The statute of the popular American evangelist, Billy Graham, will be unveiled on May 16 in the U.S. Capitol building, in Washington.
The Christian Post reports the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) as disclosing this in a statement.
According to the association, the statue will be unveiled in a private ceremony with remarks by Franklin Graham, House Speaker Mike Johnson and music supplied by Michael W. Smith.
The United States Capitol building is the seat of the country’s congress, the legislative arm of the federal government. It is located on Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall.
About the statue
The base of the seven feet tall statue includes John 3:16 and John 14:6.
It was sculpted by Charlotte-based artist Chas Fagan and “depicts Mr Graham pointing to an open Bible,” BGEA said in the statement.
North Carolina’s lawmakers on both the state and national level led the effort to have Graham’s statue in the capitol.
The man Billy Graham
Graham died on February 21, 2018 at the age of 99.
He was an evangelist for over 60 years.
He was the president of the North Carolina-based BGEA before he passed.
During his ministry, Graham preached the gospel to over 200 million people in 185 countries and territories.
He organised his last crusade from June 24 to 26, 2005 in New York.
Since his death, his son, Franklin Graham, has been running the BGEA.
Graham, during his lifetime, was associated with several sitting American presidents some of whom he visited at the White House while others visited him.
The presidents include Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
He made his first visit to the White House on July 14, 1950.
The revered clergyman provided some of them spiritual counsel. He participated in four swearing-in ceremonies.
Both Johnson and Nixon reportedly offered Graham high positions in government but he politely declined the offers.
The honour
Each American state is allowed two statues as part of the capitol’s “National Statuary Hall Collection.”
In 2015, the North Carolina General Assembly voted to replace a statue of its former governor, Brantley Aycock, with that of Graham.
Aycock was known for his white supremacist views.
Other statues in collection include those of George Washington, Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and Helen Keller.
National Statuary Hall was birthed in 1864 when Congress passed a law authorising the president to “invite each and all the States to provide and furnish statues, in marble or bronze, not exceeding two in number for each State, of deceased persons” who are known for their “historic renown or for distinguished civic or military services.”
Comments
“This is a great honour and my father would be humbled and grateful. At the same time, he would not want the attention on himself but on God’s son, the Lord Jesus Christ,” Franklin Graham said.
North Carolina senator, Ted Budd, said “the Legacy of Rev. Billy Graham is based on his simple message of forgiveness. His lifelong commitment to preaching the Gospel, his fight for civil rights, his opposition to communism, and his spiritual guidance provided hope to hundreds of millions. His likeness should stand in the U.S. Capitol forever.”