As a child, my family has told me that used to get all the cousins together and preach to them and that I pretended to be Billy Graham.  Well, if I had any Graham in me it must have been Franklin because I really got far from God and Godliness.  Finally at the age of 25, I gave my heart to Jesus and 5 years later I accepted the call to preach His Gospel.

Over those years, I came to dearly love and appreciate Dr. Graham in a whole new way.  I came to admire his simple straightforward approach to evangelism and even today I see way too many churches venturing into too much program oriented doctrine instead of simply teaching the Bible and growing people into disciples.

Now that Billy has “retired”  I find myself living in a world without the pulpiteering of this great man.  It is a world I have never lived in before but I know it is a better place because he was here.

He is leaving us a legacy of love for sinners that closely parallels that of Jesus Himself.  I certain hope he has a few more years to grace us but I do know the time is very short.

Thank you Dr. Graham for not only what you have done but who you are.

Jon McCranie

November 11, 2013