October 14, 2002
Years of prayer pave Graham's path to Metroplex
___By George Henson
___Staff Writer
___DALLAS--When Billy Graham enters Texas Stadium later this week, he will reach the end of a road paved with prayer for almost three years.
___In November 1999, Dallas Baptist Association Director of Missions Gary Hearon first contacted Sterling Huston with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
___"I just asked him outright if Billy Graham would come to Dallas," Hearon recalled. "He said, 'I don't know, but if you'll get six or seven people togeth
er, ... we'll talk about it.'"
___Hearon's call had been on his heart for awhile. "I used to be a pastor in Waynesville, N.C., and had the pleasure of being a part of the Western Carolina Crusade in Asheville," he said. "I had yearned for a long time to be a part of something like that here in Dallas."
___Hearon assembled seven evangelical leaders--Method-ists, Baptists and Presbyterians--in the Dallas and Rockwall areas. Huston first met with them at the Baptist Building in Dallas Feb. 15, 2000.
___Huston asked point-blank: "Why should Billy Graham come to Dallas?" Hearon recalled. The men explained that of 2.2 million people living in Dallas and Rockwall counties, more than 1.5 million are not Christians, and of those, more than 1 million profess no religious affiliation whatever. The people speak more than 100 languages.
___"What we told him was, 'Dallas is just as real a mission field as any mission field anywhere in the world,'" Hearon said.
___The group of seven prayed Graham would help to reach all those non-Christians. They also hoped working toward common goals would bring unity to evangelical churches in North Texas.
___The group's goal was for Dallas to be one of Graham's two venues in 2001, but he made commitments to Louisville, Ky., and Fresno, Calif., Hearon said.
___As the meetings progressed, their vision expanded to include Fort Worth and the Mid-Cities, and the planning expanded.
___The team worked to acquire the 500 invitation letters--from civic leaders, lay leaders, clergy and businessmen--the Graham Association requires before considering a city.
___"We got that book of letters together and wanted to present them to Billy at the Louisville meeting, but Sterling Huston said it might be better to wait, so we did," Hearon recalled.
___When a group of four pastors finally presented the letters to Graham in Fresno in October of last year, Hearon was not with them. He was in Green Bay, Wisc., to perform his son's wedding ceremony.
___"We thought Billy would give them his answer on the spot, because that was the way he did things, but the pastors who extended the invitation returned to Dallas without an answer," Hearon recalled.
___November expired without an answer, but, Hearon said, he did not doubt Graham would schedule a mission in Dallas.
___"It never occurred to me that Dr. Graham would not come," he said. "I did not learn until the announcement meeting at Texas Stadium that Dr. Graham came this close to not coming," he said holding his fingers less than an inch apart.
___On Dec. 18, Huston called Hearon, saying Graham would preach in North Texas.
___"That was the best Christmas present we got," he said, "and it's been high gear ever since."
___Preparations for the Metroplex Mission have gone extremely well, Hearon said. More than 18,000 people attended Christian Life and Witness Training courses across the Metroplex during August and September. The mission offices have received more than 9,000 counselor applications, a record for any Graham meeting.
___All that bodes well, Hearon said. "If God prepares the workers for the harvest, it's going to be a great harvest, and we praise God for that."
___Hearon refuses credit for what has happened or what will happen. "I feel like what Peter Marshall once said: Anyone could have done it, but God's whisper came to me."
___He is glad his office had a part in the preparations.
___"This position is about reaching people for Christ, and it is all about trying to advance the cause of Christ in Dallas and Rockwall counties. If we do that effectively here, I believe it will impact the whole world," he said. "But this mission is not about Billy Graham, the Dallas Baptist Association, or any individual or entity--it's not about anything other than Jesus Christ."
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