He is the first sitting president to
visit the Graham home

MONTREAT, NC (ANS)- President Barack Obama made a brief visit
on Sunday afternoon (April 25, 2010) to see Billy Graham, the 91-year-old
evangelist, at his mountaintop log cabin in Montreat, North Carolina.

Graham has been a spiritual adviser
to U.S. presidents for seven decades.

The president met with Mr. Graham
for 35 minutes as Obama ended a brief vacation in nearby Asheville, and then prepared
to depart for a solemn memorial service in West Virginia on behalf of the 29
miners who died when an explosion rocked their Upper Big Branch mine on April
5, 2010.

Billy Graham issued a statement
after the meeting in which he said, “I am pleased to have had President
Obama in my home this afternoon. He requested a meeting since he was spending
the weekend nearby in Asheville. My son Franklin and I enjoyed a brief visit
with the President, followed by a time of prayer together.

“As we approach the National
Day of Prayer on May 6,” Mr. Graham added, “I want to encourage
Christians everywhere to pray for our President, and for all those in positions
of authority, and especially for the men and women serving in our
military.”

A. Larry Ross, who has served as
director of media/public relations for Billy Graham since 1981, told ANS,
“Aside from this being the first visit between the two men, President
Barack Obama is the first sitting president to visit the Graham home.

“When the President reached out
upon arrival in Asheville as part of the process to connect in-person that
began in the fall of 2008 and was continued during his birthday call to the
evangelist last November, Mr. Graham invited the President up for coffee, and
presumably a time of fellowship, spiritual discussion and prayer
together.”

President Obama is the twelfth
President that Mr. Graham has known personally during his public ministry,
during which media reports have often included reference to him as “Pastor
to Presidents.”

Ross went on to tell ANS, “This
meeting bookends a unique ministry influence, spanning many decades, as the
first — President Truman — and now the most recent — President Obama – were
in the White House when they first met. Mr. Graham knew all of the others long
before they got into national office.

“The 35-minute meeting this
afternoon between President Obama and evangelist Billy Graham went very well.
Mr. Graham was honored that the President would travel to meet him for an
historic first-ever visit by a sitting president in his home, which reflected a
cordial, gracious conversation together, along with the evangelist’s son,
Franklin.

“Over coffee, the two men
discussed a variety of topics, including their wives, and love for and similar
experiences with golf and Chicago — where the President started his career –
and Mr. Graham attended school and has had several significant crusades.

“Like others before him,
President Obama shared how lonely, demanding and humbling the office of
President can be, and how much he appreciated the counsel of people like Mr.
Graham and the prayers of so many citizens.”

During the visit, Mr. Graham
presented the President with two Bibles — one for him, and other for the First
Lady — after which the President prayed for Mr. Graham, who, in turn,
concluded with a prayer for the President, his family and his
Administration.”

Billy Graham’s long friendship with
U.S. Presidents

The Billy Graham Evangelistic
Association’s website (www.billygraham.org) reports that every U.S.
President since World War II through to George W. Bush has met with Billy
Graham. Both Johnson and Nixon — the two who probably sought him the most –
offered him high positions in government – which he “quickly and politely
refused.”

Billy Graham has often said,
“Whether the story of Christ is told in a huge stadium, across the desk of
a powerful leader, or shared with a golfing companion, it satisfies a common
hunger. All over the world, whenever I meet people face-to-face, I am made
aware of this personal need among the famous and successful, as well as the
lonely and obscure.”

Every U.S. President since World War
II through George W. Bush has met with Billy Graham. Here are short snippets of
their stories:

Harry S. Truman: In 1950 a
congressman called Billy and asked, “Would you like to meet the
President?” Without any briefing on protocol, he agreed and went in with
three colleagues and spoke with President Truman, who told Billy he lived by
the Sermon on the Mount. Before he left, the two prayed together. Years later,
Truman warmly received Billy at his home in Independence, Missouri.

Dwight D. Eisenhower:
“Eisenhower was the first President that really asked my counsel in depth
when he was sending troops into Little Rock,” said Billy. Just before
Eisenhower died, Billy was invited to see him at Walter Reed Army Medical
Center in Washington, DC. After talking again about assurance of salvation, the
two men prayed. Eisenhower then said he was ready to die.

“Billy Graham is one of the
best ambassadors our country has but he told me, ‘I am an ambassador of
heaven.’” – Dwight D. Eisenhower

John F. Kennedy: In January of 1961,
four days before he was inaugurated as President, John Kennedy invited Billy to
spend the day with him in Palm Beach. “We drove around in JFK’s white
Lincoln convertible,” said Billy. “During our conversations, I became
aware that he was concerned about the moral and spiritual condition of the
nation.” During Kennedy’s funeral service in the Capitol rotunda, Billy
stood about 30 feet from Mrs. Kennedy and the family, and he says that thought
about the “brevity of life and how people must prepare to meet God.”

