June 25, 1992, was my opportunity to experience a Billy Graham crusade in person.

More than 60,000 people were in attendance at Philadelphia’s Veterans Stadium that evening to hear the great evangelist. Before the Rev. Graham preached, Reggie White, an ordained minister, came to the podium. The former Philadelphia Eagle was then playing for Green Bay, but White was still greatly loved and admired in the Philadelphia community, and Graham invited him to give his personal testimony.

White grew in his Christian walk while at the University of Tennessee, and by the time he was a senior and a consensus All-American in football, he gained a snappy sports nickname — the “Minister of Defense.”

Moments before he stepped to the stage at The Vet, White received news that his former Eagles’ teammate, Jerome Brown, had died in a car crash earlier in the day. This was before the days of smartphones and instant messaging, so the huge crowd gasped when White announced the shocking news.

“Today, I lost a great friend. Philadelphia lost a great player,” said White, choking with emotion.

Just 12 years later, the sports world was rocked to hear that White himself had passed away at the age of 43. The most likely cause of death was sleep apnea which White had lived with for years.

That year of 2004 also marked one of Billy Graham’s last crusades.

Graham’s impact on the world, mostly in the second half of the 20th century, is astonishing. According to figures from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, he preached to nearly 215 million people in more than 185 countries and territories and was heard and seen by hundreds of millions more through television and radio, newspaper columns and the internet.

This massive outreach led one Southern Baptist leader to call him the “most important evangelist since the Apostle Paul.”

“We are fortunate to have lived in the era of Billy Graham,” said Russell Moore, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, after hearing of Graham’s death last week at the age of 99.

“He preached Christ, not himself, not politics, not prosperity. When many saw evangelicals as just so many Elmer Gantrys, he carried unimpeachable personal integrity,” Moore added.

Rated by the Gallup organization as “One of the Ten Most Admired Men in the World” 51 times, Graham offered spiritual guidance to global headliners from religion and civil rights to music and sports, including Martin Luther King Jr., Bono and Muhammad Ali.

Although a registered Democrat, Graham stayed out of the political arena, but he did get to know a dozen U.S. presidents from Eisenhower to Bush.

“He has no political agenda. He has an agenda of the Lord,” George W. Bush stated.

President Ronald Reagan once said that Graham’s contribution to the well-being of mankind is literally immeasurable and that millions of lives across the globe were enriched by his good work. Martin Luther King Jr. said that had it not been for Graham’s ministry, his work in the civil rights movement would not have been as successful.

Graham once told a reporter that he wanted to be remembered “as a man of integrity.”

In an era when other high-profile evangelists stumbled or saw their media empires crumble, Graham’s morality was beyond reproach and his ministry remained solid. His salary, believed to have been well under $150,000, was set under a system of checks and balances that included an independent board of directors for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

His marriage was also a testament to his solid moral standards. He never spent time alone — even for lunch or a ride to the airport — with a woman other than his wife.

When asked why he thought so many hundreds of thousands flocked to see and hear him, Graham said that it was partly due to curiosity and the fact he had been preaching so long.

“But,” he said, “I prefer to think that it’s God.”

When asked why he thought he was chosen to be a spokesman to the masses, he said that that was the first thing he wanted to ask God.

In 2013, during a celebration for his 95th birthday, Graham released what was called his final sermon. In a video titled “My Hope America,” he expressed concern for the spiritual health of the nation.

“Our country’s in great need of a spiritual awakening,” he stated. “There have been times that I’ve wept as I’ve gone from city to city and I’ve seen how far people have wandered from God.”

Straight talk and challenging words were spiritual pillars for the greatest revival preacher in our lifetime and one who was also appropriately called “America’s pastor.”

By Jim Zbick | tneditor@tnonline.com