August 11 1997

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Just As I Am, by Billy Graham (Harper San Francisco/Zondervan, 760 pp.; $28.50);

Billy, by Sherwood Eliot Wirt (Crossway/ Good News, 271 pp.; $17.99). Reviewed by Robertson McQuilkin, homemaker, author, conference speaker, and president emeritus of Columbia International University.

Well," said the best-selling author on the other end of the line, "They'recalling it 'the book of the century.' " Unlike the newsmagazines, talk-showhosts, and, it would seem, most other Americans, I hadn't yet seen Billy'sautobiography, and my friend was trying to sum up the matter for me. Bookof the century? I mused. A few decades early for such a judgment,isn't it? I had known Billy Graham from his youth and had no doubthe was the man of the century for evangelicals, probably for Protestants,perhaps for Christendom; but book of the century? Then I read it.

While it is not the literary masterpiece of the century—though in generalit's well written—I read the book with a sense of awe, as if standing inthe presence of a person who, without trying, towers over the century. Whoelse could give us a view of our presidency from inside the White House,uninterrupted for more than a half-century? And never once was he even temptedto seek residence in that house, though often urged to do so. No one in churchhistory could compare to Billy Graham in the numbers of people personallyintroduced to Jesus. And the understated report of it here is stunning. Tothis day, I weep whenever I watch those final moments of the tv specials,multitudes streaming down from the stands, not to Billy, but to Jesus. Yet,in this book, the magnitude of that phenomenon overwhelmed me.

Just As I Am is not just a chronology of crusades and of personalfriendships with people in high places. Billy tells us details of fascinatingstories I've never heard. From the text, some enterprising author could culla book on Near Death in the Air, or InterruptedSermons, or Close Encounters with Bullets and Bombs.And those would represent only a few of the astounding tales that crowdin, one on top of the next. Events in a single year in the life of Billywould make ample biographical material for a lesser mortal's entire life!As readers, it is as if Billy had welcomed us to spend a week or so in hislog home, hidden away on the side of a mountain in Appalachia, where we cansit by the fireplace as the patriarch reminisces.

This reviewer may be forgiven, I hope, for fast-forwarding over those endlesslists of unknown people who are important in Billy's mind—a tendency thathighlights another of the author's excellencies: genuine appreciation ofpeople, worthy or not, and loyalty to a fault. At the end of the book, theauthor clues us in on the secret of recalling minute and colorful detailsfrom a half-century past: diaries, letters, news reports, biographers—anda team of research assistants. Even so, future historians should note that,though this is no doubt the most authentic history of its subject we shallever get, it is not infallible. Soon after publication, I was talking byphone with the son-in-law of Billy's sister Catherine, who interrupted theconversation to say, "Mom is sitting over here laughing as she reads JustAs I Am. She's sure enjoying herself. Says she's going to tellBilly Frank he should remember there were other people present at some ofthose events who don't recall everything just the way he does." Others ofus may feel a kinship with little sister Catherine!

Then there are favorite stories of those who know Billy that are omitted.That leads us to the other biography published this year: Billy,by Sherwood Wirt, founding editor of Decision and long-timefriend and associate of Graham.

Was it some terrible miscalculation on the part of the publisher to bringout yet another biography of Billy Graham in the same year the "Book of theCentury" was published? I hope not, because Wirt's account is no redundancy.

For starters, he does what Graham's book could not do. Billy isnot a detached chronology of events—at the beginning and again at the end,the author states his intent to write a tribute to his well-loved friend.And that he does, with the skill of a professional writer.

It is more than a pleasure to read Wirt's prose; it's often deeply moving.Many times I had to put the book aside until my eyes cleared enough to takeup the story. It's not just that stories are told from a different perspective,however; there are important stories here that Graham omitted or referredto only in passing. For example, you will find here the story of when Billy'slife was transformed through a fresh encounter with the Holy Spirit. Thisbook is personal also in that it is the story of Sherwood Wirt, a man greatlyused of God, though in this book, as in life, it was ever in the shadow ofBilly Graham.

