“I have read the last page of the Bible. It’s all going to turn out all right.”(Billy Graham)

Billy Graham, “America’s Pastor”, has died today at age 99. It is said that through his evangelistic crusades, radio shows, and TV programs, he reached an estimated 2.2 billion people in his lifetime. Wikipedia notes: According to his staff, more than 3.2 million people have responded to the invitation at Billy Graham Crusades to “accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior”.

Graham was born in Charlotte, NC, and grew up on a milk farm. He became passionate about evangelism shortly after his own decision to come forward at an “altar call.” Though he had been raised Presbyterian, he switched to the Southern Baptist faith. NPR reports:

In his determination to replicate the evangelical style, Graham read the sermons of notable preachers and then practiced delivering them himself. According to his biographer, William Martin, Graham regularly closed himself in a tool shed and “preached to oil cans and lawnmowers. Or he paddled a canoe to a lonely spot on the river and called on snakes and alligators and tree stumps to repent of their sins and accept Jesus.”

He went to Wheaton college, where he met his future wife, Ruth. He briefly had a pastorate in a Baptist Church, then soon followed his passion into mass evangelism. His big break came at a tent meeting in Los Angeles. Originally scheduled for three weeks, these meetings were so popular that they were extended to eight. 350,000 people attended.

He is quoted as saying “I don’t need a successor, only willing hands to accept the torch for a new generation.” Very few of those hands will have the outsized impact that he had.