Spartanburg pastor Don Wilton is among more than 100 people – from politicians to country singers to TV personalities – invited to share how renowned evangelist Billy Graham has influenced their lives.
Their testimonials are collected in a new book, “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Billy Graham & Me,” available at most booksellers.
Wilton, pastor of Spartanburg First Baptist Church, has been Graham’s pastor since December 2008, when the evangelist, who lives at his longtime home in Montreat, N.C., asked to become a member of Wilton’s church.
Wilton regularly makes the drive up Interstate 26 and into the North Carolina mountains to visit his most famous church member.
“Whether in his bedroom or around the kitchen table eating hot dogs and yogurt or playing with the cat who crept in demanding attention or sitting outside looking across the beautiful mountains he loves so well, Dr. Graham bleeds out his God-given passion to see people have peace with God through Jesus Christ,” Wilton writes in the book.
A native of South Africa, Wilton has served numerous times on the faculty of Billy Graham Schools of Evangelism across the United States and Europe, and has led seminars at the Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove near Asheville.
The Spartanburg pastor, who often spent time with the Graham family even before Graham joined Spartanburg First Baptist, described the relationship with the famed preacher as “very close” and also “private” in a 2008 Courier story.
Other prominent Southern Baptists whose tributes and recollections are included in the Chicken Soup book include Mike Huckabee, Richard Land and Thom Rainer.