Billy Graham, the preacher who personally reached more people than anyone else in the history of Christianity, has died.
Welcome to Plain English for Thursday, March 1, 2018. I’m Jeff, and you are listening to the podcast that goes at just the right speed for English language learners. On today’s program, we’ll talk about the American preacher Billy Graham, who died last month. Through his massive crusades and television and radio programs, he reached over 2 billion people, including about 200 million people in person. In the second half of the program, I’ll show you how to use the phrasal verb “carry out.”
Like always, you can find a transcript of this program online. If you have trouble understanding every word, you might like to read the transcript as you listen. Today is Episode 25, so the web page is PlainEnglish.com/25. The transcripts have instant translations of difficult words and phrases from English to Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese and French, so if you speak any of those languages, you have an additional resource on the web page. PlainEnglish.com/25
Let’s get started on today’s topic.
Billy Graham dies
Billy Graham, the most famous preacher in the United States, died last month at the age of 99. Over the decades, he preached personally to over 200 million people in all parts of the world, counseled 12 presidents, and was the voice of Christianity and Protestantism in the United States.
Protestants are the second-largest group of Christians, after Catholics. There are several denominations of Protestants, including Baptists, Anglicans, Lutherans, and Methodists, among others. One of the characteristics of Protestantism is that there is no central authority, like the Pope in Catholicism. And for that reason, there is no natural leading figure in Protestantism; it’s much more decentralized than Catholicism is.
But Billy Graham stepped into an unofficial role as America’s—and probably the world’s—leading Protestant. His personal mission was to spread the Christian Gospel to as many people as possible, and he formed the nonprofit Billy Graham Evangelistic Association to carry out his work. In addition to hosting events, the association produces television and radio programs, sponsors youth outreach programs, and aids in disaster relief. It also organizes training missions for Christian volunteers.
Billy Graham developed a signature way of reaching people through his crusades—large, in-person spiritual events that sometimes stretched over several days. Though large numbers of people attended, Graham sought to make his crusades an intensely personal experience for the attendees, inviting them personally to the stage to affirm their religious faith in front of everyone.
His first crusade attracted 6,000 people in Michigan. His final crusade in New York City in 2005 was sponsored by over 1,400 regional churches and was attended by over 200,000 people. One of his crusades in South Korea was attended by more than a million people, in person. His biggest event in the United States was in Central Park, where over a quarter of a million people attended. He preached to more people in person than anyone else in the history of Christianity. If you include his radio and television audiences, he reached over 2.2 billion people.
Billy Graham was a consistent figure on television. He would host a few television specials per year, but would also spread his message through countless TV interviews. He appeared with a single interviewer, Larry King, over 50 times. He is the only minister to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his religious work.
As a public figure, he almost never took sides in political battles, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have a high political profile. Instead of aligning with a political party or movement, he advocated for particular causes: against communism, for military disarmament, and in favor of alleviating poverty, disease, and environmental damage. He met with and counseled 12 presidents—every one from Harry Truman through Barack Obama. He had a close friendship with Lyndon Johnson, a Democrat, and Richard Nixon, a Republican. He also had a special relationship with Queen Elizabeth II of England, whom he met on a tour of Europe in the 1950’s. He invited Martin Luther King, Jr., to preach with him in 1957 and insisted on racial integration at all his events. An American company does an annual poll of the most-admired people in the country; Billy Graham made the list 60 times, more than any other person.
For that reason, he was well-positioned to offer comfort to Americans in times of national crisis. He led a service at the Washington National Cathedral on September 14, 2001, just a few days after the attacks on the World Trade Center and spoke at the memorial service for victims of another bombing in Oklahoma in 1995.
Graham spent the last years of his life at his log-cabin home in North Carolina. No official cause of death was disclosed, but his health had been failing for several years. Yesterday, February 28, and today, March 1st, he lies in honor at the Rotunda of the United States Capitol building in Washington, DC. It is only the fourth time in American history that this honor has been extended to a private citizen. His funeral will be tomorrow, March 2nd, at the Billy Graham Library in North Carolina.
Before we get to today’s phrasal verb, I wanted to say hi to Anderson from Brazil, Ali from Algeria, Jose from Puerto Rico, and María, who describes herself as an Italian-Colombian student living in Bogota, Colombia. Thanks for listening and connecting on Facebook. I always love hearing from people, so don’t be shy about sending me a note on Facebook or Twitter under the user name PlainEnglishPod. You can also send me an e-mail directly to jeff [at] plainenglish.com
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