In 1983, 1986 and 2000 he sponsored, organized and paid for massive training conferences for Christian evangelists; this was the largest representation of nations ever held until that time. p. 363. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFAikman2010 ("Dr. Billy Graham trying to avoid offending Soviets", In 1973, Graham addressed more than one million people crowded into Yoido Plaza in Seoul, South Korea—the largest live audience of his Crusades.Graham spoke to people of all ethnicities, creeds and backgrounds. For example, as an entrepreneur he built his own pavilion for the In 1984, he led a series of summer meetings—Mission England—in the United Kingdom, and he used outdoor Graham was interested in fostering evangelism around the world. A private funeral service is planned at the Billy Graham Library, on a date to be announced.
Graham once recalled "I have never had many people do that. He declined invitations to speak in South Africa for 20 years, choosing instead to wait until the meetings could be integrated. "Graham talked his future wife, Ruth, into abandoning her ambition to evangelize in Graham was frequently honored by surveys, including "Greatest Living American" and consistently ranked among the most admired persons in the United States and the world.Graham received the Big Brother of the Year Award for his work on behalf of children. Graham was cited by the George Washington Carver Memorial Institute for his contributions to race relations and by the Anti-Defamation League of the B’nai B’rith.Throughout his life, Graham was faithful to his calling, which will be captured in the inscription to be placed on his grave marker: Billy Graham is survived by his sister Jean Ford; daughters Gigi, Anne and Ruth; sons Franklin and Ned; 19 grandchildren; and numerous great-grandchildren.
At three global conferences held in Amsterdam (1983, 1986, 2000), Graham gathered some 23,000 evangelists from 208 countries and territories to train them to carry the message of Jesus Christ around the world.During the week of his 95th birthday in 2013, Graham delivered his final messageGraham, a country boy turned world evangelist, who prayed with every U.S. president from Harry S. Truman to Barack Obama, was raised on a dairy farm in Charlotte. They were married for 64 years before Ruth’s death in 2007.After two years of traveling as a speaker for the Youth for Christ organization, Billy Graham held his first official evangelistic Crusade in 1947; but it was his 1949 Los Angeles Crusade that captured the nation’s attention. "The idea is for Christians to follow the example of the disciple In 1957, Graham's stance towards integration became more publicly shown when he allowed black ministers Thomas Kilgore and Despite their friendship, tensions between Graham and King emerged in 1958 when the sponsoring committee of a crusade which took place in By the middle of 1960, King and Graham traveled together to the Tenth Baptist World Congress of the Following Graham's death, former SCLC official and future Atlanta politician Graham's faith prompted his maturing view of race and segregation; he told a member of the The friendship between Graham and John Stott led to a further partnership in the Graham played multiple roles that reinforced each other. He was cited by the As Graham's final crusade approached in 2005, his friend 1996 Congressional Gold Medal shows Ruth and Billy Graham in profile (obverse); the Ruth and Billy Graham Children's Health Center in Asheville, North Carolina (reverse). Billy Graham is survived by his sister Jean Ford; daughters Gigi, Anne and Ruth; sons Franklin and Ned; 19 grandchildren; and numerous great-grandchildren. He purportedly urged him to intervene with federal troops in the case of the Graham met and would become a close friend of Vice President Richard Nixon,On December 16, 1963, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, who was impressed by the way Graham had praised the work of his great-grandfather, In contrast with his more limited access with Truman, Eisenhower and Kennedy, Graham would not only visit the White House private quarters but would also at times kneel at Johnson's bedside and then pray with him whenever the President requested him to do so. His wife, Ruth, died June 14, 2007, at age 87, and is buried at the Billy Graham Library. "I wanted to go to nursing school – Wheaton had a five-year program – but Daddy said no. He presided over the graveside services of President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1973 and took part in eulogizing the former president. At a revival led by traveling evangelist Mordecai Fowler Ham, 15-year-old Graham committed his life to serving Jesus Christ. Mr. and Mrs. Graham and their five children made their home in the mountains of North Carolina. Founded in 1950 by Billy Graham, the organization has been led by Franklin Graham since 2000. He wrote about Graham in his 1974 autobiography Graham became a regular visitor during the tenure of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Mother has not. Graham's younger son Ned had argued with older son Franklin about whether burial at a library would be appropriate.
He was also listed by Gallup as one of the “Ten Most Admired Men” 61 times—including 55 consecutive years (except 1976, when the question was not asked). Originally scheduled to run for three weeks, the “tent meetings” were extended for a total of eight weeks as hundreds of thousands of men, women and children gathered to hear Graham’s messages.On the heels of this campaign, Graham started the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, which was incorporated in 1950. Ruth Graham had said that she wanted to be buried not in Charlotte but in the mountains at the Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove near Graham died of natural causes on February 21, 2018, at his home in Montreat, North Carolina, at the age of 99.On February 28 and March 1, 2018, Graham became the fourth private citizen in United States history to A private funeral service was held on March 2, 2018.