Billy Graham

1918 - 

Billy Graham, full name William Franklin Graham, Southern evangelist, who is a leading spokesman for Fundamentalism. He was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, and educated at Bob Jones University, the Florida Bible Institute, and Wheaton College. He was ordained in the Southern Baptist Convention in 1939 and became pastor of the First Baptist Church of Western Springs, Illinois, in 1943. Graham turned to large-scale evangelism in 1949, and embarked on a series of tours of the United States and Europe. A forceful, eloquent, and charismatic preacher, he has attracted audiences that total in the millions to his meetings. Graham is world-famous through televised films of his rallies; through his own motion pictures; through Decision, the magazine of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association; through the radio program The Hour of Decision; through a syndicated column; and through his numerous writings, including Peace with God (1953), Secret of Happiness (1955), World Aflame (1965), How to Be Born Again (1977), A Biblical Standard for Evangelists (1984), and Hope for the Troubled Heart 1991.