Alabama itinerant preacher Don Graham marks 10 years of service

Many years ago, God gave Don Graham a promise that He would let him be a part of “real, authentic revival.”
   
“And that’s been the driving force that’s kept me going,” Graham said.
   
July marks his 10th anniversary as an itinerant “revivalist,” a ministry he said he “never dreamed” he would enter. But during Graham’s 35 years as pastor of five Baptist churches — four of which were in Alabama — God slowly began to draw his heart toward that kind of service.
   
“I don’t view myself as an evangelist but as a revivalist to call the church to brokenness and revival,” Graham said. “When real revival comes, evangelism will flourish.”
  
Following that calling, he has spoken to about 40 churches a year — most of which are Alabama Baptist churches. 
   
Graham has also gone to Costa Rica, Colombia, Brazil, Tanzania, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Wales and Haiti preaching what he calls “an unpopular message.”
   
“It’s unpopular because the church is in a spiritual downward plunge, but it’s too far gone to be changed by anything but the invasion of revival,” Graham said.
   
Roger Willmore, pastor of Deerfoot Baptist Church, Trussville, in Birmingham Baptist Association, said Graham’s revival ministry “has truly been a blessing to Alabama Baptist churches.” 
   
“I think Don is one of our finest preachers, and he has such a burden to see God do a deeper work in our lives and churches,” Willmore said.
   
Graham, a graduate of Samford University in Birmingham and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., said he hasn’t seen “true, authentic” revival yet but knows the Lord will make good on His promise. “And as long as He opens doors, I’ll continue to preach.”  (TAB)