Evangelist Franklin Graham has stated in a letter to President Barack Obama that the Christian charities he is leading were also targeted by the IRS along with conservative groups last year.

Graham sent a letter to President Obama on Tuesday outlining how Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association were the subjects of an IRS probe during the 2012 campaign season.

"In light of what the IRS admitted to on Friday, May 10, 2013, and subsequent revelations from other sources, I do not believe that the IRS audit of our two organizations last year was a coincidence – or justifiable," wrote Graham. more >>

As evangelist Billy Graham prepares for his final major outreach event, which is set to occur later this year, a recent survey has offered a glimpse into how his ministry has touched evangelical leaders.

The Evangelical Leaders Survey for the month of April found that 73 percent of National Association of Evangelicals leaders have attended a Billy Graham crusade, and 44 percent have met the evangelist in person. The poll encompasses responses from the NAE's board of directors, which includes the CEOs of denominations as well as leaders from evangelical churches, schools, and other organizations.

"The evangelical resurgence in America has been centered around Billy Graham," NAE President Leith Anderson said in a statement. "He communicated the gospel of Jesus Christ for everyone. Never about politics, ambition, money or power. Just about Jesus." more >>

The Billy Graham Evangelical Association has reposted a 1973 article by the Rev. Billy Graham in Decision magazine, titled "The National Crisis," where he addressed what he called the disease of sin in America.

"Our newspapers and our television screens are bringing news of a hundred and one dangerous problems that are rocking the world. Each day seems to add to our already impressive number of crises here at home – an accelerating crime rate, mass murders, soaring drug use, rampant inflation, pollution, the breakdown of families, a jittery stock market," Graham wrote, which the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association aid still speaks to the age-old problems plaguing the earth since the fall of man.

In his 1973 article, which came after the Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade which legalized abortion in the country, Graham said that "American people have suffered an emotional trauma that has had few parallels in our history." more >>

Correction Appended

Evangelist Franklin Graham has stated that a solution to the problem of violence in American culture could be a tax on violent entertainment.

The CEO of the international relief group Samaritan's Purse stated this in some remarks delivered Wednesday at Camp Bethelwoods in York, S.C. more >>

Beloved gospel singer George Beverly Shea, 104, of Montreat, N.C., soloist of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, died Tuesday evening following a brief illness.

Graham's senior by ten years, Shea was a mainstay as the worship singer with a deep voice, who preceding the famous evangelist in song for every crusade for 60 years.

"Bev was one of the most humble, gracious men I have ever known and one of my closest friends," said Graham in a statement released by the BGEA. "I loved him as a brother. My prayer for his wife, Karlene, and his children, Ron and Elaine, is that God will strengthen them during this time." more >>

Billy Graham, the famous preacher and evangelist, has been honored by North Carolina lawmakers with the title of "Favorite Son" of the state.

North Carolina's House and Senate each approved resolutions Wednesday that honored both the 94-year-old Graham and his late wife, Ruth Bell Graham.

"The Senate honors the memory of Ruth Bell Graham, who made significant contributions to our State and nation through her partnership with her husband in marriage and ministry," reads the Senate version. more >>