BILLY GRAHAM’S GRANDSON SPEAKS ONLY TO WVLT
Alan Williams
WVLT, TN
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Aug 29 2007
Knoxville (WVLT) – When you talk of preachers, who hasn’t heard of
Billy Graham? Now, there’s another in the line of Grahams who’s making
an impact.
However you wouldn’t know it by his name. Meet pastor Tullian
Tchividjian, one of 19 of Ruth and Billy Graham’s grandchildren.
Billy Graham is known as America’s preacher. Now another line of the
Graham family is making an impact. His name is Tullian Tchividjian,
grandson of Ruth and Billy Graham. Tullian was in town signing copies
of his new book "Do I Know God."
"It started off as a sermon I preached here in Knoxville at Cedar
Springs," Tchividjian said.
The former associate pastor at Knoxville’s Cedar Springs Presbyterian
Church was eager to share his message.
"I make mention in the book that there is an eternal difference
between knowing about God, and knowing God, between factual knowledge
and relational knowledge," Tchividjian said.
With the name Tchividjian, there are alot of questions. His mother
Gigi, is the oldest of the Graham children. She married Stefhan
Tchividjian, a Swiss born Armenian.
At 16, this wild child son, Tullian, dropped out of high school. At
21, he was kicked out of the house.
"During my wilderness wanderings, from the time I was 16 to 21,
of course my grandparents, both my grandmother and grandfather
were praying hard that the Hound of Heaven would track me down,"
Tchividjian said.
Tullian now ministers to a church in South Florida, but alot of his
time is spent with his grandfather.
"He’s going to be 89 years old in November, and he has alot of miles
on him, and so it doesn’t surprise any of us that things are beginning
to shut down. He has the will to live, we were all watching after
my grandmother died, wondering how he was going to approach life,"
Tchividjian said. "We visit him regularly. In fact, my wife and kids
just came back from being with him for 9 days."
As Billy faces the last pages of life, Tullian’s last chapter
appropriately addresses it too.
"The promise that holds out for those who truly know Him is absolutely
stunning," Tchividjian said.
And some great news, Tullian told me he thinks his grandfather should
be released from the hospital by the end of this week.