Offstage and On, Billy Graham’s Ministry Was a Team Effort

Evangelist Billy Graham, who died Wednesday (Feb. 21) at age 99, was the name and face behind the microphone at many a crusade stage. But the members of what became known as the “Billy Graham team” — on and off that stage — were an integral part of his ministry.

Some of the principal members of that team — who worked with the evangelist for decades — reflected over the years on their experiences with Graham in interviews with Religion News Service.

George Beverly Shea

Shea became Graham’s soloist in 1947 and sang at his 2005 New York crusade, rarely missing any in between those dates. Shea died in 2013 at the age of 104.

When Graham approached Shea about being a soloist for his evangelistic meetings, Shea clarified early on that his role was to sing, not to preach.

“I said to him: ‘You’ve asked me to come to sing before your message and I’ve heard about gospel singers, that they will do a verse or two and stop and … preach a little bit, talk for a few minutes. Would I have to do that?’” Shea recalled almost 60 years later in 2005, when he was 96.

Graham chuckled and said, “I hope not.”

Shea responded: “Well then, I’d like to come with you.”

The man known to friends and admirers as “Bev Shea” remembered how Graham’s evangelistic meetings often lasted more days than originally planned.

Of the “big tent” they gathered…