■ ■ ■The number of serendipities Billy initiated as a result of all those
thousands and thousands of seeds sown would fill many volumes.
Here are just three:
■ ■ ■“As a new Christian working at a hotel,” says Mark Driscoll, “I
once had the privilege of chatting for about ten minutes with Billy
Graham, who was staying there as a guest. He was sitting in the
restaurant by himself, wearing a Minnesota Twins baseball cap,
reading the paper and eating breakfast when I approached him to
introduce myself. He asked if I knew the Lord, and I explained
that I was a new Christian and that God had called me into min-
istry. His words were very encouraging, and he kindly promised
to pray for me.
“After our informal conversation ended, other people seated
around him in the restaurant recognized who he was. Rather than
rushing off to avoid being bothered, Dr. Graham graciously stayed
in the restaurant to visit with people, share the gospel, and pray
over the children who came to sit upon his lap and have their pic-
ture taken with him as if he were Santa Claus. His gracious spirit
and humble approachability made a great impression upon many
of the non-Christians I worked with. To this day I sincerely thank
God for working through Billy Graham in such a wonderfully
faithful manner, both in and out of the pulpit.”
Mark Driscoll went on to plant Mars Hill Church in Seattle
and to form an entire church-planting network, Acts 29, which by
2004 had launched more than a hundred churches.
■ ■ ■Casual interaction in a family and a gracious giving of his time to
a different young man had larger ramifications than anyone would
have thought at the time. In the summer of 1985, the family of
Sowing Seeds in All Seasons