Biography Of Billy Graham

 Billy Graham was a prominent evangelical figure  in the United States whose career spanned for about six decades. He was an ordained Southern Baptist minister and a civil rights advocate who was considered among the most influential Christian leaders of the 20th century. 

He was born on 7th of November 1918 on a dairy farm outside Charlotte, North Carolina in a family of Scots-Irish descent. He was raised by his parents in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. He attended Sharon Grammar School. Although he was raised in a devout Christian family, he did not make a personal commitment to Christ.

He was converted during a series of revival meetings in Charlotte in 1934 at the age of  16. After graduating from Sharon High School in May 1936, he attended Bob Jones College. In 1937,  Billy Graham transferred to Florida Bible Institute in Temple Terrace, Florida. While still a student, he preached his first sermon at Bostwick Baptist Church near Palatka, Florida.

In 1939, he was ordained by a group of Southern Baptist Clergy at Peniel Baptist Church in Palatka, Florida. In 1940, he graduated with a Bachelor of Theology degree. He then enrolled in Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. While attending Wheaton, he was invited to preach one Sunday in 1941 at the United Gospel Tarbernacle church. 

After that, the congregation repeatedly asked him to preach at their church and later asked him to become the pastor of their church. Billy Graham agreed and became the pastor of the church. While at Wheaton, he met his future wife, Ruth McCue Bell, the daughter of medical missionaries in China; they were married shortly after graduation on August 13, 1943.

In June 1943, he graduated from Wheaton college with a degree in Anthropology. Billy Graham was 29 years old when he became president of Northwestern Bible College in Minneapolis in 1948. He was the youngest president of a college or university in the United States, and held the position for four years before he resigned in 1952.

He held his first Crusade at age 28 from September 13th to 21st in 1947 at the Civic Auditorium in Grand Rapids, Michigan which was attended by about 6000 people. He came into public eye after a  1949 citywide preaching Crusade in Los Angeles, California. Originally, the crusade was scheduled for three weeks but the meeting extended to eight weeks. 

Night after night, crowds spilled out of a huge tent that became known as the Canvas Cathedral. Major newspapers and magazines spotlighted the story, and over a short period, Billy Graham became a household name. In 1954, he held a 12-week Crusade in London  which brought him international recognition, and in 1957, he held  a 16-week Crusade in New York .

For decades, Billy Graham held numerous preaching Crusades in stadiums and sports arenas across the United States and Canada, as well as in India, Africa, Australia, South America, the Middle East, Europe, and other parts of the world. His 1977 trip to communist-led Hungary opened a new phase in his ministry, eventually enabling him to conduct preaching Crusades in virtually every country of the former Eastern Bloc (including the Soviet Union), as well as China and North Korea.

He is known as a pioneer in the use of new technologies to preach the Gospel, from radio and television to films and the internet. Beginning in 1989, a series of Crusades via satellite extended his preaching to live audiences in more than 185 countries and territories, from remote tribal villages to major world capitals .

 His last official Crusade was held in New York City in June 2005. Billy  Graham preached the gospel to more people in person than any one in the history of Christianity.  On 14th of June 2007, his wife Ruth died at the age of 87 after about 64 years of marriage. 

His counsel was sought by presidents and others of influence. He appeared on the Gallup Poll’s list of the “Ten Most Admired Men in the World” 61 times more than any other personality in the poll’s history. Recognitions included the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal  which he shared with his wife, 

the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, the George Washington Carver Memorial Institute Gold Award, the International Brotherhood Award of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, the Franciscan International Award, and more than two dozen honorary degrees. 

In 2001, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II made him an honorary Knight Commander of the British Empire. Billy Graham was named North Carolina’s “Favorite Son” by unanimous vote of the state General Assembly on April 10, 2013

Billy Graham died of natural causes on February 21, 2018, at his home in Montreat, North Carolina, at the age of 99. On February 28 and March 1, 2018, Graham became the fourth private citizen in United States history to lie in honor at the United States Capitol rotunda in Washington, D.C. 

He is the first religious leader to be so honored. At the ceremony, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan called Graham "America's pastor". President Donald Trump said Graham was "an ambassador for Christ".

A private funeral service was held on March 2, 2018. Graham was buried beside his wife at the foot of the cross-shaped brick walkway in the Prayer Garden, on the northeast side of the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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