By Steve Horn
“For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” – 1 Corinthians 2:2 NIV
ALEXANDRIA, La. – Today, in Washington, D.C., a statue of Billy Graham will be unveiled. My understanding is that the statue depicts Graham pointing toward an open Bible. John 3:16 and John 14:6 are inscribed on the statue. This inscription is appropriate for the evangelist who in his last public sermon preached:
I have one message—that Jesus Christ came, He died on a cross, He rose again, and He asked us to repent of our sins and receive him by faith as Lord and Savior, and if we do, we have forgiveness of all our sins.
My earliest memory of Billy Graham is watching his Crusades on television as a child with my mother. I would later in life learn that Billy and my mother shared November 7as a birthday. Indeed, he was the most famous preacher of my lifetime. The quality, however, that I admire most about Graham is that he never set out to be famous, just faithful.
As I have reflected on Graham’s life, I note these characteristics.
He was a man of integrity.
Early in his ministry, he wrote out four principles to govern his ministry. He and his associates agreed together that they would secure money for their crusades in advance through local committees rather than through love offerings at the meetings, never be alone with a woman not their wife, support the local church, and not emphasize numbers in their publicity.
He was humble.
This humility allowed him to point others always to Jesus.
He preached the Gospel.
On May 2, 1996, Congress awarded Graham the Congressional Gold Medal. Instead of the perfunctory expected acceptance speech, he preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
He seemed to balance, better than most, preaching the same Gospel in changing times.
He preached the message of Jesus to changing cultures without becoming unbalanced in his methodology. I think my generation of preachers has much to learn in this area.
He seemed to balance, better than anyone of my lifetime, the right engagement with politics.
He had a hearing with every president from Truman to Obama. He influenced the influencers, but never made politics the focus of his ministry.
All of this causes me to pray….Oh, Lord, in your mercy, give us another Billy Graham!
Steve Horn is the Louisiana Baptist executive director.
