Here are my thoughts, in no particular order.
The Billy Graham crusade came to Chattanooga, I think in 1952, and the meetings were held in the Warner Park Fieldhouse, which had just been constructed. I'm not sure exactly how it happened but I had an opportunity to volunteer and help set up the fieldhouse for that use. I remember that I was a junior and was in Dr. Bob McCallie's 11th grade English class when the call came. I was probably more interested in getting out of school for a day than I was for any crusade helping job, but I was quick to volunteer.
Regardless, a bunch of us boys (no girls in this school), had the job of assembling the seating. There were wooden benches that had been broken down, probably from a previous crusade, that were shipped in and reassembled on site for the new one. My job, as I remember, was helping to put these back together with nuts and bolts, which we did for a whole day.
The Crusade team also came to our school and had a chapel program which was met with a good response.
My second thought on Billy Graham takes me back to the time that our daughter, Donna, went with a group of young people from our church to Atlanta to one of his crusades in that city. Billy had crusades all over the country, and in some foreign places as well, but this one stands out because Donna made a profession of faith there, and recorded that event in her Bible.
Billy Graham was quite a news figure in my lifetime, pictured with Presidents and other leaders around the world. His Evangelistic Association was making motion pictures, making available tapes of his messages and the music of the artists that went with him. It was a big enterprise, and he was in the limelight all the time.
I was met with a big surprise years later when my older son, Dwayne, asked me to come to his school in Davidson, NC to be a substitute for the high school history teacher when she had to be out for a few months. This was a US History class and they were into the 20th century in their study.
Part of my methodology was to use the personalities of the period of study to illustrate the events that were going on at that time in our nation's history. So, one day I asked how many of those juniors knew who Billy Graham was. I mistakenly assumed that they would have some notion of who he was and what he was known for, but they all looked at me with a blank look. He just had not figured into their world even though his worldwide headquarters was in Charlotte and his library was close by.
Finally, one boy's hand went up in questioning recognition. "Is that the person that the Billy Graham Parkway is named after?"
This was, at the very least, a teachable moment. The material was not in any of the history texts, but those kids now know who Billy Graham is and what he does. They even got to see and hear some clips of his message. There was even a Billy Graham on the next exam.
Of course, it is not so important to know who this man is and what he has done. The important thing is the message that he preached and the ones that understood and responded all over the world.
And that God used him to bless so many for so long. His light will shine long after he has been called home, and for that I am thankful.
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