Christine Sullivan, of Columbia, is a classically trained singer with the National Spiritual Ensemble. When asked about the amazingly diverse appeal of the Rev. Billy Graham, she thoughtfully responds, “He is a man after God?s own heart, and that?s what draws the people. He is so sincere ? you can see his passion. He is like Moses. God gave each of them a charge to bring the people back to him. It makes you realize that we?re all different, but we?re all the same.”
Last weekend, the Metro Maryland 2006 Festival, featuring 87-year-old Graham and his son Franklin, drew close to 70,000 people to Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
Billy Graham, known as “America?s Pastor,” has preached to more than 210 million in live audiences in a global ministry that spans more than half a century. His dynamic son Franklin, 55, is taking on the mantle for a new generation.
Although the concerts were free, that wasn?t the main reason people of all ages, races, backgrounds and orientations, believers and seekers, the curious and the cynical attended.
As I gazed up at the crowd waiting to hear Billy Graham speak Sunday, I saw men and women of all descriptions ? bikers, Rastas, men in ties and men in tank tops, mothers holding toddlers and women in saris, miniskirts and everything in between, and so many teens and children.
Interestingly, the wide-ranging internationally known musical acts were another element that brought the incredibly diverse crowd together.
Entertainers included the progressive rock of Newsboys, country-western superstar Randy Travis, gospel greats Andrae Crouch and Wintley Phipps, “American Idol” sensation George Huff, and the remarkable 97-year-old George Beverly Shea, who has toured with Billy Graham for 60 years.
And of course, the Orioles? own Don Mark, who is a an accomplished professional saxophonist, played a solo.
Lois K. Akehurst, of Harford County, and her late husband Bill, were vitally involved in helping to bring the Festival to Baltimore. In 1957, she had been invited by a friend to attend a Crusade in New York City. Despite the long bus trip, she accepted, because she could sense something different about her friend. Although she had always attended church, she was unaware that she could have a personal relationship with the Creator. That trip changed her outlook on life. “There are so many hurting people, and they need to know there is a God, and that he loves them.”
Barbara Ellingson, of Baltimore City, echoes that sentiment. A retired health educator who now works with the National Alliance on Mental Illness, she was a volunteer lay counselor. During the altar call, counselors answer questions and provide material from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. A follow-up call is made, and a BGEA-sponsored Bible study is available.
Festival director Art Bailey emphasizes, “The event is the beginning of the process, not the end.”
When I asked my young daughter, who counts Billy Graham as one of her heroes, why she thought so many different people like him, she responded, “Because he cares about them.” That pretty much says it all.
Brooke Gunning is the author of several regional best-sellers, including “Maryland Thoroughbred Racing,” “Baltimore?s Halcyon Days” and “Towson and the Villages of Ruxton and Lutherville.” She currently is at work on her next book.
