At age 89, the Rev. Billy Graham has advised nine U.S. presidents and presented more than 400 crusades in more than 185 countries. He has left an indelible mark on the country’s religiosity, and many believe that no minister will ever again be so popular with so many Americans.
Questions for reporters
Billy Graham has made a mark in many areas. Resources are listed throughout this issue of ReligionLink.
TOPICS
Message: Graham is known as an emotional preacher who stuck with a simple message about Jesus’ ability to save souls.
Clean house: Graham has consistently won praise for his high ethical standards, both in his personal conduct and in his ministry. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has consistently been rated as one of the most efficiently run religious charities.
Global ministry: Graham is an international evangelist who has preached to people in more than 185 countries and whose ministry provides resources in several languages.
Music: In addition to traditional music, Billy Graham is known for embracing contemporary Christian music before many others did. Many contemporary Christian artists who have participated in his crusades, including Michael W. Smith and Toby McKeehan, can talk about his influence.
Race: Graham is known for welcoming people of different ethnicities and condemning racism. Read a newspaper column posted at BillyGraham.org in which he calls racism a sin.
Politics: Graham has been called a “pastor to presidents” because he has been known as a spiritual adviser to nine presidents over 50 years. That has brought both praise and criticism, with some saying that he allowed himself to be used for political purposes or that he failed to speak out strongly about moral crises in the White House. Graham has never officially endorsed a presidential candidate, but many say he has come very close with his praise of George W. Bush.
Ecumenism: Graham has welcomed people of different denominations at his crusades, including Roman Catholics. That has caused some to call him as a champion of ecumenism and others to criticize him for compromising his fundamentalist roots. Although Graham remains hugely popular with the American public, many evangelical leaders have distanced themselves from him, particularly at a time when there are deep doctrinal divides among Christians in this country.
Youth: Even as he became a great-grandfather, Graham continued to reach out to youth. For years he has designated one night of each crusade as a “youth night.” At a time when many churches are struggling to reach young people, crowds of youths respond to Graham with respect and awe, praising his traditional message as relevant to their lives.
Judaism: Graham generated controversy when comments he made about Jews in a taped 1972 conversation with President Richard Nixon surfaced. The evangelist said he didn’t remember making the comments and apologized for any harm they caused. He later issued a second and stronger apology.
Film: The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has produced more than 125 films, including nine major motion pictures, through World Wide Pictures, originally called Billy Graham films. Read a May 29, 2002, Charity Wire story.
National sources
Billy Graham Evangelistic Association resources
• Erik Ogren is media liaison for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, based in Charlotte, N.C., and is contact person for all requests involving Graham or the BGEA. Contact 704-401-2117, media@bgea.org.
A. Larry Ross is president of A. Larry Ross Communications, based in Dallas, and has directed media/public relations for Graham since 1981. Contact 972-267-1111, media@alarryross.com.
• Vocalist and composer George Beverly Shea first sang for Graham on a radio program in 1943. He, with Cliff Barrows, has been the nucleus of Graham’s musical ministry since the beginning of the evangelist’s crusade ministry in 1949. Shea lives in Montreat, N.C. Contact 828-669-5550.
• Cliff Barrows is in charge of Billy Graham Evangelistic Association Crusades and Training and is based in Charlotte, N.C. He lives in Marvin, N.C. Contact 704-401-2432.
Biographers
• TIME magazine journalists Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy are co-authors of the best-selling book The Preacher and the Presidents: Billy Graham in the White House (2007). Contact through publicist Amber Hildebrand, 703-879-5862, or email the authors at nancyrgibbs@gmail.com or michaelrwduffy@gmail.com.
• William Martin is the Harry and Hazel Chavanne Professor of Religion and Public Policy in the sociology department at Rice University in Houston, and senior scholar in the university’s James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy. His books include A Prophet With Honor: The Billy Graham Story (William Morrow, 1991) and With God on Our Side: The Rise of the Religious Right in America (Broadway Books, 1996). Read a Beliefnet.com commentary he wrote regarding Graham’s comments about Jews made in a 1972 conversation with President Richard Nixon. Contact 713-517-4831, wcm@rice.edu or wcm@wmartin.com.
