Martha Franks residents answer phones at Billy Graham Call Center

Judy Cliver and Tom Faucette answer calls at the Billy Graham Call Center located at Martha Franks Retirement Center in Laurens.

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Ever wondered who answers the phone when you dial the number at the bottom of the screen after a Billy Graham Evangelistic Association television broadcast?

It could be a volunteer who lives at Martha Franks Retirement Community in Laurens. Martha Franks is one of two South Carolina Baptist-affiliated retirement centers. The other, Bethea Retirement Community, is in Darlington.

In 2013, Martha Franks residents received training in how to lead a person to faith in Christ and began manning eight phone lines set up in a room now known as the Billy Graham Call Center.

This May will mark the fifth year of the call center ministry. Volunteers continue to take calls from all over the world in response to television and radio broadcasts of past Billy Graham crusades.

Raymond Cook, a Martha Franks resident who was instrumental in setting up the call center, said, “This is God’s ministry, not mine. I see His hand working as He sends the right caller to the right volunteer at the right time.”

Cook said the first question a volunteer asks when answering the phone is, always, “Did you call to receive Christ as your Lord and Savior?” and the second is, “If you were to die today, would you be in heaven tonight?” From there, the plan of salvation is presented.

Sitting just outside the call center is another group of Martha Franks residents, “prayer warriors,” who lift up each caller’s name in prayer.

As of March 1, 2018, the Martha Franks call center has received 1,997 incoming calls, resulting in 585 salvations, 169 re-dedications, and 183 “assurances,” said Cook.

Martha Franks director of marketing Lynn McQueen said Billy Graham’s book “Nearing Home: Life, Faith, and Finishing Well” describes how God used individuals in their latter years, both in the Old and New Testaments.

“They did not let growing older become an excuse to keep them from serving God and fulfilling His purpose in their lives,” said McQueen. “The Billy Graham Call Center here at Martha Franks has provided our residents a way to continue in ministry and service. We should never retire from sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.”