Q: Your father (Billy Graham) held crusades three times in South Carolina: in Columbia (1950), Greenville (1966), and Columbia again (1987). What does it mean to you to be in the Palmetto State?
A: I was with my father in Greenville in 1966 and in Columbia in 1987. I have had the opportunity to preach in churches and military installations in South Carolina over the years and to preach a festival in Spartanburg in 2001. This is my first festival in Charleston. I am looking forward to being in Charleston to share the wonderful news of God’s love for each of us. My prayer is that many will come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and follow him as their Lord.
Q: Your festivals are designed to be a culmination of months of planning and programming by local churches and volunteers. What do you hope host communities will gain from the experience, and retain after the festival is done?
A: The power of the Holy Spirit in the souls of men and women ”” that they will be drawn to the Savior. Those who come to know Christ will be channeled into the local churches. Also, hundreds of people have been trained in personal evangelism. Long after the festival is over, these people will be taking that training into the churches. We hope and pray that the churches will benefit over the years.
Q: You write in your autobiography about the challenges of growing up as the son of the world’s most famous evangelist. But today, you are in your own right a prominent and influential leader in the Christian community. Nonetheless, comparisons are inevitable. Does it bother you to be constantly compared to your father?
A: I love my father very much and am very proud of him. To be compared with someone you love and are proud of is not a burden to bear. It is a gift. I am honored to be his son. I am not my father. I can never be him or replace him. He is a very unique, gifted individual that God has used in a mighty way, not only in the United States but around the world. My father never sought to be famous or to be a world evangelist. He just sees himself as a preacher of the gospel, and that is how I see myself ”” just a preacher of the gospel. It’s not my gospel; it’s God’s gospel.
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Charleston (S.C.) Post and Courier: Q and A with Franklin Graham
Q: Your father (Billy Graham) held crusades three times in South Carolina: in Columbia (1950), Greenville (1966), and Columbia again (1987). What does it mean to you to be in the Palmetto State?
A: I was with my father in Greenville in 1966 and in Columbia in 1987. I have had the opportunity to preach in churches and military installations in South Carolina over the years and to preach a festival in Spartanburg in 2001. This is my first festival in Charleston. I am looking forward to being in Charleston to share the wonderful news of God’s love for each of us. My prayer is that many will come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and follow him as their Lord.
Q: Your festivals are designed to be a culmination of months of planning and programming by local churches and volunteers. What do you hope host communities will gain from the experience, and retain after the festival is done?
A: The power of the Holy Spirit in the souls of men and women ”” that they will be drawn to the Savior. Those who come to know Christ will be channeled into the local churches. Also, hundreds of people have been trained in personal evangelism. Long after the festival is over, these people will be taking that training into the churches. We hope and pray that the churches will benefit over the years.
Q: You write in your autobiography about the challenges of growing up as the son of the world’s most famous evangelist. But today, you are in your own right a prominent and influential leader in the Christian community. Nonetheless, comparisons are inevitable. Does it bother you to be constantly compared to your father?
A: I love my father very much and am very proud of him. To be compared with someone you love and are proud of is not a burden to bear. It is a gift. I am honored to be his son. I am not my father. I can never be him or replace him. He is a very unique, gifted individual that God has used in a mighty way, not only in the United States but around the world. My father never sought to be famous or to be a world evangelist. He just sees himself as a preacher of the gospel, and that is how I see myself ”” just a preacher of the gospel. It’s not my gospel; it’s God’s gospel.
Read it all.