I’d make sure that people were met, and most importantly that they were followed up with the next day.Įventually, I did my doctoral dissertation at Reformed Theological Seminary on the evangelistic counseling and follow-up models of the Billy Graham crusades. I’d help pair special counselors specifically trained for child evangelism with children. When he would step out of the pulpit after the invitation, I would step into the pulpit and oversee the response to the altar call. Then I would return for the crusade itself, and I was often privileged to sit on the platform behind Dr. Generally, I would arrive three months before the crusade and preach to pastors and church leaders about evangelism. When I was doing that, I felt like I was a round peg in a round hole.įor the next ten years I did this at every Billy Graham crusade in North America. God was using me to help prepare and motivate many hundreds of people to share the gospel. “I think this is the happiest day of my life,” I told him. I remember when I flew back to Little Rock, one of my elders picked me up at the airport and asked me how the trip went. I trained them on how to earnestly share the gospel, how to answer objections, and how to urge a person to follow Christ. They flew me there to speak to 800 pastors and church leaders, and help them understand the critical components of evangelism in the local church. At their next American crusade in New York, they asked if I would do there what I did in Little Rock. So began my partnership with the Billy Graham organization. The crusade renewed our evangelistic focus as the congregation became more acutely aware of our urgent calling as evangelists in this world. Entrenched habits were rooted out and changes were implemented-changes that were necessary, but difficult in an historic church. Preparing for the crusade gave our church a much needed evangelistic mindset. But I noticed something unexpected-the crusade not only impacted those who came forward, but it impacted the church I was pastoring. Graham delivered impassioned gospel sermons before a crowd of 50,000 souls, so there was an incredible amount of work to be done each night. Graham and came forward was personally contacted by a local pastor the very next day. Over the course of seven nights, Dr. My mission was to ensure that everyone who responded to the sermon by Mr. In this role I oversaw the training of 3,000 counselors, and then was responsible for the follow-up after the crusade for those who committed their lives to Jesus Christ. The call went out for local pastors to participate as volunteers, and I was asked to be the chairman of counseling and follow-up. In 1989 I was pastoring The Bible Church of Little Rock when our city hosted a week-long Billy Graham crusade. For this example, I will always be grateful.Īllow me to reflect upon my time with his ministry, and to share a few lessons I learned from my partnership with his efforts to win the lost to Christ. Here was a man who preached the gospel and attempted to reach large numbers of people for Christ. He became a figure larger than life, and he did so by only preaching the simple message of the saving gospel of Jesus Christ.Įarly in my ministry it was my privilege to work alongside the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, and that experience left a positive and profound impact upon my life. Perhaps never again-certainly not within our life time-will we witness an evangelist with such a global outreach. As we learned yesterday about the loss of Billy Graham, it is with a great deal of sadness that we say farewell to this extraordinary figure.
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