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Jammin' in the dome: Graham realized another special effort was needed to attract youth. "When we speak to Baby Busters or younger people today, I think the older generation has to speak through an interpreter," Graham said. So Saturday night's "Jammin' in the Dome" had two hip-hop Christian music groups singing, not Cliff Barrows and George Beverly Shea.

Graham introduced the youth night concept at a June crusade in Cleveland. This event, inside a darkened dome, was more sophisticated, with computer-generated strobe lights, billowing smoke, and herky-jerky camera movements flashing stage images onto giant screens above each goal post.

"The kids who are coming are coming to a special event, and in today's culture that raises certain expectations," said Scott DeVoss, who volunteered to direct the high-tech light and laser show. DeVoss regularly produces shows for secular acts such as the Rolling Stones and Barbra Streisand. This was his second crusade; in 1987, DeVoss became a Christian at Graham's Denver event.

Crusade youth coordinator Scott Lenning says the BGEA ran frequent "MTV-style" commercials on six Atlanta television stations. In an effort to reach the secular youth market, the 30-second promos ran on series such as The Simpsons and Saturday Night Live.

Future crusaders: The 76-year-old Graham, who takes medication for a mild form of Parkinson's disease, showed remarkable stamina, preaching for an hour most nights. Other notable preachers who sat on the platform included Robert Schuller, Charles Stanley, Greg Laurie, and Graham's elder son, 42-year-old Franklin.

Graham called the 41-year-old Laurie, who conducted five Western U.S. crusades this year while continuing to pastor Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California, "the evangelist of the future."

Yet Graham's son Franklin is maintaining a higher profile lately. "He's started to preach," Billy Graham said of his fourth child. "I'm very proud of him."

Rather than following in the footsteps of his father as have other sons of famous preachers (Oral Roberts, Robert Schuller, Charles Stanley), William Franklin Graham III initially chose a different path. He heads two evangelistic humanitarian relief organizations, Samaritan's Purse and World Medical Mission, both headquartered in Boone, North Carolina.

Five years ago he began preaching in about eight crusades annually in smaller cities while continuing to lead the aid groups, which have a combined annual budget of $15 million in order to minister in the world's famine and war trouble spots.

"It's not switching gears," Franklin says of adding crusades to his other ministry. "I'm going to focus on both. This is what I do. It's my life."

This year, for the first time, Billy Graham has participated in Franklin's crusades - in Charleston, West Virginia, in April; and in Raleigh, North Carolina, in October.

Their physical similarities are noteworthy. Franklin has the same powerful, lilting voice, slender frame, handsome looks, and mannerisms while driving home a point about salvation. Franklin, however, is reaching a different crowd.

Franklin and Harvest Fellowship's Laurie, at the top of the class of Baby Boomer-era evangelists, have achieved important regional successes. Each has carefully begun to branch out from his base of support: Laurie in Southern California and Franklin in the Southeast.

Around the world, crusade-style Christian evangelism has proven to be an enduring institution, crossing the barriers of culture, geography, and language. In March 1995, the Graham organization will hold an international crusade, based in Puerto Rico, sent via satellite to 165 countries.

As Graham has grown older, talk of who his successor might be has increased. Both Grahams say it is not for them to chose who - if anyone - inherits the mantle of the world's most famous evangelist. "Nobody will ever be Billy Graham," Franklin says. "But God will raise up his man to be his voice for the next generation. I want to be a voice."

Copyright 1994 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

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December 12 1994, Vol. 38, No. 14