that would be useful for the sermon he was preparing. His con-
versation was always marked with a humility and a passion to see
the outpouring of God’s Spirit upon our part of the world.
“Then, a few years later came the most terrible moment of my
life. Everything in my life (and Gail’s) came to a halt because of
my personal failure. On a Friday morning in May of 1987, I told
the board of the organization I was leading that I would immedi-
ately step down as its president. As soon as I had done this, Gail
and I went to our home with the intention to withdraw from pub-
lic life for an indefinite period of time. It was the darkest hour
either of us has ever known.
“We were hardly in the door of our home that morning when
the phone began to ring. I would have ignored it, except that it
kept ringing and ringing. When I finally answered, there was the
familiar voice of Billy Graham. ‘Gordon, this is Billy. I’ve been try-
ing to call you all morning.’ I could hardly speak. He went on, ‘I
want you to know that you’ve already been forgiven by God, and
that I forgive you.’
“As far as I can remember, this was the first word of forgive-
ness spoken by anyone except Gail. I wept. How had this man
heard of my situation so quickly, and why would he take the time
to call and offer this hopeful word?
“After several more minutes of conversation, he concluded
the call saying, ‘Why don’t you move down here to Montreat for
a year or so and help me write sermons?’ I could not imagine this
happening, but the very fact that Billy would say this brought a
ray of sunlight into that darkness. What a creative way to say that
there just might be a tomorrow.
“Each time Billy Graham has walked into my life he has
marked it. He gave me a sense of the high standard of genuine
godliness in a man who can preach to millions, engage with pres-
idents, and yet never become so aloof that he could not bring a
bottle of medicine or a word of grace to a flawed man in need of
kindness.”
Igniting Other Leaders