34 LISTENER MARCH 10 2018
H
e drew bigger crowds than
the Springboks – and we
would not see scenes of
raw emotion like that until
the Beatles arrived a few
years later. Yet the spiritual
stampede that evangelist
Billy Graham touched off
in 1959 now seems so unlikely that it’s all
but vanished from the history books.
Over 11 heady days in March and
April, Kiwis flocked to hear the Ameri-
can preacher with the burning eyes. An
estimated 350,000 of us packed out a
series of rolling “crusades” in the main
centres, with 18,000 “making decisions for
Christ”. The population at the time was
2.3 million.
His impact sounds intense. Newspaper
reports told of a weeping constable bent
in prayer on Lancaster Park, flinging his
helmet and uniform jacket on the grass,as he stepped forward to
pledge himself. Heart-
throb Johnny Devlin,
fresh from being mobbed
by teenage girls, promised
to mend his ways.
The great religious
showman, who had
prayed with queens and
presidents, almost didn’t
make it. Days before
leaving for New Zealand,
he’d gone blind in one
eye, though his sight later
returned.
He restricted local appearances; a total
of eight meetings were held in Auckland,
Wellington and Christchurch, but Graham
spoke only at the last in each city – the
others were led by associate evangelists
Leighton Ford, Grady Wilson and Joseph
Blinco.Raised as a Presbyterian,
Graham came here at the
invitation of the non-
denominational National
Council of Churches, led
by Reverend Alan Brash,
father of former politician
Don Brash. Walter Nash’s
Labour Government
pulled out all the stops.
Officials organised trans-
mission of sermons live by
landline to 60 town halls,
cinemas, church halls and
prisons from Kaitaia to
Invercargill.
Crowds were transported on special
NZ Railways “crusade trains”. And when
Graham launched his New Zealand
campaign before 60,000 at Carlaw Park
in Auckland, the rail network paused.
Timetables were rejigged to ensure hisTHE MAN WITH TH
US evangelist Billy Graham, who died last month aged 99, addressed
WHEN FAMOUS PEOPLE CAME TO TOWN
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