List of Billy Graham's crusades

Graham at his crusade (1966)

Billy Graham's crusades – evangelistic campaigns conducted by Billy Graham between 1947 and 2005. Billy Graham conducted 417 crusades in 185 countries and territories on six continents. The first Billy Graham evangelistic campaign, held September 13–21, 1947, in the Civic Auditorium in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was attended by 6,000 people. He would rent a large venue, such as a stadium, park, or street. As the sessions became larger, he arranged a group of up to 5,000 people to sing in a choir. He would preach the gospel and invite people to come forward to ask Jesus to be their saviour and pray together. The inquirers were often given a copy of the Gospel of John or a Bible study booklet. In Moscow, in 1992, one-quarter of the 155,000 people in Graham's audience went forward at his call.^[1] During his crusades, he has frequently used the altar call song, "Just As I Am".

Over 58 years, Billy Graham reached more than 210 million people (face to face and by satellite feeds) in over 185 countries and territories on six continents.^[2] The longest Graham's evangelistic crusade took place in New York City in Madison Square Garden in 1957, which lasted 16 weeks.^[3] The largest audience in the history of Graham's ministry assembled at Yoido Plaza in Seoul in South Korea in 1973 (1.1 million people).^[4][5]

Graham's revival meetings were most commonly called "crusades," and were billed as such for decades, but Graham himself began calling them "missions" after the September 11 attacks due to a potentially offensive connotation of the word "crusade" among Muslims. "Following September 11th, there was increased consciousness of other faiths in the U.S. that would find the term 'crusade' offensive," Graham spokeswoman Melany Ethridge told The Associated Press in 2002. ^[6]

Billy Graham's son, Franklin Graham has continued his father's evangelist mission.

Chronological list

See also

• Billy Graham Evangelistic Association

References

External links

• "BG Crusade Chronology" (PDF). BGEA. Retrieved 2014-03-27. 
• "BG Crusade cities". BGEA. Retrieved 2011-11-19. 
• "Select Chronology of Billy Graham and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, up until Rev. Graham's Retirement in 2005, with a few later significant events". Billy Graham Center. Wheaton College. 2013. 
• "Billy Graham's 1st TV Broadcast". Billy Graham Center. March 2010. Retrieved 2012-02-08. 
• Billy Graham sermons Billy Graham Center