On Monday, May 22, Franklin Graham, President & CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse, delivered the keynote address to the Opening Session of NRB 2023 in Orlando, Fla., charging attendees to remain faithful to God’s calling on Christian communicators.
“I learned a lot from members of NRB, my father being one of them,” Graham recalled. The late Billy Graham—the most renowned evangelist of the twentieth century—addressed NRB Convention several times throughout the NRB association’s history.
Graham warned Christians to take the spiritual state of the culture seriously, saying, “I believe there is a coming storm that we’d all better be ready for. We need to be ready and get prepared.”
His underlying message to the NRB gathering: It’s all about the Gospel.
“Some people talk about making a friend and then share the gospel,” Graham said. “They could be dead by then… If you preach the gospel and give an invitation, someone is going to respond to it. You just have to be clear.”
Graham concluded by exhorting Christians to “Preach. Don’t back off. ‘But what if they don’t listen?’ If you don’t tell them the truth, they are not going to listen. Don’t apologize for the Gospel. Give an invitation. It works. I promise you that.”
The NRB Opening Session kicked off with special remarks from Gov. Ron DeSantis, who welcomed the community of Christian broadcasters to the state of Florida and exhorted Christians to “Get ready, put on the full Armor of God, stand firm in the truth, and never ever back down.”
Other featured speakers included Abraham Hamilton III and Israel Minister of Tourism Haim Katz. Hamilton, host of “The Hamilton Corner” at American Family Radio, reminded attendees that “witnessing is not an activity, it is a state of being” and that we must be “dead to our own self-centered, Christ-rivaling agendas, quickened to life, fully granted and given over to His purposes.”
In welcoming attendees to the conference, NRB President & CEO Troy A. Miller highlighted that NRB is more critical today than at any time in its history, as we face greater threats today to our freedom to spread the Gospel. God is working through religious broadcasters, Miller said, leading people to say “I learned on radio that Jesus Christ loves me and died for my sins.”
“This week, we will immerse ourselves in meetings and messages and information and conversations and the flood of activity that comprises the NRB convention,” said NRB Chairman Dr. Frank Wright. “But as we do, let’s… remember that we have been entrusted with the very words of life.”
Israel Minister of Tourism Haim Katz also delivered remarks. Contemporary Christian artist Nicole C. Mullen provided choice musical selections, including her classic Christian contemporary hit, “My Redeemer Lives.”
The session was sponsored by the Israel Ministry of Tourism (IMOT) and CBN Films’ “Oracles of God: The Story of the Old Testament.” IMOT is Israel’s national tourism agency. “Oracles of God,” a CBN feature film, follows the history and archaeology of the Old Testament, from Moses and the Torah through the Israelite kingdom, with a special focus on the world’s oldest copies of the Hebrew Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls.