There are two features of these books that in themselves would be worth theprice of each. In Just As I Am, pictures—many in fullcolor—chronicle Billy's life. And in Wirt's book, a powerful feature: thereproduction at the beginning of each chapter of a letter to Billy by a childwho responded to his ministry.

That's the way one reviewer sees things. But perhaps some will want to gobeneath the surface and seek here for answers. I did. In the first place,what accounts for this phenomenon of our twentieth century we call BillyGraham? And second, when in our saner moments we remind ourselves that thisman is not God, we may be forgiven for asking the second question: shouldwe follow Billy's example?

First, then, how do we account for Billy's phenomenal success? Liberals,fundamentalists, and secularists will find plenty of data to support theirexplanation of Billy Graham—overwhelming personal charisma, uncanny wisdomin sizing up and matching words to each person or crowd, and an awe-inspiringorganization. In all of these there is more than a measure of truth.

The reports we hear from those who have known Billy, beginning in his teenyears, reflect a remarkably attractive and powerful persona. He often deprecateshis own intelligence, beginning in college days, but who has ever been sharpenough to survive 50 years of the press, winning them from unreasonable hostilityto almost universal admiration? Who would have the wisdom to sustain closeencounters with ten Presidents and simultaneously crack the Kremlin? Incredible.And it isn't just the entourage that always accompanies Billy. One tracesin the shadows an intricate and well-oiled organization that handles notonly the crusades and a correspondence of 200,000 letters a year, but a wholearray of ground-breaking evangelistic ministries.

Those characteristics, however, could never account for the millions oftransformed lives. So why did God choose this man? No one but God knows forsure, but three qualities fairly leap from these pages, qualities that Godmust surely value: humility, prayer, and integrity.

These books unveil a celebrity of colossal proportions who is genuinely humble.Not self-effacing. Humble. It is seen on almost every page. Not only thefrank account of failures nor the self-deprecation, which is not affected,but subtle clues. Like his frequent use of "we." It is not the royal "we"or he would use it consistently. It is passing the credit on to others. Andthen there is what is not here: no movement, no new denomination,not even a fan club—none of the trappings of the things you might expectto gather around such a larger-than-life persona. Billy's deference is notonly to presidents and kings, to Ph.D.'s, movie stars, industry tycoons,and bishops, but also to his colleagues. And to a barefoot evangelist fromthe jungles of Africa. His admiration of them all is in a context of "eachconsidering the other better than himself." God can afford to share his glorywith one who refuses to touch it!

The second characteristic I never recognized till overwhelmed—and convicted—bythe realization from his autobiography that Billy's is a prayer-saturatedlife. How could he pray while talking with machine-gun rapidity? But he does.By day and by night—often through the night. His prayer life is not obtrusive,let alone sermonic; it quietly undergirds these accounts. He often attributesthe success of a campaign to the millions of others who are praying, andthat is no doubt true. But I discovered here a man who prays almost as naturally,it would seem, as he breathes.

And then there is the integrity. My father told me once that the three pitfallsof the ministry are pride, women, and money. The whole world knows that Billyis morally upright. But a vow never to be alone with a woman other than hisbeloved? Finances clean as the driven snow, yes. But turning down the offerof complete bankrolling for all his enterprises in order to stay dependenton the Lord and in touch with the millions of ordinary people who pray andgive? Beyond integrity!

For me, those are the characteristics—humility, prayer, and integrity—thatunlock the secret of Billy Graham. For at the end of the century, it is Billy'sspiritual power, his God-anointing, that alone accounts for such a life.

Then there is the question of whether we should follow him. In his humility,prayer, and integrity, certainly. But what of his methodolgy?

