Jake
Mabe
Billy Graham’s eight minute sermon
(and other good tales)
Local author releases book on ‘Influential Christians’
Hard to believe, but did you know that Billy
Graham’s first sermon lasted but eight minutes? And that included
portions from two or three others thrown in for good measure because he
didn’t think he’d talked long enough.
That’s but one of several nuggets local author and
Walters State history professor Tim Holder shares in his new book,
“Influential Christians,” which profiles 16 men and women Holder
identified as having a major impact on the faith.
Some, such as Graham, are familiar. Others, like
Bill Hybels, may not be. Hybels is senior pastor of
Willow
Creek
Community
Church in South Barrington, Ill.
Holder said he chose Hybels because the pastor’s congregation rose from
modest beginnings in a theater to a weekend average of 16,000.
Holder said he also wanted to “do the professor
thing” and cast an objective eye over each person, examining criticism
that each may have encountered and how they responded to it.
Surprises linger even among the familiar.
Holder said he didn’t know that Graham was often
criticized during the early portion of his career, either for being too
old-fashioned or being too willing to embrace new things, like appearing
on TV talk shows.
Another selection that might surprise the reader
at first glance is Charles Colson, former counsel to President Richard
M. Nixon who served jail time for his role in the Watergate scandal.
Colson pondered his future while incarcerated,
became a self-described “born again Christian” and founded the nonprofit
Prison Fellowship ministry.
“He discovered that the inmates weren’t being
‘fixed’ by their time in prison,” Holder said. “A lot of people were
initially cynical about Colson, but he’s been involved now for several
decades.”
Other chapters are devoted to singer Amy Grant
(“she was the first really big crossover success story”), “Left Behind”
authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, Southern Gospel music pioneers
Bill and Gloria Gaither, and evangelist Beth Moore, who founded Living
Proof Ministries, a biblically-based organization for women.
He also included a piece on Christian singer Russ
Taff, who is a personal favorite. Holder said that Taff stuck to his
dream of becoming a Christian recording artist even though a lot of
people began telling him to, “find a real job.”
“His music meant a lot to me and it was neat for
me to tell part of his story.”
Holder has previously authored a book on Nixon and
Watergate and is the co-author of the “Ask the Professor” series, which
gives advice to first-year college students. He and his family attend Wallace Memorial Baptist
Church.
“This is my seventh book and it’s the book I’m
most proud of,” Holder says. “What these people have done is remarkable
and I’m glad to tell their stories. On a more personal level, I feel I’m
growing as a writer.”
Holder says that the story of Billy Graham’s eight
minute sermon provides a lesson for all of us.
“Success sometimes requires us to overcome big
obstacles.”
“Influential Christians” is available at
Amazon.com, through special order at most bookstores or at Tim Holder’s
Web site, www.tdhcommunications.com.