THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 6, 1994 TAG: 9411050066
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ESTHER DISKIN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 118 lines
WHEN FRANKLIN GRAHAM takes the pulpit to crusade for Jesus Christ - as he will Tuesday night in Hampton - he sees only a blur of faces in the crowd of thousands who come for his sermons.
But in his memory, there are faces he can see clearly. Faces of hunger, loss and unspeakable grief. Faces of people he has met on his relief missions around the globe.
He remembers the blank stare of a 7-year-old girl, sitting in the back of a pickup truck in Rwanda, orphaned by the country's tribal warfare. She clutched her blanket and rocked slowly back and forth, singing a song in French. Near her stood a soldier, holding a machine gun.
``I asked the soldier, `What is she singing?' And the soldier said, ``Something about Jesus loves me,' '' Graham recalls. ``There was this little girl, totally alone in the world; the only thing she had was faith in Jesus Christ.''
He pauses. ``I don't know what happened to that girl.''
It is this memory, and others like it, that inspire the preaching of the eldest son of world-renowned evangelist Billy Graham. On Tuesday at 7 p.m., Franklin Graham, 42, will bring his message - salvation through acceptance of Jesus Christ - to the Hampton Convocation Center.
Local organizers say they expect audiences of several thousand a night. Graham says he wants to reach people who are seeking spiritual guidance, but would not look for it in church. ``If you have it at a civic center, it's neutral territory,'' he said. ``If you have it in church, these people say, `I'm not going.' They automatically have a mental block.''
For many years, Graham had his own mental block: He did not want to follow in his father's footsteps. ``I didn't want to be compared to my father,'' he said. ``I didn't ever hang on to his coattails. I like my independence.''
He struck out on a different path, as director of two Christian relief agencies with a combined budget of $16.8 million. He travels to the world's danger zones, bringing food, medical staff and supplies, along with the Christian message.
In Rwanda, the central African nation where hundreds of thousands were slaughtered in warfare between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes, relief workers from his agency helped clean and resupply a hospital. In August, they opened a home for 600 orphaned children - most under the age of 5 - in the capital city of Kigali. He has visited Rwanda several times this year, as well as Somalia and Bosnia, where his agency has relief projects.
For more than a decade, he stayed out of the limelight. But he could not ignore his calling: He had to preach, in the tradition of the man he still calls ``Daddy.''
In the past five years - as his 75-year-old father was slowed by age and illness - Franklin Graham has picked up the torch. This year he did eight crusades, while his father did only two. He is widely viewed as his father's likely successor as leader of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, though his father isn't ready to step down yet.
While Franklin Graham is slowly building his audiences, he may never command the huge crowds who come to his father's sermons. Franklin Graham drew 12,000 a night in Raleigh during September. By comparison, his father drew 250,000 to New York's Central Park in 1991.
When Billy Graham last preached in Tidewater, for a 10-day crusade back in 1974, nearly 176,000 people came to hear him - 25,000 on the crusade's final day.
Franklin Graham's appearance in Tidewater is the result of years of prayer and planning by local volunteers.
``We had prayed to the Lord that He would lead us to the next evangelist to invite to come,'' said Charles Hogan Jr., a Newport News resident who helped get the event rolling. ``We realize that with all of the crime and other things going on, there is a need to reach people to show that Christ is the answer.''
Graham targets his message to a young audience, using the rhythm of Christian rock music to help grab their attention. He dresses casually - often in blue jeans and cowboy boots - and keeps his language up to date, with analogies to computers and other modern conveniences.
But words and music alone can't deliver, Graham said. It is people's spiritual suffering that makes his message resonate around the world.
``My life is given to helping people that hurt. You see it in Rwanda, but in our country, we have an equal amount of hurt. It's just different - homes broken up, people who are addicted, people who are weighed with guilt.
``People want to know, does God love me? . . . Man is searching for how to get to God.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
FILE
Franklin Graham will preach in Hampton this week.
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HAMPTON ROADS CRUSADE FOR CHRIST
The Crusade, free and open to the public, starts tonight and
continues through Wednesday. The preaching begins each night at 7
in the Hampton University Convocation Center.
Ralph Bell, associate evangelist with the Billy Graham crusade
team, will lead the first two worship events. Franklin Graham will
lead the final two.
Each night will be geared to a particular audience: tonight -
church night; Monday - student night; Tuesday - military night;
Wednesday - family night, with pizza party for youths.
More information: Joe Guarino, 875-5585 or 877-6307.
WILLIAM FRANKLIN GRAHAM III
Age: 42
Family: Eldest son of Ruth and William Franklin ``Billy'' Graham.
He and his wife, Jane, have four children.
Activities:
Medicine and Missions: Graham runs Samaritan's Purse and World
Medical Mission, which last year sent $16.8 million in medical
supplies, food, Bibles and other aid to 43 nations.
Crusades: Graham leads eight to 10 crusades a year, usually in
smaller cities than the ones visited by his father.
Future: Will Graham - who serves on the board of his father's $84
million-a-year Billy Graham Evangelistic Association - take the helm
when his father retires?
KEYWORDS: PROFILE BIOGRAPHY EVANGELISM by CNB