Just Give Me Jesus

"I live in eastern North Carolina. We’ve had hurricanes, floods, snowstorms devastating our property. And then during the last two years my husband’s dental office burned to the ground…. My son was diagnosed with cancer, went through major surgery, radiation. All three of my children got married in an eight-month period. I’ve published books and written others, travelled. Mother’s been through all her hospitalizations. And in my heart, I just want Jesus. I don’t want to be entertained. I don’t want visuals or musicals. I don’t want a vacation. I don’t want to quit. I don’t want sympathy. The cry of my heart is “Just give me Jesus.”
Anne Graham Lotz on Larry King Live. May 18, 2000

JUST GIVE ME JESUS: THE CRY OF HER HEART

Jane Johnson was flipping through the channels one night when the guest on Larry King Live caught her attention. Billy Graham’s daughter, Anne Graham Lotz, was talking about her new book, Just Give Me Jesus.

“I was so impressed I went out the next day and bought the book,” Jane told my Baptist women’s group.

Another group member, Carol Belford, became a fan of Anne after hearing her at a Women Alive convention in Waterloo a few years ago. “She’s inherited her father’s preaching mantle,” Carol declared. “If you ever get a chance to hear her, don’t miss it.”

My chance to hear Anne came at the Baptist World Congress in Melbourne, Australia, in January 2000. She addressed a breakfast meeting, a women’s rally, and the closing congress session, where her father had traditionally spoken. “I bring greetings from my earthly father, but my message is from my heavenly father,” she declared.

These brief encounters left no doubt that she’s her father’s daughter—for a start, she has his eyes and his tall, lean body—but also that God has called her to a ministry that is uniquely hers, and that she’s driven by her own passion for Jesus.

Being Billy Graham’s daughter has certainly opened doors for her, Anne admits. But when she has a message to give, she prays people will get over her identity in the first five minutes, so it doesn’t get in the way of what she has to say.

Her father has said she’s “the best preacher in the family.” She addresses crowds with a fiery intensity reminiscent of his early years. However, Anne does not feel God has called her to be an evangelist like her father or her brother Franklin. Instead, he has called her to be a “messenger” to people who already identify themselves as Christians.

On the Larry King show she explained why. “A lot of people who are believers sit in church.… They don’t get answers to prayer. They don’t make an impact on other people’s lives. There is no real joy and satisfaction in their relationship with God. And I feel that God has called me, perhaps even gifted me, to awaken them in their relationship with God.”

“I feel the most desperate need of our country is to experience revival within the church,” she told a group of Christian writers. “If we’re not on fire for Jesus, something’s wrong.”

Compelled by her burden for the church and her desire to see hearts rekindled with love for Jesus, Anne focused her ministry last year on two-day “Just Give Me Jesus” revivals in five major American cities. At each one she preached to about 15,000 people, primarily women, for three solid hours, one hour at a time.

Despite her pedigree, Anne was an unlikely preacher. Married at eighteen to Dan, a 6’7” dentist (now retired) she’s never been to college or seminary. She’s a shy, private, reclusive person who can’t remember the faces of people she meets. By her own admission, she doesn’t enjoy being in front of people. When she first started teaching a Bible class about twenty-four years ago, she was so terrified she threw up every time. She feared public failure, critical comparisons, upturned faces, and total inadequacy. “But as fearful as I was to teach, I was even more fearful to disobey the One I called Lord!” she recalls.

Before God called her into ministry they had a conversation that went something like this:

“Anne, you’re not as outgoing, not as well-read, not as gifted as others in your family. You don’t even make small talk very well.”

“Anne, you are weak, but I am strong. You are inadequate, but I am sufficent. You can’t, but I can. Make yourself available to me for service.”

When Anne made herself available to God, she was a 26-year-old stay-at-home mother of three. She had never taught Sunday school. In fact, she was convinced she had no spiritual gifts—and certainly not the gift of teaching. But her desire to study God’s word led her into Bible Study Fellowship, an interdenominational in-depth Bible teaching ministry. The material was broken down into day-to-day personal study and a weekly large-group lecture.

“I tried to get someone else in the group to agree to teach a class, but no one would,” Anne said in a interview with Just Between Us. “At that point I wanted it so badly that I figured even if it took me teaching the group to get it started, then I would do it. So that’s what I did. God was gracious. There were hundreds of women who signed up. They didn’t know that I couldn’t teach.”

