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The Early Years
of Billy Graham
Sunday - August 15
Most of us know Billy
Graham as the self-assured and charismatic preacher who became one of the
most important figures of 20th Century Christianity. Now, we meet Billy as
the earnest promising young man at the crossroads of faith and doubt,
ultimately facing the moment of decision that launched one of history's most
powerful evangelistic careers.
Most compellingly,
Billy: The Early Years paints its
portrait of Graham against the backdrop of his relationship with Charles
Templeton, another gifted young preacher whose faith could not withstand the
onslaught of scientific skepticism. He and Graham parted ways and in the
film, Templeton comes to personify the rising tide of disbelief into which
Graham launched his crusades.
“Graham questioned whether
he should go back and be a dairy farmer and follow in his father’s
footsteps, instead of his Father in heaven,” says producer and writer Bill
McKay. “He was right on the cusp of shrinking back on his calling. He was
wrestling with God. But he came to an absolutely concrete understanding from
God to take the Bible by faith.” As we all now know, that faith, so
dramatically portrayed in the film by Armie Hammer, would go on to change
the face of modern evangelism.
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