Billy Graham the Personal Story of the Man, His Message, And His Mission by Stanley High

7/27/2019 Billy Graham the Personal Story of the Man, His Message, And His Mission by Stanley High

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Billy Graham

The personal story of theman, his message, and hismission

by Stanley High

HERE at last is the full, authentic,stirring story of Billy Graham the dynamicevangelist whose amazing, internationalministry has been called "The phenomenonof the mid-twentieth century." Though onlythirty-eight years old, Billy Graham has

probably preached, face to face, to morepeople than any spokesman for Christianityin all history: an estimated 20,000,000.

Another 20,000,000 listen to his weeklyradio program The Hour of Decision. Moreastounding still, under his ministry morethan 1,000,000 persons have been convertedand remain, a remarkable majority of them,devout and practicing Christians.

Billy Graham is, first of all, the personalstory of the man, of his teen-age beginningsas a preacher; of how today he draws andmoves such vast audiences; of those, fore- TD:II Vmost among them Ruth Bell Graham, his D1U Jwife, who play leading parts in his work.

It is also the story, told dramatically and


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firsthand, of Billy Graham's Crusades: howthey are prepared for, organized, financedand, even more dramatically, how in scoresof cities across the United States, in Canada,Great Britain, Europe, and Asia, they put

religion on the front page and make it thechief topic ofjnan-in-the-street conversa-

McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.New York Toronto London

BILLY GRAHAM

Copyright 1956 by Stanley High, All rights in this book arereserved. It may not be used for dramatic, motion-, or talkingpicture purposes without written authorization from the holderof these rights. Nor may the book or parts thereof be repro-duced in any manner whatsoever without permission in writing,except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical

articles and reviews* For information, address the McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., Trade Department, 330 West 42dStreet, New York 36 , New York.

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 56-11952

Published by the McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.Printed in the United States of America

For Tim

whose giftis an


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understandingheart

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

It was on assignment as an editor of The Reader's Digest thatI first met Billy Graham at his home in Montreal, North Caro-lina, in May, 1954. Over the two succeeding years, at homeand abroad, my repeated contacts with him and my opportunityto observe, firsthand, his "Crusades" and their consequenceswere almost wholly due to similar Reader's Digest assignmentsand resulted in five articles which have appeared in that maga-zine.

There are many to whom, for help in assembling the ma-terial for Billy Graham, I am indebted: to Ruth and BillyGraham for their wholehearted approval of and cooperationin this undertaking; to Mel Larson for his painstaking research;to members of the Billy Graham Team; to my associates, Doro-thy B. Gardner and Mary Allen Thompson.

But my first and, by all odds, greatest indebtedness is toThe Reader's Digest and to DeWitt Wallace, its editor.

Stanley High

Contents

Introduction: The Great Succession 1

1. What Manner of Man? 15

2. How Can He Be So Sure? 33

3. As One Having Authority 49

4. Few Are Chosen 69


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5. A Long Way from Palatka 85

6. Out of the South 101

7. The Ruth Graham Story 117

8. ". . . And Some, Evangelists" 133

9. It Takes Money 151

10. London: Revival Drama 169

11. Europe and Asia: The Universal Hunger 187*

12. Religion Reaches the Man in the Street 199

13. Does It Last? 217

14. What Becomes of the Converts? 233

15. In the. Wake of the U.S. .Crusades 249

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Billy Graham the Personal Story of the Man, His Message, And His Mission by Stanley High