ASSIST News Service
(ANS)
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PO Box 2126, Garden Grove, CA 92842-2126
USA
E-mail: assistcomm@cs.com,
web site: www.assistnews.net
November 15, 2001
50 YEARS IN CHRISTIAN WORK #10
From the 50-year diary of Maurice Rowlandson
LONDON, ENGLAND (ANS) -- A young London actress named Joan Winmill was
one of those who had responded to Billy Graham's message. At the time she was
appearing in Douglas Hume's play 'The Chiltern Hundreds' at the Vaudeville
Theatre. John Mercer, who was the rather sceptical Insurance Agent for the
Crusade, was a friend of hers. He was aware that she was a typical 1950's
'crazy mixed up kid' who consorted with the high and mighty, not least with
Bobby Kennedy from America as well as with the Author of her play. John felt
that it would 'do her good' to come to Harringay.
Somewhat surprisingly she agreed to come to the Crusade and was totally
overwhelmed with Billy Graham's preaching. When he invited those who so wished
to 'make a commitment for Christ' to come to the front, she was one of those who
walked forward. In a remarkable way, when she got there her Counsellor was none
other than Ruth Graham, the evangelist's wife. It became very clear that Joan
had made a real commitment, which would last.
Dick Ross who was involved in making feature films for the Billy Graham
Evangelistic Association, heard of Joan Winmill's story. It led him to
commission a script for a film, written around her, and he asked her to take the
starring role.
The working title for the film was 'Dateline London'. During the second half of
the Crusade, filming started. The film would feature three stories. First was
to be that of an actress (played by Joan Winmill); the second was of a factory
worker (played by Charles Leno) and the third was of an aircraft test pilot
(played by Eric Micklewood). The three stories wove together to make a
compelling film. David Rennie and I, together with our wives appeared in the
production - the first time that any of us had had that experience! Later on,
as I used the film, it became a helpful 'point of contact' when speaking after
the film.
Subsequently the film was called 'Souls in Conflict' and became one of the most
powerful and effective films ever produced by the Billy Graham organisation.
The film had such a strong message that it was unnecessary to 'preach a sermon'
afterwards. Yet so often when the film was shown in churches, this was
precisely what happened!
Anything said after the film, should always be brief and relate to what has just
been seen. The final scenes of this film lent themselves to a very clear
presentation of the Gospel. Frank (Frederick Leister), an aircraft designer was
sitting at his desk reading the newspaper. As he did so, he quoted a paragraph
to Jeff, the test pilot: 'After Mr. Graham had finished speaking, he invited
people who had lost contact with God to come to the front of the hall and made a
decision for Christ.' He put the paper down with a flourish, took off his
glasses in astonishment and remarked 'Amazing what some people will do!' Jeff
quietly replied 'amazing? I don't recall anything amazing about it. On the
contrary it seemed the most natural thing I'd ever done.' Frank looked up at
Jeff and exclaimed: 'You? Sheer unadulterated nonsense!'
In those two persons are represented everyone present at the film show. There
are those who, like Frank, would say 'nonsense' and there are those who, like
Jeff, would say that accepting Christ was the most natural thing they had ever
done. It came to a point of decision. That was all that needed to be said, with
possibly a prayer of commitment to help those who wished to respond. And
hundreds did just that for years afterwards.
Remarkably that 50-year-old film is still as useful today. People's stories
have not changed that much, and fashions have done the full cycle! The only
'dating' factor in the film is a reference to Prime Minister Harold Wilson! The
film was recently re-issued by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in its
programme of releasing 'Vintage films'. It has proved to be as relevant to-day
as when it was made.
The Crusade continued and, as the weeks went by, we got more and more exhausted.
The meetings became a way of life', and those who had made a commitment to
Christ in the early weeks, were bringing their unconverted friends by the final
weeks. It was a growing snowball. Trains to and from Harringay were crowded
with hymn-singing participants and expectant visitors. Many of those went home
afterwards and joined in the hymn singing!
