T.W., Grady, Rick, Cliff, Warren, Russ, and literally thousands
of other colleagues and leaders have been up close and personal
enough to experience the humility and authenticity of Billy’s
study and prayers. What does this have to do with leadership
principles? Billy’s sincere prayers with them made them part of
something more than meetings and machinery. They sensed his
heart and opened their own hearts to the mission.
They also knew that Billy struggled mightily in prayer, and
that it was not merely a river of balm and energy he simply
accessed. He was open about his own struggles.
In one of his books he writes that he prayed “long and
earnestly when I was going through a dark period, but there was
no answer. I felt as though God was indifferent, and that I was all
alone with my problem. It was what some would call ‘a dark night
of the soul.’” In this case, Billy shared his feelings with his mother,
who urged him to “reach up by faith in the fog and you will find
His hand will be there.” He took her advice and “experienced an
overwhelming sense of God’s presence.”
But such affirmation was no permanent victory. Instead, it
was a constant return to the Source. “Every time I give an invita-
tion, I am in an attitude of prayer,” he says. “I feel emotionally,
physically, and spiritually drained. It becomes a spiritual battle of
such proportions that sometimes I feel faint. There is an inward
groaning and agonizing in prayer that I cannot possibly put into
words.”
This intensity in prayer was at the beginnings of his ministry.
William Martin tells the story from Roy Gustafson, one of Billy’s
groomsmen and a close colleague. Roy, Billy, and two other men
were walking out in the hills, talking about an important deci-
sion. They agreed to pray. Billy said, “Let’s get down on our
knees.”
Roy was wearing his only good suit, so he got his handkerchief
out, laid it down carefully, and knelt on it. As they prayed, Billy’s
voice sounded muffled to him. Roy opened his eyes and saw that
while three of them were gingerly kneeling, Billy was flung out
prostrate on the ground, praying fervently, oblivious to the dirt.
The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham