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BGEA:
Telephone Counseling Ministry; 1982-
Records;
1978-1990
Volume:
37 Boxes (DC), Audio Tape, Slides, Video (15.04 cubic feet)
Brief Description. Correspondence, memos, minutes, statistics, audio tapes, videos and slides relating to the BGEA’s telephone counseling ministry, which recruited and trained volunteer counselors to answer phone calls from inquirers at several centers around the country after broadcasts of BGEA evangelistic programs on television. This collection documents the early history and development of the program.
Restrictions: All materials in this collection are on deposit from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and may not be copied without written permission from the authorized representative of the BGEA. Any researcher who wishes to request permission must get the required form from the Archives staff. It is the responsibility of the researcher to fill out the form and send it to the BGEA.
Anyone using the following folders until December 31 of the year seventy-five (75) years from the oldest document in the folder indicated must sign an agreement that he or she will maintain the confidentiality of these folders. No material in these folders may be copied. Folders 28-6, 28-7, 28-8, 29-1, 29-2, 29-3, 30-1, 30-2, 30-3, 30-4, 30-5, 30-6, 31-1, 31-2, 31-3, 31-4, 31-5, 31-6,32-1, 32-2, 32-3, 32-4, 32-5, 32-6, 32-7, 32-8, 33-1, 33-2, 33-3, 33-4, 33-5, 33-6, 33-7, 33-8,34-1, 34-2, 34-3, 34-4, 34-5, 34-6, 34-7, 34-8, 35-1, 35-2, 35-3, 35-4, 35-5, 35-6, 35-7, 36-1, 36-2, 36-3, 36-4, 36-5, 37-1 |
Significant events |
||
|
1957 |
The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association began broadcasting evangelistic services live during the New York City Crusade. By the mid 1960s, a method had developed of broadcasting three to five services from a particular crusade over local TV stations, all of the stations broadcasting at roughly the same time, although the actual nights of the broadcast differed from city to city. From the earliest broadcasts, there had been numbers that viewers of the program could call to commit their lives to Jesus Christ or to ask spiritual questions. When people did called, material was mailed to them. |
|
1975 |
During the West Texas Crusade in Lubbock, Texas, BGEA staff experimented with counseling inquirers directly over the phone, but were only able to take a few calls. Over the next few years, the staff, especially Charlie Riggs, Tom Phillips, and Charles Ward, continued to try different kinds of phone equipment and procedures. |
|
1980 |
During the Indianapolis Crusade, the staff achieved satisfactory results, operating out of Youth for Christ’s local headquarters, with rotating telephone call equipment and thirty-four phone lines. The center received over 500 calls and 1300 attempts. The staff then began developing methods of recruiting and training counselors. During a live broadcast of the Reno crusade the first year, the Minneapolis telephone counseling center was inaugurated with volunteers from the BGEA office in that city. |
|
1981 |
In March 1981, 200 phone lines were installed in the Minneapolis center. Over five nights, 7,600 people were counseled and 72,000 received a busy signal. During the Baltimore and Southern Alberta Crusades, centers in other cities were begun. The television telephone counseling (TVTC) department was initially under the direction of Terry Wilken, who was followed by Charles Ward, ca. 1985. Centers, besides the one in Minneapolis, were started in Minneapolis, Minnesota; Baltimore, Maryland; Boston, Massachusetts; Burbank, California; San Jose, California, Wheaton, Illinois; Dallas, Texas; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Seattle, Washington. Counselors were recruited from local churches and lists of BGEA supporters in the area. Shortly before each broadcast (there were usually three or four sets of broadcasts a year), new volunteers would be trained in how to lead people to Christ over the phone and how to answer various kinds of questions. Much of the paperwork was handled out of the BGEA headquarters, although there were local coordinators in each city. |
Series:
I. Paper Records
Subseries: A. Statistics; B. Correspondence,
Samples and Instructional Materials; C. Counseling Letters
Date Range: 1978-1990
Volume: 14.6 cubic feet
Boxes: 1-37
Geographic coverage: United States
Type of documents: Statistics, reports,
correspondence, instructional manuals
Subjects: The development of procedures
for telephone counseling centers in several parts of the country, development
of instruction materials for volunteer counselors, the response to crusade broadcasts
in the United States; the type of requests people send to Billy Graham and the
BGEA
Notes:
The documents in the series tell the story of the development of procedures
and staff for the telephone counseling centers in Minneapolis, Minnesota; Baltimore,
Maryland; Boston, Massachusetts; Burbank, California; Wheaton, Illinois; Dallas,
Texas; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Seattle, Washington. There are also a few samples
of crusade sermons, comments from the people calling in and the response of
the counselors, and testimonies. There are also several boxes of questions and
responses to Billy Graham’s newspaper column, “My Answer.”
*****
Subseries:
I.A. Statistics
Arrangement:
Rough chronological order, according to dates of BGEA crusade television broadcasts
Date
Range: 1980-1986
Volume:
6.6 cubic feet
Boxes:
1-17
Geographic
coverage: United States
Type
of documents: Narrative and statistical reports, memos, letters
Correspondents:
Sterling Huston, Stan Jackson, Arlene
Myrlie, Charlie Riggs, Charles Ward, Terry Wilken, George Wilson
Subjects:
Materials are concerned almost entirely with the dates, times, and syndicated
stations of crusade broadcasts, arrangements for telephone counseling in the
several centers around the country and the operation of those centers, and the
statistics of the different types of responses received at these centers.
Notes:
The subseries, although labeled statistics, also includes a good deal on other
aspects of the counseling centers’ operation and overall administration.
Among the types of statistics gathered are the number of listeners to a particular
broadcast, the number of telephone inquires, the potential audience of various
television stations, the number of inquires received by the various counseling
centers, broken down by types of inquiry (conversion, assurance). There are
some statistics for the early years breaking down inquirers by age and sex,
but apparently the staff soon stopped keeping this kind of data.
*****
Subseries:
I.B. Correspondence, Samples and Instructional Materials
Arrangement:
Alphabetical by significant word in folder title
Date
Range: 1978-1990
Volume:
4.4 cubic feet
Boxes:
17-28
Geographic
coverage: United States
Type
of documents: Correspondence, manuals, sermons, statistics, minutes,
printed summaries of testimonies of counselors and of inquirers, notebooks of
information on the various centers
Correspondents:
Fred Durston, Sterling Huston, Jim Mathis, Arlene Myrlie, Tom Phillips, Charlie
Riggs, Steve Scholle, Charles Ward, Terry Wilken
Subjects:
The development and operation of telephone counseling centers, responses to
evangelistic broadcasts
Notes:
The materials in this subseries overlap to a large degree in information and
types of documents with subseries 1A. This subseries also has information on
the planning meetings (see folders 25-5 to 25-7, as well as elsewhere in this
subseries) that discussed the development of the centers and the various manuals,
slide/tape programs and other instructional materials developed for volunteers
Exceptional items: Folder 25-2 contains many examples of the form letters sent out by the BGEA to recruit counselors and for other aspects of the telephone counseling work. Folder 25-9 contains fairly detailed organization charts from the late 1970s for most aspects of the BGEA’s operations. Folder 26-5 contains excerpts from some of the Billy Graham sermons which had been broadcast and to which the telephone inquirers were responding. These were apparently given to telephone counselors for reference.
*****
Subseries:
I.C. Counseling letters
Arrangement:
Alphabetically, by letter codes assigned by the BGEA staff. These codes do not
correspond to the names of the inquirer. The letters are also in rough chronological
order.
Date
Range: 1978-1989
Volume:
3.6 cubic feet
Boxes:
28-37
Geographic
coverage: United States
Type
of documents: Photocopies of letters, counselor forms summarizing inquiry
and response (very few of these)
Subjects:
Wide range of spiritual and moral problems and theological questions, as well
as questions about Billy Graham and the BGEA. Also many comments on Billy Graham
and his ministry.
Notes:
There is one folder (28-2) with forms filled out by telephone counselors, describing
inquiries they received and their responses in a very summary form. All the
rest of this subseries consists of copies of letters sent to Billy Graham, asking
for spiritual or theological help. These letters were apparently sent to the
BGEA’s counseling department, although none of them indicate what kind
of reply, if any, was sent. Apparently these were letters which were considered
for use in Graham’s newspaper advice column, “My Answer.”
Whether they were indeed used and when is unknown. Perhaps these materials were
gathered together reference materials for those preparing sample questions and
responses for the use of volunteer counselors.
*****
Series:
II. Audio-Visual materials
Arrangement:
Type of material, then by date
Date
Range: 1980-1987
Volume:
.44 cubic feet
Type
of documents: Instructional materials, including slides, audio tapes,
video cassettes
Subjects:
Purpose and methods of BGEA’s telephone counseling system
Notes:
The documents in this series consist mostly of training materials developed
for the telephone counseling program. The changes and continuities in the program
over time can be seen by listening to/viewing earlier and later tapes.
Exceptional
items: The parts of the slide and tape program Just a Phone Call Away,
meant to recruit telephone counselors, can be found on tape T7 and Slides S1-S86.
The script of the program is in folder 25-3. Audio tape T1 contains comments
by Tom Phillips on the early history of the program.
Provenance
The
materials in this collection were deposited in the Archives of the Billy Graham
Center by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in 1991-1992.
