Billy Graham

The Rev. Billy Graham was hospitalized in stable condition with a severe chest infection, his doctors said. The 79-year-old evangelist was resting comfortably at St. Luke's Hospital, his doctors said. He got sick during a vacation in the Caribbean. Graham has Parkinson's disease, a progressive neurological condition. He delegates many responsibilities to his son, William Franklin Graham III, but still heads the Billy Graham Evangelistic Assn.

George Beverly Shea, a gospel singer and songwriter who was a featured part of the Billy Graham crusades for more than 50 years, died Tuesday. He was 104. Shea, who received a lifetime achievement award at the 2011 Grammy Awards, died in Asheville, N.C., after a brief illness, spokesman Brent Rinehart of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Assn. told the Associated Press. "Bev" Shea became the soloist for the Billy Graham Evangelical Team in 1947, traveling the world with the famous preacher as part of his ongoing crusade.

American evangelist the Rev. Billy Graham will tour China this month, it was announced today. The 16-day trip will be Graham's first visit to China.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- In the heart of one of the nation's most contested states, newspaper readers awoke Sunday to a full-page plea from America's most famous evangelist to vote for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Sort of. The full-page ad in the Columbus Dispatch featured a black-and-white photo of the Rev. Billy Graham, with a brief text burned into the dark background in white letters over Graham's signature. “On Nov. 6, the day before my 94th birthday,” read Graham's message, “our nation will hold one of the most critical elections in my lifetime.

Billy Graham will speak Sunday at a memorial service for cowboy singer and composer Stuart Hamblen who died Wednesday at age 80. The service is scheduled at 4 p.m. at Hollywood Presbyterian Church, 1760 N. Gower St., Hollywood. Also officiating will be the church pastor, the Rev. Lloyd John Ogilvie. Hamblen will be buried Monday at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.

Evangelist Billy Graham has been released from the Mayo clinic in Minneapolis after undergoing a procedure to adjust a shunt inserted earlier this year to relieve fluid on his brain, his spokesman said. Graham, 82, has made good progress since entering the clinic earlier this month and was looking forward to spending the holidays at home in North Carolina.

Evangelist Billy Graham turns 80 today and plans to continue a busy crusade schedule in the coming year. "I'll be 80 this week and I'm looking forward to that, and I'm looking forward to my 90th birthday," he said in a statement. "I want to hang around so I can help others and steer them and encourage them." Graham, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, completed a crusade in the Tampa Bay area last month. He began his ministry in there more than six decades ago.

Evangelist Billy Graham said Wednesday that he wants to investigate what effect Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev's reform policies are having on the life of religious believers in the officially atheistic Soviet Union. Graham, 69, arrived in Moscow at the invitation of the Russian Orthodox Church to attend celebrations marking the 1,000th anniversary of Christianity in Russia.

Evangelist Billy Graham may be able to return to his home in Montreat soon, doctors said in Asheville. Graham, 88, has been treated for more than a week for intestinal bleeding.

Evangelist Billy Graham, vowing to steer clear of partisan politics, said today that he will hold a major crusade in Washington in April of 1986, his first in the nation's capital since 1960, and predicted that it could have a major impact on the city, nation and world.

Evangelist Billy Graham effectively endorsed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, hailing his “values and strong moral convictions” as well as his opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage. Hours after Romney visited the ailing Graham at his home in Montreat, N.C., on Thursday, the evangelist issued a statement that did not explicitly endorse the GOP nominee, but left little doubt about his preference. “It was a privilege to pray with Gov. Romney - for his family and our country,” the statement read.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - GOP nominee Mitt Romney and Rev. Billy Graham discussed policy and personal connections Thursday at a meeting at the evangelical leader's home that ended with the men praying together. "I'll do all I can to help you. And you can quote me on that," Graham said at the end of the 30-minute meeting, which also included his son Franklin. The men discussed religious freedom and persecution, the conflict in Afghanistan and growing ministries in nations such as China and North Korea.

DURHAM, N.C. - Evangelist Billy Graham was released from a North Carolina hospital Tuesday after a two-day stay for treatment of bronchitis, his doctors announced. "Mr. Graham had a quick recovery and responded very well to his treatment," said Daniel Fertel, a pulmonologist at Mission Hospital in Asheville, N.C. "Despite this illness, he remains remarkably healthy for a 93-year-old man. " Graham, who was admitted early Sunday morning, returned to his home in tiny Montreat in the mountains of western North Carolina.

 Durham, N.C. - Evangelist Billy Graham is resting comfortably in stable condition while being treated for bronchitis at a hospital in Asheville, N.C., his evangelistic association said Monday morning. Graham, 93, was admitted to Mission Hospital early Sunday for treatment of a lung infection. He has been responding well to treatment, according to pulmonologist David Pucci. Graham was feeling well enough to watch the London Olympics' closing ceremony from his hospital bed, said his spokesman, A. Larry Ross.

Billy Graham has been admitted to a North Carolina hospital for a lung infection, his evangelistic association said in a statement on Sunday. “Upon admission, he was alert and in good spirits,” the statement said . “The pulmonologist treating Mr. Graham, David Pucci, DO, said that he is resting comfortably, that appropriate antibiotics are being administered and that his condition is stable.” Graham, 93, is a widely popular evangelist...

Franklin Graham -- son and legatee of Billy Graham, the traditional spiritual advisor to the nation's presidents -- is lashing out at President Obama for his support of gay marriage, saying that Obama has "shaken his fist" at God, and lamenting "a sad day for America. " Graham, the president and chief executive of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Assn., criticized the president in a statement Thursday, a day after the president told ABC News that his personal belief was that "same-sex couples should be able to get married.

Protestant evangelist Billy Graham is moving the headquarters of his movement to his hometown of Charlotte after 50 years based in Minneapolis, the organization said. The headquarters for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Assn. will be built on Billy Graham Parkway north of the city. Construction could take three to five years. "Minneapolis has been very good to us but we have run out of room to grow," Graham said in a statement.

Evangelist Billy Graham, who is 93 years old, was hospitalized Wednesday in Asheville, N.C., and subsequently diagnosed with pneumonia. It was the second time in about six months that Graham has been treated for the condition. As of Thursday afternoon, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Assn. Website reported that the reverend ate sitting in a chair in his hospital room, and that he was walking and chatting with hospital staff.  Graham's pulmonologist said that he "looks better.

The Rev. John Stott did not fill stadiums with the faithful like his longtime friend, Billy Graham , or give the invocation at a presidential inauguration, as megachurch pastor Rick Warren did for Barack Obama. Yet he was a giant of the evangelical world — perhaps the most influential evangelist most people have never heard of. Unassuming but erudite, the Anglican pastor who died at 90 Wednesday in Surrey, England, after several months of deteriorating health, wrote 50 books, including the 1958 classic "Basic Christianity," which sold more than 2.5 million copies.