The Legacy of the Billy Graham Library
CHARLOTTE, NC (FOX 46 WJZY) - Just three miles west of where Billy Graham was born in Charlotte, off the parkway that bears his name, is the Billy Graham Library. App users click here.
"The whole goal of the library is to do what Billy Graham has been called to do through God, and that's to tell people of God's love," said Tom Phillips, executive director of the Billy Graham Library. "That's why it exists."
The library traces Graham's life, from his inauspicious beginning on a dairy farm to answering the calling that would make him an evangelist to the world. He would eventually preach to hundreds of millions of people in more than 185 countries.
Phillip's favorite part of the library is to take visitors behind the iron curtain, along Graham's travels.
"This is amazingly well designed with the animation, the people of western Europe were so oppressed, suppressed, that they were not even allowed to speak what they thought was the truth."
After taking the "Journey of Faith" in the library, visitors come to the Graham family home place where Graham grew up from age 9 to 17. It was preserved and painstakingly reassembled, brick by brick, and board by board on site.
Phillips says about 140,000 people visit each year. Since opening its doors in 2007, more than 1 million people have passed through the 40-foot glass cross.
GALLERY: THE INFLUENCE OF BILLY GRAHAM
"It really is a destination spot. I find people here from Nigeria, London, California, Latin America, Ontario."
The library sits on the same property as the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, which reaches out to millions each year, continuing Grahams work. It's work that will continue long after Graham is laid to rest beside his wife, Ruth, in the memorial garden at the foot of a huge brick cross.
THOUSANDS REACT TO BILLY GRAHAM'S PASSING
"They say this library is really not abut Billy Graham, it's about Jesus. And it is. That's they way it was designed."