Spring 2000

Page A-1

During the December CPR luncheon the speaker was Rick Marshall, Director of Crusades and Director of Counseling and Follow-up for The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Mr. Marshall spoke of Dr. Graham's vision for the new millennium and the commitment and mission of the BGEA for racial reconciliation and unity between the denominations.

"CPR was honored to host Rick Marshall as our speaker," says Charles Wilson, President of CPR. "We believe the Billy Graham Crusade will bring revival and reconciliation to the city of Jacksonville," Mr. Wilson said.

In addition to the obvious spiritual gain, economic benefits to the city of Jacksonville could equal more than $77 million. In an interview last month by television Channel 12, Bill Gay Jr. said, "All of us will get involved and we'll do what we can and will put in what it takes."

It's been 39 years since Billy Graham preached in Jacksonville, but during his trips here for medical treatment at the Mayo Clinic, Dr. Graham has developed a love for Jacksonville.

Late last summer, Dr. Ron Rowe, Director of the Jacksonville Baptist Association, received a call from the Graham organization asking him to see if there was support in Jacksonville for a crusade. They explained to Dr. Rowe that Dr. Graham felt a strong "leading from the Lord" to have a crusade here.

In September, Dr. Rowe called a cross-denominational meeting and found he indeed had strong support for a Jacksonville crusade. "The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association is committed to this and feels very strongly about the need for a crusade here," said Dr. Rowe.

Helping coordinate the event, Dr. Rowe has called together a local pastors committee including leaders from the Assemblies of God, Episcopal, United Methodist, and Inter/Non Denominational Churches.

In addition to denominational unity, another strong message of the crusade is always racial reconciliation. In 1953, Dr. Graham banned seating based on race at his rallies and refused to accept a speaking engagement unless all people could sit where they wished. A bold move for the time.

On the issue of racism Dr. Graham says, "The person who receives Christ forgets all about race when they give their life to Christ."

Vaughn McLaughlin, Pastor of the Potters House in Jacksonville says, "It has been a privilege to join with other pastors and city leaders to pray for and begin to plan for this great event. I am involved with pastors of other churches and denominations that I have never met before and already sense a spirit of oneness, of unity developing. Long after the Billy Graham Crusade is over, we will continue to build the relationships begun by joining together to prepare for this awesome event."

The crusade is expected to take place over a four day period at Alltel Stadium in November. During the crusade in Tampa last fall, more than 270,000 people attended with some 22,500 responding the invitation to accept Christ as their savior. While Alltel Stadium normally seats 73,000 people, bleachers can be added bringing the number to more than 84,000.

There will be ample opportunities for the city of Jacksonville to be involved with the crusade. During the Tampa crusade over 20,000 volunteers representing more than 1,000 churches were involved. Members of the BGEA have already moved to the Jacksonville to get ready for the crusade.

Scott Lenning, Crusade Director will be overseeing the crusade. There is much work to be done and the usual time frame of 18 to 22 months to plan an event of this size will have to be done in less than half that time.

During his more than 60 years of ministry, Dr. Graham has preached the gospel at more than 390 crusades in over 185 countries in gatherings that included more than 210 million people. From Boise, Idaho to the Peoples Republic of China, Dr. Graham has brought the simple but life changing message of John 3:16 and the promise of eternal life for all who believe.

How long will Dr. Graham continue to preach? "As long as there is a soul to be won by Christ, I'm under orders by the Lord to go try to win that soul to Christ," says Dr. Graham. Should Jacksonville Christians, his brothers and sisters in Christ, made in the image of God, do any less?

I remember years ago, the first Sunday I went to visit First Baptist Church downtown. In just a few sentences Dr. Lindsay drew me to a spiritual life that keeps me going from day to day.

Dr. Lindsay showed me the big picture of the Christian life. He rose above the plastic, scripted verbiage that sounds pretty but doesn’t touch your heart or shake up your soul. To say it simply, his sermons stuck with me.

At Christmas he used to get so excited telling how his family celebrated Christ’s birth. I could just feel the thrill and joy of being God’s child at Christmas time. He would describe how his children made birthday cakes for Jesus every year. And so now we’ve adopted the tradition at our house.

This last Christmas, Katie and Carson, my twins, made Jesus the most incredible cake you’ve ever seen. Neon green icing, piles of gummy bears and gum drops. Wow! But, when we held hands and sang, "Happy Birthday, Jesus", I got so choked up I could barely sing. I knew God was right there with us … beaming.

I credit Dr. Lindsay for showing me --- story by story --- what Jesus can do for your life. And I thank him for being bold. He didn’t care if he offended someone. He’d stand up for his beliefs. Nothing wishy-washy. Nothing politically contrived.

Love. Call it harsh. But I call it a loving pastor with the wisdom and compassion to try and save his congregation from heartache.

And how can I talk about Dr. Lindsay and not mention Mrs. Lindsay? She’d come in to talk with our Sunday school and pull a handful of papers from her purse. There were scraps of paper, napkins from McDonald’s, and little torn-off parts of envelopes. On each one: the name of somebody she met and the phone number. It might be the shuttle bus driver at the airport or the lady buying yogurt at the grocery store.

And she could tell you what hurt each person was facing. Of course, nobody met Mrs. Lindsay without hearing her love for Jesus and His plan for salvation. Just think how many seeds she’s planted.

And think about Dr. Lindsay in heaven now getting to see the fruits of the seeds he planted. Imagine someone…in the midst of glory…coming to you and saying, "I’m here because you showed me God’s way." Phenomenal.

I said earlier how Dr. Lindsay shaped my life. I suppose I should say Dr. Lindsay shaped my eternity.

And, by the way, I want to mention those few sentences he said years ago that drew me to First Baptist. From my best recollection Dr. Lindsay said: "you may be a CEO with the fattest salary in town; you may have three luxury cars in you garage; you may be a doctor with degrees all over your walls. But you know what? God doesn’t care. He only cares about what’s in your heart."

It takes guts to tell Christians to get on their knees and look up. But we need it.