CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Mourners from around the world are set to gather Friday under a large white tent in what's being described as the "last crusade" for Billy Graham, who was revered as "America's pastor" for more than six decades and counseled nearly every U.S. president since Harry Truman.
Graham, who preached his brand of evangelical Christianity to millions at events he called crusades and became one of America's first TV mega pastors, died last week at age 99 at his home in Montreat, a rural town west of Charlotte.
The private funeral service will be streamed live and is expected to draw some 2,300 guests, including President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump.
As most of Graham's contemporaries have died over the years, like the gospel singer George Beverly Shea, who sang at the early Graham crusades, the guest list will include relatives of his children and grandchildren. The service is also expected to be a who's who of leading Christian figures from Rick Warren to In Touch Ministries founder Charles Stanley.
Organizers say the gathering will resemble a Graham crusade with a tent symbolic of the "canvas cathedral" that he used in 1949, when he conducted an eight-week event in Los Angeles that propelled him to national prominence. Graham's elder son, the Rev. Franklin Graham, who is president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan's Purse, will deliver the sermon.
"It was Mr. Graham's explicit intent that his funeral service reflect and reinforce the Gospel message he preached for more than 60 years," said Mark DeMoss, a Graham family spokesman.
Graham was born the son of a North Carolina farmer. His association estimated that by 2007, after decades spent as America's de facto clergyman relaying an interdenominational appeal, he had reached millions in more than 185 countries.
He will be buried in a simple wooden casket constructed by inmates serving life terms at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola.
The service is the culmination of a week of mourning that included Graham lying in honor at the U.S. Capitol rotunda in Washington.
Later, Graham will be laid to rest next to his wife, Ruth, who died in 2007. A small private ceremony will include family and is planned at the foot of a cross-shaped brick walkway in the prayer garden of the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte.
At his wife's burial service, Graham spoke of looking forward to one day being reunited with her.
"I know God has prepared a home for her in heaven; I just hope she saves a room for me," he said at the time.
