Evening star., 1952-01-13
By cospor Names

| S&SkSt tNSbtuSS
william Franklin Graham. jr..
10 man who has won a following
lof thousands, considers Washing
ton his biggest challenge.
When he left home for WASH
lington. the 33-year-old North
ICarolinian. who In Q few years
has become Americas leading
evangelist. was warned:
Billy. you are now going to
your Waterloo
Billy Graham believes, himself,
that his month-long self Imposed
assignment, which begins at the
armory this afternoon. is q diffi-
cult one.
But If any evangelist can win
washington, he Is the man.
Not since Billy Sunday has any
religious crusader achieved Billy
Graham's impact on America.
Armed With Confidence.
The young preacher, who now
carries q warning of Waterloo
in his ears, looks like q football
player, but he has the person.
ality Of q trusted family doctor.
And he also is armed with con-
fidence in himself, faith In his
message and an abundance of
nervous energy with which to
tackle the job.
The nervous energy should stand
him in good stead. He has made
q virtue Of his restlessness. On
the platform his constant move
ment is a decided asset. for the
Evangelist learned early that a
|motionless speaker cannot hold
people seated In the far ends of
IA huge auditorium. So his nat
|ural inclination to stride about
the platform. to use sharp ges-
lures and to assume somewhat
acrobatic attitudes while speak
ing are positive aids.
Mr.. Graham probably will cover
40 miles moving about the armory|
platform in the next month. A
pedometer attached to him one
night in Atlanta, two years ago
showed he covered more than 1h
miles in 40 minutes of speaking.
Extends Considerable Energy.
A doctor once told Mr.. Graham
that he expended enough energy
in one hour speaking to equal
a full days work. The evangelist
compensates for this by eating
five times q day during . cam
paign, having a light meal at $50
pm, and then a big dinner-usu-
ally steak or roast beef latter the
evenings meeting. But despite
that fact he normally loses 8 toI
10 pounds during q crusade-aI
lot for a man 6 foot 2 inches tall
who weighs only ITS pounds.
Mr.. Graham has solved the
problem. which hand
cuffs most speakers to one spot,
by attaching a small naicrophone
to his coat lapel. His associate
evangelist. Grady Wilson. sitting
in the rear. handles the line from
the microphone in somewhat the
same manner a fisherman plays
the comings and goings Of Q fight
ing trout. "a ~ !
A powerful. and persuasive
speaker. the evangelist is q self
taught orator. While a theologi-l
cal student at Florida Hlbie Col
lege, now Trinity College, he used
TO go into d nearby cypress swamp.
climb upon q tree stump and
orate to the buzzing insects and
sleeping crocodiles. 4
~ Prays for Pulpit. I'll
One vdaye he prayed. "God, If
You want me to preach. help me
locate ID pulpit"
J. Soon after q man came out. Of
the woods and approached the
youth. He explained the speaker
for a gospel meeting nearby had
failed to appear and asked the
student to help him.
Would I help him out?" Mr..
Graham said. Right then, I
looked up and knew that God had
heard my prayer"
His first sermon in a Baptist
at Bostwick, Fla, came
with frightening suddenness. The
l9-year-old student was visiting
his minister friend there when
the latter one Sunday morning
told him. "You are studying for
the ministry and I am going to
push you into 1t. Go ahead and
preach today"
The youth did, and proceeded
to jam four sermons he had pre-
pared for school delivery into
eight minutes. One sermon now
takes ten times as long
to deliver.
Even today, Mr.. Graham said,
II never stand before an audi
ence without fear and trepida-
ton"