Today marks the one-year anniversary of the passing of Billy Graham. I hope you will join me in remembering his legacy today.
Like you, he impacted me and my ministry in profound ways. His book Peace with God was an instrument God used to bring me to Christ. His organization paid for me to attend his Training School for Evangelism. And his life as a man of God was a model for us all to follow.
In fact, for 80 years of ministry, Billy Graham stayed scandal-free. How exactly did he accomplish that? And, how can we also have a life and ministry that are scandal-free?
Let me tell you a bit of history most people don’t know . . .
By 1948, Billy Graham was becoming well known as an evangelist and receiving more and more invitations to hold city-wide evangelistic meetings.
But to many people, evangelism had a bad reputation because of the failures and incidents of corruption from earlier evangelists. Billy Graham recognized this problem and did not want his ministry to go down that same path — here was an opportunity to change the face of evangelism and prevent any threats to his Kingdom work.
So in November 1948, Graham called the members of his evangelistic team to his hotel room during a crusade campaign in Modesto, California. “God has brought us to this point,” he said. “Maybe he is preparing us for something that we don’t know.”
He and his team identified the issues that had been stumbling blocks to evangelists — and ways to prevent them from happening again.
What emerged was a declaration of Biblical integrity that all church leaders can follow. The “Modesto Manifesto” was the pact that would set the standard for Billy Graham’s scandal-free ministry.
The Manifesto included four key principles to guard against:
– Financial Abuse
– Sexual Immorality
– Pride (specifically with relationship to other local churches)
– Lying and Deceit (specifically regarding publicity and reporting of attendance numbers)
No formal document was ever created . . . until now.
I know the impact this Manifesto of integrity can have on your ministry as well. It has made such an impact in my own life and ministry. So I decided to painstakingly research and assemble the four principles into a framable presentation — one that would be easy to follow and keep as a guide. 
This week in remembrance of Rev. Graham, I’d like to share this with you. In the PS below you can get a sneak peek of what this Modesto Manifesto looks like — it’s something you can easily download, print, frame and keep with you always.
Click here to secure your FREE colorful, commemorative copy of Billy Graham’s Modesto Manifesto.
Thanks for your commitment to the Kingdom — and for taking a moment to discover a few safeguards that will make an incredible difference in the longevity and effectiveness of your ministry.
Your partner in ministry,
Nelson
P.S. Your colorful reference guide (PDF) includes each principle, applicable Scripture to study and commentary from Billy Graham. You’ll be able to print this out, frame it and keep it by your desk:
Click here to pick up your free commemorative copy!
I’ll only have this up this week – so be sure to download your copy now.
Praying that you study these principles and live by them to guard your ministry as Billy Graham once did.
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