When the Rev. Billy Graham comes to Cincinnati in June to convert souls and promote racial harmony, part of his message already will have taken root in the preparations.

        White and black church leaders have worked together since August 2000 to bring the Rev. Dr. Graham to Cincinnati 25 years after his last crusade here.

Rick Marshall, director of the North American Billy Graham mission, speaks to church leaders at the United Community Christian Church in Covington. (Tony Jones photo) | ZOOM |

        The 2002 Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Billy Graham Mission likely will be the last visit to the area by the 83-year-old evangelist, who suffers from Parkinson's disease and other health problems.

        Although planning for the mission began before Cincinnati's racial tensions erupted into last April's riots, local leaders of the effort say the Rev. Dr. Graham's return now is opportune.

        “I'm a firm believer that when you look for healing, for reconciliation, it starts in the heart,” says Anthony Munoz, the retired Bengals Hall of Famer who is chairman of the mission. “What a great time for Billy Graham to come to Cincinnati, because we are hurting. You can sugarcoat things, but when you get down to it, we are a hurting city.”

        It will be a religious touchstone for the Tristate, and shapes up to be one of the biggest public events in the region's history.

        Organizers expect 750 to 1,000 area churches to support the mission with volunteers, donations or equipment. A Student Leaders Breakfast last week attracted more than 800 people, setting a record among all Graham missions.

        Within the next six months, another 15,000 to 20,000 volunteers are expected to sing in the choir, usher at Paul Brown Stadium, minister in prisons or counsel newly committed Christians.

        The free event is expected to attract 200,000 people to its events, June 27-30.

        Organizers of the Graham mission have had no requests to boycott or cancel the event.

        “They won't do that and if they did, I'll deal with it if it happens,” says the Rev. Damon Lynch Jr., co-chair of the mission and father of the Rev. Damon Lynch III, a leader of the Black United Front, which has urged conventions to boycott Cincinnati.

        “We're talking about saving souls. They are talking about police and the such. It's two separate issues.”

        The mission has the power to improve race relations across the region, says the Rev. Larry Davis, pastor of First Baptist Church of Cold Spring in Kentucky and co-chair of the mission.

        “We will have 1,000 churches who have had to suck it up and get along to pull this together,” the Rev. Mr. Davis says. “This will be the largest demonstration of church unity Cincinnati has ever seen.”
       

A city in need

        When you want to invite the world's best-known evangelist to town, a simple call won't do.

        After conceiving the idea with a couple church members over lunch, the Rev. Mr. Davis knew he would have to take the pulse of the community to see if a Graham Mission had broad support. He sent letters to religious leaders on both sides of the river. His pitch: He'd buy breakfast if they would come to talk about a possible mission.

        A hundred people showed up at the meeting in the fall of 2000. The group started plans to invite the Rev. Dr. Graham.

        Then in April, a Cincinnati police officer shot and killed an unarmed black teen, laying bare the city's racial divide. Many of the pastors instrumental in early talks about a Graham mission, including the Rev. Damon Lynch III, shifted their focus to more immediate needs.

        At the Rev. Dr. Graham's request, a group sent copies of the Enquirer to the evangelist every day in the weeks following the riots. The pastors asked 200 of the region's civic and community leaders to write to the Rev. Dr. Graham, explaining why he should come to Cincinnati.

        By summer, some church members joined in the letter-writing campaign. Seventy-year-old Ruth Phillips filled three pages of notebook paper.

        “I pointed out that there was so much unrest in our city, a lot of fear and disregard for human life,” says Mrs. Phillips, a Kennedy Heights resident and member of Union Baptist Church in the West End. “I thought it would be wonderful if he could come because he's such a man of integrity ... His message for the good news of salvation and love have reached a lot of people and changed lives.”

        As the Rev. Mr. Davis read the letters, he knew in his heart the man known as “The Nation's Pastor” would accept the invitation.

        Cincinnati was a city in need.
       

