Not bad for an 86 year-old man
Presumably in light of Time magazine's recent list, Christianity Today is conducting an online poll of "the most influential evangelical." No surprises here:
After almost 60 years of ministry, Billy Graham still has it. I had the privilege of representing the Billy Graham Greater New York Crusade this past November at Dr. Graham's final LA crusade, where I stood on the platform during two of his altar calls watching thousands stream into the aisles for prayer. Art Bailey, the crusade director for NY, says Billy's anointing has gotten stronger as his body has gotten physically weaker because he is experiencing God's strength the deepest in his hour of greatest weakness. I agree. A word on the NY Crusade. Any tri-state area youth workers interested in participating in the crusade's various youth initiatives should contact the Youth Committee. Email info@greaternycrusade.org for info or call the NY office at 212-857-2005. The Committee meets at least monthly, hosted by the Coalition of Urban Youth Workers on the second Monday of every month at the American Bible Society (61 St. and Broadway) from 10-12. The next meeting is February 14. The Youth Committee is hosting a breakfast for youth pastors/workers and their senior pastors/supervisors at the Roosevelt Hotel on Saturday, February 26, from 9:30-11:30 (45 East 45th St. near Grand Central Station). RSVP by calling 212-857-2005.Chuck Colson: 3% James Dobson: 17% Billy Graham: 53% Ted Haggard: 0% Bill Hybels: 1% Bishop T.D. Jakes: 6% Tim LaHaye: 2% Richard Land: 0% J.I. Packer: 3% Rick Warren: 10% John Stott: 4%
posted by Jeremy Del Rio @ 2/04/2005 06:08:00 PM
2 Comments:
I would agree with Bill Graham being the most influential. "He the man." Especially over the course of history. Millions of people have come to Christ through his ministry. More recently statistics support the fact that more Christians come to Christ through family members and one-on-one contacts. How then do we define evangelicals as influential in our modern day culture? Influential to who? To other Christians? To society?
Excellent questions. They express the challenge for Billy Graham's ministry, and the evangelical church more broadly, as Dr. Graham's career winds down.
Lots of us are uncomfortable with the narrow kind of influence some evangelicals exert in our self-imposed Christian ghettoes. Christian merchandise gets sold in Christian bookstores and churches to Christian customers who are looking for Christian fixes to cultural problems. Christian powerbrokers try to mobilize Christian voters to elect Christian candidates whose political identities are tied to one or two Christian political causes. We've created multi-billion dollar market niches and we've elected Christian politicians, but are they influencing the larger culture as salt and light? Have we created a city set on a hill, or a neighborhood behind large walls?
Hopefully, the debate provoked by the influence evangelicals wielded in the last election helps sharpen our understanding of the kind of influence the Great Commission and its correlary Great Commandment require us to shape. Is partisan political influence enough? Is subcultural profiteering enough? Or should we be pursuing something more?
Post a Comment
<< Home