Accession:
91-52, 92-10
February 22,
2006
Bob Shuster
K. Hayward
# |
R/C |
length |
Sides |
Contents |
Dates |
T1 |
R |
70 |
1 |
Talk by Tom Philips on the history and methods of the BGEA telephone counseling ministry. His audience was apparently members of the BGEA office staff who had volunteered to serve as counselors at the Minneapolis center the live broadcast of the Reno Crusade |
11/3/1980 |
T2 |
C |
60 |
2 |
Telephone counselor training, session II for Minneapolis office staff. Led by Tom Phillips. |
11/3/80 |
T3 |
C |
20 |
1 |
Telephone counselor training, session II, concluded. Led by Tom Phillips. |
11/3/80 |
T4 |
C |
30 |
1 |
Stories by telephone counselors about their experiences. These were apparently recorded by the BGEA as a resource for training. |
9/4/1981 |
T5 |
C |
30 |
1 |
Stories by telephone counselors about their experiences. These were apparently recorded by the BGEA as a resource for training. |
9/11/1981 |
C |
60 |
2 |
3/5/1983 |
||
T7 |
R |
11 |
1 |
Just a Phone Call Away Tape portion of a slide/tape presentation to recruit counselors for the telephone counseling program. Slides S1-S86 contain the visual portion of the program and the script is in folder 25-3. |
ca. 10/1983 |
*****
LOCATION RECORD
Accession: 92-10
Type of material: Slides
The following items are located in the SLIDE FILE. All of the slides are in
color, unless otherwise noted
S1-S86. Slide portion of a slide and tape presentation, Just a Phone Call Away that was mean to recruit volunteer telephone counselors. The slides include various scenes of the counselors at work. 1983. The audio portion of the is on tape T7 and the script is in folder 25-3.
*****
LOCATION RECORD
Type of material: Videos
Accession: 92-10
The Archives has one copy of each video, unless otherwise noted. The following
items are in the Video FILE:
# |
Type |
C or B&W |
Length in min. |
Title |
Description |
Date |
V1 |
VHS |
c |
16.5 |
-- |
Scenes showing BGEA telephone counselors at work, probably during the Reno Crusade. Soundtrack is very low. |
11/16/ 1980 |
V2 |
VHS |
c |
90 |
-- |
Training tape for BGEA telephone counselors. There is an introduction by Cliff Barrows, then lessons ed by Charlie Riggs and Charles Ward. Topics discussed include how to lead a person to Christ, forms and procedures the counselors should be aware of, handling problems. |
Ca. 1980 |
V3 |
VHS |
c |
5.5 |
-- |
Greeting, description of the purpose of telephone counseling, and message of encouragement by Cliff Barrows to telephone counselors. Filmed on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the student mission the BGEA held on that campus. The video was apparently shown to the telephone counselors recruited to help during the broadcast of that mission. 2 copies. |
10/1/1982 |
V4 |
VHS |
c |
61 |
-- |
Charlie Riggs of the BGEA leading a training tape for BGEA telephone counselors. He describes how to lead a person to Christ and outlines procedures counselors should follow. 2 copies. |
5/17/1983 |
V5 |
VHS |
c |
58 |
-- |
Charles Ward of the BGEA on a training tape for BGEA telephone counselors, outlining procedures they should follow. 2 copies. |
5/17/1985 |
V6 |
VHS |
c |
2.25 |
-- |
Christmas greeting and message of encouragement by Billy Graham to telephone counselors. |
11/11/1986 |
V7 |
VHS |
c |
38 |
-- |
Charles Ward of the BGEA leading a training tape for BGEA telephone counselors. He talks about how to counsel people on the phone, how to lead a person to Christ and what happens afterwards (invitation and follow-up) and how to deal with special situations, such as questions about assurance of salvation, cults, or reports of child abuse. 2 copies. |
1/22/1987 |
V8 |
VHS |
|
36.5 |
Briefing for New Counselors |
Charles Ward of the BGEA leading a training tape for BGEA telephone counselors. He describes the various procedures to follow and the forms that need to be filled out. He also shows how to use the counselors handbook to deal with various situations that might arise. Directed by Greenlee. |
5/7/1987 |
V9 |
VHS |
c |
33.5 |
-- |
Charles Ward of the BGEA leading a training tape for BGEA telephone counselors. He talks about how to counsel people on the phone (spiritual discernment), how to lead a person to Christ and what happens afterwards (invitation and follow-up), and how to handle special situations, such as assurance of salvation, talking to members of cults, and reports of child abuse. Directed by Greenlee. |
5/7/1987 |
V10 |
VHS |
c |
8.5 |
-- |
Christmas greeting and message of encouragement by Cliff Barrows to telephone counselors. |
10 /1987 |
V11 |
VHS |
c |
19 |
Witnessing to the Roman Catholic |
Training tape led by Alan Street |
1988 |
V12 |
VHS |
c |
50 |
Preliminary Witness Training, Part I |
Training tape for BGEA telephone counselors led by Charles Ward. 2 copies. |
1989 |
|
V13 |
VHS |
c |
30 |
Preliminary Witness Training, Part II |
Training tape for BGEA telephone counselors led by Charles Ward. 2 copies. |
1989 |
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