Lyndon B. Johnson: Graham says that
there was a religious side to Lyndon Johnson that people did not know. Billy
was probably closer to Johnson than to any other President. He was invited to
the family ranch several times and spent more than 20 nights at the White House
during Johnson’s administration. Every time Billy would say to him, “Let’s
have a prayer,” the President would get on his knees to pray.

“My mind went back to those
lonely occasions at the White House when your friendship helped to sustain a
President in an hour of trial.” – Lyndon Johnson in a letter to Billy
Graham

Richard M. Nixon: President Nixon
and Billy had been personal friends since 1950. Nixon was a private and complex
person, but beneath the surface, Billy found him to be warm and compassionate,
quite different from popular caricatures. He was rooted in the teachings and
prayers of his Quaker faith. Often he asked Billy to pray with him and read the
Bible when he would visit. In the last year of Nixon’s presidency, Billy did
not get to see him. Someone on the White House later relayed that Nixon said,
“Don’t let Billy Graham near me, I don’t want him tarred with
Watergate.”

Gerald R. Ford: Answering critics of
his relationship with Billy, Gerald Ford said, “I’ve heard the comments
from some sources that Billy mixes politics with religion. I never felt that
and I don’t think that thousands and thousands of people who listen to him felt
that. Billy dropped by the Oval Office on several occasions while I was
President. They were get-togethers of old friends. They had no political or
other significance.”

Jimmy Carter: “Billy and Ruth
Graham have been to visit us both in the governor’s mansion in Georgia and in
the White House,” said Jimmy Carter. “His reputation is above
reproach or suspicion.” Back in 1966, Carter chaired a BGEA film crusade
in Americus, Ga., and when he was governor, served as an honorary chairman of
the Atlanta Crusade.

Ronald W. Reagan: Billy met Ronald
Reagan a year after he married Nancy. The two remained close friends. “I
remember when Reagan was president of the Screen Actors Guild, a union leader,
and a very strong Democrat,” Billy said. On March 30, 1981, after the
assassination attempt on President Reagan’s life, Billy flew immediately to
Washington, D.C. to comfort and pray with Mrs. Reagan, and do anything he could
for the President.

“It was through Billy Graham
that I found myself praying even more than on a daily basis … and that in the
position I held, that my prayers more and more were to give me the wisdom to
make decisions that would serve God and be pleasing to Him.” – Ronald Reagan

George H. W. Bush: Billy has said he
found George H.W. Bush easy to talk to about spiritual issues, “easier
than other Presidents I have met. He says straight out that he has received
Christ as his savior and that he is a born-again believer.” Billy was with
President and Barbara Bush at the White House in 1991, the night that the Gulf
War began. “Billy Graham has been an inspiration in my life,” said
Bush. “It is my firm belief that no one can be President … without
understanding the power of prayer, without faith. And Billy Graham helped me
understand that.”

William J. Clinton: President
Clinton once recalled, “When I was a small boy, about 12 years old, Billy
Graham came to Little Rock, Arkansas, to preach a Crusade.” Mr. Graham
would not agree to segregate the audience racially, which made an impression on
the young boy. When he was governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton joined Billy
Graham at a Little Rock Crusade in 1989. Mr. Graham also visited Clinton in the
Oval Office after he became President.

“Billy and Ruth Graham have
practiced the ministry of … being friends with Presidents of both parties …
always completely private, always completely genuine.” – William J.
Clinton

George W. Bush: In his 1999 campaign
autobiography, “A Charge to Keep,” George W. Bush said a turning
point in his faith came during a private talk with Billy Graham along the coast
of Maine in 1985. Graham’s words planted the “mustard seed in my
soul” that eventually led to a decision to “recommit my heart to Jesus
Christ,” he wrote.

Note: Many of these stories were
adapted from Billy Graham: God’s Ambassador, which can be ordered at: www.billygrahambookstore.org/product.asp?sku=2161_GDA

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About Dan Wooding

Dan Wooding is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 46 years. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST
(Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service
(ANS).

Wooding was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC., and now hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on KWVE in Southern California and which is also carried on the Calvary Radio Network throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK. Wooding also a regular contributor to The Weekend Stand on the Crawford Broadcasting Network, and a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 192 countries. He is the author of some 43 books. Two of the latest include his autobiography, “From Tabloid to Truth”, which is published by Theatron Books.

To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, also recently released “God’s Ambassadors in Japan” which is available at amazon.com.

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