BILLYGRAHAM.ORG
gelistic Association (BGEA), the closely allied sister organization based in Charlotte that Billy Graham founded in 1950 to manage his evange- lism crusades. Franklin Graham serves as president and
chief executive officer of both organizations. He took over the leadership of Samaritan’s Purse in 1979 after Baptist minister Bob Pierce, Gra- ham’s mentor and the organization’s visionary founder, passed away. Graham, 71, shared an anecdote with News-
max regarding the support he received after his father handed him the BGEA’s reins in 2001. “When Daddy made the decision for me to
take over, he just backed out,” he recalled. “He never once interfered. “Sometimes,” he recalls lightheartedly, “the
staff would try to do an end run: ‘Billy, Franklin said this, but we think you would want to do it this way — what do you think?’ He’d say, ‘I think you’d better talk to Franklin about it.’” Graham chuckles at the memory, then adds,
“Only one time did he give me, well, kind of an instruction. “We had some budget issues. We have a mag-
azine, called Decision magazine. I was going to make it just digital, and not do the print copy be- cause it was expensive. “I said ‘Daddy, this year we’re gonna just not
do Decision magazine. We’ll have it where a per- son can look at it electronically.’ “Daddy said, ‘You know, I always thought
JOYS REMEMBERED Over three generations, the Grahams have shared the Gospel with millions. Any spare time Rev. Billy Graham had was devoted to relaxing with his family and beloved wife Ruth.
Decision magazine was a good opportunity for us to tell our donors and our supporters and our partners what we do.’ “And that’s all he said,” Graham remarked.
“So, I said ‘Yes sir.’ “And as I was driving back to the office, I got
on the phone and called and said, ‘Listen, we’re going to put Decision magazine back in the bud- get.’” It’s a story that reflects their love, trust, and
decades of shared, impassioned commitment — two lives built on the same cornerstone of Jesus Christ. It wasn’t easy growing up as the son of the
man who preached the Gospel in person to more people than any other evangelist ever. Franklin’s son Will Graham, the third-gener-
ation evangelist who now serves as BGEA’s ex- ecutive vice president, says there were periods during his father’s childhood when Billy Gra- ham had to spend most of the year on the road. It fell to Franklin’s devoted mother, Ruth Gra-
ham, to keep the home fires burning. Franklin chronicled his adventurous youth in his 1995 autobiography, Rebel With a Cause. “To be honest,” Franklin once confessed, “I
Continued on page 57
MARCH 2024 | NEWSMAX 55
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