Tag Archives: Billy Graham Evangelistic Association

Begging for CDs

I hate begging for money. Yet I work for a non-profit organization and it’s part of the job. It’s not my job, thankfully, but we always have to keep donations in the back of mind. I can’t tell you how many times we’re reminded that the organization is supported by thousands of little old ladies who send in one dollar every month. The freaky thing is it’s no exaggeration.

For the first time in their history the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has put out a gift catalog. It’s basically one more way of begging for money, with the added bonus that you can decide where your money goes. You support whatever you want to support, assuming it’s in the catalog. It’s similar to the humanitarian support where you donate $50 to buy a goat for a family in Africa. Only with the BGEA, you’re giving money to evangelism projects.

One of those projects is the passageway.org Backstage Pass CD-ROM. passageway.org is the teen Web site of the BGEA, and the main focus of my job. This year we made these CD-ROMs to give to teens at BGEA events. The CD has a video presentation of the Gospel from a number of different Christian artists. They explain salvation in simple language, and teens can pray at the end. The CD also has the entire NIV Bible, a Bible reading plan, an introduction to the Web site, and exclusive access to a special “backstage” section of the Web site that includes more videos and articles.

passageway.org Backstage Pass CD-ROM
It’s a cool project and a powerful way to extend the Gospel at a Billy Graham Mission. All these teens are wearing these CDs around their necks as they listen to the music and the message. For the kids who don’t come forward at the invitation, they can go home and pop this CD in their computer and hear the message again on their own terms. And for the teens who do come forward at the event or who already are Christians, it introduces them to the perfect follow-up tool, a vast discipleship resource that’s updated weekly. It also gives those teens a cool and hip way to share the Gospel with their friends.

My point in all this is that the BGEA put the passageway.org Backstage Pass CD-ROM in their gift catalog. For the suggested donation of $1 per CD, you can help put these CD-ROMs in the hands of teens. Despite my dislike for fundraising, I think this is something worth supporting. So if you like what you’re hearing, please donate some cash for these CD-ROMs.

You can hear a report on the CD-ROMs (listen to the first segment, “Billy Graham Youth Web Site”) from Decision Today (the BGEA’s daily radio show), which includes some quotes from my coworkers and I.

Dallas Trip for BGEA

Jars of Clay performing during the Student Night of the Metroplex Mission with Billy Graham in Texas Stadium in Dallas, Texas. 48,000 passageway.org Backstage Pass CD-ROMs were given out that evening, thus my reason for being there. 82,000 people showed up that night, a new record for Texas Stadium. Of course the record only lasted one day. Sunday night’s attendance was 83,500.

I also have a fun treat for everyone, the Bushtop. George H.W. Bush spoke at the Mission on Thursday night, and we got this great photo of Bush blinking. I thought it made a nice Max Headroom-esque desktop. So there you have it: the Bushtop.

BGEA Sept. 11 Commercial

Last week the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association aired a commercial on network TV (you can watch it here). I don’t remember another time when a religious organization has advertised on network TV. I’ve seen a few commercials for local churches on local TV, and we’ve all see the Mormon commercials–but none of those have been on network TV. This was a first. It was also extremely timely. Three years ago the BGEA tried to run these commercials, and all the networks rejected them. This time around, the networks were eager to run the commercials.

That’s the basic story. Now I have a lot of questions. There’s been an extremely mixed response to the commercial. Some people think it’s great. Some people think it’s horrible. So what is an appropriate commercial for Christians to put on network TV? Should it lay out the gospel message in 30 seconds? Should it just point people toward more resources? Should it simply plant an idea in people’s heads?

So many concepts. And no one will ever agree.

Billy Graham, Loans & Mr. Rogers

Just a word of warning: It’s random day today.

