For 4 days, Billy Graham packed Memorial Coliseum — and part of UK’s football stadium

“Jesus Christ is the truth personified and if you will follow Him and believe Him He will set you free!”

That was the message then 52-year-old evangelist Billy Graham delivered to an estimated crowd of 26,500 on the University of Kentucky’s campus as he closed the first service of a four-day Central Kentucky Crusade on April 25, 1971.

It was the only crusade visit to Lexington for the man who would become the most widely-heard Christian evangelist in history. Graham, who counseled presidents and whose crusades altered lives, died Wednesday at 99.

His four-day program in Lexington attracted an estimated 77,500 people. Each of the four evening sessions filled Memorial Coliseum to capacity, forcing many across the street to Stoll Field, where services could be heard but not seen. Millions more would see and hear all four programs on nationwide prime time television a month later

On opening day, 13,500 filled Memorial Coliseum for the evangelist’s 45-minute sermon, which declared “the Devil created the first credibility gap.”

Minutes prior to his coliseum appearance, Graham spoke the sun-drenched crowd at the football stadium. “This is the first time I’ve preached to an inside audience where the outside crowd was larger than the one inside,” said Graham, who then went and delivered his sermon entitled “The Credibility Gap” to the combined crowd.

“The first credibility gap was brought about by Satan in the Garden of Eden when God tested man and his free will and man listened to Satan instead of God,” Graham said. “Ever since then man has been cheating and lying and lusting and stealing and all the rest of it.”

Despite the large crowd in a confined area that first day, police noticed a difference in the patrons compared to other events held at the venues along what is today called Avenue of Champions. About 15 cars were towed for illegal parking but none of the drivers were belligerent about it and some even apologized. “They have a real Christian attitude — not like a ball game crowd,” one officer was quoted as saying.

During the crusade, actress and singer Ethel Waters and Norma Zimmer, a featured Lawrence Welk star, were platform guest. George Beverly Shea, who was often described as “America’s beloved gospel singer,” and Cliff Barrows, the longtime music and program director for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, were also joined on stage with the 1,500-voice Crusade Choir.

U.S. Senator John Sherman Cooper (R-Ky.) and Gov. Louie Nunn also attended.

Graham closed his four-day program with a sermon called “A Nation At the Crossroads,” prompting the crowd to interrupt his speech for the second time during the crusade when he said that while America has problems “it is still the most wonderful country on earth.”

While it was his only crusade in Lexington, he did host three in Louisville (1956, 1964 and 2001).

This story was originally published February 21, 2018 at 4:37 PM with the headline "For 4 days, Billy Graham packed Memorial Coliseum — and part of UK’s football stadium."