As Jack Modesett, CTI’s chairman, observed about Billy’s reluc-
tance to fire employees, “Churchill wouldn’t fire people either!
Yet what a leader he was.”
Billy accepted his weaknesses, leveraging them and keeping
his eyes on the goal.
■ ■ ■Joni Eareckson Tada, who was paralyzed from a diving accident
when she was a teenager, has been an outstanding leader herself,
despite her dramatic limitations. She founded and leads her orga-
nization, Joni and Friends, which encourages and equips those
with disabilities, has written outstanding books, and has often
appeared with Billy. We found her insights about leveraging
weaknesses especially insightful as she told us about her experi-
ence at Graham’s Moscow crusade in the early 1990s: “My trans-
lator was Oleg, a young Russian man who was severely visually
impaired. He commented while we were on the platform, ‘Joni,
isn’t it wonderful that God is using me, a blind boy, and you, a
paralyzed woman to reach the people in my nation of eleven time
zones?’ I got a lump in my throat, just thinking of his point: that
God delights in choosing weak people to accomplish his work. I
was about to respond to Oleg when I saw Billy Graham slowly
rise (with a little help) from his seat to walk to the platform. It
was around the time he had received an initial diagnosis of per-
haps Parkinson’s disease. As I watched Mr. Graham steady him-
self to step up to the pulpit, I said to Oleg, ‘Friend, God is using not
only a blind boy and a paralyzed woman but an elderly man on
shaky legs to reach your people!’”
How did Billy react when she shared those thoughts with
him? “He wasn’t embarrassed. This is what has inspired me most
about this extraordinary leader. Not only does he keep moving
ahead, despite his physical challenges, he seems to boast in them.”
Joni then pointed us to God’s words in 2 Corinthians 12:9—
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in
weakness.”
Learning — and Leveraging Weaknesses