Baylor University Extends Condolences to the Family of Billy Graham

Media Contact: Lori Fogleman, 254-710-6275
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WACO, Texas (Feb. 21, 2018) – Baylor University is mourning the passing of the Rev. Billy Graham, who preached the Gospel to nearly 215 million people in live audiences across more than 185 countries and territories. Throughout his ministry, more than 3.2 million people have responded to the invitation to accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior.

“We are deeply grieved to learn that the Rev. Billy Graham has passed away, yet we rejoice that he has been called home as a good and faithful servant of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” said Baylor President Linda A. Livingstone, Ph.D. “In 1970, Billy Graham visited the Baylor campus and described the distinctive role that Baylor plays in Christian higher education. He spoke of the University’s commitment to faith and learning and to helping our students understand their responsibility to be the hands and feet of Christ and serve others throughout the world, a commitment to which Baylor remains faithful. His connection to Baylor remained strong as his daughter, Anne, served on our Board of Regents, and three of his grandchildren proudly earned their Baylor degrees. Our deepest prayers are with the Graham family, and we join millions around the world in giving thanks for Billy Graham, for his unyielding faith in a risen Savior and his mission to bring Christ’s light to the world.”

A renowned author and one of the Gallup Organization’s “Ten Most Admired Men in the World” an unprecedented 55 times, Graham has counseled American presidents and consoled the nation in times of crisis. Educated at Florida Bible Institute and Wheaton College, Billy Graham also holds an honorary doctorate from Baylor University, which was presented on Nov. 6, 1954.

In 1996, Graham was one of 12 individuals named as the most effective preachers in the English-speaking world, according to a worldwide survey conducted by Baylor University.

In early September 2012, a contingent of Baylor representatives had the rare opportunity to visit Billy Graham in his log cabin home in the mountains near Montreat, N.C., where he was presented with Baylor’s Pro Ecclesia Medal of Service. The award honors individuals whose contributions in the public/non-profit sector or Christian ministry have made an immeasurable impact on a local or global community. The Baylor representatives were welcomed by four of Graham’s children, Franklin, Ruth, Gigi and Anne, and by granddaughter, Morrow. Graham’s wife, Ruth, passed away in 2007.

A forthcoming conference on Nov. 6-7, 2018, hosted by Baylor’s Institute for Studies of Religion, will focus on Graham’s impact globally and on American Evangelicalism. The conference will feature plenary addresses by Grant Wacker, author of “America’s Pastor: Billy Graham and the Shaping of a Nation”; Anne Blue Wills, author of a forthcoming biography of Ruth Graham; and Ed Stetzer, The Billy Graham Distinguished Chair of Church, Mission and Evangelism at Wheaton College. The conference also will feature two moderated roundtables. Graham would have been 100 on Nov. 7.

Below is the text of the Fall 2012 Baylor Magazine feature on Billy Graham, recipient of the Pro Ecclesia Medal of Service:

What you might not know is that, while the evangelist did not graduate from Baylor, the Graham family has strong Baylor ties. His daughter, Anne Graham Lotz, served as a Baylor Regent from 2005-08. Three of his grandchildren -- Jonathan Lotz, BA ‘94, Morrow Lotz Reitmeier, BSEd ‘96, and Rachel-Ruth Lotz Wright, BSEd ‘97 -- graduated from Baylor.

Graham himself has been to Baylor and Waco on a number of occasions, including speaking in a Chapel service in 1950 and at a memorial service for victims of the May 1953 tornado that devastated downtown Waco.

On Feb. 1, 1970, he was the featured speaker at a weeklong celebration of Baylor’s 125th birthday. During his speech to more than 10,000 people at the H.O.T. Coliseum, Graham talked about the importance of Baylor’s role in higher education and how the university’s commitment to faith and learning helps students understand their responsibility to the world.

“There is no reason for Baylor’s existence as an educational institution without spiritual emphasis,” he said. “That is one thing we’ve got that makes us unique. That is why there will always be a Baylor.... (A Christian institution) should give relevance to Christian faith through social concern. Blessed is the man who stands with the gospel of the Bible in one hand and social concern in the other.”

