Billy Graham funeral to serve as evangelist's final crusade

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — As his public appearances dwindled in recent years, the Rev. Billy Graham began choosing songs, scripture and speakers for one last public opportunity to spread the Gospel — his own funeral.

Plans for Friday's service took shape in the years after his last crusade in 2005 as he huddled with confidants and loved ones in his North Carolina mountain home. Musicians who had shared Graham's stage would sing. Some of the best preachers Graham knew — his own children — would deliver personal messages.

And evoking the "Canvas Cathedral" revivals that helped launch his ministry seven decades ago, mourners would gather under a tent to pay their final respects. For his family, the idea became capturing the feeling of the crusades that made Graham "America's Pastor" and the world's best-known Protestant preacher of his era.


Source : Yahoo