- October 8th, 2006, 10:29 pm
#33766
I considered dropping this into the Chapel. But I'll post these articles here:
And here is the AP story running on the wires:
A new Graham in the pulpithttp://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/15707962.htm
Will recognizes legacy of grandfather, father, but adds his own style
JEFFERSON GEORGE
jgeorge@charlotteobserver.com
His grandfather is the world's best-known evangelist. His father has preached in 33 states and several countries.
But as he prepared to lead his own crusade in Gastonia, Will Graham said carrying on that legacy doesn't mean copying his famous forebears.
"You've just got to be your own person," he said. "There's no replacing Billy Graham. I don't want to be Billy Graham."
Since the 1940s, Billy Graham has led more than 400 crusades and preached to more than 200 million people around the world. On Monday, Will Graham's first U.S. crusade opens on a more modest scale, with the 31-year-old leading the three-day Greater Gaston Celebration.
Although he's more boyish and lanky, comparisons to his grandfather and his father, Franklin, are unavoidable.
You sound like your daddy and granddaddy, people say. "We're from Western North Carolina," he tells them. "We all talk like this."
You look like your daddy and granddaddy, they say. "That means I've got a big nose, a big mouth and big ears," he says.
Will said unlike Billy at the same age, he is more reserved on stage. That matches a description by one friend and fellow preacher.
"He walks into a room, and people don't know he's there," said Austin Rammell, who attended Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., with Will and is pastor of Hardin Baptist Church in Gaston County. "I knew Will for six months before I knew what family he was from."
New challenges
Compared with his father's and grandfather's crusades, the Rev. Will Graham faces at least a few different challenges.Less than half of the U.S. population attends church regularly, surveys show. People have more distractions and possessions than ever, Will said.
When Billy began preaching, Will said, many communities were based around a church, and families often were more frugal. Today, minivans dart from home to soccer practice to an electronics store, where you can get the same $3,000 flat-screen TV as your neighbor, he said.
"The things aren't evil," he said. "It's our hearts being set on the things, instead of above."
Conquering the "keeping up with the Joneses" mentality and winning someone's precious time require new ways of delivering God's message. Today's crusades often use contemporary Christian music to attract audiences.
"We're trying to find that balance," Will said, emphasizing that "this isn't about a concert. It's about God."
It's also a long way from Billy's 1949 crusade in Los Angeles, which was scheduled for three weeks but extended to more than eight weeks due to crowds -- a commitment hard to imagine in today's on-the-go world.
"Can it happen? Anything can happen," Will said. "Is it tougher? I think so."
A personal choice
Will's elders didn't pressure him to carry on the crusade, he said.
"If anything, Dad protected us from that," he said. "Ministry is not inherited."
Yet when asked in second grade what he wanted to be when he grew up, Will drew a picture of a Bible and a pilot's headset -- similar to what his father wore while flying and preaching in Africa in the 1980s.
Will's interest in helping people know Jesus grew stronger after he committed his life to Christ at age 15, but his parents still played devil's advocate.
"Don't do this because you're a Graham," he recalled them saying. "Do this because God called you."
Franklin Graham wasn't available for comment last week but said through his Atlanta public relations firm that he and his wife, Jane, are proud of Will. "Our prayers will be with him" at the celebration, he said.
After Will earned degrees from Liberty and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, he joined the staff of Bay Leaf Baptist Church in Raleigh, where he helped rebuild houses after Hurricane Floyd. Soon afterward, the church's pastor, the Rev. Ron Rowe, asked Will to help start another church in Wake Forest, Wakefield Baptist.
Along with his organizational skills and compassion, Will had obvious potential in the pulpit, Rowe said.
"You've got a gift for preaching like your granddaddy," Rowe remembered telling Will. "You need to try to develop that gift."
Although Will was uncomfortable with his speaking skills and reluctant to become a pastor, he accepted the job. With each sermon, the unease faded.
"I began to get it," he said. "God was training me, teaching me."
Today, Rowe said, Will is like a strong-armed quarterback with a steady aim.
"He faltered a bit at the start," Rowe said, "but now he throws a frozen rope."
Recruited to speak
Will was still at Wakefield when Rammell called last year.At Liberty, Rammell said, Will had been more low-key than other evangelists' sons.
"Will's aspirations in college," he said, "were purchasing a hunting rifle and getting to Alaska as fast as he could."
One hint of Will's unique background came when he invited Rammell to a crusade in Charlotte in 1996. When Rammell arrived at the Graham family suite in Ericsson Stadium, he saw N.C. Gov. Jim Hunt and other luminaries.
"That event," Rammell said, "is when I realized that Will's a normal guy, but he's not in normal shoes."
After Will spoke at the Southern Baptist Convention last year in Nashville, Tenn., a few pastors planning an evangelistic event in eastern Gaston County wanted to see if Will would participate. With his college connection, Rammell volunteered to ask.
Although the two hadn't spoken for several years, Will accepted the invitation and the local group welcomed having the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association help organize the event.
Once the association was involved, the event became a countywide celebration and Will's first U.S. crusade. Until now, he has led a handful of crusades in Canada and preached to audiences in India.
It may seem fitting that his first U.S. event will be in North Carolina; Charlotte is where his grandfather was raised and the association is based, and Will grew up in Boone. But he said the location wasn't intentional.
"I wasn't looking for anything," he said. "They saw a need. I'm just coming along to help fulfill that need."
Other opportunities
In July, Will left Wakefield -- which had grown from about 40 members to more than 300, Rowe said -- to join the association full time as assistant director of the Billy Graham Training Center in Asheville.
Beyond this week's celebration, he's considering invitations from several communities, and tentatively plans to lead a crusade in Ohio and others in Canada next year.
After that, who knows?
"If I end up doing more, great," he said. "If I don't, great. It's not about me."
Otherwise, the newest Graham evangelist continues to settle into the training center, known as The Cove, which regularly holds seminars on prayer, church leadership, worship and other topics.
A photo of him, his father, his grandfather and his nearly 1-year-old son -- William Franklin Graham V, whom they call Quinn -- hangs on his office wall. Nearby are a drawing of an apple tree by his 5-year-old daughter, C.J., and a large topographic map of Alaska.
Will's family -- he and his wife, Kendra, also have a 3-year-old daughter, Rachel -- lives in the same mountain home where Billy and Franklin once lived. His grandfather, now 87, still lives nearby, but Billy and his wife, Ruth, are in fragile health. Will said he rarely sees them, preferring to let them rest.
Billy Graham is never far from sight, though.
On the lower level of the Chatlos Memorial Chapel, photos of Billy line the walls. There's Will's grandfather with former Russian President Boris Yeltsin. There's the parkway in Charlotte named after Billy.
Following in these footsteps isn't intimidating?
"To me," Will said, "this is all normal stuff."
And here is the AP story running on the wires:
Will Graham, grandson of famed evangelist, takes up the crusadehttp://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/10/ ... andson.php
The Associated Press
Published: October 8, 2006
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina Will Graham bears the name of the world's best-known evangelist. He has also got his Southern twang and, now, his mission.
The grandson of the Rev. Billy Graham has something more: his own way of spreading God's word.
This week, the Rev. Will Graham will lead his first U.S. crusade, the three-day Greater Gaston Celebration. It is a first step for a 31-year-old man whose grandfather has led more than 400 crusades around the world, and whose father, Franklin, has preached in 33 states and several countries.
But he is determined to do it in his own way.
"You've just got to be your own person," Graham told The Charlotte Observer in a story published Sunday. "There's no replacing Billy Graham. I don't want to be Billy Graham."
And he insists his calling is not a family legacy. When he committed his life to Christ at age 15, his parents played devil's advocate.
"Don't do this because you're a Graham," he recalled them saying. "Do this because God called you."
He stuck with it, earning degrees from Liberty University and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, and joining the staff of Bay Leaf Baptist Church in Raleigh.
The church's pastor, the Rev. Ron Rowe, noticed Graham had organizational skills, compassion and obvious potential in the pulpit. He asked him to help start another church in Wake Forest, Wakefield Baptist.
Graham was reluctant and uncomfortable with his speaking skills, but he accepted. With each sermon, he gained confidence.
"I began to get it," he said. "God was training me, teaching me."
His style is more reserved than that of his grandfather, Graham and fellow pastors say.
"He walks into a room, and people don't know he's there," said Austin Rammell, a Liberty classmate who is now pastor of Hardin Baptist Church in Gaston County. "I knew Will for six months before I knew what family he was from."
Rammell was the one who extended the invitation to speak at this week's crusade, asked to intercede by pastors who were planning an evangelistic event in eastern Gaston County. They heard Graham speak last year at the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville, Tennessee.
Graham agreed, and the involvement of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association helped turn the event into a countywide celebration — and the younger Graham's first crusade in the United States. He has led a handful in Canada and preached to audiences in India.
"I wasn't looking for anything," he said. "They saw a need. I'm just coming along to help fulfill that need."
He will face different challenges than those presented to Billy Graham when he first drew public notice more than 50 years ago. The younger Graham notes that less than half of the U.S. population attends church regularly, unlike the church-based communities of his grandfather's youth.
Families then were more frugal, where now they have more distractions and possessions than ever.
"The things aren't evil," he said. "It's our hearts being set on the things, instead of above."
Will Graham left Wakefield Baptist in July to become assistant director of the Billy Graham Training Center in Asheville. He is considering invitations to preach from several communities, and tentatively plans to lead a crusade in Ohio and others in Canada next year.
"If I end up doing more, great," he said. "If I don't, great. It's not about me."
- By ECC29