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Christ Belongs to All People
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 2008
https://www.billygraham.org/News_Article.asp?ArticleID=222
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated nearly 40 years ago, but his legacy remains as a world figure who stood for justice, peace, and reconciliation—all for the glory of God.
Working Together
Although their missions were different, as King worked primarily for racial equality and Billy Graham worked first and foremost to advance the Gospel, Billy Graham and Martin Luther King, Jr., were friends who had a similar dream: to see all people realize their equality with each other in the eyes of the loving God who created them.
In 1957, Dr. King was invited by Mr. Graham to give the opening prayer at a major Crusade event in New York’s Madison Square Gardens. That same year, Mr. Graham asked Dr. King to join him at a private planning retreat to help Billy Graham Evangelistic Association team members understand the racial situation in America more fully.
As their friendship grew, Dr. King asked Mr. Graham to call him by his nickname. “His father,” explains Graham, “who was called Big Mike, called him Little Mike. He asked me to call him just plain Mike.”
In 1958, Mr. Graham and Dr. King traveled together to attend meetings of the Baptist World Alliance in Rio de Janeiro. Mr. Graham recalls the trip vividly because of an incident en route. Dr. King was sitting up in the airplane late at night reading while Mr. Graham had gone to sleep. The captain suddenly announced that an engine had caught fire and proceeded to make an emergency landing on Trinidad Island. When they finally arrived in Brazil, Mr. Graham hosted a banquet for Baptist leaders honoring Dr. King.
King credited Mr. Graham with having a significant part in reducing the tension between whites and blacks in the South. In 1965, Mr. Graham canceled a tour of Europe to preach a series of crusades in Alabama, praying that the Gospel would tear down walls of division between the races and seeing the importance of his work alongside King’s.
Tearing Down the Barriers
Well before Mr. Graham and Dr. King had ever met, Mr. Graham was active in resisting segregation. At his Crusade in Jackson, Miss., in 1952, Mr. Graham opposed setting up ropes to mark segregated seating, a common practice for public meetings in the South at that time. Cliff Barrows, longtime ministry leader with Mr. Graham, recalls Billy saying, “Look, we’re all equal before God,” and asking that the ropes be removed.
The next year, during a Crusade in Chattanooga, Tenn., Mr. Graham went to the building as people were beginning to gather one night and personally tore down the ropes separating the white from the black sections. “My action caused the head usher to resign in anger right on the spot (and raised some other hackles),” says Mr. Graham, “but I did not back down."
Dr. King later said, “Had it not been for the ministry of my good friend, Dr. Billy Graham, my work in the civil rights movement would not have been as successful at it has been.”
Christ for All People
During the civil rights movement, Mr. Graham preached, “Jesus was not a white man; he was not a black man. He came from that part of the world that touches Africa and Asia and Europe. Christianity is not a white man’s religion and don’t let anybody ever tell you that it’s white or black. Christ belongs to all people; He belongs to the whole world!”
Mr. Graham was in Australia at the time of King’s death. He remembers the moment someone approached him with news of King’s assassination, followed by journalists seeking a quote. “I was almost in a state of shock. Not only was I losing a friend through a vicious and senseless killing, but America was losing a social leader and a prophet, and I felt his death would be one of the greatest tragedies in our history. “
In reverence for the work of Martin Luther King, Jr., here are some prayer suggestions for this week:
Pray that people around the world who are different—whether in race, background, gender, or status—will be reconciled with each other for the glory of Jesus Christ.
Pray for God to grant you the strength to befriend someone who is different than you, so that more people will see the beauty, love, and creativity of God in each other.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 2008
https://www.billygraham.org/News_Article.asp?ArticleID=222
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated nearly 40 years ago, but his legacy remains as a world figure who stood for justice, peace, and reconciliation—all for the glory of God.
Working Together
Although their missions were different, as King worked primarily for racial equality and Billy Graham worked first and foremost to advance the Gospel, Billy Graham and Martin Luther King, Jr., were friends who had a similar dream: to see all people realize their equality with each other in the eyes of the loving God who created them.
In 1957, Dr. King was invited by Mr. Graham to give the opening prayer at a major Crusade event in New York’s Madison Square Gardens. That same year, Mr. Graham asked Dr. King to join him at a private planning retreat to help Billy Graham Evangelistic Association team members understand the racial situation in America more fully.
As their friendship grew, Dr. King asked Mr. Graham to call him by his nickname. “His father,” explains Graham, “who was called Big Mike, called him Little Mike. He asked me to call him just plain Mike.”
In 1958, Mr. Graham and Dr. King traveled together to attend meetings of the Baptist World Alliance in Rio de Janeiro. Mr. Graham recalls the trip vividly because of an incident en route. Dr. King was sitting up in the airplane late at night reading while Mr. Graham had gone to sleep. The captain suddenly announced that an engine had caught fire and proceeded to make an emergency landing on Trinidad Island. When they finally arrived in Brazil, Mr. Graham hosted a banquet for Baptist leaders honoring Dr. King.
King credited Mr. Graham with having a significant part in reducing the tension between whites and blacks in the South. In 1965, Mr. Graham canceled a tour of Europe to preach a series of crusades in Alabama, praying that the Gospel would tear down walls of division between the races and seeing the importance of his work alongside King’s.
Tearing Down the Barriers
Well before Mr. Graham and Dr. King had ever met, Mr. Graham was active in resisting segregation. At his Crusade in Jackson, Miss., in 1952, Mr. Graham opposed setting up ropes to mark segregated seating, a common practice for public meetings in the South at that time. Cliff Barrows, longtime ministry leader with Mr. Graham, recalls Billy saying, “Look, we’re all equal before God,” and asking that the ropes be removed.
The next year, during a Crusade in Chattanooga, Tenn., Mr. Graham went to the building as people were beginning to gather one night and personally tore down the ropes separating the white from the black sections. “My action caused the head usher to resign in anger right on the spot (and raised some other hackles),” says Mr. Graham, “but I did not back down."
Dr. King later said, “Had it not been for the ministry of my good friend, Dr. Billy Graham, my work in the civil rights movement would not have been as successful at it has been.”
Christ for All People
During the civil rights movement, Mr. Graham preached, “Jesus was not a white man; he was not a black man. He came from that part of the world that touches Africa and Asia and Europe. Christianity is not a white man’s religion and don’t let anybody ever tell you that it’s white or black. Christ belongs to all people; He belongs to the whole world!”
Mr. Graham was in Australia at the time of King’s death. He remembers the moment someone approached him with news of King’s assassination, followed by journalists seeking a quote. “I was almost in a state of shock. Not only was I losing a friend through a vicious and senseless killing, but America was losing a social leader and a prophet, and I felt his death would be one of the greatest tragedies in our history. “
In reverence for the work of Martin Luther King, Jr., here are some prayer suggestions for this week:
Pray that people around the world who are different—whether in race, background, gender, or status—will be reconciled with each other for the glory of Jesus Christ.
Pray for God to grant you the strength to befriend someone who is different than you, so that more people will see the beauty, love, and creativity of God in each other.
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