Metro Voice News Celebrating Faith, Family & Community
The late Billy Graham clearly presented the answers to questions people are asking today, said Pastor Greg Laurie of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, Calif. His new book, “Billy Graham: The Man I Knew,” (see link below) aims to introduce the evangelist to a new generation.
“I think there’s a whole generation of people who have heard the name Billy Graham, and yet they don’t know who he is,” Laurie said. “He’s sort of like a one-dimensional figure, like Abraham Lincoln on a $5 bill. They know he was an important historical figure, but they really don’t know why, because they didn’t grow up watching him on television or going to his crusade events.”
Laurie believes “there’s so much we can learn from him.” As an evangelist himself, Laurie sketches from his unique perspective an intimate portrait of the larger-than-life figure he came to know as a friend. Offering pastoral insights along the way, he chronicles across 34 chapters what he described as “the story of a humble dairyman’s son who was called by God to change the world.”
Remembering the impact that the Jesus Movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s had on him and his generation, Laurie said, “I think we’re due for another one of those, for sure, because young people need to see the message of Jesus Christ. Not a politicized message, not a message wrapped in any other agenda, but just: You can have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
“And, you know, Billy was so effective in reaching our generation. And I think we’re also ripe for another Billy Graham — actually, 100 Billy Grahams, maybe even 1,000 young people called to bring the gospel to their generation.”
The reason Graham, who died on Feb. 21, 2018, was so effective, Laurie believes, is that “he was open to do what God wanted him to do.” To that end, he hopes his book will “inspire another generation of younger people to make themselves available to God.”
–Dwight Widaman | Metro Voice
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