By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries
LAKE FOREST, CA (ANS) -- The date was Thursday, August 22, 1996, and Billy Graham, dressed in blue jeans and a blue denim jacket that had been given to him some 20 years earlier by Johnny Cash, settled into his rocking chair on the porch of his Montreat, North Carolina, log cabin home, as a cat nonchalantly strolled in front him and we all smiled.
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Billy Graham on the porch of his home |
Before the questioning began, Mr. Graham had shown a group of us around his modest 10-room house that he and his wife Ruth had built out of old logs and timber, and I marveled that such a well-known figure lived, along with his wife, Ruth, in such humble surroundings.
Billy began by saying, “We have lived here for most of our married life. We lived down the mountain for three or four years and then Ruth built this shortly after we were married.
“There were two small farms here at the urging of the Mountain Retreat Association. The people [here] grew corn for bootlegging and so they wanted me to have it. We went to the bank and bought whole place for $4,000 -- 150 acres. The FBI came here in the middle fifties when I was getting a lot of threats and so they said I should have a fence around the place. So a Mr. Pugh from Philadelphia built the fence.”
I had heard there was once a sign that warned visitors about the “vicious dogs” let loose at night, and that there was a misspelled sign that was typical of Mr. Graham’s sense of humor which read: “Trespassers will be eaten.” However, I didn’t see any “vicious dogs” or even the famous sign.
A. Larry Ross, Billy Graham’s long serving media man, was in charge of the proceedings and when it came my turn to ask my questions, I began by asking Mr. Graham: “What do you consider the ‘plain truth’ of the Gospel and what are your thoughts on the new millennium?”
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Dan Wooding chats with Billy and Ruth Graham after the media event |
I then said, “So this would be your message to everyone at Charlotte [where he was about to have a crusade] and around that the world, that this is what we need to do [repent and turn to God] before we have a total catastrophe.”
Billy Graham then smiled and said something to me that I will never forget: “You are a good preacher, so why don’t you go ahead...”
Everyone laughed and I still ponder about the time that Billy Graham had told me that I was a “good preacher” but I have never had the courage to include that in my bio.
My start in journalist began with Billy Graham’s newspaper
It was back in 1968 that I got my first job in journalism, and it came about after meeting Dr. J. D. Douglas, the then editor of Billy Graham’s British newspaper, The Christian, who has since passed away. I had been freelancing for the paper for about a year when I heard that he was going to me a speaker at a writer’s conference at Hildenborough Hall, Kent, that was put on by David Winter, a well-known British editor and broadcaster.
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Staff of The Christian |
I will never forget one of my early days at the paper especially when Dr. Douglas called me into his office and asked me to “head off to St. Paul’s Cathedral” to interview Mrs. Coretta Scott King, who was due to speak at her husband’s memorial service there.
It was many months after the murder of her husband on April 4, 1968, when Dr. King was killed by a bullet from the gun of James Earl Ray, as he was standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.
We talked in the home of Canon John Collins of St. Paul’s Cathedral just before Mrs. King was about to become the first woman to preach at a statutory service at the massive cathedral.
As I watched her four children scamper around the house -- just like any other children of their age – I thought of the pain they must all have been through.
I looked at Mrs. King and asked if she was worried about suffering the same fate as her husband.
“I have lived with the threat so long now I hardly think about it,” she said her eyes ablaze. “I must do what I must do!”
She glanced across the room at her four children, and added, “My children are with me in this.”
Shortly after the interview, Mrs. King stood in the same carved pulpit in St. Paul's Cathedral where her husband preached five years earlier.
“Many despair at all the evil and unrest and disorder in the world today,” she preached, “but I see a new social order and I see the dawn of a new day.”
Mrs. King continued with the work of her late husband until her death on January 30, 2006 at the age of 78. She worked tirelessly for racial equality after he was assassinated and fought successfully for a national holiday in memory of him. She also founded The King Center in Atlanta to preserve his legacy.
Sadly, after a wonderful year at The Christian where I eventually became its Chief Reporter, the decision was taken to close the paper, and I moved on – into a job with a secular weekly newspaper in London, and from there to two of Britain’s top selling tabloids, the Sunday People and the Sunday Mirror. I also became a London correspondent with the National Enquirer.
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Dan chats with Mr. Graham in Germany |
He strode around the room greeting people and when he came to me, he warmly held out his hand and said, “Hi there. I’m Billy Graham. What is your name?”
Without thinking, I blurted out, “My name is Dan Wooding, Mr. Graham. You may remember that you fired me some months ago when I was with The Christian.”
Billy mumbled something about it being a very "sad affair" and he was sorry that this had happened and then moved on.
My career continued until in 1982, when I moved to Southern California, with my wife Norma, and our two sons, to start a new life across "The Pond" and Norma and I eventually began ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times), as a ministry to help persecuted Christians around the world..
