Tribute to Billy Graham

AS the Christian world celebrates or mourns the home-calling of the father of evangelism in the modern Christian era, the late Dr Billy Graham, I pay my tribute to this great man.
Whist a student at Keravat National High School in 1976, I was invited by school friends to their Friday night Scripture Union.
As I was from ‘another Church’ I went along just to please my friends with a certain amount of hesitation, suspicion, fear and trepidation.
There I watched Billy Graham preach the pure, simple Gospel of the Kingdom.
I surrendered my life to Christ and was born again.
Having come from a strong religious background back home, I had absolutely no idea about this born-again and one-way things I was getting myself into.
Worst of all, my friends were Jesus freaks who continually irritated us with this one-way stuff.
Today, almost 42 years on, I have never looked back and vividly remember that deliberate decision I made on Oct 16, 1976: Date of my spiritual birth and beginning of an exciting journey with the Almighty, thanks to Dr Billy Graham.
It has been 35 consecutive years now of fulltime ministry, most of them in gospel preaching in PNG and nations of the world.
I have witnessed over a million saved, miracles and healing take place, families restored and communities changed.
I pay my respects to the ministry, leadership and influence of the most-outstanding and influential evangelical leader of our era, the late Dr Billy Graham.
May His legacy live on and his soul rest in eternal peace.

Rev Joseph Walters
Rainbow Estate, NCD