Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 23, 1995 TAG: 9506230072
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ATLANTA LENGTH: Medium
In an emotion-charged final session Thursday, the 150th anniversary meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention showered love and respect and honor on the denomination's most famous son, Billy Graham.
The world-renowned evangelist was greeted with a thunderous standing ovation as he took the stage as the final speaker of the three-day annual meeting.
Convention President James Henry called Graham a lifelong hero of his, and quoted an Orlando, Fla., newspaper columnist who said Graham was "as far above those big-haired money-grubbing TV preachers as God."
Graham's visit had been an eagerly anticipated highlight of the convention, though just a week ago some doubted he would get here.
While preparing for an evangelistic crusade in Toronto, Graham collapsed, apparently weakened by intestinal bleeding associated with aspirin intake. Though he preached the final two days of the crusade, Graham afterward went back into the hospital for tests.
Doctors in Toronto pronounced Graham's general health good but advised him to cut back his speaking engagements, specifically including this address to the Southern Baptists.
"Two doctors said, 'You cannot go to speak there,''' Graham told the thousands gathered in the Georgia Dome. "I said I believe God wants me to be there, and if God gives me strength, I'll be there."
Graham, 76, seemed to gain strength as he preached to the crowd, although many observed that he seemed to tire as his hour-long address neared its end. He praised the denomination, in which he was ordained in 1940, for the "unity and spirit" of this convention. Specifically, Graham praised the passage of a resolution condemning racism and apologizing to blacks for the denomination's defense of slavery at its foundation. The resolution, he said, will make his job of evangelism easier.
Graham will leave for an extended international vacation with family members from here, he said. When he returns, he will resume work on his memoirs, which he hopes to finish next year. That task is complicated by the fact that "many publishers want kiss-and-tell stories, or off-color stories, or to hear ugly things about the people I've met. I won't do that," Graham said to another round of applause.
The tribute to Graham was not the only report to move the audience Thursday. Henry lost his composure and wept openly after a video report from the Annuity Board, which supervises the denomination's retirement program for pastors and their spouses.
The taped message included statements from retirees and widows describing how much $50 a month donations from Southern Baptists who "adopt an annuitant" mean to them.
In other business, the "messengers" to the convention approved a resolution offering prayer for the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing. The measure included a statement of thanks to various public officials, including President Clinton, for their response.
California messenger Wiley Drake wanted Clinton's name removed because of the president's "unbiblical, unBaptist, outspoken stand for sodomy ... [and] his pro-active involvement in the killing of babies by abortion."
Drake was cut off when a parliamentarian ruled that his motion amounted to an attack on a personality, which is prohibited in the convention's bylaws.
Although Clinton is a Southern Baptist, he has been widely villified inside the denomination for his stances on abortion rights and gay rights. The resolution passed with thanks to Clinton intact.
by CNB