In His ‘Granddady’s’ Footsteps, Will Graham Delivers the Good News in Florida
By Alex Murashko
Fresh off the Sunshine State Good News Tour, Will Graham said he was given an ongoing sense of pride for his grandfather and continued hope for America during the outreach events held at the four cities in Florida.
Throughout the tour (Oct. 26 - Nov. 1), led by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Graham said he was able to share with the BGEA team the cherished history of his grandfather’s early life and ministry which happened in Florida. During the tour, he also witnessed the hope of an ongoing revival in America.
Billy Graham was not only ordained in Florida, but it is where he received his formal education, was baptized, where he first spoke on the radio, and where he preached his first official sermon. Source: The Good News (Florida).
Evangelist Will Graham delivers the Good News on tour in Florida. PHOTO: BGEA
During time off from the tour, Graham took the BGEA team to the former site of Trinity College. “We actually went by his old campus in Temple Terrace where he was going to school, and where he fell in love with God's word. I was able to see a lot of my granddaddy from a historical perspective. And for me, as his grandson, that was special.”
In this same interview with Think Eternity News, Graham addressed the current spiritual climate in the U.S. and the death of Charlie Kirk. He believes that the revival he sees happening now began nearly three years ago at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky.
“God has used the death of Charlie Kirk but that was not the start of the revival,” Graham said. “The revival has been going on since Asbury, and it's been showing up in all these different pockets. However, it went full flame since Kirk's death. What God started a number of years ago in Asbury is still going. It's still moving. It's still burning in people's hearts. Also, God still uses tragedy to further the kingdom of God. I’m not surprised.”
More than 10,000 people attended the Sunshine State Good News Tour in the cities of Tallahassee, Gainesville, Sarasota, and Pompano Beach. Nearly 500 people made decisions for Christ.
Graham said that he opened and closed his evangelistic messages by talking about John 3:16. “My first message and my last message (on tour) was just one verse, John 3:16, because this verse is the essence of the good news: that we're sinners, that Christ died in our place, and that He gives us forgiveness if we believe in Him. I gave that simple message really quick. In a sense, it doesn't take long to preach John 3:16 and we saw a number of people come to know Christ.”
“There is good news, but it doesn't come from the government. Good news doesn't come from other people. Good news comes from God,” Graham said. “And that's the ultimate good news: that God loves sinners, that Jesus died in the sinners’ place, and for whoever believes in that, puts their faith in Jesus Christ, He's willing to forgive them of their sin and give a new start, a fresh beginning, and where they can spend eternity in heaven.”
He adds, “And so that's the best deal yet, because He’s given the costliest gift in the world, that which we can't afford. But yet, God paid it all for us. All we have to do is receive it as a free gift by faith, and that's how we get it. And it's free for anybody. It doesn't matter if you're educated, what color your skin is, what you know, or what economic status you're in. It doesn't matter. God gives you this gift freely, He gives His only begotten Son, but yet he gives it to us freely, if we just accept it. So, it's a wonderful deal. It's the best news that anybody can hear.”
Read more about the Sunshine State Good News tour on the BGEA website.
Alex Murashko is a Christ follower, husband, journalist and writing team leader for Think Eternity, a site for powerful faith content to help you live the fulfilled life in Jesus. Murashko is also founder of Media on Mission.
Connect on X: @AlexMurashko.