Although in the Templeton experience he drove belief stakes
into the ground that would anchor his ministry, issues of strat-
egy presented different sorts of crucibles. He would have to
weigh advice against advice, friend against friend, faction against
faction.
For instance, in trying to decide whether or not to go to the
Soviet Union in 1982, the pressure was intense. Likewise, pas-
sionate calls for him to start a Christian university were so strong
that he purchased land in North Carolina and began the process,
then eventually backed off. Years later, proponents of the uni-
versity concept were still deeply disappointed.
Some would say Billy listened to too many people and wres-
tled with decisions too long and made too many U-turns. But the
bottom line is, he wrestled and prayed them through. Looking at
his lifetime of zigs, zags, and straight lines, it all adds up to remark-
ably focused leadership.
■ ■ ■Sterling Huston handled Billy’s campaigns for twenty-eight years,
and, on meeting with him, it’s easy to see why he did so well at
it. Warm, impeccable, organized, confident yet low-key, he epit-
omizes the best-of-the-breed leaders who go into cities to make
the Graham meetings happen.
“Billy had a great sense of conviction that what he was doing
was the will of God,” Sterling told us.
We asked, “So he listened to everybody, but his ultimate
learning was from listening to God?”
“Yes, and the signal he received was not full of static.”
We were sitting around an oval table at CTI, on which Sterling
had laid his papers. Trained as an engineer and always well pre-
pared, he had studied the materials we had sent and now
drummed a finger on our outline, saying the principles being
explored were sound, including the emphases in Good to Great.
“How did he listen to you, Sterling?” we asked. “As he chose
cities to go to, how did he sort out the many voices?”
Learning — and Leveraging Weaknesses