Billy Graham preached a lot of crusades, none more important than the one he preached in Los Angeles when he was 31 years old.
A few months earlier, Graham was emotionally crushed when a crusade in Altoona, Pennsylvania, had been a disaster. Billy even considered discontinuing his crusades. But he stayed with it long enough to preach another crusade in Los Angeles in 1949. It was going so well that publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst told his newspapers to “puff Graham.” (“Puff” was a colloquial word of the time meaning to emphasize or feature positively.)
The impact was huge. Like a rocket launch, it sent Graham’s ministry into the stratosphere. Within three years, he was baptizing President Dwight Eisenhower in a White House bathtub and meeting with other world leaders as he traveled the world preaching to millions.
One person made a difference in creating the worldwide ministry of Billy Graham.
I had an older friend who was very successful in the insurance business. He used to say, “It only takes one.” What he meant by that was that one opportunity can move your career to another level.
I have another friend who lived near Houston and owned his own insurance business in property and casualty. One day, an older Hispanic woman walked through the doors of his office. She spoke very little English and said she could not find anyone to give her the time of day. My friend helped her, although she ultimately needed only a simple automobile policy. Yet she was grateful.
He did not know that her son lived in South Texas and owned a large trucking company. Guess who he sought to insure his fleet? My friend sold his business a few years later and retired. He was 43.
Remember this the next time you get discouraged in your work. Your service to:
- one customer
- one patient
- one business
- one client
can open doors you never previously imagined.
It only takes one.
Author of Holy Chaos How To Walk with God in a Frenzied World