Fall 2000

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I have discovered that one of the most important long-term effects of our evangelistic crusades wherever we go is the mobilization of large numbers of believers in a community to do personal witnessing – often for the first time.

When I go to a city to hold an evangelistic crusade, I do not expect the whole city to turn to Christ; I have never been to a town or a village anywhere in the world where I thought the majority of the people to be true believers.

But I do know that within that city God has "much people" ("I have much people in this city," Acts 18:10). I also believe when I go to a city that there are people whose hearts God has prepared already for the message and they will respond to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior (see Acts 10:1-48; 16:14-15).

In some instances, there may be many (as at Pentecost), or there may be few (as the apostle Paul experienced in Athens after his sermon at Mars Hill, see Acts 17:32-34). The task was humanly impossible – but with God all things are possible!

In all of our crusades, months before the meetings begin, we have the Christian Life and Witness Classes where we train hundreds, and even thousands, of Christians to witness by their lives and by their words.

We teach them how to lead others to Christ. They are the ones who become counselors in our crusades. Then within the churches we have small groups that are able to nurture these new believers when they come into the church.

So we try to train both the individual believers and the churches themselves, including the pastors. All Christians – to the end of the age – are to be involved in bringing the good news of the Gospel to those who do not know Christ.

The apostles were to do their part, and within a generation that little band had grown until groups of Christians were to be found throughout much of the Roman Empire.

They were changed from a dispirited, bewildered group of men to a fearless team of evangelists who were willing to go anywhere, do anything, and sacrifice anything "for the sake of the Gospel." No wonder the early Christians were called by their enemies men who had "turned the world upside down" (Acts 17:6).

They were the first men and women who set the pace for the generations to follow. Like runners carrying the Olympic flame, they would continue to relay the message of Christ down through the centuries until our own time.

The Great Commission is still in effect. Christ’s command has not changed, and neither has God’s great plan of redemption. God’s method of reaching the world with the message of Christ is still the same. "It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe" (1 Corinthians 1:21).

The call of God to His people is to proclaim the Gospel to the ends of the earth. "How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent?" (Romans 10:14-15).

The proclamation of the Gospel – by whatever means, and wherever God places us – is the great responsibility and privilege of His people. "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9).

This command, we must never forget, is from the Lord Himself. It is not a program thought up by a committee or a scheme planned by a group of enthusiastic people.

Even if we had no other reason to go and proclaim the Gospel, the command of Christ would be enough. "All authority" has been given to him. Dare we disobey the command of God Himself? Dare we place personal comfort or security before the sovereign call of God?

Let us also never forget that this command has been given to all God’s people. Paul thanked God for the Roman Christians because "your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world" (Romans 1:8).

Of the Thessalonian Christians Paul said, "From you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad" (1 Thessalonians 1:8).

When persecution broke out against the early church, the apostles stayed in Jerusalem, but the rest of the Christians "went every where preaching the word" (Acts 8:24).

(Excerpt from A Biblical Standard for Evangelists reprinted by permission of World Wide Publications, Minneapolis, Minn.)

He loves the outdoors, and he loves reaching out to people in need. Franklin Graham received the abundant mercy of God after spending his youth running from God. Now he shows mercy to others who are hurting.

Franklin is chairman and CEO of Samaritan’s Purse, an international mercy ministry. Victims of war, famine, disease and natural disasters are provided what they need – their physical needs are addressed giving opportunity to tell about Jesus, the physician of the soul.

At age 22, after a period of rebellion and traveling the world, Franklin Graham committed his life to Jesus Christ while alone in a hotel room in Jerusalem.

The words of his father a few weeks earlier troubled him: "Franklin, you are going to have to make a choice to accept Christ or reject Him." The Holy Spirit would not let him rest. He had made a decision for Christ at age eight but did not follow God.

"All I knew was that Franklin Graham was a sinner who had been running from God," he recalled. "Suddenly, I had an overpowering conviction that I needed to get my life right with God."

He went early to his hotel room in Jerusalem, sat on the bed and smoked a cigarette. He picked up the Bible and began to read. "I read John three again where Jesus told Nicodemus, ‘You must be born again,’" he remembered.

Nicodemus was a respected religious leader in his city, Franklin recalls thinking. Yet, all of his religion and learning were not enough to gain entrance into heaven. Nicodemus had to be born again.

"All I knew was that I wanted the big empty hole inside of me to be filled," Franklin writes in his autobiography, Rebel With A Cause. "I was tired of running."

He read Romans 8:1 over and over. It says, "There is therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

He realized that he was not "in" Christ. More than anything else, he wanted to be, but didn't know how. "I put my cigarette out and got down on my knees beside my bed," he recalls.

"I'm not sure what I prayed, but I know that I poured my heart out to God and confessed my sin," he remembers. "I told Him I was sorry and that if He would take the pieces of my life and somehow put them back together, I was His."

Franklin wanted to live his life for Christ from that day forward. "I asked Him to forgive me and cleanse me, and I invited Him by faith to come into my life," he says.

"That night I had finally decided I was sick and tired of being sick and tired," he recalls. "My years of running and rebellion had ended."

Soon after that, Dr. Bob Pierce, founder of Samaritan's Purse (and World Vision), invited Franklin to join him on a six-week mission to Asia. It was during that time that Franklin felt a calling to work with people who were suffering in different areas of the world.

Franklin was elected to the Board of Directors of Samaritan's Purse in 1978, and one year later, following the death of Dr. Pierce, he was elected President of the organization.

Today, with an annual budget of more than $130 million, Samaritan's Purse, headquartered in Boone, North Carolina, supports offices in six countries providing relief assistance in more than 100 countries worldwide.

In 1989 Franklin committed to spend ten percent of his time each year preaching. He conducts up to 10 festivals - high-energy evangelistic meetings - around the world each year as an evangelist for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA).

Since 1989, he has preached to more than 1.6 million people in cities from Johannesburg, South Africa, to Tupelo, Mississippi. Franklin's 2000 festival schedule includes stops in Nicaragua, Texas, and Kentucky.

In 1995, Franklin was elected to serve as the First Vice Chairman of the BGEA - a position with direct succession as Chairman and CEO of the organization his father established. Franklin has served on the BGEA Board of Directors since 1979.

See: www.samaritanspurse.org