Newswoman Jennifer Brown was the only reporter to get an interview with the Rev. Billy Graham in the days following his mission to Oklahoma City in June. In a rare in-person interview, the 84-year-old Graham sat down with Jennifer in the hotel where he was resting after a four-day crusade. He talked about his travels throughout the world and whether he would have enough strength for another mission.

At 84, Graham still not ready to stop preaching

Graham By Jennifer L. Brown

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ The Rev. Billy Graham is sometimes too weak to walk on stage by himself, he shakes a bit from Parkinson's disease and he says he's half deaf.

Still, at 84, the evangelist who's logged thousands of miles to preach the gospel in tents and stadiums from New York City to the Australian bush, has no plans to give it up.

"I think the Lord is helping me to finish the work he gave me to do," Graham told The Associated Press Wednesday in an interview at an Oklahoma City hotel, where he is resting after a four-day crusade to more than 100,000.

Graham already is considering a possible mission to Kansas City in October and, if he feels up to it, a trip to London next May to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his 12-week crusade there in 1954.

The Oklahoma City mission, which filled up the Ford Center and sent thousands to a convention center to watch a live television feed, drained him physically and mentally _ but not spiritually.

"Spiritually, I feel tremendously exhilarated," he said. "I feel like the Lord comes in power when I stand up to speak. Sometimes I have no strength at all. I have to be helped to the podium, but when I stand there I can sense the presence of the Lord and feel prayers of so many people."

Graham _ who spoke quietly and slowly, without the fire he possesses from the pulpit _ said he is not sure he has the strength to hold another crusade four months from now.

"I'm going to check with my doctors and talk to my wife ... pray about it and be sure the Lord is leading," he said. "That's the big item for me."

Graham, whose once-brown hair has turned snowy white, recalled the days when he and his wife, Ruth, "were young and vigorous" and evangelizing in London. He waited in the hotel room as "night after night until after midnight she'd be talking to people about the Lord."

In 1982, his preaching in Moscow allowed him into the rest of Eastern Europe, where he says "sometimes a communist would come and cut the wires to the speakers and cut out the lights."

In Berlin he managed to preach God's word despite a "kidney stone attack." And in 1957, the crowds came so long he preached nightly for 16 weeks at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Graham, who wore soft jeans with his tie and jacket, said "radical change" in technology brought his work from radio to television to live broadcasts in many languages across the world. He says he's reached more than 210 million people in 185 countries or territories.

In the last decade, Graham has made an effort to reach young people. He made "youth night" featuring Christian rock and pop music a part of his crusades in 1994, beginning with Cleveland. Since then, 13 of his 22 youth nights have broken stadium records.

"There's a real move among young people today that we haven't seen, maybe ever, in America," he said. "There's a search on. They're searching for something to anchor themselves in, some philosophy or some faith."

Graham said violence in the Middle East is the biggest concern today and that it will be resolved only with the coming of Christ.

"It's been a problem for centuries," he said. "It was a problem all the way through the Bible."

The evangelist planned to return to his home in the North Carolina hills within the next few days. He and his wife will attend a family reunion with some of their 19 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren.

Ruth Graham, 83, has round-the-clock caregivers and uses a wheelchair.

"She goes out once or twice a week to get her hair fixed," Graham said, smiling. "It's an inspiration to be near her. I'm looking forward to seeing her the minute I get home."

The only other thing on Graham's schedule is a checkup at the Mayo Clinic. He is supposed to visit every three months because of a neurological problem that causes numbness in his limbs _ a result of surgeries in 2001 to
reduce fluid on his brain.

All five of Graham's children are involved in ministry as speakers and authors. His son Franklin, now chief executive officer and president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, is likely to take over for his father someday.

"I'm very proud of him, proud of his leadership," the elder Graham said. "He has a different style than I have."

Graham, born in 1918 to North Carolina dairy farmers, made a commitment to follow Christ at 16 when a traveling evangelist visited his hometown of Charlotte. He graduated from Florida Bible Institute and Wheaton College in Ill., then joined a ministry organization that sent him preaching through post-war Europe.

A 1949 Los Angeles tent revival that went on for eight weeks because of overflow crowds launched him to international prominence.