The Man Next
Billy Graham preached several times in Canada in 13 cities.
Always taking time to understand local cultures, he leaves
a significant mark on Canadian evangelicalism By Karen Stiller
In October 1979, Billy Graham gave me a thrill – that I was in the presence of
preached to more than 50,000 people during a someone and something very special.
five-day crusade in Halifax – including 13-year- And I remember the long, long walk down
old me. Graham preached about Zacchaeus and from the nosebleed section of the Halifax
all the things that stand in our way of having a Metro Centre as the choir sang “Just as I Am,”
relationship with Jesus Christ. the song that will forever be associated with the
I don’t remember any of that. world’s favourite evangelist.
I do remember the thrill of Billy Graham led crusades in 13 Canadian
watching the tall man cities from his first in Toronto in 1955 to his last
with the floppy Bible Canadian appearance in Ottawa in 1998. He
and the warm voice has preached to an estimated 100 million people
withthe mild North worldwide and, thanks to television, radio and
Carolina lilt. I satellite broadcasts of his sermons, reached an
remember sens- estimated two billion people with a very simple
ing – even then, message, shared time and time again: God loves
when Donny you and He wants to have a relationship with
Osmond still you. That’s what the Bible says.
At some point, the number of individuals and
lives touched by Billy Graham will be beyond
counting. It includes many Canadians as well as
the Canadian Church culture as a whole.
Don McCarthy is 80. He has been part of
the Billy Graham scene in Canada since the beginning – literally. As a lawyer in Winnipeg in
