William Franklin Graham

Billy Graham with the Bible (BillyGraham.org)

William Franklin Graham was born on November 7, 1981 on a dairy farm in Charlotte, North Carolina. Young Billy would read books and his life goal was to become a professional baseball player. When Billy was 16 he accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. He went to bible school to become a pastor. On August 13, 1943 he married Ruth Bell and has three daughters and two sons.

He was a pastor of First Baptist Church in Western Springs, Illinois and from there he started tent revivals. Billy was vice president of Youth for Christ from 1945-1948. He was president of Northwestern College from 1947-1952.

Graham met George Beverly Shea who was a singer and song leader Cliff Barrows and the three of them formed a lasting partnership. In 1954 they had there first overseas revival in Great Britain. After all these years his message has remained the came “Choose Christ As I Did.”

On April 9, 1996 along with President Bill Clinton led 12,000 mourners in Oklahoma City to grieve for the victims of the Federal Building bombing. Then on September 14, 2001 in the aftermath of 9/11, Billy led a prayer and remembrance service at Washington National Cathedral.