Just after the calendar flipped to 1960, Billy Graham held his first evangelistic events in Africa. He preached in countries across the continent, including Liberia, Ghana, Nigeria, the Congo, Kenya and Ethiopia.
Half a million people attended the 1960 African Crusade, and thousands responded to the message with questions or a commitment to Christ.
Billy Graham arrived on the continent on January 19, 1960. When his airplane touched down in Liberia, one of the plane’s motor’s started spurting dark smoke. “As we landed, I wondered if it might be the last stop I would ever make,” he recounted in his autobiography. “The combustion, I was happy to see, subsided before we reached the terminal.”
The first events of the multi-week tour were held January 21-22 in Liberia’s capital of Monrovia.
Liberia’s president and vice president supported the meetings, and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) team stayed at the government’s official guest house.
From January 30 to February 12, Billy Graham preached in five cities throughout Nigeria.
An estimated 40,000 people attended his meetings in Enugu, Nigeria.
In the days before the Crusade meetings, associate BGEA evangelists led meetings in surrounding towns to spread the word.
“This approach created buzz and inspired people to invite their friends to the larger Crusade, which took place a few days later,” explained Howard Jones, who worked closely with Billy Graham during the 1960 African outreach.
On March 1, Billy Graham held a one-day Crusade in the port city of Kisumu, Kenya.
In between events, the 41-year-old evangelist connected with Africans of all ages.
“Whether the story of Christ is told in a huge stadium, across the desk of a powerful leader, or shared with a golfing companion, it satisfies a common hunger. All over the world, whenever I meet people face-to-face, I am made aware of this personal need among the famous and successful, as well as the lonely and obscure.” —Billy Graham
In total, Billy Graham preached in 11 African countries during the 1960 tour.
One Ghanan child (not pictured) was too young to remember the Crusade events, but he’s convinced the events changed the course of his entire family’s life. >>Read the story.
“I left Africa with a prayer of deep gratitude for the faith and sacrifice of those who had gone before us, bringing the light of the Gospel to one of the world’s largest continents. We were only following a trail others had blazed.” —Billy Graham
