Graham has had many ties to Presbyterians
The Layman Online, December 14, 2006
The Washington Post‘s story about the dispute within the family of Billy Graham over his final resting place is a reminder of the impact that the 88-year-old evangelist and his 86-year-old wife, Ruth, have had on Presbyterians.
It begins with family connections. Ruth Bell Graham is the daughter of Presbyterian missionaries. Her late brother, Clayton Bell, was the former pastor of Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas and one of the leading evangelical preachers in the Presbyterian Church (USA).
For years, Graham’s right-hand evangelist was Dr. Leighton Ford, a retired PCUSA minister who lives in Charlotte, N.C., and continues to head a renewal organization that works to strengthen the spiritual leadership of ministers and lay people.
Billy and Ruth Graham are the most famous residents of the Montreat, N.C., conclave, where the PCUSA has its major conference center and where many Presbyterian ministers have retired.
One of Graham’s latter crusades was in Louisville, Ky., the headquarters of the PCUSA, in 2001. His message was vintage Graham: “Is there another way to heaven except through Christ? “The Bible teaches there’s only one way,” through Jesus Christ.
It was a timely message. The PCUSA was in turmoil over the denomination’s sponsorship of a 2000 Peacemaking Conference in which a Presbyterian minister, Dirk Ficca, asked, “What’s the big deal about Jesus?”
One of Graham’s closest associates in past years was the Rev. Calvin Thielman, the former pastor of Montreat Presbyterian Church, an evangelical congregation that today is considering leaving the PCUSA because, among other reasons, many denominational leaders found Ficca’s “many paths to God” theology acceptable.
Graham has received many awards, including the Templeton Award in Religion. The foundation sponsoring that award was established by Sir John Templeton, an early board member of the Presbyterian Lay Committee.
The first issue of The Presbyterian Layman (now The Layman) had one photograph: Billy Graham’s. The story accompanying that photo announced Graham’s crusades in New York City. Several members of the Presbyterian Lay Committee served on the sponsoring committee for the crusade. John Sanden, also a former director of the Presbyterian Lay Committee and a world-famous portrait artist, once worked as a graphic artist for Billy Graham’s ministry. Sanden was commissioned to paint the official Graham portrait.