Learning From Billy

I remember so well that Tuesday afternoon returning from Eau Claire, Wisconsin to my home in the Twin Cities. On the previous Saturday and Sunday nights we had produced Reach For More events in Eau Claire and Neillsville, Wisconsin.  About 2200 attended and roughly 25 percent of the crowd responded to the invitation to receive Jesus as Savior. On Monday, I had met with the pastor of the lead church in Eau Claire and we discussed how we could see the impact of the event continue in the area.

Then on Tuesday, I was on my way home and I stopped at a convenience store off I-94 for gas and coffee. There in the store was a circular book display, and right in the front was a large book about Billy Graham.

“Billy Graham is your mentor,” the Lord said to me.

God always seems to speak to you when you least expect it. This was unexpected and it go my attention real good!

After that, I began reading anything about Billy Graham I could get my hands on. I thought what I was to learn was how he did his crusades, and how I could improve our Reach For More events with that knowledge. What I have learned from reading, however, is much more about Billy’s personal life and what made him successful.

Many years later I am still reading about Billy. One of my favorite books is one that Lorraine bought me, The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham. On page 276 the author writes about Billy, “He was always learning, always teachable.”

Now, here is a principle that will make almost anyone with a humble spirit successful, the attitude that “I don’t know it all; I haven’t arrived, there is a lot I can learn and I want to learn from other people.”

Wasn’t that the attitude that Jesus praised in Mary? “Mary has chosen the best things,” Jesus said to her sister Martha, who was all into performing all the details of life. Mary appeared to be irresponsible and maybe Martha thought she was lazy, or dreamy. Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to Him. She was a learner (Luke 10: 38-42).

The root word of our English word disciple means simply “a learner.” Are you a good disciple of Jesus? If you are, you are a good learner.

Billy was not “uppity” in any sense of the word. He talked to presidents and prime ministers, but he would just as soon talk to the cleaning lady in the hotel. The author of the book I just mentioned reports a time when Billy and his associates were in a hotel to meet with officials of the city. When the meeting was over and the group emptied out into the hallway, the cleaning lady at the end of the hall waved to Billy. Billy left the group went down the hall, and talked with her for a good length of time. Billy loved people, all kinds of people, and he was not above talking to a cleaning lady.

After a convention in which Billy was the keynote speaker, he mingled with the crowd and took time to set the small children on his lap to talk to them. As I recall, Jesus did that, too.

You would think that “Dr. Billy” knew the Bible backwards and forwards. Who could teach him anything about the Bible?

Well, apparently a fellow named Bill Henderson could. Bill owned a small grocery store in a poor section of Charlotte. He had long sleeves that came way down and he wore a tie that hung well below his waste.

“Henderson barely made a living. It was a place the black people would come to get chewing tobacco and stuff like that. Most black people loved him, but the little man got beat up on many times, got his store robbed time and time again, but he just loved the Lord. I mean he just loved God. Billy loved to hear Bill Henderson tell him about the Scriptures. He lived them; it wasn’t weekend Christianity. And he could pray. He’d pray for Billy and his young ministry. And he witnessed all the time.”

“In the afternoons Billy would go there and just sit and talk to him. He’d sit on an old crate – I don’t think they had a chair in the place – and let Bill teach him.”

(The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham – pages 275, 276)

Many times when Billy was planning a crusade in a city, city leaders would oppose him, not wanting him to come to their city. Billy would go and talk to them, listen to them, open himself up to them and as a result he would always tear down the barriers and win them over.

As I look back on that day in the convenience store when God spoke to me, “Billy Graham is your mentor,” I can’t help but think how much he has influenced me. I never met him, but I have studied his life, read his materials extensively, and I’m still learning from him. The more I learn, the more I respect him.

Billy’s whole life was given over to obeying the call of God to win the lost to Jesus, and continually he studied to learn how he could do that better.

So many times I have quoted 1 Timothy 2:1-4. I quote it almost every time I speak because it shows us the heart of God. God wants all people everywhere to be saved, that is to accept the supreme sacrifice of His son on the cross and to become heaven bound. If we would truly understand what the heart of God is, life would be so much simpler. There isn’t much that matters in life, except to see unbelievers come to Christ.

Billy once said that he thought about the whole world all the time. Is that amazing? His desire to win people to Jesus was so strong and all consuming that he thought about the whole world all the time!

If you are a Christian who wants to grow and to learn about the heart of God, I challenge you to read Billy Graham’s books.

If you do that, you will be one step ahead in your Christian walk.

Photo’s taken and designed by Lorraine