■ ■ ■Sowing seeds effectively also means doing so in multiple and var-
ied contexts. Senator Mark Hatfield pointed out to us how Billy
demonstrated this to him in 1957 when he was Oregon’s secretary
of state, and they came into contact in New York.
“Billy was having his famous meetings in Madison Square Gar-
den,” Mark told us. “They closed off a number of streets and had the
big session in Times Square. As those streets angled off, Billy was
standing in the center, and they had the platform and microphone
with a PA system down those streets. It was a mass of people in
every direction, all funneled into the center of the square.
“What impressed me was how Billy used the theater mar-
quees. He took Love from a Strangerand other movie titles blink-
ing in bright lights and built his simple gospel message out of the
environment of those marquees.”
Mark realized that Billy was adapting his message to the cul-
ture in the same way the apostle Paul had. “They listened to Billy
because he put it in a familiar context,” Mark said. “It reminded
me of Saint Paul when he started his missionary work and was
first in Lystra. He said, ‘I’ve come to tell you about the God who
makes the rain to fall and the grass to grow.’ He was speaking with
relevance to his particular audience. Then in his next place he was
talking to a Jewish congregation, and he said, ‘I’ve come to tell
you about what the prophets in our history have told us, the com-
ing of the Messiah.’ So Paul put the gospel into that context. Later
he talked to the Greeks, and he said, ‘I’ve come to tell you about
the unknown God that you’ve erected an altar to.’
“To me, it was such a dynamic parallel of Billy’s message being
couched in everyday language with pertinence to familiar things
and symbols that the people could recognize. He used to say that
he had only one message, just different verses. He never veered
from his message, but it was always relevant, and it was relevant
to the listeners of that day and that place and time.”
Mark saw in his long association with Billy the evangelist’s
consistent ability to lead in many contexts.
Sowing Seeds in All Seasons