ASHVILLE, N.C. — Evangelist Billy Graham marked his 85th birthday Nov. 7 and began solidifying plans for continuing his evangelistic ministry next year. “I never dreamed that I would live to be 85,” Graham said in a statement. “I am grateful to the Lord for the strength He gives me to hold additional crusades.” Graham spokesman A. Larry Ross said officials of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association have decided to again use the term “crusades” to describe Graham’s major events, rather than “missions.”
“I think that there’s been consensus among the leadership to return to the more familiar term ‘crusade,’” Ross told Religion News Service. “It’s what he’s been known for all these years.” In 2001, shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Graham suggested the next announcement of an evangelistic outreach be called something other than a “crusade” in an effort to be sensitive to people of non-Christian faiths.
Ross said the change reflects an emphasis on the “denotation of the word” rather than “any implied connotation.” The evangelist has been meeting with his son, Franklin, CEO of the association, and others to discuss invitations he has received to hold future crusades. He is scheduled to announce his plans for 2004 crusades in January.
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