war, his powerful messages of love and courage drew thousands;
one of the sermon series became a remarkable book on the Lord’s
Prayer, titled Our Heavenly Father.
“The great things happen to those who pray.” Yet prayer is not
only the source of grace and joy but also of striving and pain. The
source of great things, but not without great engagement. Lead-
ership is, indeed, forged in the furnace.
Billy realized that he stood on the shoulders of giants like
Thielicke, Luther, and Wesley. Martin Luther, who knew a thing
or two about leadership, famously said he was so extremely busy
that he could not get it all done without spending four hours each
day in prayer. And John Wesley, who also established a world-
wide movement, said flatly, “God does everything by prayer, and
nothing without it.”
Billy was quick to identify prayer as the vital ingredient in his
first Boston meetings. He would tell the story of a day when he
walked by Harold Ockenga’s office and saw a remarkable sight.
The distinguished clergyman, always fastidious in dress and man-
ners, was literally under a rug, praying fervently. Billy was greatly
moved by seeing him so mightily wrestling with the Lord, and
later attributed much of the spiritual fruit of those New England
meetings to Harold Ockenga’s prayers.
But there is more to the story. Allan Emery, who was on the
point leadership with Graham and Ockenga for those Boston
events, tells with love and appreciation just what his friend was
praying about under the rug.
Dr. Ockenga had been in the forefront of inviting Billy to hold
the New England meetings and worked energetically to bring
them about. Yet the limelight on the evangelist caused him feel-
ings of envy. Billy was doing in New England what Ockenga had
not been able to do. Ockenga was under the rug that day, pour-
ing out those feelings to God.
Envy can block effectiveness and wither the soul. Harold Ock-
enga understood that, and he refused to give in to it. Instead of
coddling himself with self-pity, he poured out to God his feelings
and his concerns for the burgeoning initiatives. Perhaps he had
The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham