Use Natural Forces
Often it’s not arguments but positive natural dynamics that
break down barriers and bring understanding to people alienated
from each other.
Gerald Strober interviewed both black and white clergymen in
Jackson, Mississippi, after the 1976 Graham campaign there. Had
Billy’s meetings made an impact on race relations? One
responded, “A year ago, people who didn’t know each other
started praying together, started studying together, started plan-
ning together. Now you see integration in the choir, on the plat-
form, in the stands.” Another said, “This has been the first time
that many black people have entered white churches. They have
begun to know one another.” And the future? “Normal problems
will crop up,” said one, “but we now have a precedent, and when
problems occur, the people can say, we worked together on the
Billy Graham campaign, we can work together on this.”
Obviously, Billy’s 1976 efforts in Jackson did not solve the
city’s racial problems. But his nurturing the growing edge of
people’s racial understandings by bringing them together had a
powerful effect. It was one of many good seeds that years later,
among other good things, resulted in “Mission Mississippi,” a min-
istry that today fosters interracial harmony and positive action.
Respect the MLKs
You never know when someone who sees things quite differ-
ently will go on to make a huge impact—and will have been right
about many things. Martin Luther King Jr. shared Graham’s roots
in the gospel but had been trained in a liberal seminary and had
a different agenda. Billy could have simply avoided him and
dodged a lot of criticism from many in his constituency. At the
same time, he had developed convictions in tune with King’s, and
he sought common ground.
Howard Jones recalls Martin Luther King Jr. telling Billy, “I
believe your crusades are doing more to break down racial barri-
ers and to bring the races together than what I’m doing. Your
work is helping me.”
The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham