Billy Graham : The sad tale of two evangelist

Introduction: Steve Farrar, in his book Finishing Strong, shares the true story of 3 up and coming evangelists in the 1940s. He writes, “The year was 1945. There were 3 young men with extraordinary gifts who were preaching the Gospel to multiplied thousands across the nation…All 3 young men were in their mid-twenties.”

Who were these men? The first was Chuck Templeton, who was called the next Babe Ruth of Evangelism. One seminary President called him “the most gifted and talented young man in America today for preaching.”

The second rookie evangelist was a 25 year old fireball of a preacher, Bron Clifford. One day Clifford spoke to the students at Baylor University in chapel and kept them on the edge of their seats for over 2 1/4 hours. According to Steve Farrar, by the age of 25 Clifford had touched more lives, influenced more leaders, and set more attendance records than any other clergyman his age in American history. He was tall, handsome, intelligent and eloquent.

Then there was a third young evangelist who grew up on a dairy farm in NC. This young man traveled around the country speaking at Youth for Christ meetings. He was a gifted preacher, whom God was using to bring hundreds to faith in Christ. His name was Billy Graham.

Graham, Templeton, and Clifford. All three of these came shooting out of the starting gate like rockets. You have heard of Billy Graham no doubt. So how come you have never heard of Chuck Templeton, or Bron Clifford? There’s a reason. Let’s take Chuck Templeton first. By 1950, just 5 years later, Templeton had left the ministry to pursue a career in radio and television. Worse, Templeton had totally rejected the Gospel message and denied the LORD he once preached. He lived the rest of his life as an agnostic.

What about Bron Clifford? By 1954, just 9 years later, Clifford had lost his family, his ministry, and his health due to alcohol and financial irresponsibility. He abandoned his wife and 2 young children, and at the age of just 35, he died from cirrhosis of the liver in a run-down motel on the edge of Amarillo, TX. He was so broke a group of local Pastors pooled their money together to purchase a casket so that his body could be buried in a cemetery for the poor.

Within 10 years, only one of these gifted evangelists was still on track for Christ; still walking with the LORD; still a man of God both in his personal life and in his preaching. It was Billy Graham!

You see, in the Christian life, it’s not how you start that matters. It’s how you finish. The Christian life is not a 100 meter sprint, it is a marathon. And it’s the rare Christian who walks with God for the long haul. It’s the exceptional Christian who presses all the way to the finish line. According to Steve Farrar about one in 10 Christians finish well. Many end up drifting away from the LORD because of moral compromise, coddling sin, discouragement, embracing liberal theology, or being obsessed with a desire for money and worldly treasures. Many end up with a shipwrecked faith (I Timothy 1:19).
So here is the question. What exceptional measures are you taking to ensure that you will not be one that drifts away from Christ into compromise, complacency, or a shipwrecked faith? What daily choices are you making that will keep you running this race called the Christian life all the way to the finish line?

You see, becoming a man of God or a woman of God does not just happen by accident—it is by design. Walking with God and living a life that is pleasing to God over the long haul is not something that we blindly stumble onto. No, it happens by divine design—and in this passage God gives us 4 commands, 4 very extreme, forceful, even violent action verbs that describe how we must live the Christian life if we are going run the race well all the way to the finish line. Paul’s tone is one of warning & emergency. Paul is writing to a young follower of Christ, Timothy, who was living in Ephesus, a very immoral, pagan, ungodly city.