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Summary: Still Preaching After All These Years!
Review: Christian or not, you'll enjoy Graham's encounters with world leaders, American presidents, and those he has impacted in his many large worldwide crusades. Always gracious and never malicious, Graham gives his impressions of American presidents from Truman to Clinton. Christian readers will be impressed and uplifted by Graham's accounts of God's hand in opening doors for preaching the gospel despite many obstacles and organized opposition. It was gratifying to read accounts of men and women whose lives were changed by his preaching and his traditional calls for committments to Christ every campaign evening. Though some evangelists have been discredited over the years, Billy Graham has remained clean and honest in representing the gospel of Christ's salvation.
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Summary: Where is the struggle?
Review: First, let me say that I am an evangelical pastor who has the greatest respect for Billy Graham. I believe he has done more to further the gospel message in America than any single evangelist of our time. Second, it seems that my review will be in the minority as it seems to have been given 5 stars by everyone else who has read it.With that said, I eagerly opened this book hoping for insight into his life. How he dealt with struggles. How he dealt with marriage and travel in the midst of his extensive ministry. What I got instead was an itenerary of his travels and very few insights into the difficult decisions that must have been made in his life. There is a great deal of humility within these pages, but very little vulnerability. While I respect this man as much as any Christian that has lived in my lifetime, I found this book hollow.
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Summary: Inspirational, a spur ones faith
Review: Full of stories of God's provision and providential leading, this book reads like a thriller, which is no surprise as what God has done through this man is thrilling. World wide opportunities to share the gospel openned up for Billy and he took them. Full of wisdom, humour, humility, candour, this is a must read to build faith and encourage.
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Summary: Just As I Am... The autobiography of a godly man.
Review: Graham brings his life experience, and hishhardships into this story of his life. It is a straight - forward tale of his problems and his more than adequate blessings. He tells of his crusade for Christ, and his families support and love. Overall, this is a moving story about a godly yet humble man
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Summary: Excellent Book About a Truly Humble and Godly Man!
Review: Graham's autobiography is refreshingly candid and the author pulls no punches over the struggles he experienced while growing up and resisting the call to the ministry. The writing style is simple and unpretentious, just like the author! Among the many interesting experiences in his life mentioned in the book include: 1. Growing up in the Charlotte NC area and his salvation experience while attending a revival.
2. The struggles of resisting the call to ministry and wondering why God would choose him.
3. The work involved in preparing for his crusades and the resulting fruits of his labor.
4. Friendships with presidents, heads of state, celebrities, and the common person.
5. Relationships with his family and struggles they faced when he was away from home.
6. Development and expansion of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
7. Early days at Youth for Christ and college.
8. Courtship of Ruth Bell. After reading this wonderful book, is it any wonder why God would use a humble and ordinary man to draw millions to Jesus Christ? Read the book and be encouraged!
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Summary: Todd D. Wood
Review: Great Book about a great, but humble, servant of God. just hearing about the quantity of his works makes me weary. Very inspirational.
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Summary: A bonus book!
Review: I admire the humble attitude of this truly godly man! This book is such a warm challenge, so informative, and definitely shows how God blesses those fully who give Him the glory!
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Summary: God Knows How to Exalt The Humble
Review: I always wondered what it was about Billy Graham. I found out when I read this book. He is a humble man, a true servant of God, who took all things to the Lord, no matter what it was, before he made any decision. I recall from the book Pastor Graham flying over the middle east, wondering how he was going to speak to the people there about Jesus. And he thought, this is where Christ was born, where he lived and walked, and that is how he approached them. He found a way to connect Jesus Christ with everyone he ever spoke to. I learned much about humility and being a true servant of God from this book, and I recommend it highly.
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Summary: I like Billy, but i REALLY like Ruth!
Review: I am glad this book was chosen for our book club, because I probably would not have chosen to purchase it on my own.
Billy Graham is a man that can truly be judged by the "fruit" in his Christian Life. There may be critics out there, of course, but his fruit shows that he is a man that loves God with all his heart.
