Michael W. Smith Reflects on Friendship with Billy Graham
This November, Grammy Award-winning Christian artist Michael W. Smith and his wife, Debbie, will invite non-Christian friends into their home outside Nashville, Tenn.
“Maybe we should have invited these people into our home a long time ago,” Smith said.
So why now?
This year, Smith’s longtime friend, Billy Graham, is leading a national, in-home Crusade through a movement called My Hope America. More than 165,000 people around the country — including Smith — will invite friends into their homes this fall to share the Gospel through an interactive video and short testimonies. Smith has a list of friends he is praying for.
“I’m really excited about it,” he said. “This is history, big time, in the making. … I think it’ll be a huge success.”
Smith has 22 albums, 10 books and multiple awards. He has traveled around the world and performed for national leaders. But even at that, and even living in the Bible Belt, he says, “I have a lot of friends who aren’t believers.” The singer/songwriter sees My Hope as “an opportunity to really jump out of the box … and get out of my comfort zone.”
In honor of the national outreach, Smith is one of 11 artists contributing to a My Hope CD, which will also point people to Christ. He wrote a song called “Take Me Home,” inspired by Mr. Graham’s longing for heaven. The song is a conversation Mr. Graham might have with Jesus when he…