From a friend:

Hi there, just wondering if someone out there might be able to clear up something for me. Did Billy Graham early on in his ministry have someone working alongside him (was a confident of Billy Graham) who left the Billy Graham ministry and became an atheist? Is this fact or a myth? Someone asked me about it and I do not know.

Tim

Yes, it was Charles Templeton.

'For Charles Templeton - ironically, once Billy Graham's pulpit partner and close friend - questions about God have hardened into bitter opposition toward Christianity. Like Graham, Templeton once spoke powerfully to crowds in vast arenas and called for people to commit themselves to Jesus Christ. Some even predicted Templeton would eventually eclipse Graham as an evangelist.

But that was a long time ago. That was before the crippling questions. Today Templeton's faith - repeatedly punctured by persistent and obstinate doubts - has leaked away. Maybe forever. Maybe.'

From Lee Strobbel, The Case for Faith. http://www.zondervan.com/features/books/0310220157/cffexcerpt.htm

Rowland.