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6398 results found. Records searched: 6398

  1. Crow, Robert Edward - Crow, Robert Edward 2009 Apr 17

    Announcement, Funeral

    Record Type: Library

    Crow, Robert E.
  2. Crusades: 20 Years with Billy Graham - In the preface of this book, Mr. Pollock, the author, states that in 1969, Mr. Graham was looking forward to his third major evangelistic effort in the Los Angeles area. It was at that time that Mr. Graham invited Mr. Pollock to up date the book, "Billy Graham: The Authorized Biography," which was published in 1966. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association was born in a tent on the streets of Los Angeles in the fall of 1949. The articles of incorporation were filed in 1950. The Graham Team took its form during the first Southern California Crusade and continues to grow. The author further states that he has sought to show something of the present labors of Graham and his Association and to catch the spirit of a Team that is known and loved all over the world. However, it is good to look back to understand the family of Billy Graham. The following brief outline of Billy Graham's family history may serve to help one understand the beginnings of the great evalgelists' inner stirring and great interest in winning souls for Christ. There is a Florida connection to his ministry. He practiced preaching on the streets of Tampa where he attended the Bible Institute; the small city of Venice also had a part to play in his religious development. Crook Graham, a Confederate veteran with a bullet in his leg, died in 1910. He had a patriarchal beard and a large family, but nothing else Biblical about him. He drank, but did not abuse his family, nor did he really work his farm. He had been born in Ft. Mill, SC--just across the North Carolina state line. After the Civil War he bought land near Charlotte, NC, which upon his death, he gave to two of his sons, William Franklin and Clyde. Together the two brothers built up a three-hundred acre dairy farm. It had rich soil, with woods and streams on its gently rolling land. They delivered milk in the city. William Franklin Graham and Morrow Coffey of Charlotte were married in 1916. Their oldest son, William Franklin Graham, Jr., (Billy Frank) was born in the farmhouse November 7, 1918. His mother could claim kinship to Ezra Alexander, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and to a President--James K. Polk. Her father, Ben Coffey, fell badly wounded in Pickett's charge at Gettysburg. Mr. Coffey was a religious man. He managed to send his daughter to Elizabeth College in Charlotte for one year. Morrow Coffey Graham kept the books, did the cooking and housework and chopped the wood--with the aid of Suzie, her Negro maid. She and her husband had four children: Billy Frank, Catherine, Melvin, and Jean. Rev. Graham's father, Frank Graham, was six feet two, dark, with a fine bass voice, a farmer. In early manhood he had a religious conversion, but his faith had lost its urgency. It did remain a foundation of his integrity. He was adored and a bit feared by the farm hands and his children. His one indulgence was a big cigar. To Frank Graham, Yankees were suspect; a neighbor or stranger not Presbyterian, Baptist or Methodist he rated peculiar. Rev. Graham's parents were strict but fair. Billy Frank could not be labeled a good student. He did love history, however, and by age fourteen, had read at least a hundred books on that subject. Billy Frank was interested mostly in baseball. He found he was not very tallented in that endeavor although he was on the Sharon High School team as a first baseman. Baseball did influence him--by interfering with his studies! The family's church-going involved driving five miles by car to a small Associate Reformed Pressbyterian Church in Charlotte. In 1933 Mrs. Graham joined a Bible Class (urged by her sister,Lil Barker). Her husband remained indifferent, but Mrs. Graham felt she had learned "the truth," at last. Not long after she joined this Bible group, her husband's head was badly injured by a flying piece of wood from the mechanical saw. Surgeons believed he would die. Mrs. Graham after calling on her Christian friends to pray, went up to their bedroom and prayed. She got up from the prayer, feeling God had heard her plea. There was a full recovery. Both Grahams believed that in that recovery God had spoken to them. They decided to find more time for Bible study and prayer. Billy became most interested in the newly awakened evangelical ministries that were being offered in the area---the sawdust circuit. Impromtu Bible club meetings on sidewalks, within prisons, and various other venues were of great interest to his friends. Billy had been urged to attend some of these events and he soon began to show an interest.. Eventually, in high school years, he was even asked to speak at some of these rallys. He wanted to attend the University of North Carolina, but his mother wanted him to enroll at Bob Jones College in Cleveland, Tennessee. The Grahams had not realized that Bob Jones was not accredited, but never the less, that is where Billy was sent. The school was run like a cross between high school and a recruitment barrack. After having caught the flu again which led to the beginning of a long battle with respiratory trouble, Billy was reluctant to return to Bob Jones the following year. The family visited relatives in Florida, where they discovered a small but highly recommended Bible school. When Billy returned to Cleveland his roommate had also heard of the Florida Bible Institute at Tampa. Dr. Bob Jones did not like the idea of two of his students thinking of leaving for another school. The family drove to Tampa in January of 1937. Everything seemed to fall into place. Both Billy and his roommate enrolled. Billy later wrote home: "words can't express Florida Bible Institute....I never felt so close to God in my life. This is the first time I have enjoyed studying the Word of God...I love it here. I am stronger and feel so much better." Billy developed his preaching ablility on the streets of Tampa. He began holding street corner services. He rose right up from the ranks of the classroom. He seemed to be learning to preach while his fund of knowledge was not yet fully developed. He said he didn't have a passion to be a great preacher, but rather a passion to win souls. He preached too loud and too fast. He was dubbed "the preaching windmill," but the tramps, alcoholics, prisoners, and some of the northern winter visitors in the trailer parks knew what Billy meant. The war was coming to Europe. Billy was in great demand at obscure churches and chapels in different parts of Florida. He bought a car. Part of this story may be of interest to those seeking more information about the City of Venice, located seventy miles south of Tampa. The parents of fellow student at the Bible Institute(Betty Ann Houser) telephoned the school requesting a supply preacher. Billy Graham was sent (to preach) along with Ponzi Pennington (to sing). There was at that time only one church in Venice, the First Baptist. It was at that church, housed in a store front which had been a meat market, where Billy Graham gave his first invitation for an Altar Call.

    Book

    Record Type: Library

    2011.29.01
  3. 2018.47.01
  4. cover for "Cultural Resource Assessment Survey: US 41"
  5. 2017.00.43
  6. Curwood, Margaret E. - Curwood, Margaret E. 2009 July 14

    Announcement, Funeral

    Record Type: Library

    Curwood, Margaret E.

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