Two evangelists stood at the fork of the road.  One was more articulate, one was more subtle, one was drawing a larger crowd and one was seeing more conversions than the other.  The one poised to be the greater preacher of the two was Charles Templeton and the lesser was Billy Graham.  Yet both of them had a comity of friendship.  Despite Templeton's burgeoning success, he was wrestling with doubts about the Bible.  So, one day Templeton urged Graham to leave the ministry in order to pursue more studies at Princeton University.  To which Graham responds: "When I take the Bible literally, when I proclaim it as the word of God, my preaching has power. When I stand on the platform and say, 'God says,' or 'The Bible says,' the Holy Spirit uses me. There are results. Wiser men than you or I have been arguing questions like this for centuries. I don't have the time or the intellect to examine all sides of the theological dispute, so I've decided once for all to stop questioning and accept the Bible as God's word.'" Templeton left the faith; he was soon forgotten and he died as an agnostic in 2001.  But Billy Graham remained in the faith and he became one of the world's greatest evangelists with 3.2 million people coming to Christ through his crusades and his media broadcast reached as many as 2.2 billion human beings.

"My Hope: Songs Inspired by the Message and Mission of Billy Graham" coincides with the My Hope America with Billy Graham evangelistic outreach as well as Billy Graham's upcoming book all to celebrate Graham's 95th birthday. Loaded with a star studded list of Christian artists, many penning new songs somehow connected to Graham and his never tiring message of the Cross, here we find Amy Grant, Matthew West, Darlene Zschech, TobyMac, Michael W. Smith, Israel Houghton, Kari Jobe among others.  Each of these artists has had a personal connection to Graham.  Back in 1990 when Matthew West was channeling surfing hoping to catch the latest Cubs game, he stumbled across Graham preaching on TV.  At only the tender age of 13, West gave his life to Jesus Christ.  Thus, on his song "So Loved," the track starts with a short audio clip of Graham preaching before West gets into a powerful exposition in song of John 3:16.   Kari Jobe tries to capture Graham's never changing message of the Cross on the piano ballad which she co-composed with Matt Maher "The Cross is My Confession."  While anyone who has been to one of Graham's crusades will understand why veteran Amy Grant has chosen to render a reverential reading of the old hymn "Just as I Am" which she re-titles (with a newly crafted chorus) "Jesus Takes All of Me (Just as I Am)." "Just as I Am" is Graham's favorite hymn that would always be the soundtrack playing as he calls people to commit their lives to Jesus Christ.

While on a Hillsong tour in the US, Darlene Zschech in her blog speaks of a time they deliberately visited Graham in his home.  With George Beverly Shea there in the living room, Graham led Zschech to the piano where she played her signature song "Shout to the Lord" with Shea and Graham singing along with her.  Here, Zschech contributes one of the album's best songs "The Cross of Christ."  With soft worshipful tenures that call to mind Zschech's Hillsong composition "Cry of the Broken," this is heartfelt piece of worship that is bound to get congregations exalting Jesus and His salvific work on the Cross.  Zschech's producer and friend Israel Houghton delivers the piercing beat-driven "Broken Pieces" which speaks of God's unconditional grace another prominent theme in Graham's preaching.  Another aspect of Graham's preaching that is contributive to its drawing power is that Graham understands the human heart.  He is always eloquent in articulating our heart's need for a Savior.  Lacey Sturm (of Flyleaf) does this gorgeously on the sweepingly transparent piano-ballad "The Reason," a much welcomed recess from her usual hard rock sounds.

Sturm is the only artist to gets two cuts; she returns with the album's penultimate cut "Mercy Tree."  With a discernible melody that invites worship leaders to use in congregational worship, "Mercy Tree" is a mid-tempo worship number detailing Christ's death and resurrection with some soaring vocals parts from  Sturm. While Nicole Nordeman is in her usual cruise control balladry with the somehow predictable "Be My Rescue."  TobyMac, like West, also incorporates a snippet of Graham's preaching into "City on the Knees" an apt tribute to the power of Jesus Christ as the song chronicles how cities have come to know Christ because of Graham's ministry.  All those years ago, two evangelists stood at the fork of the road.  Graham could have chosen the road broad and wide and leave the God who loves him or he could with unwavering faith clung on to God through the Cross.  Graham chose the latter, and as they say, the rest is history.