• Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Lifeway Research

Lifeway Research

Enlightening today’s church with relevant research and insights

  • Research
  • Insights
  • Resource Library
  • Fast Facts
  • Search

Remembering America’s Pastor: Billy Graham

Uncategorized | Mar 3, 2018

Billy Graham's funeral
Billy Graham’s grandsons served as pallbearers for his March 2 funeral at the Billy Graham Library. Photo by Bob Carey/Baptist Press

Watch a replay of Billy Graham’s funeral service >>

From his Feb. 21 death to his March 2 funeral, the days of Billy Graham’s memorial activities were not only considered major events in church history, but benchmarks in national and world timelines.

In case you missed it, here is a compilation of our coverage remembering “America’s pastor.”

Billy Graham’s Funeral Brings Ministry Full Circle in ‘The Canvas Cathedral’

Billy Graham was memorialized the same way the world came to know him: under a tent.

“America’s pastor” was laid to rest March 2 beside his wife, Ruth, in the Prayer Garden of the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, North Carolina, following a private funeral service.

The oversized white tent is a remembrance of “The Canvas Cathedral”—the site of the 1949 Los Angeles Crusade, on the corner of Washington Boulevard and Hill Street.

Graham’s older son, Franklin, delivered the funeral message, and each of Graham’s four other children—Gigi, Anne, Ruth, and Ned—made remarks.

“My father preached on heaven, told millions how to find heaven, and wrote a book about heaven,” said Franklin from the platform during the funeral service. “Today, he is in heaven. His journey is complete. … If he could speak, he would ask you, ‘Will you be making this journey to heaven?’”

Read more >>

Anne Graham Lotz (@AGLotz) sharing memories of her father @billygraham and a powerful reminder about "hope for tomorrow" and the promise of Christ. Live now: https://t.co/9RqhBknOpK pic.twitter.com/xRZqSjiAll

— BGEA (@BGEA) March 2, 2018

Billy Graham Becomes Only 4th Person to Lie in Honor at U.S. Capitol

Billy Graham became the fourth private citizen in U.S. history to have lain in honor in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.

The public came to pay respect to “America’s pastor” for several hours on Wednesday, Feb. 28. His pine plywood casket, constructed by inmates at Louisiana’s Angola Prison, rested on a platform built hastily after Abraham Lincoln’s 1865 assassination. The platform was covered with a black cloth similar to the one used when Lincoln lay in state.

Prior to Graham, civil-rights hero Rosa Parks, who died in 2005, was the most recent private citizen to lie in honor at the Capitol.

Read more >>

On Feb. 28, 2018, Billy Graham became the 34th overall, and only the fourth private citizen to lie in honor in the Capitol Rotunda. https://t.co/eU3ccGZSyp

— BGEA (@BGEA) February 28, 2018

Motorcade Brought ‘America’s Pastor’ Back Home

On Saturday, Feb. 24, the immediate family had a private prayer service at the Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove in Asheville, North Carolina, before a motorcade transported Graham’s body to the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, where he lay in repose.

The journey took around three and a half hours, leaving The Cove around 11:30 a.m. and arriving at the Billy Graham Library around 3 p.m.

The outpouring of love we are seeing as we travel from Asheville to Charlotte via the motorcade with my father @BillyGraham is overwhelming. People lining the streets, the overpasses—Thank you. pic.twitter.com/j5R6TNsve4

— Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) February 24, 2018

Billy Graham’s Body Lay in Repose at the Billy Graham Library

On Monday, Feb. 26 and Tuesday, Feb. 27, the public was invited to come pay their respects to Billy Graham, who lay in repose in the Graham Family Homeplace, situated on the grounds of the Billy Graham Library.

The Graham Family Homeplace was Graham’s childhood home, which was moved from its original location just a few miles from the library.

People trekked from miles away. Former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton also made appearances.

I appreciate President George W. Bush and his wife @LauraWBush coming to pay their respects to my father today in Charlotte. It was so good of them. My father would have been honored. We shared some great memories. pic.twitter.com/vAlMV6quag

— Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) February 26, 2018

Thank you President @BillClinton for coming to Charlotte to pay your respects to my father. pic.twitter.com/RLjOHtayHH

— Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) February 27, 2018

Why Billy Graham’s Casket is From Angola Prison

Billy Graham was buried in a pine plywood casket constructed by inmates at Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, Louisiana. His wife, Ruth, was buried in an identical casket upon her death in 2007.

“Billy Graham is a simple man who preached a simple message,” Angola inmate Richard “Grasshopper” Liggett is said to have told the prison chaplain. “He must be buried in a simple casket.”

Read more >>

Many people have asked me about my father’s casket. In this short video, my son Roy shares the story and we have footage of the casket being handmade by a convicted murderer named “Grasshopper” at Angola Prison in Louisiana. pic.twitter.com/DPyU0Yz4QC

— Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) March 1, 2018

Flowers Adorn Billy Graham Statue at Ridgecrest

After his death on Feb. 21, flowers were placed below the Billy Graham statue at the Ridgecrest Conference Center.

The larger-than-life statue has been at Ridgecrest, a few miles from Graham’s Western North Carolina home, for the past two years after moving from Lifeway’s Nashville headquarters.

Read more >>

Related:

  • Millennials: Who Is Billy Graham?
  • VP Shares Pro-Life Hopes and Billy Graham Memories with NRB
  • Why Billy Graham’s Death Marks the End of an Era
  • Billy Graham’s Life and Ministry by the Numbers
  • On Billy Graham, Calling and Humility: A Tribute from a Former Employee

Related posts:

5 Ways to Pray in the Midst of a National Crisis

Primary Sidebar

Follow Us On…

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Popular

  • Most Popular Sermon Passages, Topics in 2021
  • 13 Things a Pastor Should Never Say to a Congregation
    pulpit sermon
  • 7 Reasons to Praise the Lord
    praise
  • Why Christians Must Do More Than Just “Be the Church”

Join the Lifeway Research Newsletter

Lifeway Research: Enlightening Today’s Church with Relevant Insights.

Signup for email updates on our church and culture research.

Sign Up

Leader Resources

Bible
Clip Art
Classics
Clip Art
Current Events
Clip Art
Discipleship
Clip Art
Pastoral Ministy
Clip Art
Theology
Clip Art
VIEW ALL RESOURCES
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Custom Research
  • Resource Library
  • Search

Copyright © 2022 · Lifeway Research, a ministry of Lifeway Christian Resources