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we say, negative attitude. In the days of Billy Sunday, it was such a tre mendous thing that suddenly every body decided to “jump on the band wagon.” We had all kinds of evan gelists. Some men just thought it was a convenience, and instead of being servants of the churches, they became i ndependen t s who set their own standards. Consequently, there were great difficulties which ensued. When I arrived on the scene of evangelism, and in the days of depression econom ically, it was a time when I suppose evangelism was at its lowest ebb, at least in my lifetime anyway. Today, it s different. Throngs are again com ing to hear the message. Do you think that what happened after Billy Sunday's great evangelistic thrust will happen again following the Billy Gra ham crusades? This is the fear of my heart. Billy Graham characterizes the highest and best in evangelism during our day. We are already seeing a great num ber of people deciding that because he is popular, they should go ahead and do the same thing. Someone was quizzing me on a CBS station the other day. “There seems to be two kinds of evangelism,” said this news caster. I said, “Yes, there is the evan gelism which is invited by the churches and sponsored by the churches in which all moneys are handled by the churches and all con verts are referred to good solid churches. Then there’s another kind of evangelism where an individual man decides, ‘I’ll take my canvas and put it up where I please, handle all finances and if a few converts get into the church that’s well and good.’ Now that’s the extreme of the two positions!” I have always, through the years, along with many other evan gelists, tried to serve the churches, without any commercial attitude. In many of our campaigns alternate thank offerings have gone to the mis sion field directly from the city. As long as we're talking about Billy Graham, how do you answer the criticisms which have centered around him? Well, the controversy over Billy Graham is a natural thing. I think there are several underlying reasons why Billy Graham is loved and why
Billy Graham is disliked. Setting aside all personalities, I want to say that I’ve known Billy since he was a teen-ager. I’m six years older than Billy and when I was in my early twenti es , preaching in Charlotte, North Carolina, I often stayed in his home. He was merely one more teen ager in those days. I watched his life and how it changed by the power of God. 'Through the years, I have never found anything false in Billy Graham. I have found that he is the first one to criticize himself over any weakness. Like some years ago in Washington, D.C. I said: “ Billy, I wish you’d pray for me. I want to be a better Christian, a better evangelist.” Billy said, “ Pray for you, Merv? Man alive, I’m a bigger sin ner than you are. Why don’t you pray for me?” So we got on our knees and spent two or three hours asking God to make us both what we ought to be. I have friends on both sides of the question in every city. I still love these friends, and the marvelous thing is that Billy still loves them. It’s wonderful to know that he’s will ing to faithfully stay on the job, and to keep humble before the Lord. He ' Music for the Christian is a mark of joy in the heart. My moments at the piano these days are all too few. I love the old hymns and gospel songs. It’s important for the child of God to make a joyful noise unto the Lord.”
"I called Billy Graham the other day to wish him a 'Happy Birthday .' I've known him since he was a teenager. I thank God for the tremendous blessing he has been to the hearts of men and women around the world.” First of all, Merv, how long have you been in the evangelistic ministry? Well, I hate to admit how long it’s been. A quarter century sounds a lot longer than 26 years, but it’s that long. We held our first regular cam paign in ’33 although in 1931 we did summertime evangelism. You were 15 when you started? No, but I was quite young. I was bom in 1912 just five years before the Communists began their push. Where did you actually start? The first campaign we ever held was with the Salvation Army in Rochester, Minnesota. This was with the approval of all the churches and pastor Curtis B. Achison, now of the First Baptist Church of Minneapolis. He and I worked together in that campaign. How did your evangelistic work begin? Actually, I never intended to be an evangelist as such, but we were more or less thrust into it by the calls that kept coming in. Souls were being saved and God’s gift of evan gelism was upon our ministry. There was no choice. God had called my heart to preach and I was willing to preach wherever He wanted me to. In these 26 years, what development have you noted in the field of evangelism? The most amazing thing to me, is that when we began, we came in on the heels of the ministry of Billy Sunday. After the great evangelism of that day there was a rather, should 54
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