The Hour of Decision with Billy Graham
7:00 AM Sunday Mornings
"The Hour of Decision" is the weekly radio ministry of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. The first broadcast of "The Hour of Decision" aired November 5, 1950, as a live radio program featuring Billy Graham's message "Revival." Today it broadcasts the Gospel messages presented by Billy and Franklin Graham around the world.
History of “The Hour of Decision”
The origins of the Hour of Decision are closely tied to those of the Billy Graham Evangelica Assocation (BGEA). I n 1950, Rev. Theodore Elsner, president of the National Religious Broadcasters, and his son-in-law, Fred Dienert, partner in the advertising firm of Walter F. Bennett and Company, spoke with Graham about starting a radio program, but Graham was unenthusiastic. Dienert and Elsner followed Graham to Portland, Oregon, where he was leading an evangelistic campaign, and several times urged him to begin broadcasting. After thought and prayer, Graham agreed to mention the possibility of a weekly radio broadcast to the evening's crusade audience for their reaction. That night twenty-five thousand dollars was donated to the project and Graham and his associates decided to go ahead.
The first broadcast was November 5, 1950, from Atlanta, Georgia. The program title was suggested by Ruth Graham. Cliff Barrows served as announcer, Jerry Beaven gave news about Graham's evangelistic campaigns, George Beverly Shea sang, Grady Wilson read Scripture, and then Graham gave a brief message. Although the format varied some over the years, the heart of the program remained Graham's sermon, which often was closely related to, or took its starting point from, current events. Occasionally, one of Graham's associates such as Leighton Ford would give the message. Beginning in the 1980s Franklin Graham became a frequent speaker. One hundred fifty stations on the ABC network carried the first broadcast. That first year brought in over one hundred seventy-eight thousand pieces of mail. By 1964, two hundred thousand pieces were coming in yearly in response to the radio program and television broadcasts of crusades. By 1970, over twelve hundred world-wide stations carried the program to an audience estimated in the tens of millions.
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