Remembering Billy Graham 1918 – 2018

“Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead – don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God.”

– Billy Graham

This quote went viral after the world first heard of the passing of William Franklin Graham Jr., better known as Billy Graham, on February 21, 2018. The words were adapted from the 19th century evangelist Dwight L. Moody. On March 2, Graham was laid to rest in his hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina. All nineteen of his grandchildren were there and the twelve grandsons served as pallbearers.

While Graham’s death impacted the world, it was his life that changed it. Reaching nearly 215 million people who attended one of his more than 400 crusades, simulcasts and evangelistic rallies in more than 185 countries and territories, Billy Graham preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ to more people in live audiences than anyone else in history. Not to mention the hundreds of millions more he reached through other mediums like television, video, film, the Internet and his 34 books. His largest crusade in Seoul, South Korea had a crowd of three million people over a five-day period.

He was known as “America’s Pastor” and the “Pastor to the Presidents.” The first president to meet with Graham was President Harry Truman who served from 1945 to 1953. But he was an advisor to 12 consecutive U.S. presidents including both Democrat and Republican parties.

He was a devoted family man, married for almost 64 years to Ruth Graham and they had five children together. In 1950 Graham founded the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, a nonprofit organization that directs a range of domestic and international ministries. It employs some 500 people worldwide and the organization has been led by Franklin Graham since 2000. They were generous to allow Risen rights to share Billy Graham’s legacy through a special pictorial tribute.