BILLY GRAHAM: Role Model for Writers #Role Models #Billy Graham #Writing

Billy Graham, achieved a position unlike any other evangelist. Respected and in touch with heads of foreign countries, he provided prayer and personal advice to a dozen U.S. presidents, starting with Harry S. Truman. An amazed world watched as the boy raised on a dairy farm in Charlotte, North Carolina, become "America's Pastor." 

During his lifetime, Billy preached to an estimated 215 million people in 185 countries and reached millions of others via radio, television and the internet

An early calling

It was Easter weekend in 1937, Palatka, Florida. With knees knocking and four borrowed sermons to fall back on, eighteen-year-old Billy Graham delivered one after another in front of the 40 or so parishioners. He concluded his first career sermon eight minutes later!

He refused to be discouraged 

After the service, one of the men at the church told Billy, "Boy you better go back to school and get a lot more education." Billy did. After  wrestling with God, he eventually gave way to his calling to preach. His confidence grew with practice, even though his audience sometimes was nothing more than alligators, birds and Cypress stumps, as he chronicles in his autobiography Just As I Am.

Billy told it the way he believed it

Being politically correct never kept Billy from speaking the words he felt God laid on his heart. Yet he appeared on Gallup’s list of the most admired men and women 60 times since 1955 — every year the research company asked the question. Martin Luther King Jr. counted Graham as a close friend and ally, once remarking, “Had it not been for the ministry of my good friend Dr. Billy Graham, my work in the civil rights movement would not have been as successful as it has been.”

He never used "too busy" or "I'm not up to it" as an excuse

In spite of a schedule few of us could or would want to keep, Billy stole time to write more than two dozen books, books that required a great deal of research Although diagnosed with Parkinson's-like symptoms in the 1990s,  his 1997 memoir, "Just as I Am," was a New York Times best-seller.

 Billy stayed focused

Married to Ruth Bell from 1943 to 2007 and father of five children, his life's work required him to be away from home much of the time. 

He missed a great deal of time with his family, especially Ruth, of whom he said, "When it comes to spiritual things. my wife has had the greatest influence on my ministry."

Relaxing on his front porch

He kept his personal values

"My home is in Heaven," he habitually said. "I'm just traveling through this world."  Billy's home in the mountains of North Carolina reflects this. A refuge from those who would elevate him to an unwanted position.

"Only one person deserves to be glorified," he constantly reminded his listeners. "And that is the Lord Jesus Christ." A fitting Scripture for Billy Graham's tombstone would be: 

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith . . ." (2 Timothy 4:7).

Yet the single word "Preacher" that Billy's son Franklin says will be engraved, is far more in keeping with Billy Graham's life of service to God and he world. 

 

In closing 

We can never be Billy Grahams, nor should we strive to be--but we can learn much from this man from humble beginnings who truly did finish the course and keep his faith. 

Follow our dreams. Never give in to discouragement. Write from the heart. Make time to write. Keep values. 

Thank you, Billy Graham. 

 

A life of service to God and the world