Billy Graham Cursade coming to Kansas City in June
By Allen Palmeri
Staff Writer
Decemeber 2, 2003
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KANSAS CITY – Beloved evangelist Billy Graham will conduct a crusade here June 17-20 at Arrowhead Stadium, officials with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) announced Jan. 8 during a press conference held at the Arrowhead Pavilion located adjacent to the 80,000-seat open-air facility.
Billed as The Heart of America Billy Graham Crusade, it will mark the third time Graham has conducted such an event in Kansas City, the last being in 1978.
Graham and the BGEA team are coming “in fear and trembling and in weakness, but with great joy and dependence upon the Holy Spirit," said Cliff Barrows, Graham’s lifelong associate and song leader who spoke at the press conference attended by several hundred media, area pastors and lay leaders.
Barrows said Graham’s broken left hip, which required surgery and a partial replacement Jan. 6 at a hospital in Jacksonville, Fla., would not deter him from his 415th crusade.
“Mr. Graham is doing wonderfully well," Barrows said. “The hospital expects a complete recovery. He’ll plan to be here as scheduled, and we’re praising God for that."
Larry Turner, vice president of crusades for the BGEA, read an acceptance letter from Graham that expressed how deeply the renowned evangelist wants to return to Kansas City.
“I never expected to still be preaching at the age of 85, and yet my call to proclaim the Gospel is as strong as ever," Graham wrote. “For the past two years, the Lord has given me a burden for Kansas City, and the heart of America … Therefore, health permitting, I will be glad to come to Kansas City. My associates and I are honored to join hands with you in proclaiming ‘The Good News,’ praying that many will accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior."
The idea for a Kansas City crusade began 16 months ago with a phone call to Turner from Dal Shealy, president of the Kansas City-based Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Shealy, a deacon at the 7,000-member First Baptist Church, Raytown, Mo., joined with his pastor, Paul Brooks, to rally church and community support for the crusade. The two Southern Baptists hosted a series of exploratory meetings that grew from 24 attendees to 300. Those meetings led organizers to write Graham to see whether he would come.
The acceptance letter by Graham read at the Jan. 8 press conference made it clear that Graham would follow up his 1967 and 1978 crusades with yet another in 2004.
“The consensus (among the early organizers) was we need a revival in the heart of America," Shealy said. “We need to reach out from the heart of America across America and impact the world for Jesus Christ."
There will be major Southern Baptist/Missouri Baptist Convention participation as crusade preparations take flight.
Rich Hastings, president and chief executive officer of St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City and a member of First Raytown is serving as crusade chairman, while Charles Briscoe, former pastor of Paseo Baptist Church, Kansas City, is serving as co-chairman. Mike Whitehead, a Kansas City attorney and former chairman of deacons at First Raytown is serving as legal counsel for the crusade as well.
“Paul Brooks and I were praying in Israel, and I prayed at The (Wailing) Wall, ‘Lord if you want me to do something, just tell me.’ I came back to Kansas City, I missed a meeting, and the next thing I know I’m chairman," said Hastings, who served as a counselor at Graham’s 1978 crusade.
“Every church that really makes this a priority is going to reap a harvest," Brooks said. “We are in the business of evangelism. That’s what Baptists do. Most churches can’t put together an evangelistic program with Billy Graham and Cliff Barrows, but this one is handed to us on a silver platter, for free. All we need to do is participate.
“We should see thousands and thousands of people saved and brought into our Baptist churches through this crusade."
Graham last did a Missouri crusade in 1999, in St. Louis. Attendance at the TWA Dome (now known as the Edward Jones Dome) averaged 45,000 over the four meetings, with an average of 2,500 responding to the invitation to make a commitment to Christ each evening.
Previous St. Louis crusades were held in 1953 and 1973.
David Tolliver, president of the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) and pastor of Pisgah Baptist Church, Excelsior Springs, said crusade preparation will be a high priority in his church in the months to come.
“This is phenomenal that I would be pastoring in the area where he’s going to be," Tolliver said. “I’m not going to miss this opportunity, and our state convention will be very much involved."
Millions of copies of Graham’s books have been sold in 38 languages around the world. More than 70 million copies of various sermons by the famed Southern Baptist evangelist have been distributed as well.
Graham is known for founding Christianity Today magazine in 1955. He also led the World Congress on Evangelism in Berlin in 1966, the International Congress on World Evangelization in Lausanne in 1974, and the 1983 and 1986 International Conferences of Itinerant Evangelists.
Amsterdam 2000, an extension of the 1983 and 1986 conferences, attracted more than 10,000 evangelists.
| Countdown to the Heart of America Billy Graham Crusade
The Pathway will provide regular updates on events leading up to the Heart of America Billy Graham Crusade June 17-20 at Arrowhead Stadium. Listed are crusade information seminars designed to answer three questions: 1) What is a crusade? 2) How do I become involved in the crusade process? 3) How does a local church benefit from crusade involvement? Jan. 27: Colonial Presbyterian Church, 9500 Wornall Road , Kansas City , (816) 942-3272. Terrace Room. Host pastor: Doug Rumford. Jan. 27: First Baptist Church , Warrensburg, 1302 S. Maguire , Warrensburg, (660) 747-9186. Host pastor: Bob Ingle. Jan. 28: Palestine Missionary Baptist Church , 3619 E. 35th St. , Kansas City , (816) 921-6009. Host pastor: Earl Abel. Jan. 29: Trinity Church of God in Christ, 11922 Food Lane , Grandview , (816) 761-0809. Host pastor: Bishop W.B. Henderson. Jan. 29: Word of Life Church , 3902 N. Riverside Road , St. Joseph , (816) 233-6367. Host pastor: Brian Zahnd. Jan. 31: Kansas City Baptist Temple , 5460 Blue Ridge Cut Off, Kansas City , (816) 358-1515. Host pastor: Jeff Adams. Feb. 1: Crusade Support Sunday. To begin the drive to finance the crusade, pastors present the financial needs of the crusade and the proposed program for church involvement. Feb. 7: Pastor’s Breakfast. Senior pastors and pastoral staff are invited to the Sheraton Overland Park Hotel, 6100 College Blvd. , Overland Park , Kan. , to hear the crusade vision and how it will benefit churches. Breakfast is complimentary. Guest speaker is Walter Mullican, pastor, Portland Avenue Baptist Church , Oklahoma City. |