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"The Church should be a place of healing and salvation, not judgment and condemnation," says daughter of Billy Graham. She shares her own Prodigal Daughter story, saying when she returned to her father's house after her life hit bottom, her father was waiting for her in the driveway. "He took me in his arms and said, 'Welcome home.' My father is not God, but that day, he showed me God's love." -- Ruth Graham
(Nashville, Tennessee)—Ruth Graham, daughter of evangelist Billy Graham, is preparing for an October conference to be held in Nashville called "Get Growing." The conference is part of the mission she feels God called her to a few years ago involving engaging the Church in discussing the "elephants in the Church world." The conference will reportedly include workshops on depression, divorce and other difficult issues.
"Jesus always met people where they were, and I think the Church today has to meet people where they are … we should provide a place where people know they are not going to be condemned, where they know they are not going to be judged,'' said Tex Reardon, executive Graham and Friends ministry.
In a report published in The Tennessean, Graham shares personal tidbits from her life, like when her life had hit rock bottom and she returned to her father's house in Montreat, N.C., a la the Prodigal Daughter, where she found her father waiting for her in the driveway. "He took me in his arms and said, 'Welcome home,’” she said. My father is not God, but that day, he showed me God's love.''
Of her father today, Graham is quoted as saying, "He's still a gentleman. He has a hard time walking and doesn't have much strength, but he apologizes for not getting up when a lady enters the room or for not opening the door. He still has those courtly ways about him." And despite his advanced age, she says he is working on a new book about growing old. "I think he has something to say to those of us who are following behind him, about how God speaks to old age, when our bodies begin to fail."
Used by Permission Breaking Christian News www.breakingchristiannews.net / Source: Bob Smietana - The Tennessean
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