Ordained in 1939 by a church in the Southern Baptist Convention, Graham studied at Florida Bible Institute (now Trinity College in Florida) and Wheaton College in Illinois, where he met and married Ruth McCue Bell, daughter of a missionary surgeon.

The author of 30 books, Graham founded the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in 1950, headquartered in Charlotte, N.C. Graham has been listed by the Gallup organization as one of the “Ten Most Admired Men in the World” an unprecedented 55 times, including 49 times consecutively. His counsel has been sought by every president from Eisenhower to Obama, and his appeal in both the secular and religious arenas is evidenced by the wide range of groups that have recognized him, including an honorary doctorate of divinity from Baylor on Nov. 6, 1954, when Graham spoke at Baylor’s Second Annual Conference on American Ideals.

“Ever since I became a Christian I have heard of Baylor. Some of the very closest friends I have in the world -- men like Howard Butt and others -- were graduated from this institution,” said Graham. “I have great admiration for this institution. It has been constantly in my prayers, and it has been my privilege in the past few years to recommend students to this institution. ...

“We need an institution like Baylor University that trains young men intellectually, but does not forget the spiritual, development of a soul. And Baylor more than any institution I know in the United States has taken knowledge and the intellectual in one hand and the spiritual in the other, and is developing Christian leadership in America unparalleled at the present moment.”

Below is a summary of Graham's visits to Baylor and Waco, courtesy of Randy Fiedler, a university historian and director of marketing and communications in Baylor's College of Arts and Sciences:

Jan. 10, 1951

Billy Graham’s first visit to Baylor took place on Jan. 10, 1951 (when he was 32 years old). He spoke that morning in Waco Hall during Chapel, then that evening he spoke again at the First Baptist Church of Waco with his message broadcast live over WACO Radio. He was brought to Texas by the Baptist General Convention of Texas, and was in Texas on a statewide drive to win 250,000 new converts during 1951.

In his Waco Hall address, he used John 13:13 as his text: “Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.” (KJV)

Quotes from his Waco Hall address:

“Without divine intervention we cannot preserve our way of life, our homes and our future.”

“A general awakening is occurring on college and university campuses throughout the country. College students are hungry for God.”

“Communism today is inspired, controlled and given supernatural power by the devil. We will never defeat or outmaneuver communism unless we have supernatural power from God.”

“During the last 15 years, we thought we didn’t need God. We worshipped at the shrine of science which brought us to the brink of catastrophe. We in America are not going to get out of this crisis without the help of God, and God is not going to help us unless we as a people turn to God.”

Nov. 6, 1954

Billy Graham spoke at Baylor on Nov. 6, 1954, as part of Baylor’s second annual Conference on American Ideals. He spoke in Waco Hall to an overflow crowd and delivered an address titled “Christianity’s Contribution to American Civilization.”

The same day, Graham and Tennessee Gov. Frank Clements, another speaker at the Conference on American Ideals, were both awarded honorary doctoral degrees by Baylor.

Nov. 14, 1962

Billy Graham was one of the featured speakers during Baylor’s World Emphasis Week, Nov. 12-15, 1962. Graham spoke on Nov. 14 to a packed house in Marrs McLean Gymnasium. Baylor classes were dismissed that morning to give students a chance to hear Graham speak, but due to a shortage of space in the gym, only 4,000 students could be admitted into the building. However, KWTX-TV and local radio carried Graham’s address live.

Graham told students that mankind had obtained the weapons to destroy itself. “Unless we find a solution, you won’t live a normal life. The explosion will take place in your generation,” Graham said.

Feb. 1, 1970

The gathering in Waco’s Heart of Texas Coliseum on Sunday, Feb. 1, 1970, was held to celebrate Baylor University’s 125th anniversary. Billy Graham opened the “125th anniversary convocation” with an address to about 10,000 people in the Coliseum.

Graham said there was a need for institutions with a “Spiritual emphasis” to compensate for “the tragic failure of American secular education –– the failure to educate the total person in mind, body and spirit.”

“There is no reason for Baylor’s existence as an educational institution without spiritual emphasis. That is one thing we’ve got that makes us unique. That is why there will always be a Baylor,” Graham said.

ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 17,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions.