Billy Graham’s legacy in New York City was shaped by a deep burden to share the Gospel in one of the largest and most influential cities in the world.

From the historic 1957 New York Crusade at Madison Square Garden and Yankee Stadium to his final New York Crusade in 2005, Billy Graham returned again and again with the same message: that lasting hope could be found in Jesus Christ.

On Sept. 22, 1991, that burden brought him to the Great Lawn of Manhattan’s Central Park, where an estimated 250,000 people gathered for a one-day rally called “An Afternoon in the Park with Billy Graham.” The culturally and ethnically diverse crowd became the largest single evangelistic event of Billy Graham’s ministry in North America—and another defining chapter in his decades-long relationship with New York City.

“An Afternoon in the Park with Billy Graham” was designed to look different from the evangelist’s previous Crusade events. Billy Graham and the team recognized that New York called for a distinctly different approach. As one organizer put it, the goal was to bring the Crusade to “street level,” reflecting the racial and cultural diversity of the city.

For three hours, Central Park became the backdrop for prayer, testimonies, music—and a message of God’s love for all. The afternoon also featured performances by Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, among other contemporary artists at the time.

Billy Graham, then 72, recognized that as the city’s influence grew, so too did the spiritual needs of its people. “New York is a world capital,” he told the hundreds of thousands in attendance. “But … New York is a place of desperate spiritual need.”

In his message, Billy Graham noted that of the approximately 7.5 million people living in New York at the time, one-third had been born outside the United States while another third were second-generation Americans.

“We Americans have long been proud of the fact that we’re the melting pot of the world, and New York is the melting pot of America,” the evangelist said. “… I’m told that on a Sunday afternoon you can hear a hundred languages spoken right here in Central Park.”

That commitment to reaching New Yorkers across cultures and languages shaped every aspect of the outreach. Promotional materials were produced in 16 languages, while radio broadcasts offered simultaneous translation in Spanish, Korean and three Chinese dialects. Counselors who spoke Chinese, Korean and Spanish were also prepared to help those responding to the Gospel.

Addressing the crowd, Billy Graham spoke of the isolation a person could experience even amid the crowds of New York. “To be without God in New York is to be terribly lonely,” he said, “and this leads to a feeling that life is futile.” His message centered on one simple truth: New Yorkers should turn back to God and depend on Jesus Christ—because He has not forgotten them.

That day, thousands of people made the decision to follow Jesus Christ, making the gathering not only historic in size, but pivotal in the lives of those who accepted Christ into their hearts.

Years later, Billy Graham remembers the special day in his autobiography, Just As I Am. “In 1991 a one-day rally in Central Park drew a quarter of a million people together to hear the Gospel—the largest audience we ever addressed in North America,” he wrote. “On the bus going back to the hotel after Central Park, one of my grandchildren noticed vendors on the sidewalk selling T-shirts saying, ‘Billy Blessed Us.’ I trust this was true; but if so, it was solely because of God’s grace.”

More than three decades later, the call to dependence on God continues. This fall, Billy Graham’s grandson Will Graham—will travel through the 13 original colonies on the Declaration of Dependence Tour, preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ and calling people to turn back to the Lord.

To discover more about Billy Graham’s life, ministry and decades of sharing the Gospel around the world, experience The Journey of Faith tour at The Billy Graham Library. Book your free tour today.