Before It All Began.
Franklin Graham has not always been the great son of Billy Graham. He had his time in the dark, as a 48-year-old prodigal son was not always eager to take his father's path and preach the gospel. Franklin Graham was a self described bad boy who rebelled against his father's saintly ways. "I just felt that if I put myself into the pulpit, that it would be like a lightning rod for all these comparisons," Franklin said of becoming a preacher. Growing up with a famous father, who was gone on the road for months at a time, wasn't easy. During Franklin Graham's youth, his father was already an internationally known evangelist who organized large-scale preaching crusades and served as spiritual adviser to U.S. presidents ("The Prodigal Son Comes Home").
William Franklin Graham III was born the fourth of five children to William (Billy) Franklin Graham Jr. and Ruth Bell Graham on July 14, 1952. The family lived in a log cabin in the Appalachian Mountains outside Asheville, North Carolina. The adventurous boy who liked to fish and hunt was said to acquired his mischievous nature from his mother. "My mother was going to insist that I got up in time to get to school at a proper time," Graham said. "So I started locking my door so she couldn't come in, and she started sliding firecrackers under the door. She thought that was fun." Grahams boyhood grew into a young adulthood of rebellion, he lived the "fast life". He smoked, drank, got in fights and admitted tryinig marijuana. His family sent him to Stony Brook, an elite Christian boarding school on Long Island, New York. He dropped out and was later expelled from another school, LeTourneau College in Longview, Texas, for keeping a female classmate out all night past curfew ("The Prodigal Son Comes Home").
His behavior was far from appropiate, being the son of Billy Graham made things even worse. Billys image was surely changed because of Franklin's behavior. People may have believed that Billy could not control his son and his behavior, that he didn't inforce his religion on his family. Franklin was not a bad boy rebel for forever, on a trip to Switzerland in 1974 with his dad Billy talked to his son about the direction of his life. Looking him straight in the eye he said "I want you to know that your mother and I sense there is a struggle for the soul of your life, and you're going to have to make a choice." These words troubled Graham as he continued to travel Europe with a bottle of scotch in one hand. One night in a hotel room in Jerusalem, Franklin's life changed. He describes his epiphany in a passage from his 1995 autobiography, "Rebel With a Cause: Finally Comfortable Being Graham." That night instead of going to the bar for a couple of beers, he found himself alone in his room reading through the gospel of John."When I came to the third chapter, I read not just that Jesus told Nicodemus he had to be born again, but I also grasped that Franklin Graham had to be born again as well" ("The Prodigal Son Comes Home")
Shortly after his experience he went home to North Carolina and married a hometown girl, Jane Austin Cunningham. They got married on his parents front lawn, during the ceramony he publicly stated that he and his life had changed. He started looking for ways to show his faith, family friend Bob Pierce, founder of the Christian relief organization Samaritan's Purse and World Vision, invited Graham with him on a six-week mission to Asia. Graham witnessed so many hardships of the world's poorest people, Pierce died of luekemia in 1978. The following year Graham took over as president and chairman of what is now a $131 million, 300-employee organization that distributes supplies to those suffering from war, famine and natural disasters. He worked hard to make the mission his own. Billy Graham was preaching in his crusades, as his son Franklin was ministering through Samaritan's Purse. Franklin Graham often was urged to follow his father to the pulpit, a path he did not want to take. "I'm going to travel the gutters and the ditches of the world, and I'm going to help people in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. My father can go to the big stadiums, but I'll just go to the highways and the byways," Franklin said, recalling his reluctance to preach by his father's side ("The Prodigal Son Comes Home").
But an evangelist that worked with Billy had a different idea for Franklin. In 1989, John Wesley White talked Graham into preaching at a crusade in Juneau, Alaska. Things turned out differently than what Franklin expected."That night, after I preached, I felt in my heart God was calling me, and I had been resisting it really out of pride because I didn't want to be compared to my father, and that was the wrong reason," Graham said. Afterwards Franklin decided to devote 10 percent of his time preaching with his father's ministery. Soon Franklin's father at 82 got Parkinson's disease, many people questioned or resisted the suggestion of his son as successor. But their minds soon changed. In 2000, Franklin Graham was named chief executive officer of his father's ministry ("The Prodigal Son Comes Home").
