Biography of Billy Graham and His Accomplishments in His Career
"This is the Hour of Decision with Billy Graham, coming to you from Minneapolis Minnesota" Billy Graham, has preached to more than 210 million people through a live audience, more than anyone else in history. Not only that, but Mr. Graham has reached millions more through live televison, video and film. This has led Billy to be on the "Ten Most Admired Men in the World" from the Gallup Poll since 1955 a total of thirty-nine times. This includes thirty-two consecutive more than any other individual in the world, placing him as the most popular American for about forty years. This essay is going to talk about Graham's personal life, and what kind of family he grew up in and im also going to talk in detail about how he became an evangelist, because I feel it is very important yet interesting. His accomplishments in the fifties are uncomparable, so I will be including a considerable amount of information concerning that topic. Finally I will be talking about his personal achievements, books written, and how he has been a companion to some of the American Presidents. William Franklin Graham Jr. was born in Charlotte, North Carolina on November 17, 1918. Graham was raised on a dairy farm by William Franklin (deceased 1962) and Morrow Coffey Graham (deceased 1981). In 1943 he married his wife Ruth McCue Bell, and had four children Virginia 1945, Anne Morrow 1948, Ruth Bell 1950, William Franklin, Jr. 1952, and Nelson Edman 1958. At age eighty, he keeps fit by swimming, playing with is nineteen grand children, and from aerobic walking, in the mountains of North Carolina, where he currently lives. (Billy Graham Best Sellers, 1999) Billy Graham told Time Magazine in one article about his life before becoming a preacher. "I lived on a farm. The only difference was I had to get up early in the morning and go milk cows. When I came back from school that day, I had to milk those same cows. There were about twenty cows I had to milk. By hand. That was before they had those machines. I loved being a farmer. But God called me to this work that I'm in now. I knew it was God calling. I said, "Yes. I will follow what God wants me to do." And so I went to two or three schools to get education.
Firstly, Abernathy’s Early Life includes his family and the first roles and jobs that he start doing. Abernathy’s family consisted of his mother, his father and his 10 other siblings. His parents’ names were William L and Juanita Odessa Jones. His father was a local farmer and church deacon; he owned 500 acres of farm land. Juanita, his mother, was always encouraging Ralph to strive to reach his goal of becoming preacher once he realized that was his calling. His father was a part of the school board of Linden Academy, the high school that Abernathy attended. When it came to religion, his whole family consisted of Christians. Abernathy was born the 10th out of 11 other siblings, brothers and sisters that lived with him when he was a child and adolescent in Linden, Alabama. One of his sisters gave him the nickname of “Ralph” after a favorite teacher she had. His family was respected by the black...
Readers of Walker’s Appeal can clearly see that his Methodist background provided Walker with a stable ground of moral beliefs, which, despite conflicting perspectives, enabled Walker to firmly convey the messages he intended to communicate.
Cleophus J. LaRue in I Believe I’ll Testify makes it clear that great preaching comes from somewhere, it also must go somewhere, so preachers need to use the most artful language to send the Word on its journey. There is always purpose in life in black preaching says LaRue. Some of the greatest preaching in America happens on Sundays. The articulation and cadence of the black preacher often arise and causes people to feel something deep down inside their souls. The heart of black preaching has been deeply entrenched in our society and is a staple in the life blood of the traditional black family and community. Many a congregation has been stirred to conviction, repentance, and action by the powerful voice of the African american preacher. In I Believe I’ll Testify, LaRue seeks to explain the designing characteristics that exist in black preaching and how it has become a tooled force in the twenty-first century African American community. Using stories and antidotes and his own experiences, LaRue describes what actually makes for good preaching and gives insightful advice in the art of preaching that many seminarians do not learn from seminary. This book is an informative and well written book and could benefit pastors, former pastors, and anyone interested in the art of good black preaching.
The American Evangelical Story: A History of the Movement, by Douglas A. Sweeney. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2005. 208 pages. Reviewed by Susan L. Schulte.
For almost a quarter century Billy Sunday was a household name in the United States. Between 1902 when he first made the pages of the New York Times and 1935 when the paper covered his death and memorial service in detail, people who knew anything about current events had heard of the former major league baseball player who was preaching sin and salvation to large crowds all over America. Not everyone who knew of the famous evangelist liked him. Plenty of outspoken critics spoke of his flashy style and criticized his conservative doctrines. But he had hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of loyal defenders, and they were just as loud in their praise as the critics were in their criticism.
