Billy Graham moving HQ to Charlotte

11/16/2001

The Rev. Billy Graham announced that he will move his headquarters from Minneapolis, where he first established a one-room office in 1950, to his hometown of Charlotte.

The Minneapolis operation now employs 400 of the 632 staffers of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Many will be relocated in three to five years, when a new office complex is completed on a parkway named for the preacher north of Charlotte.

“Minneapolis has been very good to us, but we have run out of room to grow,” the evangelist said in a prepared statement released Thursday.

Mr. Graham's nonprofit, nondenominational group sponsors a variety of worldwide evangelistic projects, and had reported revenues of $125.8 million and assets of $189.6 million last year.

Mr. Graham, who turned 83 on Nov. 7, has announced a revival meeting for Cincinnati next June 27-30. He is battling poor health but still preached in Fresno, Calif., in October.

His son, the Rev. Franklin Graham, was named chief executive officer of the association last year. Franklin also conducts revival meetings for the association.

Inspired by the haggadah that Jews recite at Passover meals, a Thanksgiving ritual for remembrance of the victims of the Sept. 11 terror attacks has been published by the New York-based American Jewish Committee.

“Our joy is mixed with profound sorrow because there are more than 5,000 empty places at America's table,” the leaflet says.

In the ceremony, one candle is lit in memory of the Sept. 11 “innocents” and “heroes,” and a second candle to symbolize hope for the safety of America, Israel, and Jews everywhere. “In the warmth of these two flames, let us pray for peace,” participants say.

The ritual has inspirational quotes from the Bible, rabbis, and New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

ForeFront Records has announced that the Christian dance band Raze will be disbanded. The announcement followed Raze member Ja'Marc Antoine Davis pleading guilty Nov. 8 to three felony sex offenses involving an underage girl who was a backup dancer for the group. Davis, 26, who was arrested March 1 in Tulsa, is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 13.

Raze's album, “Power,” with its high-energy Christian dance music, won a 1999 Dove Award.