Gordon had opportunity to interact with Billy at the organization’s
conference for university students. We’ve selected Gordon’s story
to conclude this chapter.
“It was mid-evening, and my wife, Gail, and I were getting
settled in our hotel room on the campus of the University of Illi-
nois, where the triennial Urbana Missionary Conference would
begin the next day. The year was 1979. There was a knock on the
door of our room. Opening the door, I found Billy Graham stand-
ing there with a small paper bag in his hand. Handing it to me,
he said, ‘Here’s the medicine I told you about. I went down to a
drugstore and got it for you.’
“An hour before, Gail and I had sat at dinner with Billy and
others who were to be speakers at the convention. For some rea-
son, I had mentioned that I’d had the flu and that my stomach
was still having difficulty digesting food. Billy overheard this and
suggested a remedy that could be purchased over the counter at
any drugstore. Gail and I made a mental note to look for it the
next day.
“Now, an hour later, here’s Billy Graham standing at our door
with the medicine. I was speechless. All I could finally blurt out
was something silly. ‘Billy, I can’t use that medicine. I’m going to
encapsulate it in plastic as a monument to your kindness.’
“I had met Billy Graham on a few previous occasions, but
apart from the privilege of shaking his hand, I could hardly claim
to know him. Yet here he was, serving the need of a young and
somewhat obscure pastor.
“Years later Billy would stand in the pulpit at Grace Chapel,
where I was pastor, and call an audience of Christian leaders in
New England to prayer at the beginning of his six-state, 1982 New
England Crusade. On several occasions during those weeks, he
invited Gail and me to drive with him to various crusades. He
liked, he said, the way the two of us prayed for him, and that we
were not reluctant to pray for him and the upcoming meeting,
even while the car was in motion.
“He would phone us at home to ask if I had any suggestions
for sermon topics, or did I have any particular quotes or stories
The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham