York County, South Carolina, has an optional program for public schools called Released Time Bible Education. The program, offered nationwide, is a weekly elective taught off campus in one of three area churches where students—with parent permission—learn about the Bible and a relationship with Jesus. For the past six years, the program has brought students to the Billy Graham Library for a year-end trip. This week, more than 300 5th– and 6th-graders are visiting the Library.
“Whoa, it’s beautiful! Duuude!”
Watching people walk through the final room of the Billy Graham Library tour never gets old. Especially when they’re children.
On Monday morning, dozens of blue-shirted public school students from York County, South Carolina, filled the Library to learn about Billy Graham—and a ministry begun before many of their parents were even born.
Throughout the interactive Library tour, which recounts more than 60 years of Billy Graham’s ministry spreading the Gospel, many students pulled out smartphones to take pictures of colorful exhibits and decades-old memorabilia. But it was the last room in the tour that really grabbed their attention—a tunnel of tall, plexiglass crosses edged in bright light, leading to a color-drenched Thomas Kinkade mural of a cross on a hill.
The kids gasped. Fifth-grader Eddie Lopez called it beautiful.
After the tour, a Library volunteer explained the Gospel again and 30 students said they wanted to dedicate their lives to Christ. Eighteen others decided to rededicate their lives to Him.
“I wanted to worship God,” Lopez said as he explained his decision to follow Christ.
Fellow 5th-grader Amirah Talbert made the same decision, explaining, “I didn’t want to be part of the evil in the world.”
Both she and Lopez said they’d like to start reading the Bible more. Lopez said maybe it will help him stay out of trouble.
That’s the kind of response John Hunter hopes for each year. Hunter, 87, is a former York County principal and serves as a Library volunteer. He’s also on the Released Time Bible Education (RTBE) board.
“I want them to accept Jesus,” he said, standing in one of the Library exhibits as students browsed the displays around him. And if they already have Christ in their lives? He hopes the tour inspires them to grow in their faith—to pray more, read the Bible more, go to church more.
It may be hard to keep 5th– and 6th-graders’ attention, but learning about Billy Graham and what he has stood for wasn’t lost on them.
Billy Graham “talked to people about God and their relationship with Him,” Lopez explained later. He called the evangelist “full of courage” to be able to share his faith around the world.
Students like Lopez who make decisions for Christ get follow-up materials, and parents are encouraged to take them to church. Some parents went through the tour with their children.
Rene Maxwell came with her son, Benjamin. She said she cried throughout the whole tour last year when she accompanied her other son, who was also part of the RTBE program.
Maxwell grew up watching Billy Graham on TV at her grandparents’ house. Monday, she teared up after a Library exhibit that shows snippets from Mr. Graham’s messages during times of turmoil, like his message to the nation just after 9/11.
Maxwell and her husband lived in New York at the time, and her husband worked as a police officer. His Bible, found intact in his flattened car, survived the tragedy of that day, but his partner did not. Both husband and wife saw the second plane hit the Twin Towers that day, and Maxwell said “only God” got them through the grief and heartache that followed.
Coping with the everyday trials always came back to their faith.
Maxwell got her boys involved in the RTBE program because she doesn’t want their faith confined to certain times and place. She wants them to learn about God “not just at church and not just a home” but at school, too. Faith, she added, “reaches every aspect of your life. It’s not just a place. It’s in your heart.”