It is clear in Just As I Am that Billy's approach is open andwarm to everyone—Catholic, Orthodox, liberal. Everyone but fundamentalists.His unswerving commitment to ecumenical inclusivism is a central theme. Sohis theological blood brothers, the fundamentalists, won't follow him. Itis disingenuous to say that they are alienated from Graham becausefundamentalists as a class are more hypocritical and unloving than others.Nor is it fair to say they should not be so rigid about methodology. Forthem it's not method; it's doctrine. They believe it sinful disobedienceto cooperate with unbelievers in spiritual ministry. Billy may, too; butif so, he defines "believer" more broadly than they. Fundamentalists won'tfollow him on principle. But what of evangelicals?

Billy studiously disregards many doctrines that divide Christendom and majorson what unites—Jesus Christ and the salvation he offers. He does not dothis because ecumenism is an end in itself, though he does believe love andChristian unity are of utmost importance. He stresses these because his isthe calling of an evangelist. That is the touchstone determining what tostress and what to leave out. Evidence of that is emphasis on some themesthat do not unite: his drumbeat emphasis on the authority ofScripture, sin as the root problem, judgment for the unrepentant, for example.Still, his emphasis is on the unity of the faith more than the purity ofit.

Why? His ministry is evangelism. Why does he define racism as a moral issue(to be relentlessly pursued) and abortion a political issue (to be avoided)?His goal is to win people to faith, not straighten out every problem. "Anevangelist," he writes, "is called to do one thing, and one thing only: toproclaim the Gospel." To pursue his single purpose in life, Billy consciouslyavoids, even downplays, theological distinctions. It's clear that he adheresto the fundamentals of the faith because he says so, but his job, he alsosays, is not to mark himself off from those who differ theologically; rather,it is to work tirelessly to bring everyone to saving faith.

But there is a problem if we make evangelism the whole ministry of the church.If our churches, seminaries, and periodicals downplay or discard fundamentalteachings of Scripture that may not be central to our evangelistic task,we gravely err and may even become sub-evangelical. The purpose of the churchincludes not only winning to faith but, as in the Epistles, presenting everyonemature in Christ, both in what we believe—even when that marks us off fromothers—and in what we become.

That half of Americans consider themselves born again must be credited toBilly Graham more than to any other individual, but that only 7 percent adhereto Billy's evangelical faith remains a major challenge for the church. Wewho proudly follow Billy Graham in his evangelistic trailblazing must becareful not to use his approach to that special calling as a model for theentire ministry of the church. Let the church proclaim the whole counselof God!

Book of the century? Perhaps. But man of the century? Certainly so to millions.And to me.

Short Notices
The Secrets of Barneveld Calvary
By James Calvin Schaap
Baker Book House
190 pp.; $11.99, paper
Not a novel exactly, nor a collection of short stories, The Secrets of BarneveldCalvary is a sequence of tales drawn from a single congregation in the fictitioustown of Barneveld, Iowa. The storyteller is their pastor, who wants for once"to simply tell the truth as I've seen it, not something precast to win friendsand bring in seekers." And so he shares the "untold joys and concerns" ofthe people he knows best.

Such candor could exist only in fiction; in real life, it would constitutea massive betrayal of trust. But because the "secrets" of Barneveld are oursecrets, too—both the failures and the deep consolations—we read not forvoyeuristic thrills but for the bittersweet shock of recognition: yes, yes,that is how it is.

"What happened decades ago between Barneveld's most famous pastor, the ReverendCecil Meekhof, and Duane Foxhaven's father created a bruise on Duane's soulthat only deepened as, one by one, those few who knew the old story diedand left him alone with the memory." That's the way these tales begin, witha comfortable intimacy that immediately draws the reader in. One sentenceand you're hooked.

James Schaap writes with such unpretentious authority that he tempts us tolook for Barneveld on the map. But the right place to look is in the geographyof the imagination, north of Yoknapatawpha and south of Lake Wobegon.

Copyright © 1997 by the author or Christianity Today International/Christianity Today magazine. For reprint information call 630-260-6200 or e-mailcteditor@christianitytoday.com.

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