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That same year was also a time of decision for Graham and evangelicals. Graham decided to take on the fundamentalists in the spring of 1957, warning the National Association of Evangelicals at their annual meeting that took place in upstate New York that they "could slip into extreme ultra-fundamentalism." But fundamentalist leaders like Bob Jones Sr. said Graham had "sold out to the modernists" by inviting all churches to participate in his services.

On the other side, many liberal mainliners were not any kinder to Graham. Union Theological Seminary's Reinhold Niebuhr, for example, attacked Graham relentlessly and refused to meet with the evangelist.

Graham also put evangelicalism on the side of civil rights and integration in 1957. He invited Martin Luther King to lead a prayer at one of his crusades, praising the African American's Christian love, and reiterated his earlier declarations that his crusades would not have separate seating for whites and blacks. Southern fundamentalists were beside themselves, the most extreme railing against Graham as a "negro lover." King wrote Graham, "You have courageously brought the Christian gospel to bear on the question of race in all its urgent dimensions." King encourage Graham to continue: "God has certainly done marvelous works through you in this great crusade."

Graham's biographer William Martin concluded that "the New York crusade made the breach with the fundamentalists permanent."

By the end of 1957, Graham's national prominence was secured, anchored by a crusade marathon that started in Madison Square Garden in the late spring and ended with a monster rally in Times Square in the fall. Participants remembered it like a ride on a Coney Island Rocket. Graham told a press conference shortly before the 2005 crusade, "I ran out of sermons. So, I preached them over again." Song leader Cliff Barrows told CT that he remembers that the escalating success left everyone exhausted but thankful. "Lots of times, we were running on empty." Graham lost 18 pounds and says he felt that every night was a spiritual battle. Graham said, "Since I was 22, I have prayed for New York City."

Many older people at the 2005 crusade remember how Graham's 1957 crusade changed their lives. Bob Johansson, the founder and principal of the thriving Evangel School in Queens, remembers how Graham moved him from the use of emotionalism to trust on God for converting people. "I was raised in the charismatic stuff," the educator said. So, he didn't expect much to happen at Graham's rallies which were relatively tame. "At the altar call Graham leaned back with his arms crossed." There was no emotional tugging at people's hearts. Johansson remembers thinking, "Oh God, he is just standing there! This is going to be a disaster." Yet, hundreds of people walked past Johannson to the altar. "I just started to weep. Then, I really knew that God works by the Spirit." Johannson was one of the two pastors who went down to North Carolina bearing a call from city pastors for Graham to come to New York again.

Living history
Jewish and Roman Catholic New Yorkers called Graham a kind of living history example of evangelicalism. He helps non-evangelicals understand what evangelicalism is about. Also, several prominent evangelical leaders came from across the nation to see Graham, lend their support, and take part in the crusade services.

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June (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49