Word: stadiums
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...week of June 18-24 Graham staged his nightly spectacular in Atlanta Stadium, home of the Atlanta Braves and their great showman, Henry Aaron. At the time, Aaron was seemingly on his way to breaking Babe Ruth's all-time home run record. Graham had a tough act to follow, but he was prepared. In seven nights, he drew over 350,000 worshippers...
...that oversees and budgets all his activities. "We can't keep bringing me into your living room without your help, folks," he'd say in sermonic tones with arms flailing. He'd direct the crowd's attention to the collection buckets being passed around, the concession stand inside the stadium with scores of books by and about Graham and religious experiences. Then he'd remind them to send contributions to the national association: "Now that address again is Billy Graham; Minneapolis, Minnesota..." All along, the cameras in the pressbox were whirring, the spotlights gleaming, the coordinators giving signals...
...route from the suburbs to Atlanta Stadium leads past downtown Atlanta and its new, skyscraping skyline. The stocky, black Equitable Building dominates the scene, its white lights blinking out "Equitable, Equitable, Equitable" for all Crusade-goers...
...prayer, leaving behind more saved souls than the city deserves. I was left with a question: Did he buy his own package? Not Christianity, but did he really believe that those people had acquired religious conviction, had dedicated their lives to truth and justice--in a baseball stadium...
Graham is more a figure than a man, a walking mannequin who has sold his soul to the devils of modern image-making. His reverence is wrapped in Hollywood holiness, and the whole package is better suited to a television screen or a stadium platform than a room filled with real people...