■ ■ ■In the quest to increase effective communication, Billy constantly
pursued new avenues. During a 1954 crusade that packed Lon-
don’s Harringay Arena for twelve weeks, Billy experimented with
landline relays, which carried his voice to overflow venues across
the British Isles. Organizers set up speakers in 430 churches and
auditoriums in 175 cities. Surprisingly, Billy’s gospel invitation
spurred an even greater response in many of these remote loca-
tions than it did in Harringay, because the listeners could focus
more intently without the distractions of arena seating.
More than four decades later, Billy was still employing the lat-
est technologies. In March of 1995, Graham stood in a pulpit in
Puerto Rico delivering a series of messages heard by as many as
one billion people. How? His distinct Southern intonation was
beamed toward thirty satellites, which redirected the signal to
receiving dishes in more than 185 countries. The sermons were
then translated into 116 languages. “It is time,” he said, “for the
church to use technology to make a statement that in the midst
of chaos, emptiness, and despair, there is hope in the person of
Jesus Christ.”
Why the strong motivation to innovate? Billy’s associates
insist his drive to innovate was rooted in his calling to reach out
to others with God’s love. What else, they ask, could motivate him
in the 1960s to don sunglasses, shabby clothes, and a baseball cap
to mingle in New York City among protesters of Students for a
Democratic Society? Why else would he walk into a music store,
load up on rock albums, and then sit down at his Montreat home
to hear an unfamiliar generation’s coming-of-age anthems? Gra-
ham left his generational comfort zone because he believed in his
message and loved those who needed to hear it.
This confidence and compassion endeared him to peculiar
audiences. During his 1971 meetings at McCormick Place in
Chicago, Billy endured periodic boos and hisses from some three
hundred hippies and Yippies who gathered to taunt the evange-
list. During the invitation hymn, this group elbowed their way
The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham