Just As I Am

by Billy Graham

Eventually, Dr. Bell and I shared my vision with J. Howard Pew, chairman of the board of directors of the Sun Oil Company. I met him for the first time not long before conceiving the idea for Christianity Today. He had been asking me to come to Philadelphia to meet with him and spend the night. I had never heard of him, and I declined. Then he sent me a check for our work in the amount of $25,000, along with a message: “When you come and spend the night with me, I’ll have another check for $25,000 for you.” Needless to say, that got my attention! After that (and my visit to Philadelphia; yes, I flew up there!), we got to know each other very well. I came to have great affection and admiration for him, not because he had a great deal of money but because he was a man of God and a man of wisdom who wanted to see his wealth used wisely for the cause of Christ.

  Early on in our relationship, I mentioned that we were thinking of starting a magazine, and I made bold to ask him a direct question: “Would you contribute heavily to that?”

  He smoked his cigar and looked out the window. “Well, I’ll talk to my sisters [Mabel and Ethel] about it. I think we can do it.”

  In the magazine’s early years, he supported Christianity Today generously; in fact, without his support I have no doubt the project would have failed. He was very conservative politically and didn’t always agree with some of the editorials in the magazine, but never once did he threaten to withdraw his support or attempt to control its editorial policy.

  Another strong supporter was Maxey Jarman, a Southern Baptist layman from Nashville, Tennessee, with business interests in New York and elsewhere. He not only helped financially but also offered sound advice.

  Another early consultant was Dr. Harold Ockenga, minister of the historic Park Street Church in Boston, whose friendship I talk of in an earlier chapter. “I wish we could organize an editorial board,” I wrote him, “and start a magazine that would be precisely like The Christian Century, except from an evangelical viewpoint. . . . We should avoid extremes, both to the right and left. We should discuss all issues objectively and not from a biased viewpoint.”

  The choice of an editor became one of the thorniest problems.

  A college acquaintance, Harold Lindsell, wrote to me from Fuller Seminary to recommend one of his teaching colleagues and our mutual friend from Wheaton days, Dr. Carl F. H. Henry. Carl had been in the Wheaton College graduate school when I was at Wheaton. “He has tremendous insight into the application of the Gospel to the social problems of the day,” wrote Dr. Lindsell, “and he also has an awareness of the weaknesses of fundamentalism along with a keen insight into the problems of neoorthodoxy, liberalism, and conservative Christianity.”

  I had some questions about Carl, though. He had professional journalism experience, but I had read some of his recent work and told Harold that it “has a tendency to be rather heavy. . . . and though I am a minister of average intelligence, it has been very difficult for me to follow.” That was an understatement! I thought The Christian Century did a good job of representing the liberal cause in popular language, and I coveted the same effectiveness in our journal.

  My frequent references here to The Christian Century underscore how much we respected that magazine as a promoter of its viewpoint. While I felt it represented a dying cause, not for a moment did I underestimate its influence. Nor did I take lightly its journalistic standards, and I desperately hoped we would be able to do as good a job for evangelicals as it had done for liberals.

  I did not want our magazine to be divisive. Harold strengthened my determination on that count: “One cannot be a member of the body of Christ in a vertical relationship without also having a horizontal relationship with his fellow believers who are members of the same body,” he wrote. “Division is sin and nothing will obscure that fact, even though it may presently be stressed more by the ecumenical movement than it is being stressed by our conservative brethren. The divisive approach is death and it cannot hope to succeed. . . .”

  While I was in the United Kingdom for several months in 1955, Dr. Bell kept me informed of the project’s progress by phone and mail. I read between the lines. I had some anxiety about disagreements between him and some of the other principals, especially those I had in mind to be members of the board of directors. I prayed every day about the project. The men who would make up the board were friends of mine, but many of them didn’t know each other. I felt that they would unite behind the project, and I knew that I would have their confidence in the beginning in a way others would not. I was anxious that we not get conflicting opinions and break into small segments of thought.

