God's General: Billy Graham

From Samuel Godwin-Oburoh E.O. 

An excerpt from Wikipedia

 Billy Graham 

(November 7, 1918- February 21, 2018)

Billy Graham, one of my spiritual fathers, started from humble beginnings; raised on a family dairy farm with his two younger sisters and younger brother. He started to read books from an early age and loved to read novels for boys, especially Tarzan. Like Tarzan, he would hang on the trees and gave the popular Tarzan yell, scaring both horses and drivers. According to his father, that yelling had led him to become a minister.

Billy Graham had been turned down for membership in a local youth group for being "too worldly," when Albert McMakin, who worked on the Graham farm, persuaded him to go and see the evangelist Mordecai Ham. According to his autobiography, Graham was converted in 1934, at age 16 during a series of revival meetings in Charlotte led by Ham.

Billy Graham preached his first sermon in 1937 at Bostwick Baptist Church, while still a student. And he prepared one last sermon, My Hope America, released on DVD and played around America and possibly worldwide between November 7–10, 2013, November 7 being his 95th birthday, hoping to cause a revival. It was aired on several networks. 

Since his ministry began in 1947, Graham conducted more than 400 crusades in 185 countries and territories on six continents. The first Billy Graham Crusade, held September 13–21, 1947, in the Civic Auditorium in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was attended by 6,000 people. Graham was 28 years old. In Moscow, in 1992, one-quarter of the 155,000 people in Graham's audience went forward at his call.

Billy Graham preached to live audiences of nearly 215 million people in more than 185 countries and territories through various meetings. He also reached hundreds of millions more through television, video, film and Webcasts. According to his staff, more than 3.2 million people have responded to the invitation at Billy Graham Crusades to "accept Jesus Christ as their personal saviour". As of 2008, Graham's estimated lifetime audience, including radio and television broadcasts, topped 2.2 billion. Because of his crusades, Graham preached the gospel to more people in person than anyone in the history of Christianity.

Billy Graham was a spiritual adviser to American presidents and provided spiritual counsel for every president from Harry Truman to Barack Obama.

 He appeared most frequently on Gallup's list of most admired people. Since 1955, Graham was recognized by Gallup a record 55 times (49 times consecutively) – more than any other individual in history. And he was frequently honored by surveys, including "Greatest Living American."