• Grant Wacker is a professor of church history at Duke University Divinity School in Durham, N.C. He specializes in the history of evangelicalism, Pentecostalism and world missions. He is working on a biography to be titled Billy Graham and the Southernization of American Culture. Read his article “The Billy Pulpit: Graham’s Career in the Mainline,” published in the Nov. 15, 2003, issue of Christian Century and posted by the Web site HighBeam Encyclopedia. Contact 919-660-3462, gwacker@div.duke.edu.
• Roger Bruns, an independent scholar who recently retired from the National Archives and Records Administration, is the author of Billy Graham: A Biography (Greenwood Publishing, 2004). Bruns lives in Reston, Va. Contact 703-437-4091, CEBruns@aol.com.
• The Rev. John Charles Pollock of Devon, England, is the official biographer of Billy Graham and the author of The Billy Graham Story (Zondervan, 2003), the revised and updated edition of To All the Nations. Contact Zondervan publicists Leslie Pratt, 616-698-3345, leslie.pratt@zondervan.com or Vicki Cessna, 616-698-3214, vicki.cessna@zondervan.com.
• Gerald S. Strober and Deborah Hart Strober wrote A Day in the Life of Billy Graham: Living the Message (Square One Publishers, 2003). Contact 212-734-5656, hartstrober@iopener.net.
• British television host Sir David Frost‘s books include Billy Graham in Conversation with David Frost: A Candid But Objective Look at One of This Century’s Most Admired – and Criticised – Public Figures (Lion Publishing PLC, 1998). Contact him through his agent, Nick Ranceford-Hadley, www.noelgay.com, in London, 020-7836 3941, nhadley@noelgay.co.
• Popular novelist Patricia Cornwell, whose books include the Kay Scarpetta mystery series, grew up down the road from Billy and Ruth Graham in Montreat, N.C. Cornwell is the author of Ruth, A Portrait: The Story of Ruth Bell Graham (Doubleday, 1997). She lives in Manhattan and South Carolina. Contact her through her literary agent, Esther Newberg at International Creative Management, at literary@icmtalent.com.
Graham’s family
Graham’s wife of 63 years, Ruth Bell Graham, died June 14, 2007. In addition to her husband, her survivors include three daughters, two sons, 19 grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren. Billy and Ruth Graham made their home in the mountains of North Carolina. Erik Ogren is media liaison for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, based in Charlotte, N.C., and is contact person for all requests involving Graham or the BGEA. Contact 704-401-2117, media@bgea.org.
CHILDREN
• Franklin Graham, the fourth child of Billy and Ruth Graham, is president, first vice chairman and chief executive officer of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and president of Samaritan’s Purse, a relief organization. His evangelistic festivals are listed here and here. His books include The Name (Thomas Nelson, 2002), Living Beyond the Limits: A Life in Sync With God (Thomas Nelson, 1998), and his autobiography, Rebel With A Cause: Finally Comfortable Being Graham (Thomas Nelson, 1995). He lives in the mountains of North Carolina. He can be contacted through his spokesman, Mark DeMoss of the DeMoss group, which is based in Duluth, Ga., 770-813-0000 ext.225, mark@demossgroup.com.
• Anne Graham Lotz is the founder and president of AnGeL Ministries, a teaching and speaking ministry based in Raleigh, N.C. She leads the “Just Give Me Jesus” women’s revivals and “Pursuing MORE of Jesus” women’s retreats. Her books include Why: Trusting God When You Don’t Understand (W Publishing Group cloth, 2004). Contact 919-787-6606 or email through the Web site.
• Ruth Graham is the third child of Billy and Ruth Graham. Formerly acquisitions editor for HarperCollins/San Francisco and McCracken Press, she has her own speaking ministry and is a writer. She is the author of In Every Pew Sits a Broken Heart (Zondervan Publishers, 2004) and co-author of I’m Pregnant … Now What? (Regal Publishers, 2004). She serves on the board of Birthmothers, which assists women facing unplanned pregnancies, and on the board of trustees of Mary Baldwin College, from which she graduated cum laude. Her book A Legacy of Love: Things I Learned From My Mother was published in 2005. She lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Contact 877-743-7884 or through her Web site.