  I wrote to Mr. Pew (with a copy to Dr. Bell) on April 13, 1955: “These campaigns that thrill and excite the clergy for a short period and show them what God can do with old-fashioned theology must be followed through with a periodical that will give them a reason for the hope that is in them. . . . The Lord seemingly has given me the vision for this paper and I am desperately afraid of its getting out of hand.”

  I went on to name ten men to a board of directors, with myself as chairman. This had been furthest from my intention at the start. In fact, I had not even wanted my name associated with the enterprise in a prominent way; the connotations some people had of Crusade evangelism might prejudice them before they gave the magazine a fair reading. We wanted to appeal to all kinds of people. In addition, the magazine I had envisioned might have to take strong positions with which I would not want to be totally identified.

  Dr. Bell allayed any misgivings in his reply to me in Glasgow. He wrote that my letter was “like a breath of fresh, cool air. I do not believe anyone but yourself can bring these very strong-minded people into the homogeneous group that we must have.”

  The top spot on the first Christianity Today masthead—editor—carried the name Carl F. H. Henry. It had taken some doing to get it there! Ever since Harold had first mentioned his name, Carl had emphasized that he was not seeking the job. He even wrote to Dr. Bell listing several reasons why he should not be considered. Nevertheless, he was the right man for the position.

  As for the contributing editors, I suggested to Carl a lot of people I had met in my travels throughout the world—people he wouldn’t necessarily have known. Among these were English and Australian leaders and World Council of Churches people whom I knew to be evangelical. And of course Carl included some whom he knew were real theologians.

  The hallmark distinguishing Christianity Today was a commitment to the trustworthiness of Scripture as the Word of God, with all of the ramifications of that commitment. Of supreme importance to me also was our editorial strategy. Instead of using the stick of denunciation and criticism, we would present a positive and constructive program. We would attempt to lead and love rather than vilify, criticize, and beat. Conservative Christians had failed with the big-stick approach; now it was time to take a more gentle and loving direction. Thousands of young ministers and theological students in churches and seminaries were ready to be led, but at any pushing, probing, and fighting they would rebel. We would not compromise the essentials of our faith, but we would use a positive approach to gain the same objectives that conservative Christians had failed to win using other means for twenty years. We knew that not everyone, especially extreme fundamentalists, would follow the magazine. However, it was my vision that the magazine be pro-church and pro-denomination and that it become the rallying point of evangelicals within and without the large denominations.

  On October 10, 1956, I was in Louisville, Kentucky, staying at the Brown Hotel during our Crusade there, when an airmail letter from Dr. Bell arrived: “My dear Bill. 285,000 copies of the first issue of Christianity Today finished rolling off the presses in Dayton at 2 A.M. today.”

  That first issue, dated October 15, carried three articles dealing with critical theological issues, in addition to several editorials and book reviews. The distinguished Dutch theologian G. C. Berkouwer contributed an article on “The Changing Climate in European Theology”; Presbyterian theologian Addison Leitch wrote
on “The Primary Task of the Church”; my contribution was more modest, a heartfelt essay on “Biblical Authority in Evangelism.”

  The lead editorial on “Why Christianity Today? ” set the tone for everything we were attempting to do: “Christianity Today has its origin in a deepfelt desire to express historical Christianity to the present generation. Neglected, slighted, misrepresented—evangelical Christianity needs a clear voice, to speak with conviction and love, and to state its true position and its relevance to the world crisis. A generation has grown up unaware of the basic truths of the Christian faith taught in the Scriptures and expressed in the creeds of the historic evangelical churches. . . . Christianity Today is confident that the answer to the theological confusion existing in the world [today] is found in Christ and the Scriptures.”

