Franklin Graham is an American evangelist and a missionary who is currently working as a CEO of an organization called “Samaritan’s purse”. He is often mentioned as an example of mixing religion and politics.

Early life:

William Franklin Graham III was born on July 14, 1952 in Asheville in North Carolina in United States.

His father was also an evangelist named Billy Graham and his mother was Ruth Bell. His parents have five kids together and Franklin is amongst the youngest. They always held very tight and supported each others.

He was a student at a private Christian school called “The Stony Brook School” which was located in New York. He finished his high school somewhere else, in a school in North Carolina.

In 1970 he was one of the students at LeTourneau College in Longview in Texas, but not for long. He was expelled because a female classmate was found in his room  past curfew. The school had a very strict policy for student’s behaviour and Franklin broke those rules.

In 1974 he graduated from the college he relocated to after he was expelled; it was the Montreat-Anderson College and in 1978 he also graduated from Appalachian State University.

Career development:

In 1974, after he graduated, he went on a journey to Jerusalem. He had a religious experience and he converted to Christianity  on this holy trip. He stated that he had sn epifany in his hotel room and that he knew that he has to give his life to Christ.

A little while after he joined Bob Pierce, who was a founder of Samaritan’s Purse, in his trip to Asia. It was a two months long mission of charity.

This event led Graham to his goal in life: he decided to focus his work in giving relief and comfort to people in need.

In 1979 Bob Pierce died and naturally Franklin became the president of Samaritan’s Purse and stayed to continue their work.

The organization is focused in helping people in more than 100 countries, and it includes a known “Children’s Heart Project” which is their most notable project.

In 1982, Franklin was ordained in a church in Tempe in Arizona.

When he just began his missionary work hr was mentored by the members of Billy Graham team who wanted to help him in his ministry.

In 1989 he was given an opportunity to conduct events held for Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. He became the CEO of the Association in 2000. Two years later he became the president.

He conducts over half a dozen Graham Festivals over the year and he has preached to more than 3 million people.

He was a speaker at the Columbine High School memorial in 1999.

He is known for giving his opening prayer at the inauguration of George W. Bush in 2001. He was always on the side of more conservative presidents.

He hosted the Hong Kong Franklin Graham Festival in 2007 which was a major evangelistic rally bringing hundred of thousands of people to this religious event.

Graham was a big supporter of the 2003 Iraq invasion which brought him under criticism. He has made serious comments  about Islam and commented that religion as “very evil and wicked”. He often commented Islam in a negative sense.

In 2003 he preached at the service in Pentagon where he stated that he doesn’t approve the practice of true Islam in USA. This brought him more problems with Islam organization in USA.

In 2009 he was interviewed by a CNN’s reporter and he stated that it isn’t normal to beat your wife or murder your children if you think they’ve committed adultery as it is done in “these other countries”. That was his opinion of Middle East countries.

In 2010 he couldn’t speak at a Pentagon National Day of Prayer because of the  objections made by Military Religious Freedom Foundation and the Muslim group Council.

Franklin still attended that event at the Pentagon, but he was outside, on the parking lot, surrounded by his closest people and trying to put attention on his cause.

In 2010 Time magazine issued a number “Does America Hate Islam?”  where Graham called Islam the religion of war. He was especially upset because they have built their cultural center near Ground Zero. He thought it was a provocation to build the center near World Trade Center.

In 2010 he said that for him it’s a problem that President Obama’s father is a Muslim although Barack Obama is a Christian. Later he apologised and commented that he believes Obama is a Christian.

In 2011 he told to ABC’s reporter that he preferrs Donald Trump as a candidate for the presidental race. He liked Trump’s conservative and anti-immigrant attitude.

He was often called out by many religious organizations that he uses faith as a weapon in political battles and that it would be better to keep aside from it.

He is a big supporter of anti-homosexual organizations and laws. His main concern is to protect the children from homosexual propaganda.

After Donald Trump was elected as the President of USA he was invited to his inauguration.

He has also published a lot of books, and some of them were bestsellers for a long period of time. He wrote his first book in 1982 and here are some of the names: “Miracle”, “Rebel With Cause: Finally Comfortable Being Graham”, “All for Jesus” and many more.

He published CD’s with his speeches and festivals.

Personal life:

In 1974, when he was only 22 years old, he married Jane Austin Cunningham and they have four children. They have three boys: William Franklin, Roy Austin and Edward Bell Graham  and a daughter Jane Austin who is the youngest of all. The daughter married a known American football player.

Jane and Franklin have nine grandchildren all togerher.

In 2017  Graham declared that he goes on a vegan diet for a while, to lose weight. He also noted that he is inspired by Daniel from the Bible.

Quick summary

Full name: William Franklin Graham III

Date of birth: July 14, 1952

Birthplace: Asheville, North Carolina

Age: 65

Profession: evangelist

Height: NA

Weight: NA

Net Worth: $28 million