For Billy Graham there was no let up in the pressure. I was given the task of
organising several special events. On 20th March, we took the Harringay Stadium
(next door to the Arena) and packed it out with 40,000 children and their
parents to enjoy a presentation of the Gospel by Roy Rogers (on his horse
Trigger) with Dale Evans. A week later on the 29th March we had the first
land-line relay to the Trocadero Cinema at Elephant and Castle - a district in
South East London. It was an attempt to extend the influence of the Crusade
beyond the confines of Harringay. It was an immediate success and had been
devised by Bob Benninghof. At the time he was the technical director of Billy
Graham's radio programme 'The Hour of Decision'. He went on to conceive a plan
which could take the Crusade all over the country by using a complex network of
telephone landlines that had been put in for communications during the war.
This project was developed a year later during th
We began then, to think about the closing day of the Crusade. With Roy Cattell
I went to meet with the Directors of the Wembley Stadium. To our delight it was
available on 22nd May, and we booked it on the spot. Within two weeks we had
distributed enough tickets to fill every seat - and something like 10/15,000
more! As the tickets were free, it was always our policy to distribute about
one-third more tickets than there were seats. Many of the free tickets were
never used so the extra tickets ensured that every seat was filled..
A week later, we had enough ticket applications to fill the Wembley Stadium
twice over. At an emergency meeting of the Executive committee, they sent Roy
and me to the White City Stadium to see if that might also be available on the
same afternoon. It was! And that too was booked for 22nd May.
On 3rd April, we took Billy Graham and the Team to a packed rally in Trafalgar
Square. Ten days later on Good Friday, 16th April, he preached to many
thousands gathered in front of a specially erected platform in Hyde Park. The
night before we had accommodated the biggest crowd ever assembled in Harringay -
nearly 15,000 people in an arena built to accommodate 11,500!
By the end of April, we were engaged in the biggest logistical exercise of the
whole Crusade. We were all involved in planning and organising two rallies on
the same day. Everything had to be duplicated. We had sound systems at White
City and Wembley; we had special platforms erected at both. In addition, we
needed to construct special 'bridges' to enable people to walk out from the
stands to the grass when Billy Graham made his usual appeal - 'I am going to ask
you to get up out of your seats and come and stand here at the front'.
Whilst we could duplicate all the technical arrangements, we couldn't duplicate
the personnel! The entire teams of choir, stewards and counsellors, had to be
moved from White City in the afternoon to Wembley in the evening - a distance of
about ten miles. Streams of motor cars left White City as soon as the meeting
was over, and speeded to Wembley where everything was done all over again!
In spite of accommodating the extra 65,000 people at White City there were far
more people outside the Wembley Stadium than there were seats to accommodate
them.
At precisely 6.20pm the Wembley Stadium Directors took an historic decision.
They said that, once all the seats were filled, they would make an exceptional
gesture and open up the gates to allow an overflow crowd to stand on the sacred
turf! With something like 100,000 seats in the Stadium in those days, a further
20,000 accumulated on the grass in the space in front of the platform. This
gave Wembley a record crowd which has never been exceeded since. Shortly
afterwards, various regulations came into effect under the Health and Safety
rules, and Wembley was never again allowed to have that number within their
gates.
At this final meeting, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Geoffrey Fisher, was
present on the platform and pronounced the benediction. Grady Wilson, one of
Billy Graham's closest associates, was overawed by his presence. The Archbishop
said to Grady 'Don't you think this is the dawning of a new day in evangelism?'
Grady Wilson, overcome with emotion and enthusiasm, threw his arms around the
Archbishop squeezing him with a bear hug, and replied 'Yes sir, Brother
Archbishop, yes sir!'
So concluded the greatest Crusade that Billy Graham was ever to conduct in the
British Isles. As it ended, a delegation from Glasgow, pleaded with him to come
and conduct a Crusade in Scotland the following year. Billy Graham accepted
this invitation. When the London Crusade executive committee heard about that,
they immediately saw the opportunity to capitalize on Billy Graham's visit to
Britain, and issued an invitation to him to conduct a seven-day Crusade in the
Wembley Stadium in 1955. A new committee was formed under the Chairmanship of
Hugh Gough the Bishop of Barking. As the affairs of Harringay were wrapped up,
planning began immediately for the next Crusade at Wembley.
(Next: Relays and the Wembley Crusade)
Maurice Rowlandson
PO Box 292
Frinton-on-Sea
CO13 9AG, UK
+44 (0) 1255 676617
E-mail mauricerow@cs.com
www.mauricemarilyn.com
Mobile: +44 (0) 7860 300174
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