North Carolina's Billy

The name of the dual carriageway running close to our hotel in Charlotte, gives a clue to one of North Carolina's most famous residents.

Today we visited the Billy Gram Library, just off the Billy Graham Parkway. This is a library on the pattern of an American presidential library - in British terms it is a museum that tells the life of a famous individual, rather than being a repository for books.

We loved everything about the Billy Graham Library. It told the amazing story of the evangelist's life. How he started as a humble farmboy in North Carolina, and became the confidant of presidents and monarchs, preaching the gospel to vast crowds in stadia and arenas all over the world.

But it did this without glorifying the man. It kept the focus on the Lord. The Gospel. The power of God's word.

And, as you would expect, there was a clear and gracious proclamation of the Gospel, with the opportunity for visitors to respond to the message there and then and to seek prayer.

The main building replicates the farm where Billy gre up and visitors follow a 'journey of faith' entering through a cross shaped door to view a series of video presentations and displays.

Nearby is the actual house where Billy Graham was born, and in the grounds is the grave of his beloved wife, Ruth.

She once saw a sign on a road where some roadworks had just been completed.  She said she wanted the same words on her grave and this has been done. So under her name on the tombstone are the words 'End of Construction. Thank you for your patience.'

I was pleased to see in the displays this photograph of the night Billy Graham preached to a paxked Wembley Stadium in 1989.

I was there as one of the counsellors and I remember the sight of hundreds and hundreds of people responding to the challenge to 'get up out of your seats' and to come forward and to follow Christ. It was a glorious night.

Ultimately, his humility, his complete integrity in financial and sexual matters, his faithfulnress to the Gospel, and his love for God and his fellow men, have made Billy the farm boy from North Carolina, a wonderful ambassador for Christ throughout the world. .

And finally, as civil rights and racial relations has been the theme of this sabbatical, it is noteworthy that the Billy Graham Library has been the most racially integrated place we have visited in the south, with black and white Christians working harmoniously together in the cause of Christ. Thanks be to God for that.