Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Billy Graham's Son Carries Message
> ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- In many ways it's a typical,
> old-fashioned revival, with talk of heaven and hell,
> saints and sinners and a chance to be saved after the
> sermon.
>
> This isn't Billy Graham. The preacher is more likely to
> be dressed in jeans and cowboy boots and the choir
> sounds more like ZZ Top, the hard-rocking trio from
> Texas.
>
> ``We're not having a church meeting here; I want to put
> on a show that people will enjoy,'' said Franklin
> Graham, 45, son of one of America's most admired
> evangelists.
>
> Thousands of people were expected to watch today as the
> younger Graham opened New Mexico Festival '98, an
> upbeat version of his father's celebrated revivals.
>
> Billy Graham is expected to attend the festival this
> weekend to speak to the crowds. Father and son have
> spoken at each other's crusades in recent years, and
> preached together in Canada in 1995, but this will be
> their first joint crusade in the United States.
>
> The elder Graham, 79, has struggled with Parkinson's
> disease and has trimmed down his schedule in recent
> years. Some reports have speculated that the
> Albuquerque event is a passing of the Graham torch.
>
> ``I don't think that's the case,'' Franklin Graham said
> Tuesday. ``He is slowing down, but it gives us a chance
> to do more meetings together. ... He has no intention
> of quitting.''
>
> In fact, he said, his father's health has improved and
> lately feels better than he has in years.
>
> But sooner or later, the older Graham will have to
> surrender the stage. And Franklin, who was named two
> years ago as senior vice president of his father's
> evangelistic organization, is prepared to carry on.
>
> ``My message is going to be the same as what my father
> has preached, it's God's message,'' Franklin said.
>
> It's also a message delivered with a little more
> glitter and little less of the fire-and-brimstone that
> has made his father famous around the world.
>
> High-energy music and short sermons are more Franklin's
> style. He brings in magicians, ventriloquists and even
> karate experts to help deliver his message to children.
>
> ``It's something that people who are not church people
> will enjoy coming to. I want to draw the people who
> have never stepped foot in a church,'' he said.
>
> Franklin makes no effort to hide his status as a
> reformed rebel. His own press packet boasts the tale of
> an adolescence marked by drinking, smoking and a
> disdain for school.
>
> Despite his casual appearance, Franklin said he's still
> delivering a serious message to fill the public's
> spiritual void.
>
> ``People don't take sin seriously, they don't realize
> they can be separated from God for their sins,'' he
> said.
>
> And at the end of each festival, Franklin -- like his
> father -- invites people up to the stage to make a
> commitment to Christ.
>
> ``Religion cannot save you -- you must confess your
> sins and turn and leave your sin. You have to believe
> that Jesus died for your sins,'' he said. ``That's the
> only way God will save you.''
--
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