William Franklin Graham was born November 7,1918 in Charlotte, NC. He became a Christian when he was 16 years old at a camp meeting.
Billy Graham died Wednesday, February 22, 2018, at 99 years old. We mourn his passing but we also recognize and celebrate a life that was victorious in Christ.
In a time when leadership was not popular, Billy Graham was an influential and transformational leader. I remember a time in an auditorium in Mexico City in the 1970’s. I went with other young people to hear the gospel from a man who stands as a turning point in terms of leadership. He is surely the most influential Christian leader of the twentieth century, and also one of the greatest world leaders.
Today we can be grateful for the life and leadership of a man of great spiritual stature. He has left us an enormous legacy of faith and spiritual influence. One of the most well-known stories of him goes that when he was encouraged to run for president of the United States, he asked his wife what he should do. She answered forcefully, “When God calls you to be an evangelist, you don’t stoop to be president.”
We have been historical witness to the life of spiritual leadership that allow God to use him in a time when we needed men, like him, who shined in their faithful testimony of Jesus.
We can remember him with this phrase that shows the foundation of all Christian leadership: Go to your knees and pray until you and God have become intimate friends.
Written by Marco Velasco, Vice Rector, Nazarene Seminary of the Americas
