■ ■ ■Roosevelt’s man in the arena, “face marred by dust and sweat and
blood, spending himself in a worthy cause, daring greatly”—how
is such a leader formed?
The summation above of TR’s formative years is one of many
sketches we could have included to show the process of leaders
being formed in the furnace.
“Extrusion” is the word used to describe the process of forc-
ing a material through a die. The metal that eventually emerges
has been extruded, reshaped into a useful form.
The extrusion process for Billy Graham started early and lasted
a lifetime. As a young man, he wrestled with God as not only lov-
ing Father but also “consuming fire.” During those sleepless pac-
ings in Florida and impassioned yearnings in Wales, he felt the
weight of compelling claims and eternal consequences. To under-
stand the passion of Billy Graham, one must recognize his distinct
crucible was not of multiple deaths of loved ones or similar grief
but, at the very core, the intensity of the Call. It was the crucible
that continued to refine, purify, and empower him all his life.■ ■ ■Before its theater release, Mel Gibson took his film on Christ’s pas-
sion to West Virginia, where Billy and his team were meeting, to
show it privately to Billy. Sitting with his close associates, the
evangelist watched the vivid enactment of Christ’s crucifixion.
Deeply moved, he wept.
In a sense, it was the core of what he had lived all his life.
“The Passion of the Christ,” he said after viewing the film, “is a
lifetime of sermons in one movie.” Billy’s own lifetime of sermons
and leadership has been always in the context of what he under-
stood Jesus to have endured to bring others peace and hope, and
what he himself must endure to communicate that message.
Sherwood Wirt, longtime editor of Billy’s Decisionmagazine,
observed, “All attempts to explain Billy Graham fail unless they
begin at the cross.”
Igniting!