Billy Graham's Fiscal Leadership
Nine 'money musts' for ministries.

Harold Myra | posted 6/05/2009

We respect Billy Graham for many things, including his financial integrity. Yet we can easily think that was more or less automatic for him—that he just handed off the responsibilities to businesspeople with a charge to be honest. But financial integrity is never simply a given. It is hard fought and hard won, and in today's wrenching economy, dangers and temptations loom larger than ever.

Early in his ministry, Billy was concerned about integrity in all areas. In Modesto, California, he and his team discussed the issues that were often the downfall of evangelists, and made a series of resolutions. The very first on the list was to maintain financial integrity. Billy knew that for many evangelists at the time, "there was little or no accountability for finances. In Modesto we determined to do all we could to avoid financial abuses."

Billy's team then structured the ministry to reinforce guidelines and hold themselves accountable, giving the board authority and accepting its supervision.

In The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham, which I had the privilege of coauthoring with Marshall Shelley, we devoted a whole chapter to Billy's "Mobilizing Money," leading off with his observation, "If a person gets his attitude toward money straight, it will help straighten out almost any other area of his life."

Embedded in the stories of that chapter are at least nine essential principles for integrity in ministry:

1. You've got to care about money.

In writing Leadership Secrets, Marshall and I heard contrasting comments about Billy and finances. His brother Melvin told me, "I've never seen a man in my life that cares as little about money as Billy Frank does." Yet colleagues and trustees emphasized Billy's personal, constant vigilance over organizational finances.

Melvin was referring to personal money, and clearly Billy, in giving away much of his royalties and living on a relatively modest salary, was not out to enrich himself. When it came to his organization, he handed over fiscal responsibility to businesspersons, but he did not disengage from the core responsibilities. He led while staying accountable to the board.

Bob Cooley, who served as president of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary when Billy chaired the school's board, said that Billy "understood the interface between mission and economic vitality. That was critical to his leadership."

Mission and economic vitality—the two go together. Some leaders delegate financial matters and believe they can simply concentrate on making the mission happen. But Billy knew that financial matters have huge implications and that senior leadership must lead.

2. Set expectations of high integrity.

Graeme Keith, chair of Billy's audit committee and his longtime financial counselor, told me, "We all felt his charge. After Billy gives you a responsibility, you feel that sense of trust he has in you. Integrity is critical."

A ministry's board of trustees must hear and sense from senior leadership an intense determination to be transparent and fully honest. That same determination must resonate throughout the organization. A culture of integrity starts with clear communication of expectations.

3.Be realistic.

Graeme described Billy as having great vision for what God was leading him to do but also a pragmatic approach to what was feasible. He quoted Billy as saying, "Whatever God provides, we will live within the budget."

Obviously, that's not always easy. Sometimes responding to tough economics can be harrowing, and Billy was known to conclude that the ministry had to cut back 10 percent. Melvin said that sometimes Billy "would cut projects way down. He was just conscious of God's money." Yet Billy also envisioned ministry initiatives that required very large budgets, such as the Lausanne and Amsterdam conferences.

4. Focus on the vision.

Billy's constant focus on vision for the ministry, including special initiatives, clarified his allocation of funds and generated enthusiasm to raise those funds.

5. Listen carefully.

Billy's colleagues told us he listened intently to his advisers. One adviser commented, "He listens so loud you can hear him." Sometimes, as he pondered complex situations, he would go with his own gut. Other times he would go with his counselors. Always, though, Billy was probing for facts and insights.

6. Be sensitive to appearances.

Billy sensed that although some expenditures might have been legitimate, they also might have been misunderstood. Melvin, in telling stories of Billy's refusing gift cars, commented, "Unless he was with somebody like President Kennedy, he wouldn't even want to use a limousine." Billy had an intuitive sense of how ordinary people would react to symbols of wealth.

In these very hard times, it's especially important to ramp up sensitivity not only to the way money is spent, but also to how people perceive it.

7. Make sure the right people are in the right seats.

The analogy in Jim Collins's Good to Great of getting the right people in the right seats on the bus is quoted often. Billy did that instinctively as he identified and recruited outstanding trustees and key staff members. George Bennett, treasurer of both Harvard University and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA), told me, "Billy had an outstanding ability to pick people. He picked the right people. They had outstanding financial control."

8. Embrace accountability and mutual respect.

With the right staff and trustees on the bus, cultivating a combination of accountability and mutual respect produces energy and wise decisions. Senior management is accountable to the board, yet both are accountable to each other to forge the very best decisions and action in the heat of battle.

9. Utilize the resources.

In light of nonprofit scandals at the time, in 1979 Billy and his team took the lead in founding the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA). The information that now flows to its members is enormously helpful in the complex quest for fiscal integrity in troubled times. Key staff and at least some trustees should not only read but also study this information to avoid getting blindsided. And, of course, Christian Leadership Alliance provides all sorts of essential help.

In 1975, when I joined Christianity Today in Washington, D.C., I became the beneficiary of Billy's wise stewardship. As the founder of CT, Billy had, with L. Nelson Bell, raised the money to fund its launch and, with Harold Ockenga, given leadership to its board. Over the years, he personally identified and chose each trustee, so I inherited a board of outstanding character and capacity.

Because CT was then in a financial crisis, the board's executive committee hired me even though Billy was out of the country. Later he had me visit him so he could size me up, and I found it instructive that his most probing questions were financial. He looked intently at me and said that some had told him they thought I had taken the job for the money. I sensed it was his way of putting the issue of motivation and money on the table.

I responded that not long before, I had decided to put my energies into nonprofit ministry, where more money would be used for outreach. That conversation was the first of many that showed Billy's breadth of organizational concern. His prime interest was ministry, but he knew that money and leadership integrity were integral to making ministry possible.

Once in a phone conversation, Billy commented that his greatest contribution was writing his fundraising letters for the BGEA. That startled me. Yet as I thought of it, I realized he was right at least to some degree. That aspect of his leadership might barely be recognized, but his diligence in crafting those letters and pouring out his heart to donors was his ministry's lifeblood. Billy didn't just hand that off to professionals; the work of fundraising letters in any ministry must be strongly integrated with vision and heart. Billy understood how important each letter was.

At Christianity Today International, we greatly valued the sound principles Billy personified as founder and later chairman. Early on we codified our commitments, sharing them with board and staff. One was a commitment to "financial health and strength." This was far more than just a phrase, for we knew as religious magazine publishers that it would take extraordinary effort and constant vigilance to stay in the black. We needed to be highly creative, well informed, and quick to make the hard decisions when facts became compelling.

All that sounds great in theory, but when the rubber meets the road, it can hit lots of gray slush. It can be unclear just what to do next, and hard decisions affecting loyal employees are hard indeed. In 2009 especially, maintaining fiscal integrity and Christian compassion will be a daunting challenge. In each case that arises, it might be helpful to ask, "How would Billy Graham respond?"

Harold Myra was for 32 years CEO of Christianity Today International. Under his leadership the organization grew from one magazine to a communications company with a dozen magazines, co-published books, and a major Internet ministry.

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