I never dreamed I would ever work with Billy Graham again, especially after my comments to him. But it all changed during a period of my life when I was rather ashamed of my tawdry tabloid career in London’s Fleet Street and my time as a correspondent for the National Enquirer, and I had all but given up on my journalism.
As ASSIST began to grow, I had decided to concentrate on running the ministry. After all, wasn’t that more spiritual than being a journalist?
Or so I thought at the time!
But it all changed when I received a phone call from A. Larry Ross, Billy Graham’s press officer, in which he said, “Dan, you know that Mr. Graham has been going to Russia for years now.”
“Yes, and we are running a pen pal ministry with new believers there,” I cut in, thinking that he wanted to know more about our Bridge of Friendship Russia program. (This is now being run by ASSIST Canada).
Larry said politely that he thought that was “very interesting” and then added, “Mr. Graham has been invited to Moscow to hold a crusade there. It will be the first time that he can openly invite people to receive Christ.”
He paused for a moment, and then said, “We’d like you to come and join our media team and use your journalistic skills to report on this historic Mission to Moscow.”
I felt all the air being sucked out of my lungs when he then said, “We feel your tabloid skills could be used to portray what is going to happen there. When could you get on a plane to Moscow?”
I stammered my thanks and said that I would be honored to go and so he said arrangements would be made for my air ticket and visa and he would like me there “as soon as possible.”
When I put the receiver down, Norma looked at me in a strange way.
“What’s up?” she asked. “You have gone as pale as milk.”
“Larry Ross wants me to fly to Moscow to join his media team and use my journalistic skills,” I said trying to take in what was being asked of me.
I also recalled how, one day after I had moved to America, someone had told me that I really couldn’t write and I believed that. I had figured that my tabloid past had been a complete waste of time and could not be used by the Lord.
Norma smiled and said pointedly, “It’s a good thing that Billy Graham doesn’t know that you can't write….” I smiled weakly in response.
Within a few days, the tickets and the visa had come through and I drove to Los Angeles International Airport to fly to Moscow, via Frankfurt, Germany.
When I arrived on a freezing October day in 1992, I was surprised to be asked to lead the morning Bible study for the Billy Graham team, and then for three wonderful weeks, I had the privilege of meeting with Mr. Graham and working with Larry Ross on the many news releases about what I called “A Miracle in Moscow.”
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The media team in Moscow |
What a crusade it was to report on! Each night eager Muscovites filled the 38,000-seat stadium to hear Billy. On the first evening inquirers coming forward signed 10,641 cards of commitment; on the second evening 12,628 signed. On the closing Sunday afternoon 50,000 persons had jammed into the stadium, and apparently the fire people didn’t limit them. Another 30,000 stood outside in the freezing cold where a huge television screen with audio echoed what was happening inside.
The number of decision cards signed was 19,417.
When I got home, I then knew that I had to start up my journalistic career and so I began the ASSIST News Service as a first step.
I had finally realized that God can use even an ex-tabloid journalist to spread the word about what He is doing in His World.
And it all began with a phone call, and three incredible weeks in the Russian capital with an American evangelist. It truly was “A Miracle in Moscow.”
Following this, I had the opportunity to work again with Larry Ross on other Billy Graham’s crusades in Germany and Puerto Rico and attending the funerals of Pat Nixon and a year later, Richard Nixon and talking with Mr. Graham after them. He had preached at both funeral services.
I also wrote the cover story about Billy and Franklin Graham for the Saturday Evening Post.
Now, on Monday, November 7, 2011, Billy Graham turns 93, and this also followed the release of his 30th book, “Nearing Home,” through which he shares personal autobiographical reflections and wisdom on growing old.
“All my life I was taught how to die as a Christian, but no one ever taught me how I ought to live in my latter years,” Mr. Graham wrote. “I wanted to share some of the things I have learned about this stage in life with others, as the aging process is something most of us will experience.”
While working on the book consumed much of his focus during the previous year, Mr. Graham still found time to spend with family members at his home on Montreat, NC, sharing his life and thoughts with his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, as he encourages others to do with their own families.
All, I can say is “Happy Birthday Billy Graham. You are truly the real thing and a true follower and ambassador for Jesus Christ.”
Note to the broadcast media from Dan Wooding. I would be happy to talk on air about my experiences with Billy Graham on the occasion of his 93rd birthday. Just send me an e-mail atassistnews@aol.com.
| Dan Wooding, 70, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 48 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. He now hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on KWVE in Southern California which is also carried throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK and also in Belize and South Africa. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 200 countries and also provides a regular commentary for Worship Life Radio on KWVE. You can follow Dan Wooding on Facebook under his name there or at ASSIST News Service. He is the author of some 44 books. Two of the latest include his autobiography, “From Tabloid to Truth”, which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, has also recently released his first novel “Red Dagger” which is available this link. |  |
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