Anne taught BSF each week for twelve years without missing a class. Then in 1988 she obeyed God’s call to a worldwide itinerant ministry of Bible teaching. She founded AnGeL Ministries, a nonprofit organization which uses live presentations, tapes, books, a newsletter, and website to make Scripture relevant to ordinary people. Anne chose AnGel as the name because “in the Bible, angels were messengers of God. They never went anywhere unless God sent them; when they spoke they only gave out God’s Word, and they addressed whomever God placed in front of them. That describes the ministry to which God has called me.”

“There was a time in my life when I was scared to death that God would call me into service—whether it would be to Africa or just across the street.,” she wrote in The Vision of His Glory, her commentary on Revelation. “Then there was a time in my life when I was scared to death God would not call me into service, and I wanted toserve him with all my heart.”

Perhaps that why, when she calls believers to truly make Jesus Lord of our lives, the Spirit moves us to respond. We hear God speak through a messenger who’s serving him with all her heart.

By Esther Barnes

Reprinted from The Link & Visitor, January 2001. Copyright, The Link & Visitor. For reprint permission, contact WebWeaver

							“Sometimes, when faced with great problems, our tendency is to focus on the hands of God—what he has not done for us and what we want him to do for us—instread of focusing on the face of God—simply who he is.“ AGL The Vision of His Glory “A lot of people who are believers sit in church.… They don’t get answers to prayer. They don’t make an impact on other people’s lives. There is no real joy and satisfaction in their relationship with God. And I feel that God has called me, perhaps even gifted me, to awaken them in their relationship with God.” AGL on Larry King Live JUST GIVE ME JESUS-TORONTO Don't miss this unique opportunity to hear Billy Graham's daughter, Anne Graham Lotz, and revitalize your relationship with Christ. Join up to 20,000 women at this two-day event: Friday, September 29, 2006, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. (doors open at 5:30 p.m.) and Saturday, September 30, 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (doors open at 7:00 a.m.) Air Canada Centre, Toronto. Admission is free, but there will be an offering. For more about JGMJ-Toronto, see the brochure in your March-April Link & Visitor or go to www.JGMJToronto.ca. BILLETS FOR BAPTIST WOMEN In order to make it possible for as many BCOQ women as possible to attend Just Give Me Jesus-Toronto, we are inviting Toronto women to offer free bed and breakfast on the Friday night (September 29) to out-of-town guests. If you live in Toronto and have space available, or if you're coming to JGMJ and need a place to stay, please contact ksusan@sympatico.ca before September 1. COME TO A BAPTIST WOMEN'S LUNCHEON, SEPTEMBER 30 All Baptist women who are attending Just Give Me Jesus are invited to a cold buffet lunch on Saturday, September 30, at the Air Canada Centre. Cost per person: $25. Send your name, mailing address, number of tickets required, and payment by cheque or credit card to the BWOQ office. You may use the postage-paid envelope in a recent Link & Visitor, marking it JGMJ-Lunch. Please order your tickets before September 15.

