Journal & Topics Media Group

Park Ridge Residents Were Among Graham’s Early Flock


Rev. Billy Graham in 1966. (Wikimedia Commons)

The Rev. Billy Graham, who died Wednesday, Feb. 21, at age 99, made his own mark on Park Ridge at the beginning of his preaching career.

James D. McLennan, a member of the McLennan real estate construction and management dynasty in Park Ridge, has shared stories, at last year’s Night of Community Stars dinner and the 2014 Park Ridge Men’s Prayer Breakfast, about how his parents started the South Park Church in their home when he was a boy.

There was no church on the south end of the city, so a group of parents started a Sunday School and then the church.

The new congregation recruited Graham, then a student at the Wheaton College in western suburbs, to be their first, part-time pastor.

Graham, a native of North Carolina, had already attended a Bible Institute in Florida when he came to the Chicago area to study more than 70 years ago.

Park Ridge was one of his first preaching assignments, and he was the preacher at the local congregation for about a year and a half, according to McLennan. After graduation he took a preaching position in Western Springs.

His dynamic preaching style and evangelical approach was effective in his Christian crusades around the country and the world. He was considered an advisor to many modern U.S. presidents.

After a series of health issues in recent years, he had gradually turned over operations of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association to his son, Franklin.

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