• Virginia “Gigi” Graham Tchividjian is the oldest daughter of Billy and Ruth Graham. She is a speaker and author of inspirational books. She lives in South Florida. Contact Erik Ogren, media liaison for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, 704-401-2117, media@bgea.org.
• Nelson Edman “Ned” Graham is the youngest of Billy and Ruth Graham’s children. Formerly in pastoral ministry, he is president of East Gates International, which prints and distributes Bibles to Christians throughout the People’s Republic of China. He lives in Sumner, Wash. Contact 1-800-959-3464, egmi@egmi.org.
Background
Scholarly resources on evangelism
• Mark Noll is Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame. His expertise includes American religious history. Noll previously taught at Wheaton College in Illinois, site of the Billy Graham Center. Noll’s books include American Evangelical Christianity: An Introduction (Blackwell, 2000) and, as co-editor, More Money, More Ministry: Money and Evangelicals in Recent North American History (Eerdmans, 2000). Contact 574-631-7574, Mark.Noll.8@nd.edu.
• Randall Balmer is a professor of American religious history at Barnard College, Columbia University, in New York City. He was executive producer, writer and host of Crusade: The Life of Billy Graham, a PBS documentary that has been broadcast in A&E’s “Biography” series. Balmer’s books include, as co-author, Religion in American Life: A Short History (Oxford University Press, 2003) and Protestantism in America (Columbia University Press, 2002) and, as author, The Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism (Westminster John Knox Press, 2002) and Religion in Twentieth Century America (Oxford, 2001). Contact 212-854-3292, rb281@columbia.edu.
• David Edwin Harrell Jr. is a professor emeritus at Auburn University in Auburn, Ala., and has published extensively on American religious history, including a chapter on “American Revivalism from Graham to Robertson” for Modern Christian Revivals (University of Illinois Press, 1993). Contact harrede@auburn.edu.
• John G. Stackhouse Jr. is Sangwoo Youtong Chee Professor of Theology and Culture at Regent College, an international graduate school of Christian studies at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He frequently comments on religion and contemporary culture. His essay “Billy Graham and the Nature of Conversion: A Paradigm Case” is included in his book Evangelical Landscapes: Facing Critical Issues of the Day (Baker Academic, 2002). Contact 604-221-3323, jgs@regent-college.edu.
• Darryl Glenn Hart is adjunct professor of church history at Westminster Seminary California in Escondido and director of academic programs at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute in Wilmington, Del. His books include Deconstructing Evangelicalism: Conservative Protestantism in the Era of Billy Graham (Baker Book House, 2004), Refurnishing the Public Square: Religion and Public Policy in America (Woodrow Wilson Press, 2002) and That Old-Time Religion in Modern America: Evangelical Protestantism in the Twentieth Century (Ivan R. Dee, 2000). He lives in Philadelphia. Contact 302-652-4600, dhart@isi.org or dghart@earthlink.net.
• David Aikman, author and former senior correspondent for TIME magazine, profiled the evangelist in Billy Graham: His Life and Influence (Thomas Nelson, 2007). Aikman also wrote about Graham in Jesus in Beijing: How Christianity Is Changing the Global Balance of Power (Regnery, 2003) and A Man of Faith: The Spiritual Journey of George W. Bush (W Publishing Group, 2004). Aikman lives in Virginia. Contact david@davidaikman.com.
• William J. Hamel is chairman of the board at the National Association of Evangelicals, which includes 43,000 congregations from 50 member denominations, individual congregations from an additional 27 denominations and 250 parachurch ministries and educational institutions. Contact 202-789-1011.
• Robert Wuthnow is director of the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton University and a frequently cited commentator on the sociology of religion, his specialty. He edited the Encyclopedia of Politics and Religion. Contact 609-258-5545, wuthnow@princeton.edu.