			ANNE GRAHAM LOTZ "I live in eastern North Carolina. We’ve had hurricanes, floods, snowstorms devastating our property. And then during the last two years my husband’s dental office burned to the ground…. My son was diagnosed with cancer, went through major surgery, radiation. All three of my children got married in an eight-month period. I’ve published books and written others, travelled. Mother’s been through all her hospitalizations. And in my heart, I just want Jesus. I don’t want to be entertained. I don’t want visuals or musicals. I don’t want a vacation. I don’t want to quit. I don’t want sympathy. The cry of my heart is “Just give me Jesus.” Anne Graham Lotz on Larry King Live. May 18, 2000 JUST GIVE ME JESUS: THE CRY OF HER HEART Jane Johnson was flipping through the channels one night when the guest on Larry King Live caught her attention. Billy Graham’s daughter, Anne Graham Lotz, was talking about her new book, Just Give Me Jesus. “I was so impressed I went out the next day and bought the book,” Jane told my Baptist women’s group. Another group member, Carol Belford, became a fan of Anne after hearing her at a Women Alive convention in Waterloo a few years ago. “She’s inherited her father’s preaching mantle,” Carol declared. “If you ever get a chance to hear her, don’t miss it.” My chance to hear Anne came at the Baptist World Congress in Melbourne, Australia, in January 2000. She addressed a breakfast meeting, a women’s rally, and the closing congress session, where her father had traditionally spoken. “I bring greetings from my earthly father, but my message is from my heavenly father,” she declared. These brief encounters left no doubt that she’s her father’s daughter—for a start, she has his eyes and his tall, lean body—but also that God has called her to a ministry that is uniquely hers, and that she’s driven by her own passion for Jesus. Being Billy Graham’s daughter has certainly opened doors for her, Anne admits. But when she has a message to give, she prays people will get over her identity in the first five minutes, so it doesn’t get in the way of what she has to say. Her father has said she’s “the best preacher in the family.” She addresses crowds with a fiery intensity reminiscent of his early years. However, Anne does not feel God has called her to be an evangelist like her father or her brother Franklin. Instead, he has called her to be a “messenger” to people who already identify themselves as Christians. On the Larry King show she explained why. “A lot of people who are believers sit in church.… They don’t get answers to prayer. They don’t make an impact on other people’s lives. There is no real joy and satisfaction in their relationship with God. And I feel that God has called me, perhaps even gifted me, to awaken them in their relationship with God.” “I feel the most desperate need of our country is to experience revival within the church,” she told a group of Christian writers. “If we’re not on fire for Jesus, something’s wrong.” Compelled by her burden for the church and her desire to see hearts rekindled with love for Jesus, Anne focused her ministry last year on two-day “Just Give Me Jesus” revivals in five major American cities. At each one she preached to about 15,000 people, primarily women, for three solid hours, one hour at a time. Despite her pedigree, Anne was an unlikely preacher. Married at eighteen to Dan, a 6’7” dentist (now retired) she’s never been to college or seminary. She’s a shy, private, reclusive person who can’t remember the faces of people she meets. By her own admission, she doesn’t enjoy being in front of people. When she first started teaching a Bible class about twenty-four years ago, she was so terrified she threw up every time. She feared public failure, critical comparisons, upturned faces, and total inadequacy. “But as fearful as I was to teach, I was even more fearful to disobey the One I called Lord!” she recalls. Before God called her into ministry they had a conversation that went something like this: “Anne, you’re not as outgoing, not as well-read, not as gifted as others in your family. You don’t even make small talk very well.” “God, I have only a little strength. I’m inadequate. I can’t do it.” “Anne, you are weak, but I am strong. You are inadequate, but I am sufficent. You can’t, but I can. Make yourself available to me for service.” When Anne made herself available to God, she was a 26-year-old stay-at-home mother of three. She had never taught Sunday school. In fact, she was convinced she had no spiritual gifts—and certainly not the gift of teaching. But her desire to study God’s word led her into Bible Study Fellowship, an interdenominational in-depth Bible teaching ministry. The material was broken down into day-to-day personal study and a weekly large-group lecture. “I tried to get someone else in the group to agree to teach a class, but no one would,” Anne said in a interview with Just Between Us. “At that point I wanted it so badly that I figured even if it took me teaching the group to get it started, then I would do it. So that’s what I did. God was gracious. There were hundreds of women who signed up. They didn’t know that I couldn’t teach.” Anne taught BSF each week for twelve years without missing a class. Then in 1988 she obeyed God’s call to a worldwide itinerant ministry of Bible teaching. She founded AnGeL Ministries, a nonprofit organization which uses live presentations, tapes, books, a newsletter, and website to make Scripture relevant to ordinary people. Anne chose AnGel as the name because “in the Bible, angels were messengers of God. They never went anywhere unless God sent them; when they spoke they only gave out God’s Word, and they addressed whomever God placed in front of them. That describes the ministry to which God has called me.” “There was a time in my life when I was scared to death that God would call me into service—whether it would be to Africa or just across the street.,” she wrote in The Vision of His Glory, her commentary on Revelation. “Then there was a time in my life when I was scared to death God would not call me into service, and I wanted toserve him with all my heart.” Perhaps that why, when she calls believers to truly make Jesus Lord of our lives, the Spirit moves us to respond. We hear God speak through a messenger who’s serving him with all her heart. By Esther Barnes Reprinted from The Link & Visitor, January 2001. Copyright, The Link & Visitor. For reprint permission, contact WebWeaver