  I was thrilled at the initial reactions. A Lutheran minister in New York City told a conference that as a result of reading the magazine, he had gotten on his knees and rededicated his life to God. A young Baptist minister told a denominational gathering that the article on the authority of the Bible in evangelism had caused him to have the same experience I had in 1949, accepting the Bible as the Word of God. Professors at both the Presbyterian and Southern Baptist seminaries in Louisville gave excellent reactions too.

  Not long afterward, I visited a Catholic theological school. There I noticed a stack of copies of Christianity Today, which had been sent to the school free of charge.

  “Is that magazine read and studied by the students much?” I asked the man showing me around.

  “More than any other,” he replied.

  The BGEA contributed heavily to the initial cost and for many years continued to put several thousand dollars per month into the magazine. But early on, Christianity Today came to a point where it faced bills amounting to $90,000 but had only $15,000 in the bank. Although the BGEA wanted to help more, we were already beginning to incur heavy expenses connected with the Crusade we planned for Madison Square Garden in 1957.

  Carl Henry was troubled that the board would face what he called a “rescue operation” at its January 1957 meeting. We needed about $200,000 more than we anticipated. If there were to be serious cutbacks, Carl said, he couldn’t consider a second year with the magazine.

  Dr. Bell wrote to him at once: “You have the qualities none of the rest of us have and we would be completely lost without your guiding hand.”

  That Carl stuck with it relieved and delighted all of us. By the end of our first year of publication, we had claimed our niche in religious journalism. I sent a note to Carl: “I thank God every day that you have seen fit to take this as your responsibility. I believe you are making the greatest possible contribution to the entire church at this critical hour.”

  A few years after we began publication of Christianity Today, we became involved in two magazines in Britain.

  I had heard that the Church of England Newspaper, which leaned toward the evangelical point of view, was going to close because of a lack of finances. It was a stock company, and I asked Jerry Beavan to see if he, acting on my behalf, could purchase the majority stock; he did so. My plan was to sell it to a group of evangelicals or to a wealthy evangelical businessman. We didn’t publicize our involvement, and later Sir Alfred Owen took over our interest.

  We then purchased a struggling magazine in Great Britain called The Christian. Our goal was to make it similar to Christianity Today. It had been started in the previous century and covered extensively Dwight L. Moody’s ministry in Britain; by 1962 it was on the point of being closed by its owners, the publishers Marshall, Morgan, and Scott. Tom Allan, our friend from Glasgow, briefly came on as editor and also manager of our London office, but soon he suffered a heart attack from which he never recovered.

  Dr. James D. Douglas of Scotland, a well-known editor and theologian, then took the helm. Jim turned The Christian into a relevant and respected evangelical periodical that made a significant impact during the seven years it was published. In spite of concerted efforts, however, its paid circulation seldom went above 15,000; the BGEA was forced to subsidize it heavily. We closed it rather abruptly in 1969. Admittedly, we caused some hurt feelings, and in retrospect I wish we had dealt with the closing in a more sensitive way. However, I am grateful that in time other British publications rose up to fill the gap.

  In the subsequent decades, we have had many personnel changes at Christianity Today, and worldwide Christianity has seen much movement. Carl served as editor until 1968; he was followed by a succession of distinguished editors, including Harold Lindsell, Kenneth Kantzer, and Gilbert Beers, before the magazine moved to the editorial-team approach that it presently uses. In addition, regular contributors from all over the world give input and alert the editorial staff to new trends and events. Today the organization incorporates a number of other publications directed at specific groups, including pastors, youth, and families.

  The road, however, has not been consistently easy. Some years ago, the board discovered that because of unwise business decisions (including an attempt to start a book club without thoroughly researching the matter), Christianity Today was facing a very large deficit of $900,000. A young publishing executive who was with Youth for Christ, Harold Myra, was brought in with the mandate to place the magazine on a businesslike basis with a break-even budget. He oversaw the magazine’s move from Washington to Carol Stream, Illinois; that relocation saved a significant amount of money. Under his leadership, Christianity Today and its companion publications are among the best managed in the publishing industry, secular or religious.

