For as long as we can remember, people from all walks of life have approached us and told us about how they came to know Jesus Christ through the work and ministry of Billy Graham. Beyond the magazine covers, best-selling books, White House visits, and Gallup polls are the masses of everyday people who have been forever changed by God through a man we’ve known simply as “Daddy Bill.”

9-month-old Antony being held by "Daddy Bill"

We believe it is now time to share the stories from those who have filled the stadiums, watched televised programs, and read our grandfather’s books over the years. With every changed life comes a story that is worth telling. Daddy Bill’s own story is best told through the accounts of the lives God touched during his many years of ministry; stories of hope, forgiveness, joy, redemption, and salvation.

Daddy Bill’s story began long before we were born. The year was 1934, and a young Billy Graham, who had once referred to religion as “hogwash,” surrendered his life to Jesus Christ. Three years later,

our grandfather was unexpectedly asked to preach his first sermon at Peniel Baptist Church in Palatka, Florida. His sermon only lasted eight minutes.

Daddy Bill began to think up excuse after excuse for why he could never become a preacher. But as time passed, the excuses diminished. He knew he couldn’t escape the powerful calling of his heavenly Father to preach the Word to all people. During these struggles, he was often reminded of God’s encouragement to Moses: “Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say” (Exodus 4:12).

The inner battle finally came to an end on a moonlit Florida evening in March 1938. As Daddy Bill walked the eighteenth green of the Temple Terrace Golf Course, he dropped to his knees and cried, “Oh God, if You want me to preach, I will serve You.”

Brothers Antony, Basyle and Aram Tchividjian

More than seventy years have passed since that blessed Florida evening, and our grandfather,

Billy Graham, has been faithful to that calling. We want you to know that the most important thing - both to us and to Daddy Bill - is the lives God has touched through one simple but eternally powerful message: The message of Jesus Christ.

Billy taking time out with children

As grandchildren, we have been blessed to know Daddy Bill in a more intimate and personal way than most people have - after the cameras have been turned off and the crowds have gone home. We know him as a man who simply loves people, and is as comfortable conversing with a cab driver or busboy as he is a president, CEO, or movie star.  And it doesn’t matter where he is or what he is doing, Daddy Bill always had time for us, and for that we have been so blessed. 

It is our prayer that through this website you will experience the amazing love and awesome power of the God who has made it all possible. We are so grateful to God for Daddy Bill and are humbled and blessed to call him our grandfather. 

- Antony and Basyle  Tchividjian