The bus was rolling away. We were running. My mother was out of breath. Luckily, the street light turned red. We were able to hop in front of Tri-Met bus number 57 or 58 and were able to come onboard. We have two bus lines, two different numbers, 57 would go to Beaverton and 58 would go past Beaverton and all the way to Portland. So, we got on one of those two and we may have also hopped on the Max train and went westward toward the stadium.

We were in Forest Grove and were making our way to the big city, Portland, Oregon. We got off the bus and followed the big crowd to the Civic Stadium.

One night, it was raining and a bunch of umbrellas sprung up all over the stadium. I do remember the umbrellas. It was raining a bit and that didn't stop us. I was seven years old and didn't really know a lot about about Billy Graham but I do remember seeing him.

I don't remember how many times we went to see him but Billy spoke for five straight nights that year, 1992, in September, from the 23rd to the 27th. I vaguely remember running to get on the bus, all the people who were walking to the stadium to see Billy, the umbrellas, the rain, the black sky, that old guy they call Billy Graham, all the people at the stadium, and I kind of remember what Billy said, like bits and pieces, and I think that is it.

1990s

1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999

About Me

Billy Graham speaking in PDX, Portland, Oregon.

Seeing Billy Graham in person while in the rain
Oatmeal Daily - 2021-07-27 - Tuesday | Published in July of 2021

By Oatmeal Joey Arnold

The American Crusade

1992-09-23 - Wednesday - 1992-09-27 - Sunday - five consecutive days in September of 1992 at the Civic Stadium in Portland, Oregon, USA. The first day was on Wednesday, the 23rd of September of 1992. The last day was Sunday, the 27th of September of 1992.

The Billy Graham Crusade

This Billy Graham Crusade, also called The American Crusade, was held at the Civic Stadium which was later renamed PGE Park.

How many people attended?

According to Willamette Week at wweek.com, "Fiery evangelist Billy Graham brings his crusade to the Civic Stadium for a five-day run. On his final night, 41,500 people pack the stands to hear the 73-year-old preacher-a stadium record. The crusade's total attendance is an awe-inspiring 290,000 souls."

As a 7-year-old boy, it sure did look like a lot of people when we went to the crusades and mom said we went a few times, a few nights. There were a total of five nights and I do not remember how many out of those 5 we went to.

What else happened in 1992?

According to Willamette Week at wweek.com, "Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen are too much for Clyde the Glide and Buck Williams as the Bulls beat the Blazers four games to two in the NBA Finals. Amazingly, after the series, disgruntled Portland fans and scribes call for the blood of coach Rick Adelman."

I saw my dad and brother watch these basketball games on television and I was starting to become familiar with Michael Jordan, Clyde Drexler, and eventually other players as well. I was only seven years old in 1992 and I was more a fan of the individual super stars like MJ as opposed to caring about the well-being of an entire team. I remember rooting for the stars a few times in the early 1990s and then I started becoming a big fan of the Portland Trail-Blazers around 1999 and on and off for a few years after that. But I didn't really care a whole lot before 1999.

Johnny Cash

1992-09-25 - Friday - Deseret News - Deseret.com

Johnny Cash and his wife, June Carter Cash, joined evangelist Billy Graham for a crusade that filled a stadium with nearly 40,000 people in Portland, Ore. The 73-year-old Graham told the crowd Friday night he has no plans to stop preaching. "I'll retire when God retires me," he said. Civic Stadium was filled with 39,500 people, organizers said. Another 12,500 showed up at a high school to watch on a giant television screen.

Catholic Infiltration

According to the Jim Duke Perspective, "by September 1992, the Catholic diocese of Portland, Oregon, had set a goal to supply 6,000 of the 10,000 counselors needed for the Graham crusade. All Catholics responding to the altar call were channeled to Catholic churches."

In 2006-2007 while attending Appalachian Bible College (ABC), I would hear things relating to the infiltration, the alter call, things relating to that. Specifically, I believe I heard about this in my American Church History Class by Dr. Dan Anderson who was also the president of that college, my second college. I remember he would talk about that problem with follow-up and I've heard these concerns relating to camp as well from The Salvation Army and Word of Life camps in general and not specifically relating to Catholicism but in keeping in contact with campers after camp. Specifically in regards to Catholicism, there is a distinction between the doctrine of salvation. Unlike Catholicism and religions in general, Christianity promotes a salvation that is by grace and through faith. Catholicism teaches a works salvation. Billy Graham should have not allowed Catholics to lead people to the Lord because that pulls people towards Catholicism and away from Christianity.

Here is my dad on the couch with my younger sister. You can see me, I'm the boy in the glasses between my older siblings who were playing on the Super Nintendo, this was probably 4 months later in December of 1992.

I was seven years old.
But now back to the Billy Graham Crusade in September of 1992.

What did Billy Graham preach on?

One night, Billy Graham wore a tan rain-coat (which I think I remember) and read from Matthew 12:38-45 which references Jonah who was sent to pass on a message from God to Nineveh. Sadducee and Pharisee priests were asking Jesus for a sign. Jesus put them in their place. Billy Graham sermons would air on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) which was a Christian television station which I would watch as a kid in the 1990s. You could probably watch the videos to find out what Billy's other sermons were on for each of the five days of the crusade. There is also the praise music time and special speakers who spoke on some of the nights. I mean, not speakers but there may have been a few people who got up to say a few things like a quick testimony or something. Some or all of these things can probably be found on video but I don't have all of that right now in this post.

I'm thinking about trying to find some of that to see if any of that can trigger any lost memories I may have. But for now, I'm going to only mention a few things regarding the crusade. I wanted to keep this post quick, short but sweet, as much as possible, and not dive too deeply into everything. I was not really intending to turn this post into a theological debate or go down other rabbit trails. Instead, I just wanted to reference how it related to my life in reference to personal memories I had as a kid.

Photo of me in 1992 just hanging around as I usually would as a tree climber.

Conclusion

The purpose of this post was to put this event on my autobiography timeline. I may choose to link some of my future posts to this page. I wanted to try to put some of my memories of seeing Billy Graham in person into this online digital virtual time-capsule. I'm trying my best to capture all of my memories from these few days in September of 1992.

I wanted to try to collect videos, photos, links, data, ideas, information, relating to this particular crusade. I want to try compare and contrast things. I want to try to cross-reference this event with other memories I have had in my life and especially in 1992. I'm hoping in doing so I can unlock memories or whatever. I think I did a pretty good job already writing everything down here regarding what I remember from this thing. But I may write future articles to better outline this event in a more concise way. This post might be a little long. So, I may come out with smaller versions of this post and then link to this later on.