Official web sites
• The web site of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has a media resources page that includes biographies and photos.
• The Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill., provides several archives links, including a timeline and official biography.
• Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Mass., which Graham co-founded, has archival photos of Graham and his family available for digital transfer. Contact Anne B. Doll, director of public relations, 978-646-4141 or 978-884-1116 (after business hours), adoll@gcts.edu.
Books by Graham and his family
• Billy Graham has written 25 books, including his autobiography Just As I Am (HarperCollins, 1997), Peace With God: The Secret of Happiness (Word Publishing, 2000) and How to Be Born Again (Word Publishing, 1989).
• Ruth Bell Graham, Billy Graham’s wife, wrote 14 books, including It’s My Turn (Fleming H. Revell Co., 1988) and (co-authored with daughter Gigi) Prodigals (and Those Who Love Them) (Baker Book House, 1999).
• Virginia “Gigi” Graham Tchividjian has authored or co-authored at least seven books, including the memoir Passing It On: Four Generations of Graham Traditions (Word Publishing, 1993).
• Franklin Graham has authored several books, including his autobiography, Rebel With A Cause: Finally Comfortable Being Graham (Thomas Nelson, 1995).
• Anne Graham Lotz’s books include Why?: Trusting God When You Don’t Understand (W Publishing Group cloth, 2004).
• Ruth Graham has also written several books, including In Every Pew Sits a Broken Heart (Zondervan Publishers, 2004) and A Legacy of Love: Things I Learned From My Mother (Inspirio, 2005).
Awards and honors
• Gold Award of the George Washington Carver Memorial Institute, 1964, for contribution in race relations
• Horatio Alger Award, 1965
• The Torch of Liberty Plaque by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, 1969
• Honored by Morality in Media for “fostering the principles of truth, taste, inspiration and love in media,” 1969
• Franciscan International Award, 1972
• Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of Broadcasters, 1972
• Sylvanus Thayer Award from United States Military Academy Association of Graduates at West Point, the most prestigious award the United States Military Academy gives to a U.S. citizen, 1972
• Direct Selling Association’s Salesman of the Decade award, 1975
• First National Interreligious Award, American Jewish Committee, 1977
• Distinguished Communications Medal, Southern Baptist Radio and Television Commission, 1977
• Templeton Foundation Prize for Progress in Religion, 1982
• Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award, 1983
• Billy and Ruth Graham were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1996.
• Big Brother of the Year Award, 1996
• Good Housekeeping Most Admired Men Poll, 1997, No. 1 for five years in a row and 16th time in top 10
• The first nonmusician to be inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame by the Gospel Music Association, 1999
• Read a profile of Graham in TIME magazine, which in 1999 named Graham one of the 100 most important people of the century.
• Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation Freedom Award, in 2000.
• Named Honorary Knight Commander of the order of the British Empire (KBE), for his international contribution to civic and religious life over 60 years, 2001.
•Since 1955, consistently named one of the Gallup Poll’s Ten Most Admired Men in the World – more than any other individual in the world.
Regional sources
STATE BY STATE
• The Web site of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association lists upcoming crusades and past crusade cities, alphabetically.
• Franklin Graham’s evangelistic festivals are listed here and here.
• Anne Graham Lotz’s Web site lists her upcoming “Just Give Me Jesus” women’s revivals and “Pursuing MORE of Jesus” women’s retreats.
IN THE NORTHEAST
• Robert Coleman is Distinguished Professor of Discipleship and Evangelism at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Mass. Graham co-founded the seminary and serves as a trustee. For many years, Coleman directed the School of World Mission and Evangelism at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School while also serving as dean of the Billy Graham International Schools of Evangelism and director of the Billy Graham Institute at Wheaton College. He is a founding member of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelism and past president of the Academy for Evangelism in Theological Education. Among his many books is the classic The Master Plan of Evangelism (Fleming H Revell Co.), first published in 1963; Graham wrote the foreword. Contact 978-646-4120, rcoleman@gcts.edu, or contact Anne B. Doll, director of public relations, 978-646-4141, after hours 978-884-1116, adoll@gcts.edu.
