New York Report
B i l l y Graham’s record-smashing meetings in New York City were every man’s news this summer. A c cording to the Gallup Poll 85 out of every 100 adult Americans knew about Graham and 75% of these spoke favorably of his ministry. And according to the Luce Press Clipping Bureau of New York the Graham news avalanche represents more than 1,000 press clippings a day. This puts Evangelist Graham at the top of the spot news field, aside from President Eisenhower. For Christians this all added up to one thing: God was answering united prayer. From just about every viewpoint the New York meetings were a whopping success. The long crusade averaged some 19,700 nightly attendance, the high est in the Graham team’s experi ence. Long before the meetings were to end the all-time record at tendance set by Ringling Brothers’ Circus in 1944 was eclipsed and Madison Square Garden officials prepared a bronze plaque commem orating the event. And when Gra ham took to huge Yankee Stadium he drew more than 100,000, the largest audience he’s had in Amer ica (75,000 came to hear him in the Cotton Bowl in 1953 and in Eng land 120,000 crowded Wembley Stadium). Previous record for the stadium was 88,150 for the Joe Louis-Max Baer fight in 1935. At Graham’s rally police estimated 25,- 000 to 35,000 had to be turned away after the stadium filled. Vice President Richard M. Nixon (see photo above) was with Gra ham at Yankee Stadium and de livered an address which began with the expression of the greet ings and best wishes of President Eisenhower. Nixon was introduced by Graham as America’s “ ambas sador of goodwill, a young man with vision, integrity and courage.” But statistics and big-name per sonalities were eclipsed daily by the age-old story of hundreds exper
V ice P resident N ixon & F riend “ A young man with vision, integrity and courage.”
ing from Russian to Arabic). For eign l anguag e counselors were tagged with color badges according to their language. Budget for the long crusade was well over one million dollars. But even for this astronomical figure Graham had an answer. Said the young evangelist: “ This slimmer the entire nation was concerned, and rightly so, when one little boy was lost in a well. But millions in America have lost souls, a far more serious tragedy, and there is not a line in the newspapers about it. We have so-called smart businessmen who make provisions for everything in life except their most valuable possession— the soul. “ The soul is valuable because it is eternal. It will live forever, whether we like it or not, either in heaven or hell. You can’t commit suicide. You can kill the body but not the soul. Another reason the soul is valuable is because of the price for its redemption. God sac rificed His most precious possession, Jesus Christ, so your sins could be forgiven. “What value do you place upon your soul?” It was a question well-calculated.
i e n c i n g a sp i r i t ua l n ew birth through faith in Jesus Christ. There was the manager of an airplane factory; one of the leading (and wealthiest) socialites of New York; Mussolini’s driver; an ambassador; a man and wife who were planning on a divorce. Even by early August the list had swelled to more than 40,000. The task of handling the many converts was gigantic. The Graham team selected some 3,000 counselors and advisors. Of these 295 were for eign speaking (32 languages rang Future Plans F u tu r e plans call for the Graham team to spend next January and February hold ing meetings in principal cities in the C a ribb ea n area . In April a crusade is scheduled for the Cow Palace in San Francisco and in the fall an other is planned for Charlotte, N.C. Plans are also being studied for Crusades during 1959 in Birmingham, England and Australia. Graham is also planning on an African tour.
The King's Business/September 1957
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