  Dr. Clayton Bell, senior pastor of Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas, has continued his father’s commitment to the magazine by serving as executive chair of the board of directors.

  The magazine has changed through the years. Evangelicals are no longer an ignored minority. In fact, our greatest danger may come from our public visibility and influence. Christianity Today seeks to speak to these and other contemporary issues. I have always urged the editorial staff to deal with them in an openly biblical and theological way. I pray that the magazine will never depart from its founding commitment to high biblical and theological scholarship. All over the globe, people are desperate to hear a voice of biblical authority and to find a stable spiritual standard.

  FOUNDING Decision magazine

  Before Christianity Today came to be, Bob Pierce mentioned to me that his organization, World Vision, had started a magazine to tell supporters about his work and to encourage them to pray. “It’s almost doubled our income,” he told me, adding that when people were informed regularly about an organization’s work, they were more likely to support it with their gifts and prayers. “Billy, something like this would help your work tremendously,” he assured me.

  My thought was that any magazine we did should be a vehicle primarily for evangelistic and devotional articles, not a “house organ” to raise financial support. Yet we were doing so many other things that a magazine just seemed beyond us. Furthermore, there were already a few good magazines being printed from an evangelical perspective, such as Donald Grey Barnhouse’s Revelation (later Eternity) and Moody Bible Institute’s Moody Monthly. And George Wilson opposed the idea; a periodical would require a new staff with skills in journalism, as well as a strong financial commitment.

  However, as plans began developing for Christianity Today in the mid-1950s, my thoughts turned more and more to the possibility of another magazine. I felt that we needed two publications: one on an intellectual and theological level for clergy and lay leaders, and another, more popular magazine to help ordinary Christians in their witness and daily walk. I wanted the latter to include articles with an evangelistic emphasis, as well as devotional messages, simple Bible studies, stories of conversions and changed lives, and news of our Crusades.

  In April 1958, we were in San Francisco for a seven-week Crusade at the Cow Palace. Christianity Today had assigned Sherwood Wirt, a local Presbyterian pastor who had b
een a professional journalist, to cover the meetings for them; he later wrote a book on that Crusade. Woody, as he came to be known to us all, was once a theological liberal but had become a thoroughgoing evangelical several years before. He held a Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh and had experience as a military chaplain and minister to university students. I was impressed by both his writing skills and his quiet spirit. He accepted our offer to become the first editor of our new magazine. We debated various titles, including World Evangelism, but George Wilson came up with the name Decision, which we adopted.

  Decision magazine began publication with the November 1960 issue; it had a print run of 299,000 copies at its inception.

  “The basic purpose of this magazine,” I wrote in the first issue, “will be twofold: to provide spiritual food for Christians, and to publish evangelistic messages and articles aimed at reaching the secular mind and winning the nonbeliever to Christ.”

  We have adhered to those goals ever since.

  Within a year, we added separate editions for Australia and England. By 1962 circulation had passed the 1 million mark. George reported that at one time requests for the magazine subscriptions were coming in at the rate of 10,000 a day. Within the next few years, several foreign-language editions were added, as well as an edition in Braille. By the time Decision celebrated its tenth anniversary, circulation had passed 4 million. One spin-off was the School of Christian Writing, which Woody established in 1963 to train budding Christian writers through intensive workshops.

  Woody was editor until his retirement sixteen years later. His successor, Roger Palms, has continued Woody’s tradition of journalistic excellence and spiritual relevance.

  The response to Decision more than convinced us that it was meeting a need in many people’s lives. Not only does it go to individuals, but through the years bulk copies have gone to prisons, hospitals, and overseas mission groups.

  We have often heard stories of unexpected or unusual ways God has used Decision. Some people, for example, used their copies as wrapping paper for small gifts they mailed into a country that was one of the most closed and restrictive in the world. Unsuspecting customs officials apparently never caught on to the real reason for the wrapping.