• George F. Bennett has been a trustee since 1974 at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Mass., which Graham co-founded. Bennett was for many years a partner of Boston’s State Street Research and Management Co., president/director of State Street Investment Corp. and treasurer of Harvard College. He has served as a director of corporations such as Ford Motor Co. and Hewlett-Packard and as a trustee of Wheaton College and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. He is a knowledgeable source on Graham, the contributions of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and the role Graham played in the founding of Gordon-Conwell. Graham served as board chairman for the seminary and continues as a Gordon-Conwell trustee. George Bennett can be reached at 781-749-0516 or through Anne B. Doll, Gordon-Conwell director of public relations, 978-646-4141, after hours 978-884-1116, adoll@gcts.edu.
• Alan Wolfe is director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Mass. His books include The Transformation of American Religion: How We Actually Live Our Faith (Free Press, 2003), which focuses on the impact of evangelicals on American religious culture. Contact 617-552-1862, wolfe@bc.edu.
IN THE EAST
• Michael Cromartie heads the Evangelicals in Civic Life program at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington. Contact 202-682-1200, crom@eppc.org.
• Jim Wallis is a widely quoted Christian author and commentator and founder of Sojourners magazine, a periodical that promotes social change through Christian values. In 1995, Wallis helped found Call to Renewal, a national federation of churches, denominations and faith-based organizations from across the theological and political spectrum working to overcome poverty. He has praised Billy Graham’s social conscience. Contact Wallis through Tim King, 202-745-4636 or tking@sojo.net and media@sojo.net.
IN THE SOUTHEAST
• James Guth is William R. Kenan Jr. professor of political science at Furman University in Greenville, S.C. He has written widely on the emergence of Christian conservatives in the political arena. Contact 864-294-2210, jim.guth@furman.edu.
• Laura R. Olson is political science professor at Clemson University in South Carolina. She is co-editor of the book Christian Clergy in American Politics (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001). Contact 864-656-1457, laurao@clemson.edu.
• James Davison Hunter is LaBrosse-Levinson Distinguished Professor of Religion, Culture and Social Theory at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He wrote Evangelicalism: The Coming Generation (University of Chicago Press, 1987). Contact 434-924-6524, jdh6c@virginia.edu.
• Mark J. Rozell is professor of public policy at George Mason University in Arlington, Va. His writings about Christians and politics include, as co-editor,The Values Vote?: The Christian Right and the 2004 Elections (Georgetown University Press, 2006). Contact 703-993-8171, mrozell@gmu.edu.
IN THE SOUTH
• Thomas Lansford is an associate professor of political science at the University of Southern Mississippi, Gulf Coast. He wrote about Billy Graham’s son, Franklin, for the Encyclopedia of American Religion and Politics (2003). Contact 228-214-3291, tom.lansford@usm.edu.
• Charles H. Lippy holds the LeRoy C. Martin Distinguished Professorship of Religious Studies at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where he is a professor of philosophy and religion. He has written extensively on American religious history, including Pluralism Comes of Age: American Religious Culture in the Twentieth Century (M.E. Sharpe, 2000); and Modern American Popular Religion (Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996); and, as co-author, The Evangelicals: A Historical, Thematic, and Biographical Guide (Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999). Contact 423-425-4340, charles-lippy@utc.edu.
• Wilfred M. McClay holds the SunTrust Bank Chair of Excellence in Humanities at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and is a widely published author on religion in America. Contact 423-755-5202, Bill-McClay@utc.edu.
• Allison Calhoun-Brown is associate professor of political science at Georgia State University in Atlanta. She specializes in religion and politics. Contact 404-651-4836, polacb@panther.gsu.edu.
• Kenneth J. Collins studies American Christianity at the Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky. He can comment on the evolution of evangelicalism in the United States. Contact 859-858-3581 ext. 2368 or 2213.
• R. Albert Mohler Jr. is president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and hosts a weekday call-in radio program. In 2001, he chaired the executive committee of the Greater Louisville Billy Graham Crusade. Contact 502-897-4121, mohler@sbts.edu.
