All in the Family
As Billy Graham steps down, will his kids shape the future of American evangelicalism?
It was a blustery evening in Dallas, the last night of Billy Graham's 412th crusade, and a record crowd filled Texas Stadium, spilling into an adjacent parking lot where thousands of chairs were set up beneath a giant JumboTron screen. The young and the old, parents with small children, seekers, true believers, and the merely curious--all had come out that October night to see and hear, many believed for the last time, the world's most famous preacher. After nearly an hour of music and other preliminaries, the frail, white-haired evangelist slowly made his way to the pulpit to deliver the same simple message he has preached to more than 210 million people in over 180 countries over more than half a century: "God loves you and gave his son to die for you; repent and receive Jesus as your savior."
But as he started out that night, he took longer than usual publicly thanking his coworkers for their hard work and support over the years. "People ask me, `Isn't this your last crusade?' They say it very hopefully, some of them," Graham said, smiling. "And I say, `I don't know. That's in God's hands.' I never want to say never, because we don't know."
For more than half a century, Billy Graham has reigned as the single most visible and revered figure in American Protestantism. But with the 84-year-old Graham in failing health (he suffers from Parkinson's disease, among other ailments), both the future of his ministry and the fate of the broader evangelical movement are poised at a crucial moment. And into that moment have stepped two of Graham's own children, Anne and Franklin.
When she takes the stage, it's usually in a classic suit and pearls, hair and makeup just so--a carefully tailored look befitting a refined southern lady. He, on the other hand, goes for the rugged, outdoorsy look: denim jeans, black leather jacket, motorcycle boots. Yet the family resemblance cannot be missed: Both have the lanky frame, chiseled face, and penetrating eyes of their famous father. And when they stand to preach in that familiar, lilting, North Carolina accent, there is no mistaking their pedigree.
Anne Graham Lotz, 54, is the second of three daughters, and Franklin Graham, 50, is the elder of two sons of the aging icon of evangelical Protestantism. And as much as they owe to their father's legacy, both are emerging from his shadow and making their own way in Christian ministry. She is a successful author and Bible teacher and founder of AnGeL Ministries, a volunteer-run organization based in Raleigh, N.C. He is the head of Samaritan's Purse, a $150 million-a-year Christian relief agency in Boone, N.C., and two years ago, he was named president and CEO of his father's worldwide ministry. Yet despite their success, neither has escaped the inevitable and daunting comparisons to their legendary father. Nor have they managed to avoid controversy: Both have come under criticism for comments in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Still, if there were anything akin to royalty in American Protestantism, it would be the house of Graham. There are plenty of notables in the modern evangelical world--religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, James Dobson of Focus on the Family, former Watergate figure Charles Colson, and Moral Majority founder Jerry Falwell, to name a few. But none come close to the influence and stature of Billy Graham, who helped create the evangelical movement, a loosely knit network of church and parachurch organizations representing some 60 million to 70 million Americans, from Southern Baptists to Pentecostals, who say they are "born again" (the term used by evangelicals for the experience of conversion, when one personally accepts Jesus Christ as savior and Lord).
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