Billy Graham may postpone Crusade after fall

Editor’s note: Franklin Graham, son of famed evangelist Billy Graham, announced May 27 that his father’s summer crusades in Kansas City and Los Angeles will be postponed until the fall, due to the elder Graham’s health problems. An updated story will appear in the June 3 issue of Florida Baptist Witness

KANSAS CITY (BP)--The Heart of America Billy Graham Crusade general committee is exploring all options -– including possible postponement – for the crusade scheduled June 17-20 in Kansas City in light of the 85-year-old evangelist’s current hospitalization.

Larry Ross, a spokesman for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, said the Kansas City committee is committed to moving ahead with the crusade on the scheduled date or on an alternate date.

Graham, 85, was recovering from a partial hip replacement performed Jan. 6 when he fell at his home May 14 in Montreat, N.C.

A spokesman for Mission Hospitals in Asheville, N.C., reported May 20 that a fracture of the pelvis Graham that had sustained was more significant than originally suspected and had necessitated surgery.

A spokesman for Mission Hospitals said May 20 that Graham underwent a successful procedure designed to stabilize the pelvic fracture he suffered. In lay terms, doctors said it was a procedure performed through small puncture incisions using orthopedic surgical hardware to support and firmly hold in place the fractured sections of pelvic bone.

“Rev. Graham is doing great,” C. Michael LeCroy, an orthopedic traumatologist, said. “He’s in great spirits and recovering nicely. The procedure was successful in accomplishing our goals.”

Hastings noted that Graham has missed few meetings due to health during nearly six decades of crusade evangelism. Only once in recent memory, Hastings said, has a crusade been postponed to allow Graham to return and preach at a later date.

Graham also is scheduled to preach a crusade at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., July 29-Aug. 1. No information was available on how Graham’s hospitalization might impact the California crusade. Organizers of the L.A. crusade are expected to meet later in May to discuss the matter.