Franklin Graham was the son of the most famous evangelist on the planet. And for years, he wanted nothing to do with any of it.
Growing Up Graham
Imagine being Billy Graham's kid. Every sermon your father preaches reaches millions. Everyone expects you to be a model Christian. Franklin wasn't interested in playing that part. Through his teenage years and into his twenties, he smoked, drank, and lived in open defiance of his family's faith.
It wasn't that Franklin didn't understand the gospel. He'd heard it more than almost anyone alive. He just didn't want it.
The Mother Who Wrote a Book About Waiting
Ruth Bell Graham — Billy's wife — carried Franklin's rebellion quietly for years. She didn't lecture. She didn't publicly shame him. She prayed, consistently and persistently, long past the point where most people would have given up.
Ruth eventually wrote a book called *Prodigals and Those Who Love Them*. It was filled with the stories of others who'd walked the same road — parents waiting for their children to come home. She wrote it while she was still waiting for her own son.
The Surrender
At age 22, Franklin was in a hotel room in Jerusalem. The accumulated weight of his mother's prayers, his father's example, and the Holy Spirit's persistence broke through. He surrendered. Not to his parents' expectations — to God himself.
Franklin Graham now leads both the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan's Purse, one of the world's largest humanitarian organisations.
What This Means for You
Ruth didn't try to argue Franklin into faith. She didn't weaponise guilt or religious expectation. She prayed. She waited. She loved him without conditions while he was still running. That's the hardest kind of parenting — the kind that holds on without controlling. And it worked.