Billy Graham’s Dating Rules

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks on March 17, 2009

“My parents never once told me to be in at a certain time when I went out on a Friday or Saturday night date. I knew that I had to be up by three in the morning and if I stayed out past midnight I would get only a couple hours of sleep.”
-Billy Graham
(Just As I Am)

Billy Graham’s Heir: The Rebellious Franklin Graham

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks on February 25, 2009

A 1996 TIME magazine article explores the passing of the evangelistic baton from Billy Graham to his oldest son, Franklin Graham. It has a number of interesting tidbits about the rebellious Franklin:

• Billy Graham had asked evangelist John Wesley White to encourage Franklin in preaching. In 1983 White gave Franklin a chance to share his testimony in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in front of 1,000 people. Not a single one came forward. Franklin later told White: “Don’t you ever ask me to do that again. I’m not Billy Graham!”
• The article also described Franklin Graham’s rebellious streak growing up and the lengths his mother, Ruth Bell Graham, had to go to keep him in line: “On another occasion the mother, provoked beyond reason during a fast-food jaunt, locked her son in the car trunk. When she opened it again, he cheerily placed his order for ‘a cheeseburger without meat, French fries and a Coke.’”
• Some of the details are a little more frightening: “In 1987 neighbors called the local sheriff when he took on the task of chopping down a neighbor’s tree—with 720 rounds of machine-gun fire from a borrowed weapon.” Later in the article it adds: “His only known explanation was that he hadn’t realized it would require so many rounds.”
• The article primarily covers Franklin’s ascension to the leadership of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, which it describes as the “Rolls-Royce of revival ministries.” The article notes that Franklin once said, “I wouldn’t touch BGEA leadership with a 10-foot pole,” though he said he would consider it if Billy Graham asked him. Despite reservations from other board members, that’s eventually what happened.
• There’s also the interesting ‘what if’ that some board members, Billy Graham included, publicly considered the idea of shutting down the BGEA after Billy was gone.

Is Franklin Graham Sexy?

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks on February 12, 2009

I saw an awesome Google ad on my site today: “Is Franklin Graham Sexy? The world’s 50 sexiest men over 50—Did Franklin Graham make the list?”

The answer is yes. According to wowOwow’s 50 Sexiest Men Over 50 list, Billy Graham’s oldest son Franklin made the cut: “[Franklin] is best known as Billy Graham’s rebel son. The title rebel automatically denotes sexy in our book.”

Admittedly that’s only one opinion (and who the heck is wowOwow?), but it’s not the first time. Lark News included Franklin Graham in its 2004 “Sexiest Man Alive in Christ” poll. So is this perhaps the first serious sexiest man list Franklin has made?

No disrespect intended, but Franklin Graham as sexy? Really? Others have pointed to Franklin’s suspicious hair which may disqualify him.

I know Billy Graham was quite the looker in his day, but I don’t think they ran ’sexiest men’ lists back then.