BILLY GRAHAM SET TO ENJOY 84TH BIRTHDAY AT HOME WITH FAMILY Evangelist Takes Time out to Rest, Celebrate With Loved Ones

MINNEAPOLIS, Nov. 4, 2002 - Rev. Billy Graham celebrates his 84th birthday on Thursday, November 7. Having just completed a full mission schedule and participated in a groundbreaking ceremony for new ministry headquarters, Mr. Graham is planning to spend a quiet birthday at home with his wife, Ruth, who has been seriously ill over the last few weeks.

Mr. Graham conducted large-scale missions in two cities this year - Dallas/Fort Worth area and Cincinnati, Ohio. The Metroplex Mission with Billy Graham, held Oct. 17-20 at Texas Stadium in Irving, Texas, saw audiences averaging nearly 60,000 each evening, of which more than 11,000 responded to the evangelist's invitation to make a commitment to Christ during the four-day event. The mission set two new stadium attendance records for the facility, with Saturday and Sunday evening crowds of 82,000, and 83,500, respectively. The Greater Cincinnati Northern Kentucky Billy Graham Mission, which Mr. Graham conducted June 27-30 at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati, drew crowds averaging 47,000, of which more than 2,400 made faith commitments each evening.

On Tuesday, Oct. 29, Mr. Graham addressed an invitation-only crowd of more than 500 gathered in Charlotte, N.C., for a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Billy Graham Evangelistic Association world headquarters, to be called the Billy Graham Center for World Evangelism. The move from current headquarters in Minneapolis - which has been home to the ministry since 1950 - is to be completed by the end of 2004.

"This is not only the biggest project we have ever undertaken in terms of financial commitment, but in my view it also is one of the most important,

because it decisively sets the stage for the future growth of our ministry around the world," Mr. Graham said in prepared remarks at the ceremony.

He also referenced the Metroplex Mission, which saw large numbers of spiritual commitments among young people, and recent speaking opportunities he's had at universities around the country, as indicators of great spiritual hunger, in spite of a materialistic and secular culture. Mr. Graham sees the establishment of the Center for World Evangelism as an important step in developing a much larger and deeper vision for the future - not only reaching out in large-scale missions, but in many other areas of evangelism and discipleship training throughout the world.

During this time of rest and reflection, Mr. Graham will contemplate his own role in the ministry's future - whether that includes further missions and other speaking opportunities. His health is also a factor, although he said he felt better in advance of the Metroplex Mission - and he appeared stronger - than he did months earlier for the outreach in Cincinnati.

Mr. Graham will announce any plans for future ministry as he feels God leading him. He indicated that he and his staff are prayerfully considering two or three invitations to conduct missions, and that ultimately, as he said on that topic during the Metroplex Mission, "It's in God's hands."