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This summer I’m enjoying biographies and autobiographies. I love what I learn and the case studies of amazing leaders’ lives are engrossing.
At the encouragement of a friend, I have been reading Just As I Am: The Autobiography of Billy Graham
So many great stories. I’ll be sharing a few in my next blogs.
Billy writes that in the midst of the 1949 multi-week Los Angeles Crusade, “In the final weeks…I often felt too weak to stand at the pulpit, and some of my platform-pacing was necessary to keep myself from toppling over when I stood still…Billie Barrows at the piano worked as hard as any of us, and Lorin Whitney tirelessly played the organ. Ruth herself stayed up long hours each night counseling people. None of us would leave the little counseling tent until every person had been personally talked to” (p. 156).
While I’m not advocating pushing yourself until you drop, what I’m struck by is that Billy and his team (including his wife) stayed until every person had been talked to. He was no “big stage” speaker who did his thing and then went to a comfy room to relax.
I remember hearing about a well-known youth speaker (if I said his name, most of you would know it) who would pick up trash after he finished speaking. Even though he had spoken before thousands, no job was too small.
Again, I’m all for rest, and I’m all for empowering others to do their jobs and use their spiritual gifts, but I love the model of servanthood in the little things from the giants of the faith like Billy Graham.
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