Billy Graham

From throughout the world, 8,000 itinerant evangelists have assembled here to hone their preaching skills at a training conference sponsored by American preacher Billy Graham. Marked by stringent security, Graham opened the international conference here last Saturday with an impassioned speech against the nuclear arms race.

Evangelist Billy Graham met with Pope John Paul II and Vatican officials a week ago for a series of discussions on Eastern Europe and relations between Catholics and evangelicals around the world, it was learned this week. After the Vatican meetings Jan. 10-13, the 71-year-old Southern Baptist preacher went to West Berlin, where he met with evangelical leaders from the two Germanys to make plans for an evangelistic visit in March. Graham's meeting with John Paul was their second encounter.

The Rev. Billy Graham apologized Friday for a 1972 conversation with former President Nixon in which he said the Jewish "stranglehold" on the media was ruining the country and must be broken. The conversation was among 500 hours of Nixon tapes released by the National Archives. Most were recorded between January and June 1972. "Although I have no memory of the occasion, I deeply regret comments I apparently made in an Oval Office conversation with President Nixon . . .

Let's say you hanker for a personal conversation with the world's most famous evangelist, for many years near the top of the polls as one of the most respected people on Earth. Although it is still pretty hard to have a one-on-one chat with the Rev. Billy Graham, the odds have improved--if you are a computer buff, that is.

Billy Graham turns 75 this week. Slowed somewhat by Parkinson's disease, he's lost a step in recent years and his preaching lacks some of the fire of his early years, but the presence and the charisma endure. Graham took an old idiom, the evangelistic sermon, and cloaked it in all the communications media available in the 20th Century: radio, television, print and film.

For anyone keeping score, Billy Graham outdraws the Pope--at least at the Coliseum. The attendance record inside the Coliseum was set on Sept. 8, 1963, when 134,254 people attended a Billy Graham Crusade. The comparison might be unfair, however. Graham's evangelistic rally was open to all and the Coliseum's bench seating accommodated more people then. Papal visit planners strictly limited the number of people--all ticket holders--for Tuesday night's Mass to 101,106.

Singers and songwriters have joined others in the entertainment industry to launch a Web site tribute to Billy Graham. The site, "Thank You Billy Graham," grew from an effort by actor and singer Pat Boone to honor the aging evangelist as he handed leadership of his ministry to his son, Franklin Graham. Boone and David Pack, a producer and writer from the band Ambrosia, co-wrote a song called "Thank You Billy Graham," which was recorded by country singer Billy Dean last year.

Evangelist Billy Graham has been hospitalized with a foot infection probably caused by a bite from a Brown Recluse spider, officials of his ministry said Tuesday. The 69-year-old evangelist was admitted to Rochester's Highland Hospital on Monday and was told by doctors he must stay at least two days, Graham spokesman A. Larry Ross said.

Evangelist Billy Graham, citing his health and that of his wife, said in Charlotte that he had declined an invitation to hold a crusade in London. Graham, 86, said he made the decision last week before the bombings. He said his health and age made long-distance travel a greater challenge than recent domestic crusades, including a three-day revival last month in New York City that he had said might be his last.

Evangelist Billy Graham has issued a statement of his position on the film "The Last Temptation of Christ" following numerous requests. "I do not plan to see the film but will not take overt boycotting action by demonstrating in front of a theater that may be showing it," Graham said. "I don't have to see a rape in order to condemn rape. I don't have to see a murder in order to condemn murder. From what I have read, this film is sacrilegious."