IN THE MIDWEST
• Thomas P. Johnston is assistant professor of evangelism at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo., and is the author of Examining Billy Graham’s Theology of Evangelism (Wipf & Stock, 2003). Johnston founded Evangelism Unlimited. Contact tjohnston@mbts.edu or tom@evangelismunlimited.org.
• Ronald A. Simkins directs the Center for the Study of Religion and Society at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. He is general editor of the cross-disciplinary electronic Journal of Religion and Society. Contact 402-280-2504, rsmkns@creighton.edu.
• Joel A. Carpenter is the provost of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich. He also is the former Religion Officer for the Pew Charitable Trusts and former director of the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicalism. His books include Revive Us Again: The Reawakening of American Fundamentalism (Oxford University Press, 1999). Contact 616-526-6102, jcarpent@calvin.edu.
• William D. Romanowski is a professor of communication arts and sciences at Calvin College and can talk about Graham’s appeal to youth. Contact 616-526-8527, romw@calvin.edu.
• Jay R. Howard is a professor of sociology and interim vice chancellor at Indiana University/Purdue University-Columbus and a former Christian radio disc jockey. He is co-author of Apostles of Rock: The Splintered World of Contemporary Christian Music (University Press of Kentucky Press, 2004). He can talk about Graham’s encouragement of contemporary Christian music. Contact 812-348-7270, jhoward@iupui.edu.
• Cincinnati.com posts stories and resources about Graham’s June 27-30, 2002, crusade there.
IN THE SOUTHWEST
• Freelance author and editor W. Terry Whalin, a former editor of Decision and In Other Words magazines, wrote Billy Graham: America’s Greatest Evangelist, published in 2002 by Bethany House in its Men of Faith series. Whalin lives in Colorado Springs, Colo. Contact terry@terrywhalin.com.
• Barry G. Hankins is a history professor at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. His research interests include religion and politics in American history, and Protestant fundamentalism and evangelicalism. He wrote The Second Great Awakening and the Transcendentalists (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004) and Uneasy in Babylon: Southern Baptist Conservatives and American Culture (University of Alabama Press, 2002). Contact 254-710-4667, Barry_Hankins@baylor.edu.
• P. Kent Smith is a professor of missions at the graduate school of theology at Abilene Christian University in Texas, where he teaches a course on culture and evangelism in North America. Contact smith@bible.acu.edu.
• Allen D. Hertzke is professor of political science and director of religious studies at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. His books include Representing God in Washington: The Role of Religious Lobbies in the American Polity (University of Tennessee Press, 1988) and, as co-author, Religion and Politics in America: Faith, Culture, and Strategic Choices (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001). Contact 405-325-6421, ahertzke@ou.edu.
• Bishop T.D. Jakes is pastor of Potter’s House, a 28,000-member nondenominational church in Dallas. He is nationally known for his conferences, books, CDs, plays and ministries, and his popularity has been compared to that of Billy Graham. Contact 214-331-0954.
IN THE WEST/NORTHWEST
• Ted G. Jelen is a political science professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. His books include The Political World of the Clergy (Praeger Publishers, 1993). Contact 702-895-3355, jelent@unlv.nevada.edu.
• Greg Laurie, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, Calif., and a nationally known evangelist, serves on the board of directors for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse. A frequent speaker at the Billy Graham School Training Center and the Billy Graham School of Evangelism, he calls Graham one of the biggest influences on his life. Contact 909-687-6902.
• Richard J. Mouw is an author and is president and professor of theology at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., a leading evangelical institution. Contact 626-584-5201, rjmouw@fuller.edu.
• Chris Soper is a professor of political science at Pepperdine University in California and the author of Evangelical Christianity in the United States and Great Britain: Religious Beliefs, Political Choices (Macmillan and New York University Presses, 1994). Contact 310-506-4792, csoper@pepperdine.edu.
• Read a May 11, 2003, San Diego Union-Tribune column, “The Ballad of Elvis and Billy.”
