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New Billy Graham Library: A Tribute to Christ

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It seems fitting that you enter the Billy Graham Library through the cross.

But the name "Billy Graham" is not on the building itself. His son Franklin told us that was no accident.

"When he saw that this could be used as an evangelistic tool, he was all for it," Franklin said. "But he said if it was just going to be a monument to himself, he said he didn't want any part of it. But we assured him that it wouldn't be a monument to himself; it would be an ongoing crusade."

The 700 Club, Newswatch, Christian World News and CBNNews.com will provide complete coverage of ceremonies and events this week leading up to the opening of the The Billy Graham Library on June 5.

Once inside, you are greeted by "Bessy" the talking cow, depicting Graham's humble beginnings on a dairy farm not far from the library.

There are Scriptures everywhere you look. They are even on the rafters.

The library takes you on an exciting 90-minute self-guided journey through Graham's family life, ministry and some of the world's most pivotal moments.

One exhibit takes you back to 1949, when Billy Graham made national headlines with what was then the biggest religious event in Los Angeles history, an unprecedented eight-week tent crusade. Even the billboard is the same.

Continuing on, you'll also be transported back to the tumultuous time before the collapse of the Berlin Wall to learn how Rev. Graham was able to preach the Gospel behind the iron curtain to many communist nations.

But Franklin says his favorite exhibit is the one about his mother Ruth.

"As a son, I love both my parents. But I think mom is always special. My Daddy was gone a lot and my mother raised us. And to go in there, that's Daddy's favorite, too," commented Franklin.

The tour proved emotional for some visitors.

"My eyes welled up again because it brings such honor to the Lord because I feel like Billy Graham's ministry was to bring us to know Jesus," Jacquie Moore of Alabama said.

"As a follower of Christ, you're overwhelmed with the importance of the message that Billy Graham has preached," West Virginia's Shawn Thorton said. "And I can imagine if someone wasn't a follower of Jesus Christ, you couldn't leave without having not made a decision about what you're going to do with Jesus today."

Just outside the library is the actual home where Billy Graham lived when he was a boy. The Graham family homestead was built in 1927 by his parents Frank and Morrow on the family's dairy farm in rural Charlotte, North Carolina.

A letter that Billy Graham's mother was writing at the time of her death still remains in the typewriter. It is filled with all her favorite Bible verses.

Perhaps the most important part of the library, and what makes it unique, is that as you leave, you walk through a glass cross where you can pray with a trained counselor and receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior.

"Long after my father's in heaven, and his team, this will be used to win another generation for Christ," concluded Franklin Graham.