By Pastor John Martinez Gaona, pastor of EI Mesias Baptist Church, Odessa
As a 19-year-old student at Multnomah Bible College at Portland, Oregon, I tried out and made the choir, which was invited to be part of the 2,000 voice choir for the Billy Graham crusade to be held in the spring of 1967 in Portland, Oregon.
Attending Multnomah was a test of my call to the ministry years earlier in my life.
Mixed emotions ran through me as Cliff Barrows led the choir in songs and as the soloist George Beverly Shea sang.
The moment when Billy Graham came to the podium my call to the ministry was cemented. That is what I would do the rest of life.
After Multnomah I attended and got my degree in theology from the Hispanic Baptist Theological Seminary in San Antonio.
Billy Graham touched many lives and mine was influenced greatly by this Man of God.
By God’s grace I will have served Him for 48 years this May 2018.
To God be all the glory for this godly and influential man who deserves great rewards.