Franklin and his wife live in Boone, North Carolina. They have had four childern together, like his father, Franklin travels with his job. But he makes it a point to not stay away from home too long. As you know Graham is a very well known last name because of Billy Graham and his outstanding achievments. Franklin never has a tough time getting into the spotlight, he preached at the memorial service of the Columbine school shooting and gave prayers as the Republican National Conventions in 1966 and 2000. All Franklin wanted to do was follow in his father's footsteps, and he did so successfully. Today Franklin is proud and content with his role."I just want to be faithful to the same message that he's been faithful to, and that's the preaching of the gospel," he said ("The Prodigal Son Comes Home").
William Franklin Graham III was born the fourth of five children to William (Billy) Franklin Graham Jr. and Ruth Bell Graham on July 14, 1952. The family lived in a log cabin in the Appalachian Mountains outside Asheville, North Carolina. The adventurous boy who liked to fish and hunt was said to acquired his mischievous nature from his mother. "My mother was going to insist that I got up in time to get to school at a proper time," Graham said. "So I started locking my door so she couldn't come in, and she started sliding firecrackers under the door. She thought that was fun." Grahams boyhood grew into a young adulthood of rebellion, he lived the "fast life". He smoked, drank, got in fights and admitted tryinig marijuana. His family sent him to Stony Brook, an elite Christian boarding school on Long Island, New York. He dropped out and was later expelled from another school, LeTourneau College in Longview, Texas, for keeping a female classmate out all night past curfew ("The Prodigal Son Comes Home").
His behavior was far from appropiate, being the son of Billy Graham made things even worse. Billys image was surely changed because of Franklin's behavior. People may have believed that Billy could not control his son and his behavior, that he didn't inforce his religion on his family. Franklin was not a bad boy rebel for forever, on a trip to Switzerland in 1974 with his dad Billy talked to his son about the direction of his life. Looking him straight in the eye he said "I want you to know that your mother and I sense there is a struggle for the soul of your life, and you're going to have to make a choice." These words troubled Graham as he continued to travel Europe with a bottle of scotch in one hand. One night in a hotel room in Jerusalem, Franklin's life changed. He describes his epiphany in a passage from his 1995 autobiography, "Rebel With a Cause: Finally Comfortable Being Graham." That night instead of going to the bar for a couple of beers, he found himself alone in his room reading through the gospel of John."When I came to the third chapter, I read not just that Jesus told Nicodemus he had to be born again, but I also grasped that Franklin Graham had to be born again as well" ("The Prodigal Son Comes Home")
Shortly after his experience he went home to North Carolina and married a hometown girl, Jane Austin Cunningham. They got married on his parents front lawn, during the ceramony he publicly stated that he and his life had changed. He started looking for ways to show his faith, family friend Bob Pierce, founder of the Christian relief organization Samaritan's Purse and World Vision, invited Graham with him on a six-week mission to Asia. Graham witnessed so many hardships of the world's poorest people, Pierce died of luekemia in 1978. The following year Graham took over as president and chairman of what is now a $131 million, 300-employee organization that distributes supplies to those suffering from war, famine and natural disasters. He worked hard to make the mission his own. Billy Graham was preaching in his crusades, as his son Franklin was ministering through Samaritan's Purse. Franklin Graham often was urged to follow his father to the pulpit, a path he did not want to take. "I'm going to travel the gutters and the ditches of the world, and I'm going to help people in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. My father can go to the big stadiums, but I'll just go to the highways and the byways," Franklin said, recalling his reluctance to preach by his father's side ("The Prodigal Son Comes Home").
But an evangelist that worked with Billy had a different idea for Franklin. In 1989, John Wesley White talked Graham into preaching at a crusade in Juneau, Alaska. Things turned out differently than what Franklin expected."That night, after I preached, I felt in my heart God was calling me, and I had been resisting it really out of pride because I didn't want to be compared to my father, and that was the wrong reason," Graham said. Afterwards Franklin decided to devote 10 percent of his time preaching with his father's ministery. Soon Franklin's father at 82 got Parkinson's disease, many people questioned or resisted the suggestion of his son as successor. But their minds soon changed. In 2000, Franklin Graham was named chief executive officer of his father's ministry ("The Prodigal Son Comes Home").
Franklin and his wife live in Boone, North Carolina. They have had four childern together, like his father, Franklin travels with his job. But he makes it a point to not stay away from home too long. As you know Graham is a very well known last name because of Billy Graham and his outstanding achievments. Franklin never has a tough time getting into the spotlight, he preached at the memorial service of the Columbine school shooting and gave prayers as the Republican National Conventions in 1966 and 2000. All Franklin wanted to do was follow in his father's footsteps, and he did so successfully. Today Franklin is proud and content with his role."I just want to be faithful to the same message that he's been faithful to, and that's the preaching of the gospel," he said ("The Prodigal Son Comes Home").