Graham gestures during his message to the capacity crowd at Ericsson Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, on September 27, 1996. In the Soviet threat, Graham found a religious message. Given today's world of televangelism, Graham had some mighty competition. A private funeral service was held on March 2, 2018. Better known as Franklin Graham, he received a whopping total of $1.2 million in 2008 and $880,000 in compensation in 2014 for running the two charities, according to the Charlotte Observer. Franklin Graham (L) sits with his father Billy before preaching during the Celebration of Hope on March 12, 2006 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He became an author, columnist and wrote of his religious past and challenges in a book Farewell to God. In June 1995, the Southern Baptist Convention met in Atlanta for its annual assembly and passed a resolution apologizing for slavery and condemning racial injustice. Born on a dairy farm in North Carolina, Graham had a reported net worth of $25 million. Photo courtesy of Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Graham would go on to share his pulpit with President Richard Nixon, and would advise presidents from both parties over the ensuing decades including George W. Bush, whose relationship with Graham was explored in the 2004 FRONTLINE documentary The Jesus Factor. Among Grahams most enduring legacies was his role in merging patriotism and Christianity in the public sphere an arc that began during the Cold War and was explored as part of the 2010 FRONTLINE series with American Experience,God in America. Jesus spoke very specifically about the world ending in the lifetime of those to whom he preached. Franklin Graham (L) sits with his father Billy before preaching during the Celebration of Hope on March 12, 2006 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. Three days after the attacks on 9/11, Graham was invited to lead a service at Washington National Cathedral. High among them: The Congressional Gold Medal awarded to Billy and Ruth in 1996, the Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded to him in 1983, and the Templeton Foundation Prize for Progress in Religion in 1982. Graham missed a chance to change history because he could have made a major difference if he had become an ally of the movement, Long says. He made two breakthroughs in the City of Angels. But his name became nationally famous in 1949 in Los Angeles. At least one close friend of King had no doubt that Graham evolved on issues of race. Just because he had 25 million doesnt mean he wasnt a man of God. Few other evangelists will be able to pack stadiums the way he did, drawing the widest range of Christians. Joseph Lowery, who was also part of Kings inner circle at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, described Kings relationship with Graham as cordial but tinged with conflict. A Warner Bros. He also published more than 30 books, and his World Wide Pictures has produced over 130 films, while his Hour of Decision, was a weekly radio program broadcast around the world for more than 50 years. How did evangelist Billy Graham make his money? And, according to Martin, Graham once told a Southern newspaper that the Bible has nothing to say about segregation or non-segregation.. Grahams legacy is definitely tarnished by the way he approached racial justice.. Of Scots-Irish ancestry, Billy was the oldest of four children born to Morrow and William Franklin Graham Sr. "Money represents your time, your energy, your talents, your total personality converted into currency," Graham once wrote. Since most Christians believe their leaders, we got the greatest manipulator, deceiver, liar, lawless president of all times, and they bow and worship him like a Messiah. And I believe the only way that were going to win that battle is for America to turn back to God and back to Christ and back to the Bible at this hour! Over the course of nearly six decades, Graham tweaked many other aspects of the crusade event his signature contribution to Christian evangelism. He could reach an audience that civil rights activists obviously could not. We should have trust. His sole motivation in his career was "to proclaim the Gospel," NPR reported. ", Grant Wacker, a professor at the Duke University Divinity School and author of America's Pastor: Billy Graham and the Shaping of a Nation, also says that Graham has led an exemplary life free of financial scandal. They recommended a three-month respite from preaching. The Rev. He was born William Franklin Graham, Jr., on Thursday, November 7th, 1918 on a dairy farm near Charlotte, North Carolina, to Morrow (Coffey) and William Franklin Graham, who were dairy farmers. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. US presidents mourn death of Billy Graham, The Bible also recognizes that each individual has the right to choose his own friendships and social relationships, Graham wrote. While we work diligently to ensure that our numbers are as accurate as possible, unless otherwise indicated they are only estimates. Yet even when he no longer could trumpet, pace and point, the evangelist still came forward to close the sale, like the Fuller Brush man he once was. Billy Graham was a Southern Baptist who rose to celebrity status as his sermons were broadcast on radio and television stations around the country and eventually the world. Kelsey Grammer reflected on refusing to "apologize" for his faith. After college Billy served as a pastor for a number of churches around the country. After that, he continued with the practice and his sermons Both organizations are now run by Billy Graham's son William Franklin Graham III, who is paid well for his leadership roles. Billy and his wife Ruth were married in 1943 and they remained together until her death in 2007. In 1950 he founded the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in Minneapolis, Minnesota. