The Reverend Billy Graham has died at his home in North Carolina, according to a family spokesperson.
He was 99 years old.
Profile:
My one purpose in life is to help people find a personal relationship with God, which, I believe, comes through knowing Christ. --Billy Graham
Evangelist Billy Graham took Christ at His word when He said in Mark 16:15, Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.
Mr. Graham has preached the Gospel to more people in live audiences than anyone else in history-- over 210 million people in more than 185 countries and territories through various meetings, including Mission World and Global Mission. Hundreds of millions more have been reached through television, video, film and webcasts.
Since the 1949 Los Angeles crusade vaulted Mr. Graham into the public eye, he led hundreds of thousands of individuals to make personal decisions to live for Christ, which is the main thrust of his ministry.
Born November 7, 1918, four days before the Armistice ended World War I, Mr. Graham was reared on a dairy farm in Charlotte, North Carolina. Growing up during the Depression, he learned the value of hard work on the family farm, but he also found time to spend many hours in the hayloft reading books on a wide variety of subjects.
In the Fall of 1934, at age 16, Mr. Graham made a personal commitment to Christ through the ministry of Mordecai Ham, a traveling evangelist, who visited Charlotte for a series of revival meetings.
Ordained in 1939 by a church in the Southern Baptist Convention, Mr. Graham received a solid foundation in the Scriptures at Florida Bible Institute (now Trinity College in Florida). In 1943 he was graduated from Wheaton College in Illinois and married fellow student Ruth McCue Bell, daughter of a missionary surgeon, who spent the first 17 years of her life in China.
After graduating from college, Mr. Graham pastored the First Baptist Church in Western Springs, Illinois, before joining Youth for Christ, an organization founded for ministry to youth and servicemen during World War II. He preached throughout the United States and in Europe in the immediate post war era, emerging as a rising young evangelist.