Racial unity

        After the Rev. Dr. Graham officially accepted the invitation in September, preparations began. Local leaders started to assemble committees. A team of Billy Graham Evangelistic Association workers moved to Cincinnati, many fresh from the Louisville crusade in June.

        Top priority was to make sure the mission reflected the message of racial unity.

        When the Rev. Dr. Graham last came to Cincinnati in 1977, racial reconciliation also was a theme. “Make friends with people of the other race,” encouraged the Rev. Dr. Graham on Oct. 21, 1977. But after the crusade, there were concerns within the African-American community that they hadn't been equally included.

        “When the rubber hit the road, when the big event came, we were kind of pushed to the side,” says the Rev. Mr. Lynch, Jr., who served on the 1977 general committee.

        This time, organizers purposefully worked to avoid the same mistake, says the Rev. Mr. Lynch, pastor of New Jerusalem Baptist Church in Carthage.

        An African-American, he's a co-chair of the event along with the Rev. Mr. Davis, who is white. Mr. Munoz is Hispanic.

        “For every committee, there is an African-American co-chair,” says the Rev. Mr. Lynch Jr. “I write all the checks, so I know where all the money is going.”

        The Graham team set up offices in Swifton Commons, owned by a primarily black church, Allen Temple African Methodist Episcopal and its real estate foundation.

        “We didn't want this to be the white church inviting the African-Americans to come along,” says the Rev. Mr. Davis. “We want this to be a joint effort.”
       

A simple message

        A 1949 crusade in Los Angeles propelled the Rev. Dr. Graham to national and international prominence. Over the decades, he has been an adviser to presidents, minister to millions and counselor during tragedy — including after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. His message is simple: Jesus Christ loves you. He came to save you. Accept him into your heart.

        “He focuses on a very core message and is willing not to take one side or the other on the many disagreements denominations have,” says Dr. Nathan Hatch, provost of the University of Notre Dame and an expert in the history of American Christianity.

        As a result, people across Protestant denominations — and even Catholics — find the Rev. Dr. Graham appealing.
       

"A ripple effect'

        The impact of the mission is hard to quantify.

        From an economic standpoint, it likely won't measure up against the contributions of most conventions.

        Most who attend will come from within an hour's drive and won't stay the night.

        “But the benefit is the visibility that (the mission) gives downtown and our region after years of building and rebuilding,” says Julie Harrison, spokeswoman for the Greater Cincinnati Convention and Visitors Bureau. “Maybe it's been 10 years since they've been to Cincinnati. They'll see a whole new place ... This is an opportunity to win them back.”

        The budget for the event is $2.5 million, raised from a mix of direct mail solicitations, churches, foundations and the collection plate passed during the mission.

        The Rev. Dr. Graham won't receive any money from Cincinnati fund-raising efforts. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association pays his salary and supplements the payroll for many of the full-time workers.

        Harder to determine is how the mission will affect the soul of a region.

        The Rev. Mr. Lynch Jr. says the mission has the promise of succeeding where other programs have failed.

        The mission could drive down the crime rate and unemployment, says the Rev. Mr. Lynch. “It has a ripple effect. People's hearts have to be right before they can do anything else. There has to be a will to do the right thing.”

        When the Rev. Dr. Graham prays the last “amen” of the mission, that's really the beginning for Cincinnati, says Joellen Grady, a member of the executive board for the mission. The mission shows churches across racial, economic and geographic lines what they can accomplish when they join together, she says.

        “Those churches start to say, "If we can do this, we can do a soup kitchen or something else for the community,'” says Ms. Grady.

        Despite a decade as the head of the ecumenical organization, the Council of Christian Communions, Ms. Grady says working on the mission has helped her make connections and establish new relationships.

        “We shouldn't just look at it as a crusade from June 27 to June 30,” Ms. Grady says. “We should see (the mission) as a time to mark a change between Cincinnati's past and its future.”
       

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