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By the evangelist's own admission, the U.S. economy, currently under a much-discussed study by the nation's Roman Catholic bishops, is a vexing and complex problem beyond his understanding. "The solution is beyond me, but I've found about 250 verses in the Bible on our responsibility to the poor."

During his crusade in Vancouver, British Columbia, last fall, Graham collected foodstuffs during a "Feed the Hungry" evening meeting to distribute among the poorest residents of that Canadian city. "It was a symbol to preach the message that we want to do something concrete," he recalls. "We've got to have a plan to do this year-round, to help the street people. For most evangelicals, the problem is not motivation, but rather how to do something to help others. They've got the gospel—the Cross to transform the heart—and they are finding there are obligations that come with it."

For the past several years, Graham has been stressing with new vigor the themes of self-denial and social responsibility along with his familiar salvation message. "For me, it's not just accepting Christ as Savior and Lord, but being a Christian every day," says the evangelist. "I want to emphasize the price you have to pay, and the changes that must occur in your life."

Throughout his ministry, Graham has proclaimed the need for personal and corporate revival, and has long seen glimmers of proof that such changes are in the wind. But today, he says, the entire world is in the throes of a broad and authentic search for transcendent meaning, and the nation is on a religious quest of "major proportions-maybe the greatest of American history." But the search for the divine "takes many forms," Graham observes. "They may be turning to a guru somewhere and dabbling in metaphysical philosophy. We have both the false and the true Christianity, side by side—the wheat and the tares. People are hungry for a genuine religious awakening, especially university students. There is a nuclear cloud hanging over these students, and I sense a great fear of war and fear for our future far greater in Europe than in America."

Graham, who has preached in more than 60 countries, has been focusing much of his evangelistic energy in recent years outside the borders of the U.S. He conducted only one American crusade last year (in Anchorage, Alaska), drawing fewer than 10,000 a night; while his appearances in Mexico, Great Britain, South Korea, the Soviet Union, and Canada attracted, in most cases, surprisingly large numbers. This year, in addition to his recently concluded Fort Lauderdale campaign, the evangelist is crusading in Hartford, Connecticut, in May, and Anaheim, California, in July, as well as venturing back to England, Hungary, and Romania.

Graham admits that in his youth he "came close to identifying the American way of life with the kingdom of God." But with his far-flung excursions and his unusual opportunity to observe the Christian church in differing political systems, "then I realized that God had called me to a higher kingdom than America. I have tried to be faithful to my calling as a minister of the gospel."

And the gospel that Graham is now preaching with revitalized determination is a more demanding gospel, stripped of any coating of cheap grace and more subdued in its appeal to the emotions. "I had no real idea that millions of people throughout the world lived on the knife-edge of starvation and … that I have a responsibility toward them," Graham asserts. "I've come to see in deeper ways some of the implications of my faith and the messages I've been proclaiming."

It is a gospel rich with the symbols and story of Holy Week, the account of deepest gloom and unspeakable joy, of death and resurrection. It is a message Graham intends to carry to the nations as long as he is given the breath to proclaim it.

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October (Web-only) 2008, Vol. 52