Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 29, 1993 TAG: 9310070397
SECTION: RELIGION PAGE: A7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID BRIGGS ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Although he runs a $100 million-a-year evangelistic empire, the most recognizable figure in American Protestantism boasts nothing comparable in bricks and mortar to the City of Faith complex of Oral Roberts or Jerry Falwell's Liberty University.
But as he has aged to the point where mortal frailties weigh more heavily on his mind, the evangelist has increasingly turned his attention to the task of equipp ing others to carry on the work of evangelism.
Last week, the 74-year-old evangelist dedicated The Billy Graham Training Center at the Cove, a Bible study center for lay people and clergy in Asheville, N.C.
"It'll be a continuation after I'm in heaven in the field of Bible study and evangelism,"Graham said in an interview.
The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and affiliated organizations took in more than $102 million in 1991. Most of the revenue goes back into crusades, television and radio shows and publications such as Decision magazine.
Where Graham has shown the most interest in preparing for the future is in developing other evangelists.
His 1983 and 1986 conferences in Amsterdam drew more than 12,000 evangelists from around the world.
"I think Billy Graham's greatest legacy will not be a university or any institutions, but it will be the tens of thousands of little Billy Grahams, itinerant evangelists, not well-educated, but who will do the simple door-to- door sales work of the evangelist, William Martin, author of "A Prophet with Honor: The Billy Graham Story," said in a 1991 interview.
His latest venture is the Cove, nestled on 1,500 acres in the rolling foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It is designed to equip those who answer the call to commitment at the end of his crusades to become evangelists themselves.
The training center was started in 1987 and has grown since to include an inn and a Cove Camp for youths ages 9 to 15. The center offers training sessions for about 200 people a week with leading evangelical Bible scholars and preachers. More than 4,000 people attended seminars at the Cove last year, and about 6,000 clergy and lay people are expected to attend this year, said Jerry Miller, the center's executive director.
Miller said the idea was to offer a place - free of grades, degrees or other pressures - where people could study the Bible and be trained to teach others.
Reflecting the basic philosophy that Graham has held on to through five decades as an evangelist, Miller said, "The Bible says there are only two things that last forever, a man's soul, a woman's soul and God's word.''
Future plans for the Cove also include offering support for young evangelists, Miller said. He expects Graham to spend more time sharing his faith at the Cove as the physical restraints of age become more pressing.
"He wants his legacy to be in the training of other evangelists," Martin said in an interview this week. "I think that it [the Cove] will be one of the significant parts of his continuing legacy.''
Graham said he is not sure if the founder's vision in any institution can be carried on for more than one or two generations.
But today in a society that at times mocks religion, the evangelist said, he hopes the Cove will be a place where lay people and clergy can learn about the Bible and apply it in their lives.
"I think, when the Lord said to go and preach the Gospel to all the people, I don't think he was just talking to paid professionals," Graham said. "He was talking to the whole church.''
by CNB