The Rev. Billy Graham is back in the news: celebrating his 95th birthday and releasing a video billed as his final sermon.
I met Rev. Graham in 1962, when I was a journalism student and part-time reporter for a community weekly newspaper in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood. One of my chores was the church page, which featured the listing of religious services and news of local churches.
Even though I was going through an anti-religious phase in my life, I embraced the church page as the first rung on the journalistic ladder. I also covered the police beat, which was lots more fun.
The big news that June was Billy Graham’s Greater Chicago Crusade. The famous evangelist stormed into town for more than two weeks of revival services in the massive McCormick Place convention center. To get a local angle on the story, I made arrangements to attend the Crusade and get a photo of Rev. Graham with some people from a local church.
When I arrived at McCormick Place before the evening service, I was ushered into the press room with my local church folks and Rev. Graham popped in for our photo-op. The evangelist was as impressive in person as on television, tanned and vigorous. He greeted me with a hearty “Hello, brother!” and a handshake that practically lifted me off the floor.
After I got my photo, I picked up a press folder and sat at the media table in the front of the giant auditorium. By this time the Graham Crusade had been going for nearly a week. The only other reporter there was a guy from the Chicago Tribune who had covered every event and clearly was bored with the whole thing. To meet an early-evening deadline, he had already filed his story based on the advance text of Rev. Graham’s sermon. We made small talk and settled down to watch the service.
This was no ordinary church service. Tens of thousands of people filled the cavernous convention center and 2,000 people sang in the choir. After half an hour of music and scripture, it was time for the main event as Rev. Graham ascended to the pulpit.
As he began to preach, the Tribune guy and I listened to his words and looked down at our advance copies of the sermon. And did a double-take, because what Rev. Graham was saying was completely different than what was in the script. The Tribune guy went ballistic as he watched his story evaporate.
It was a memorable scene: Billy Graham preaching, 40,000 people listening reverently, a few worshippers shouting “Amen,” and a reporter in the front row saying “Son of a bitch!” This continued for several minutes – Rev. Graham preaching, the audience Amen-ing and the reporter cursing – until the evangelist finally began using his prepared text. “At least he saved my goddam lead,” the Tribune guy snarled.
The climax of the revival service was when the evangelist ended his sermon with a call for people to come forward for salvation as the 2,000-voice choir burst into song. Billy Graham saved thousands of souls that night. And one news story.