Jonathan Edwards is able to use powerful scare tactics to convince his congregation to undergo an emotional conversion. Edwards is a Christian preacher and theologian who stimulated the “Great Awakening.” Edwards is known for using powerful language; he creates images of absolute horror and images of delight. Edwards uses specific wording that lingers in his listeners mind. In Jonathan Edwards’s sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Edwards’s use of negative imagery, negative diction, and positive imagery and diction is able to convince the congregation to undergo an emotional conversion.
Martin Wells Knapp was born in southern Michigan on March 27, 1853. His parents were farmers. At age 17, Knapp became a student of Methodist College in Albion, Michigan. It wasn’t until he was 19 that Knapp was converted, through the prayers and witness of Lucy J. Glenn, who later became his wife. He was both shy and unattractive, yet overcome both obstacles to become a pastor in the Methodist Michigan Conference. His biographer, A. M. Hills, said that “the various parts and members of his body,… seemed as if they had been thrown together… by some laughable in accident of nature.” Though it was difficult for people to warm up to him initially, God used him to change the course of church history. Knapp had four significant contributions to the future Pilgrim Holiness Church. They were revivals, publishing holiness literature, holiness associations, and foreign missions.
Miller, Park Hays. Why I am a Presbyterian. New York: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1956.
In the second chapter, pastor Martin decides to go see a preacher that he thinks will be able to help him learn to become a better pastor. When he gets there, he meets a man by the name of Willy Graham. Eventually pastor Martin finds out that Willy Graham is essentially a truck driver-preacher and he becomes obviously
People of all groups, social status, and gender realized that they all had voice and they can speak out through their emotional feels of religion. Johnathan Edwards was the first one to initiate this new level of religion tolerance and he states that, “Our people do not so much need to have their heads filled than, as much as have their hearts touched.” Johnathan Edwards first preach led to more individuals to come together and listen. Than after that individual got a sense that you do not need to be a preacher to preach nor you do not need to preach in a church, you can preach wherever you want to. For the first time, you have different people coming together to preach the gospel. You had African American preaching on the roads, Indian preachers preaching and you had women who began to preach. The Great Awakening challenged individuals to find what church meets their needs spiritually and it also let them know about optional choices instead of one. The Great Awakening helped the American colonies come together in growth of a democratic
One of his family members, his grandfather on his mother’s side, Reverend Adam Daniel Williams helped set the foundation to make him into the man he became. He was a byproduct of the Emancipation Proclamation. Despite facing racism, Reverend Williams persevered and became an influential man in the black community. As the preacher, he built Ebenezer into one of the most prestigious churches in Atlanta. He was a very important figure in the Baptist community. He also served in various positions of the National Baptist Conventions. In addition to those positions, he became a charter member of a strong local chapter of the National
In a radio interview with the host Bob Edwards of the Morning Edition, and his guests Bruce Metzger, Professor, Princeton Theological Seminary, and Michael Coogan, Professor, Stonehill College, they discussed the history behind the story of Christ...
In my own life I have been impacted by Billy Graham; several years ago I began to see how important integrity is – at that time I committed never to ride alone in a car with a girl. Although I was unaware of the “Modesto Manifesto” at the time, I knew that Graham refused to be alone with any woman other than his wife, and his vow helped to influence mine. Graham’s dedication to having all the world hearing the Gospel likewise influenced me to take the Gospel to the city of Rochester. Now, learning more about Graham and how he did ministry, I see where I could change in multiple ways: being more tolerant of all denominations,
In today’s society, Effective leaders are essential to an organization and exceptional leadership techniques impact the success of reaching goals. Most important leaders often viewed and analyzed as a key component of an organization improperly trained leader can cause both moral and costly negative consequences. Even though unprepared leaders lead in our community today, Billy Graham’s leadership style and communication skills affected the United States because he exhibits characteristic of a leader. There were several obstacles as a leader that Billy Graham endured as a visionary, and his leadership effectiveness and traits observed throughout his ministry.
For additional help in understanding his reasoning and thought processes, The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr., edited by Clayborne Carson, can give one a sense of exactly why King had such a strong religious background. In fact, the first words of the writing state “Of course I was religious. I grew up in the church. My father was a preacher, my grandfather was a preacher, my great-grandfather was a preacher, my only brother is a preacher, my daddy’s brother is a preacher. So of course I didn’t have much choice” (Carson 1). Furthermore, this work is special because it combines hundreds of King’s writings in order to make a first person narrative of his life. The book skips no part of his life and includes his thoughts and feelings