Have you ever been to a Billy Graham Crusade? Neither have I. But now, thanks to the wonders of modern technology, you can watch an exclusive Billy Graham Webcast. That’s right, for the rest of the month of July, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association is offering footage from the recent Louisville Crusade for the online public. Do I sound like a used car salesman yet? I kind of feel like that’s the only way to hype something my employer is doing.

But seriously, if you’d like to check out a Billy Graham Crusade, you can watch one online. It’s kind of a mesmerizing event. I’ve heard so much about this Billy Graham guy, and now you can actually see what he does. And realize how old he is. As added incentive, I’ll throw in a free air-freshener. Okay, I really won’t. But can see performances from a pretty impressive list of bands, including dc Talk, Kirk Franklin, Third Day, Michael W. Smith, Jennifer Knapp, and more. So take advantage of this opportunity, they’re going fast.

On another note, I’m beginning to realize the magnitude of debt that college has brought upon my head. Thankfully my wife and I are both gainfully employed somewhere along the poverty line. You know you’re rolling in it when one of you is a teacher and the other works for a nonprofit. Please laugh along with me, I find that laughter releases endorphines which trick your mind into thinking you’re not dreadfully poor. And if you’d like to contribute to the Kevin & Abby Are Po’, Pee-oh, Po’ Fund, please make all checks payable to cash and stick them under the door.

(Note to Mothers and assorted people who think they are mothers: Abby and I are not really dreadfully poor. We’re just making light of our loan situation so it isn’t so depressing. If we actually find checks made out to cash stuck under the door, we’ll have to discreetly cash them and pretend we don’t know what you’re talking about. Which could be very embarrassing for everyone involved.)

Ah. That’s better. Don’t we all feel much better about the “L” word?

On another completely different topic, I’m beginning to realize that there are some Christians in this world who really impress me. Mr. Rogers is one of them. He was on Nightline tonight and we caught the tale end of the report. The guy shows the love of Jesus to this world in such an amazingly effective way.

There’s very few Christians like him in the world, and whenever I come across one I just want to stand there and scratch my head. It may be borderline hero-worship, but I try to keep some levity to it. Bono would be another one of those Christians. Martin Luther King, Jr. would be another. They seem to me to be people who really understood Jesus, and acted upon it, in a way I never seem to be able to. They have both my awe and respect. They made and are making an impact on society in a way the church doesn’t seem capable of doing. I think every once in a while you need people like these to remind the world of greater things.

Wonderful World of Ministry

Paid to pray. Now there’s an interesting concept. At work my department takes prayer requests and prays before every staff meeting. During that time I’m technically being paid to pray. I suppose it makes sense, considering that I work for Billy Graham. But it still seems odd. It’s happened before when I worked as an intern, but I wasn’t being paid so the thought didn’t register. And it’s not that I don’t like being paid to pray. I work for an evangelistic ministry, it comes with the territory. If nobody’s praying you’ve got a problem. I just don’t like the thought that for those few minutes I’m on the clock. And yes, it would be tedious to punch out for ten minutes, so I just have to live with this odd little twist.

I suppose it’s just as odd to consider that I’m being paid to evangelize. My specific job title isn’t evangelism, but that’s what I’m working towards. I just edit the words the evangelists use. Seems kind of odd. In high school I was warned not to proselytize. Now I get paid for it.

And try measuring job performance in spiritual terms. How do you do that? And you kind of have to do that. If this method isn’t effective, it’s a waste of money. Let’s do something else. So you have to judge the spiritual effectiveness of what you’re doing.

The world of ministry work is an odd and kooky one.

First Day of BGEA

The first day of work. I’m not quite sure how magical it’s supposed to be. It was work. Semi-typical first day, lots of stuff to read and forms to fill out. I think I’m going to enjoy the job. Lots of web work and hammering on articles, which I like to do, as frustrating as I find it. I got to hammer a few articles today–one by Billy Graham himself. I couldn’t bring myself to edit him too much. I even worked overtime on my first time on my first day. Let’s hope this isn’t a trend.