CHARLOTTE, N. C. – Thousands of people will descend upon the Queen City Friday as the world says goodbye to Charlotte’s favorite son, Reverend Billy…
CHARLOTTE, N. C. – Thousands of people will descend upon the Queen City Friday as the world says goodbye to Charlotte’s favorite son, Reverend Billy Graham.
The beloved evangelist will be laid to rest alongside his late wife Ruth on the grounds of the Billy Graham Library following a private funeral. Officials with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association expect over 2,000 guests at the funeral, including President Trump and Vice President Pence. Officials also expect more than 100 international delegates from 50 countries to attend Friday’s service.
Other esteemed guests at Rev. Graham’s funeral include Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson, Kathie Lee Gifford, Joel Osteen, and Beth Moore of Living Proof Ministries.
Trump and Pence will meet privately with the Graham family before Friday’s funeral. Neither is expected to speak during the service.
The funeral message will be delivered by Rev. Graham’s son, Rev. Franklin Graham. Graham, who serves as president and CEO of the BGEA and Samaritan’s Purse, will preach from a pulpit used during one of Rev. Billy Graham’s crusades in the 1990s. During his life, Rev. Graham’s ministry and crusades reached over 215 million people in 200 countries.
The funeral will take place under a massive, 28,000 square-foot tent. The reason for a tent? It’s a tribute to Rev. Graham’s 1949 crusade in Los Angeles. The funeral will be streamed live on WCNC.com, NBC Charlotte’s Facebook page, and on the NBC Charlotte Mobile App. The NBC Charlotte app is available on both iTunes and Google Play.
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Grammy-winning Christian recording artist Michael W. Smith, a personal favorite of Rev. Graham’s, will perform “Above All,” following tributes from members of the Graham family. Famed southern gospel group the Gaither Vocal Band will also sing during the service, performing “Because He Lives,” one of Rev. Graham’s favorite hymns. Bill and Gloria Gaither were longtime friends with Graham and performed at many of his crusades over the years.
To conclude the service, the Graham family and the casket will be escorted out of the tent and back to the Billy Graham Library as “Amazing Grace” is performed by Pipe Major William Boetticher. Ruth Graham’s funeral in 2007 also included a bagpipe recessional.
Following the funeral, Rev. Graham’s casket will be escorted from the Library to the gravesite by a procession of pallbearers, made up of members of Graham’s family. Officials expect about 200 family members to attend the interment, which will be closed to the public and media.
BGEA officials said over 13,000 people paid their respects to Rev. Graham while he lay in repose at the Billy Graham Library on Monday and Tuesday of this week. Former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush made personal visits to the viewing, as well, with both delivering remarks expressing Rev. Graham’s impact on their lives.
Rev. Graham was brought home to Charlotte Thursday after he lay in honor inside the U. S. Capitol Rotunda Wednesday. Graham was just the fourth private citizen and first in over a decade to receive the honor. Thousands filed into the Rotunda to pay their final respects to the man who grew up on a dairy farm off of Park Road and went on to become one of the most significant religious figures of the century.
Rev. Graham’s tombstone will read “Preacher of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ” along with a single Bible verse. That verse, John 14:6, reads “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
“You know, I’ve lost a very dear friend and a man that I had the privilege of spending many years in a very private and personal way with,” said Dr. Don Wilton, the personal pastor of Rev. Billy Graham, who will deliver the invocation for Friday’s service.
And while Rev. Graham’s funeral will be an A-level production for the world to see, Wilton said it took some convincing just to get the world’s most well-known pastor’s name spoken during the service.
“Mr. Graham wants one thing, that is the Lord Jesus Christ be high and lifted up,” Wilton told NBC Charlotte. “I mean, to the point that it took some persuasion to even get him to agree that his name could even be mentioned at his own funeral.”
In keeping with Rev. Graham’s humility, he will be interred in a simple casket that was handmade by Louisiana inmates. During a preaching engagement at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, Louisiana, Rev. Franklin Graham learned inmates had been building caskets for other inmates who died while serving their sentences.
“He asked if they could make one for his mother and father,” BGEA spokesman Mark DeMoss said. “The caskets are made of pine, plywood and lined with a mattress pad. A wooden cross is nailed to the top of the casket.”
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