Park Cities Presbyterian Church (PCA)

"Did you call to begin a relationship with Jesus Christ?"

Billy Graham Call Center at PCPC celebrates fifth anniversary

By Sherry Elston

Published February 1, 2010 in Witness

It is hard to believe that last fall we celebrated five years as an official Billy Graham Call Center. During those five years, the Lord used our faithful team of volunteers to participate alongside 806 people as they came to a saving faith in Jesus Christ; to encourage 992 people in the assurance of their faith; to help 682 people rededicate their lives to the Lord; and, finally, the Lord has given our volunteers the privilege of praying with 2,803 sweet believers who had other needs. Wow! What an awesome privilege it is to be used by God in such life-changing ways and to be part of something so much bigger than ourselves.

During and after television broadcasts of a Billy Graham Crusade message, some from as far back as the 1950s, hurting people call. Some callers have fervent prayer requests for themselves, their children and grandchildren, and even our country, while others find themselves at the foot of the cross yearning to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior. Our volunteers eagerly listen, pray, and point the callers to the scripture and Christ as their only Salvation and Provider. It is a humbling and emotional experience. ”If you build it, they will come,” we hear from the 1989 film Field of Dreams. And they do. The callers are young and old, poor and wealthy, and from every race.

The scriptures are clear. Believers have been given a Great Commission, and there is no easier way to do our part to make God’s truth known than to pick up the phone and say something like, ”Hello, this is the Billy Graham Call Center and my name is Myrna. Did you call to begin a relationship with Jesus Christ?” On the other end of the line we often hear a joyful ”Yes! Yes!”

Dianne Wilkerson writes: “While briefly waiting for a call one Wednesday evening, I didn’t realize I was about to be pulled into an audio vortex of human suffering comparable to none I had ever personally encountered—except for once during a conversation with a Holocaust victim. The peripheral reason the young lady called was to ask for prayer because she was being persecuted for being a Christian by people in the projects where she lived in New York. It soon became clear to me that she was suffering from a string of crimes committed against her person and family which, over the years, ranged from the horrific to the monstrous—including witnessing her mother being shot to death. I sent up a quick prayer, ‘Lord, teach me what to say to your broken child.’ The Lord formed my words, for He Himself had suffered in a manner surpassing any human torture of body and soul. By His grace, this decimated soul on the other end of the line received comfort. I never felt more like an instrument of His peace than in that phone conversation. I was profoundly grateful that He had positioned me to wait for such a call that life-changing night.”

In spite of the very busy schedules of our volunteers, every Wednesday evening when the Call Center is open, a volunteer arrives early to set up and open the computer programs. The Lord brings more volunteers to answer the calls and others to follow up on the information gathered. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) sends each caller printed materials. More volunteers, led by Ed McDow, pray for each caller. If you are not quite ready for phone duty, that’s a great place to help.

Our band of regular volunteers is like an extended family. It is a joy to have fellowship and snacks as we prepare to take calls. At the end of the evening, it is always a blessing to pray for those who called and for one another after we review the calls we have received. We serve the Lord for only two hours at the Call Center, but the blessings we reap are with us much longer.

We will eagerly wait to see what God has planned for the Call Center in the next five years. Won’t you come find out with us? Don’t miss a most blessed opportunity to be used by God. Pray about making it a 2010 resolution that you will keep!