I have heard Billy speak in person, as well as two of his other children. From the book, it was very interesting to learn more about the "woman behind the man". Ruth Graham, our book club decided was one AMAZING woman, and such an integral part of what has made Billy who he is in life. She raised wonderful children, and now has even grandchildren speaking out for Christ in Stadiums.
The thing that was the most impressive about Billy's life, and continues to be, is how he is sought out from Presidents and Leader's throughout the world for his prayers, advice, and encouragement. This alone says very much about the man. I would encourage you to read this book for that information alone, as it is very telling, and interesting. I hope to see Billy at a crusade again, but take MY children with me this time, like my grandparents took me when i was young.
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Summary: The stories behind the greatest evangelist ever
Review: I am one who received Jesus Christ into my heart 31 years ago at the invitation of Billy Graham (on TV, no less). Therefore, I have great admiration for this man of God. There is no doubt in my mind that he has accomplished much for the cause of Christ. I decided to read this book (700+ pages) after Billy came to my hometown of San Diego in the spring of 2003 for his final Southern California appearance. I also recenly saw a play on the life of Ruth Graham, which finally prompted me to pick this book off my shelf and begin to read. The first half of the book was especially interesting to me, as I knew little to nothing about how Billy was able to become the so-called pastor to the presidents. I was fascinated at how he was able to rise so quickly to the point where he could call the White House and get a return phone call from whomever was the president, whether Democrat or Republican. And how he was able to preach the gospel without losing his position of authority was fascinating. To me, the second half of the book reads more like a journal of his many cursades than flowing stories that made up the book's first half. I did enjoy his chapters on each of the presidents, from Truman to Clinton. These were my favorites. One disappointment in his book was how little Billy really talked about his family. He did have one chapter (39) where he admitted to having regrets regarding his family (i.e. not spending enough time with them, neglect due to the ministry, etc.), but I wished that he would have spent more time giving reflections on his five children throughout the book. I suppose I could read Franklin's autobiography to learn more about that child, for instance, but I was hoping to learn more about Billy's perspective about the rebelliousness that took place with Franklin. Perhaps Billy didn't want to get too personal, but I think this could have been a beneficial part to a fairly revealing book. And I would agree with Billy in that he lost out in watching his kids grow up. It seemed every chapter talked about his playing golf with this president (he apparently played a lot of golf) or having tea with that queen, but I am disturbed that his family took second-class status. Still, they all turned out to be fine people, and most of them are involved in the Christian ministry, so it all did work out in the end. It's just that, had I been in his situation and the ministry was going to take such a front seat to my life, I probably would have reconsidered having such a large family in the first place. Since I am involved in Christian ministry myself, I realize how difficult it can be to juggle the ministry with family. I am doing everything in my power, to the best of my ability, to make sure my three girls are not neglected by a father who chose to have them. Perhaps looking at Graham's story will motivate me to be an even better father. One other thing that I have concern with is the fact that Graham desires ecumenical peace so much that the gospel almost seems to be diluted. Don't get me wrong, as I am not a "fundamentalist" by any stretch of the imagination. I just think it can be dangerous to try to not offend anyone that soon you offend noone. By nature the gospel is offensive, and I wish Billy would not have been so willing to be ecumenical when it came to associating himself with those who are clearly not orthodox in their Christian way of thinking. I have a Mormon friend who went to all of the training seminars to become a counselor at our recent "mission" in San Diego. Because my friend did his workbook and attended the meetings, he told me that he received a certificate saying that he was qualified to councel at the mission. Now, I can't verify this, but if merely taking an evangelism course and saying that a person has accepted Jesus into his life (which my friend was able to say, because in his mind he is a Christian), then there is probably something wrong here. One other note. This book was written after certain Nixon tapes came out (where Graham apparently said derogatory things about the Jews). Billy does admit in the book that Nixon secretly taped their conversations. I appreciate Graham's desire to be honest and apologize about something said 30 years ago, but you wonder how a man of the cloth could get himself into such a situation. Billy says he did not remember the conversation, but I feel this is a stain in an otherwise stainless reputation. Despite my complaints, this is a worthwhile look into the life of a godly man and is well worth a read. It is quick reading and can be completed in less time than the 700 pages indicates.
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