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Ed ClarkThe LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images. He was back in the SkyDome three days later, where 73,000 greeted him with shrieks of "Bil-LY! There was so much preparation, Martin said. Trinity Broadcasting Network showed "Billy Graham classics" weekly. That particular rule was part of the 1948 Modesto Manifesto. At a Modesto, Calif., hotel, Graham and his staff also pledged to avoid being alone with women other than their wives and to rely on crowd estimates of local officials to avoid the appearance of inflating their numbers. Another perspective on Grahams stance toward the civil rights movement is even more critical. Franklin Graham, left, escorts his father Billy Graham prior to the funeral for Ruth Graham on June 16, 2007 in Montreat, North Carolina. Christians, for the most part, ignore the idea of not attaining wealth. Graham was never out in front of the parade on segregation, but he was always out in front of his unit. Of course he could have spoken out more forcefully against segregation, but he spoke out more forcefully than anybody expected him, Martin says. I dont remember such a time, and I was with Dr. King a long time, and with him at every major stand, Vivian says. Those actions might seem tepid today, especially in contrast to Kings speeches, writings and street protests. Questions about Grahams response toward racism have lingered for years. Graham integrated crusades in Birmingham, Alabama in 1964 and again in 1965 in the wake of the violence that accompanied the first Selma to Montgomery march. "He never built the Church of Billy Graham, and while he lived comfortably, his house is a modest place. And on several notable occasions, he made a point of using that sway to link his evangelistic message with racial tolerance.. It came out with two different covers. We welcome all corrections and feedback using the button below. They say he distorted his relationship with King, that his nods to racial tolerance were token and inconsistent, and that he refused to risk his fame by championing the movement while other white ministers lost their jobs, and lives, for their activism. After King gave his "Beyond Vietnam" speech denouncing US intervention in Vietnam, Graham castigated him and others for speaking out against foreign policy. According to Samaritans Purse (the nondenominational evangelical Christian organization led by the late pastors son, Franklin), Graham died peacefully surrounded by family. While many believe that pastors make a modest living, Graham was an unusually wealthy man who preached to millions of people who traveled to hear him speak. Having founded the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in 1950, he took a straight salary, comparable to that of a senior minister of a major urban pulpit, no matter how much in money his meetings brought in. Graham thought that if he could convert certain well-known individuals, that that would have a greater effect in terms of bringing others into the Kingdom, the Rev. It was stymied by his theology, several scholars say. The network'smotto, "Geared to the Times, Anchored to the Rock," defined his life. "With the possible exception of Pope John Paul II, Graham can be said to have touched more lives for Jesus than anyone else in the modern era and to have extolled him directly to a greater swath of humanity than anyone else in history," summed up TIME, which featured Graham on the cover for the first time in 1954. Billy Graham, one of the most influential American religious leaders of the 20 th century and a towering figure in American Christianity, politics and culture, has In 1949, he held his now-famous crusades, or revival meetings, in Los Angeles for which he erected circus tents in a parking lot. Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. What a pity to confuse real security with making money. Its not what money you have its your lifestyle and lets make absolutely no mistake about it, BilllyGraham was not lavish by any means. He traveled during the Cold War throughout Eastern Europe calling for peace. "Leaving all the worrying about such matters to God, he says, with a stoic and deeply American practicality, that we cannot know, and so should live one day at a time. Billy Graham was an American evangelical Christian pastor who had a net worth of $25 million at the time of his death in 2018. Perhaps Billy, could have learned something from her. Their third child, Ruth was born in 1950, and is the founder and president of Ruth Graham & Friends, while the fourth child was their first son, Franklin, born in 1952, and who is now the president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, while also serving as president and CEO of the international relief organization,Samaritans Purse.