’s very important - and that’s the beauty of
Samaritans Purse and of the BGEA – that Dr. Graham’s
message has always stood for the proclamation of something that’s
true – and S.P. is mostly known for what we do – that we go
into the disaster areas and we touch peoples lives that are suffering
and hurting. And I think this is a true version of what our Christian
Faith is all about. And I think this is one of the great challenges
we’ll face as a Christian Community. That we just can’t
walk into areas and talk about Jesus being the answer for all things if
we’re not willing to come in to that community and care for the
poor the needy, the suffering in those areas. And I think this is very
important … to come into those areas not just with verbal words,
but with our love in action. And put those two together, and I think
it’s the most powerful force in the world – is to live the
gospel and to proclaim the gospel.”
Lorna -
Dr. Ford do you think it’s harder for people to discover a
relationship with God today than when you guys were on the road doing
all that you did? Leighton Ford
– I don’t know that there’s much difference, Lorna. I
think people then had more background in terms of understanding the
gospel, but people today have just as much hunger and deep spiritual
need. I really believe that,
JIMMY CARTER Former U.S. President
“Well,
my testimony today is, I’m just one of tens of millions of people whose
spiritual lives have been shaped by Billy Graham…And this event,
sponsored by and orchestrated by Billy Graham, was a major breakthrough
in severing the distinctive separation of our African-American and
White citizens and it integrated to a major degree our county. Because
whenever anyone went forward in that theater, black or white, they were
embraced by the leaders of the segregation groups as Christian brothers
and sisters.”
BILL CLINTON Former U.S. President
“When
he prays for you in the oval office or upstairs at the White House, you
feel that he’s praying for you, not the president.”
GEORGE BUSH SR. Former U.S. President
“And
so we’re gathered here today because Billy Graham, the man, the
preacher, the humble farmer’s son who helped change the world, is a
spiritual gift to all of us…. I say this because the moral awakening
that Billy helped to ignite starting here in America which then spread
like a wildfire across the country, and ultimately, as you will
see
inside, around the entire world, was also the same spark that ignited
hope and kept its embers burning in faraway places behind an Iron
Curtain. And with the coalition of free nations that stood together m
the face of this geopolitical threat, so, too, was there a brotherhood
of great spiritual leaders, including our honoree and John Paul II,
Pope, whose unaffected charisma and purity of purpose played a decisive
role in resolving the moral crises of our time. No question these men,
together with other messengers who carried forth the Word, helped --
kept the balance in the Cold War in freedom’s favor."
BILLY GRAHAM TRIBUTES:
Kimberly McCallum
–Billy Graham teaches the very simplicity of the gospel and that it’s
for all men, everywhere. And that it’s timeless. And I think that’s why
he’s able to reach so many people across so many cultures, is because
he teaches the simple, basic message of the gospel.
Dave Shillington
–I think the message of BG is one of his commitments throughout the
years to integrity, to honour and to really staying true to his message
of bringing people to Christ. And not diverting away from that message
for political purposes or other reasons. But staying true to his message
Tameka Thomas
– I admire BG’s humility. He’s such a humble man, and he’s so
straightforward. He loves the Lord and that’s pretty much his message.
He just wants everyone to know Christ as their personal Lord and
Saviour. And that’s what I admire about him. Awesome man of God.
Susan Ann Perry
- He’s an amazing man. What he said the very first crusade he ever gave
all those many years ago is exactly what he says today. That’s why I
find him so appealing. He has made sure that his message remains true
to the gospel and true to Jesus Christ for the 60 years that he’s been
preaching.
Randy Lankford
- I’ve gotten to know him a little bit personally – and I’ve been up to
his house – he’s just – what you see is what you get. He’s a very
humble man. And the message that he gives is the message that lives and
that’s what attracts me most to him.
VIEWER FEEDBACK
We’ve
been looking at the message of the world’s most popular preacher –
Billy Graham – and we’ve learned it’s a timeless message. The way it’s
delivered may change – but the message itself stays the same.
Here at Listen Up – we’re communicating the same timeless
message as each week, we look for God behind the headlines.
Over the past year, we’ve covered news stories ranging from
tragedies to social issues, political efforts to ethical debates.
And every week, we asked you a question.
Here’s what you had to say:
LU # 311 Sex for Sale
I
am a sextrade worker and have been for 12 years, I feel strongly that
it (Legalizing prostitution) is wrong and I engage out of a means as I
lived in poverty all my life and have disabilities. Now that I have
somewhat of a decent life but I hope that don’t legalize it. Feel free
to contact me for more info.
-Brandi
LU # 289 Faith that Forgives – Amish Anguish
I
have been lost in this world of hatred, anger, and vengeance, I could
learn about the love, forgiveness, and repentance from this small, but
close knit Amish Community.
-Gerry
LU #314 Virginia Tech
Is
God a loving, benevolent God, or is it a hateful, tyrannical, cruel
God? If it’s a benevolent God, why has humanity in general remained to
deplorably violent throughout history?
-Jonn
LU # 315 Mental Illness
Right
now I am going through a spiritual crisis. I have severe depression
and have had it since I was a child. I am now 46 years old. I am not
responding to the medication I am on and the medicine I was on stopped
working. I was in hospital last October after overdosing. … I have
been trying to educate people about mental illness but they don't want
anything to do with it…. I feel abandoned by God and am even
wondering if he exists. I understand that my illness is part of my
life… I feel that I have no real purpose in life….
- Ivy
LU #305 Sects and the City
I
just want to comment on your programme this programme this morning,
which encourages Christian and Muslim citizens to co-exist in harmony
and to celebrate some of the things we have in common…I feel that
fundamentalists on all sides have strayed from peace and have
disappointed God by doing so.
-Rajeev
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On April 30, 2005 Lorna was privileged to receive an honorary Doctorate of Christian Ministries from Canada's largest Christian university, Trinity Western University. Lorna was recognized for the witness and leadership that Listen Up TV has provided in public messaging: "a leader in the voice of evangelical life in Canada."
