Just As I Am (Billy Graham)

from an email August 31, 2006

Brothers and sisters in Christ,

I write this to you after being inspired by the life of probably the world's most well known evangelical Christian. Dr. Billy Graham's autobiography "Just As I Am", even though it may be long (weighing in at a solid 700+ pages)... it is a really good book! He explicitly says the goal in him writing it in the preface by saying:

At my age, I thought of the next generation, who might be encouraged by such a book to believe that God can do in their generation what He did in ours. (pg xiv)

May we all have faith in our unchanging God, that what He accomplished back in the past generations, He is still more than able to accomplish this year at McMaster University, across Canada and around the world!

----------------------------
Something that really inspired me about Billy Graham was that from U.S. President Harry Truman in 1950 to Bill Clinton in 1997 (when the book was written) Billy Graham knew them all and was pretty much each and every president's personal pastor and spiritual guide. It challenged me to think about the ways that I (and other Christian leaders) are impacting the leaders and superiors in our lives (whether that be the McMaster Students Union Executive, the President of our university, the mayor in our city, the politicians, and even the Prime Minister).

Something else that was cool was Billy Graham's "Team". Pretty much every chapter he refers to this "Team" of 10 close people. These were men he went to for advice, who were the key leaders in all of his Crusades etc. Get this... from like 1946 til even now, this Team of his, has stuck together! Pretty cool eh?

Here's some quotes :)

Quotes on EVANGELISM:

Florida Bible Institute [where Billy Graham attended Bible College] was committed to equipping all of us for Christian witness in the world, even if not as preachers. So students were sent out regularly, both as individuals and in teams, to churches, missions, trailer parks, jails, street corners, and just about any other place that would have them. (pg 47)

The sort of school I envisioned was one from which we might send young people on fire with Jesus Christ and evangelism to the ends of the world. (pg 114)

That's the sort of school I envision too!

Quotes on PREACHING:

I knew that I loved to tell people the good news of God's salvation in Jesus Christ. On Sundays I often preached on the streets of Tampa , sometimes as many as five or six times a day.... But did I want to preach for a lifetime? I asked myself that question for the umpteenth time on one of my night time walks around the golf course. (pg 53)

And I preached. And preached. Every Saturday I went into the empty sanctuary and rehearsed aloud the sermon I would preach the next day. (pg 58)

Practice makes perfect!

Quotes on UNIVERSITIES:

It was the opportunities in 1950 at New England universities – among them, MIT, Brown, Harvard, Yale, Amherst – that touched me most deeply.... I had come to realize that there was absolutely no need to apologize for the Gospel of Jesus Christ in academic settings. The Gospel could more than hold its own. (pg 166)

AMEN!

In 1953 we received and invitation to hold an eight-day mission at Cambridge University under the auspices of the student-led Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union; it had 800 members out of the university student body of 8,000... We accepted the invitation for November 1955...One-fourth of the student body attended each evening! (pg 256, 259)

I couldn't help but thinking about this at McMaster. The Christian group had 10% of the student population (at Mac that'd be 1800 students!) and imagine one-fourth of the campus coming to an outreach event (that'd be 5000 students!)

On some campuses, we joined with Campus Crusade for Christ, which Bill and Vonette Bright founded (partly at my urging) years before.
"Billy", he told me one night in Hollywood , where he lived, "I don't know what to do with my life."
"What's your interest?" I asked him.
"Well, I'm really interested in students, and Vonette is as well."
"Well, I'd give my life to the students", I suggested.
Bill has often said that I wrote him a check for $1000 to help him and his wife get their program started. I don't remember ever having $1000 during those early years, but I will take his word for it.
In 1967 he and I spoke at UCLA and at the Berkeley campus of the University of California . With IVCF and CCC staff and students saturating the campuses, interest was high. When I spoke at UCLA, 6000 students came to one meeting, the largest gathering to hear a speaker in the school's history up to that point. Some 8000 showed up for one outdoor meeting at the Greek Theater at Berkeley. (pg 423)

Quotes about how Billy Graham KNEW WHAT HE WAS CALLED TO DO!

"I'd like to ask you, Billy, to consider acting in a film with us." I looked him straight in the eye and told him that God had called me to preach the Gospel and that I would never do anything else as long as I lived. (pg 175)

Under no circumstances am I going to run for president. A number of groups have promised support it I would run, but no amount of pressure can make me yield at any point. I've never hinted to anybody that I would run for president. If nominated I will not run; if elected I will not serve. God called me to preach. (pg 411)

This next one was just a fun quote that I thought was cool. This is how he started the chapter on his relationship with his wife, Ruth.

"Saturday nights I dedicate to prayer and study, in preparation for the Lord's day." What kind of a romance could a college man have with a woman who said a thing like that? Dating Ruth had to be creative. (pg 71)

And finally these two quotes. This first one is a challenge...

We are not responsible for the past generation, and we cannot bear full responsibility for the next one. However, we do have our generation! God will hold us responsible at the Judgment Seat of Christ for how well we fulfilled our responsibilities and took advantage of our opportunities. (pg 565)

And this last one is a cool story about our Sovereign God who works all things according to His will, and He is patient, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance!

One night a plainly dressed woman stood in the inquiry room with tears running down her cheeks as she asked Christ to come into her life. When her counsellor asked if there was anything else she wanted to share, she replied that she was very afraid of her son. "He drinks a lot," she said, "and I'm afraid he may beat me when he finds out I've become a Christian." Before the counsellor could speak, a voice nearby called out, "It's okay, Mom. I'm here too." (pg 321)