Anne Graham Lotz
Encyclopedia
Anne Graham Lotz is an American
Christian
evangelist
. She is the second daughter of evangelist Billy Graham
and his wife Ruth Graham
. Anne Graham Lotz accepts speaking invitations worldwide, is founder of AnGeL Ministries, and is the award-winning author of 11 books, including her signature title, Just Give Me Jesus and most recent releases (August 2009) The Magnificent Obsession: Embracing the God-filled Life and Expecting to See Jesus: A Wake-Up Call for God's People (July 2011).
and Ruth Graham
. She was born, Anne Morrow Graham, in 1948 in Montreat, North Carolina
. The Graham Family had settled near Ruth’s parents in Montreat in what remains today as the Graham Family Home, Little Piney Cove.
Ruth was often the single parent for months at a time to the five Graham children. Of her upbringing, Anne Graham Lotz says, “[My Father] was away almost full time. I was raised pretty much by single parents and grandparents, and then I didn’t know any different.”
Anne Graham Lotz accepted Jesus Christ
as her savior at the age of about eight years old after watching King of Kings, a Cecil B. DeMille
film.
where Dr. Lotz was beginning his dental practice. She had her first child at the age of 20, with two more in the three years that followed, and she did not work outside her home. Anne says this was a hard time in her life saying: “Early in my marriage, I felt like I drifted from God just because I was busy – you know, small children, small house, all the business of being a housewife. But I sought God through the Scripture. That’s when I got into the Bible myself.”
class for women that used a highly structured study method, and wanted a class to be offered in her hometown of Raleigh. She waited for a year for someone else to teach the class, but when no one else did, she decided to teach the class herself. The class immediately filled up with 500 people and had a waiting list. Anne continued to teach the weekly class for 12 years. During this time, she began to receive many speaking invitations and in 1988, Anne left BSF for an itinerant teaching ministry.
In the early years of AnGeL Ministries, Anne accepted invitations to speak all over the world: at pastor’s conferences, at women’s conferences, and world evangelism conferences. By the year 2000, she felt her ministry taking a different direction.
Although as a female evangelist she's encountered some resistance from conservative Christians, her popularity is such that she draws large crowds across the world, and the New York Times in 1999 considered her one of the five most influential evangelists in the United States.
and from that study, came her book Just Give Me Jesus.
Having experienced a personal revival herself as the result of her study of John
, Anne felt called to begin offering Just Give Me Jesus revivals in major arenas, both domestically and internationally for women who also desired a renewing of their walk with God. Though the revivals are aimed at teaching women, men are not turned away should they desire to come, and there is no admission charge for anyone.
Over the course of 10 years, Anne has offered Just Give Me Jesus in 34 cities around the world, 11 of those internationally.
, she has been awarded the following six honorary doctorates for her extensive work in the area of Bible study and exposition:
Houghton College – Honorary Doctorate of Divinities
King College – Honorary Doctorate of Humanities
Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary – Honorary Doctorate of Divinities
Dallas Baptist University – Honorary Doctorate of Humanities
Seoul Women’s University – Honorary Doctorate
Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary – Honorary Doctorate of Divinity
s from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association
for excellence in Christian publications:
The Vision of His Glory (1997)
God’s Story (1998)
Just Give Me Jesus (2001)
My Heart’s Cry (2003)
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
evangelist
Evangelism
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....
. She is the second daughter of evangelist Billy Graham
Billy Graham
William Franklin "Billy" Graham, Jr. is an American evangelical Christian evangelist. As of April 25, 2010, when he met with Barack Obama, Graham has spent personal time with twelve United States Presidents dating back to Harry S. Truman, and is number seven on Gallup's list of admired people for...
and his wife Ruth Graham
Ruth Graham
Ruth Bell Graham , wife of the famous evangelist Billy Graham, was born at Qingjiang, Kiangsu, China as Ruth McCue Bell, the second of five children. Her parents, Dr. and Mrs. L. Nelson Bell, were medical missionaries at the Presbyterian Hospital 300 miles north of Shanghai...
. Anne Graham Lotz accepts speaking invitations worldwide, is founder of AnGeL Ministries, and is the award-winning author of 11 books, including her signature title, Just Give Me Jesus and most recent releases (August 2009) The Magnificent Obsession: Embracing the God-filled Life and Expecting to See Jesus: A Wake-Up Call for God's People (July 2011).
Childhood
Anne Graham Lotz is the second of the five children born to BillyBilly Graham
William Franklin "Billy" Graham, Jr. is an American evangelical Christian evangelist. As of April 25, 2010, when he met with Barack Obama, Graham has spent personal time with twelve United States Presidents dating back to Harry S. Truman, and is number seven on Gallup's list of admired people for...
and Ruth Graham
Ruth Graham
Ruth Bell Graham , wife of the famous evangelist Billy Graham, was born at Qingjiang, Kiangsu, China as Ruth McCue Bell, the second of five children. Her parents, Dr. and Mrs. L. Nelson Bell, were medical missionaries at the Presbyterian Hospital 300 miles north of Shanghai...
. She was born, Anne Morrow Graham, in 1948 in Montreat, North Carolina
Montreat, North Carolina
Montreat is a town in Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 696 in 2008. It is part of the Asheville Metropolitan Statistical Area...
. The Graham Family had settled near Ruth’s parents in Montreat in what remains today as the Graham Family Home, Little Piney Cove.
Ruth was often the single parent for months at a time to the five Graham children. Of her upbringing, Anne Graham Lotz says, “[My Father] was away almost full time. I was raised pretty much by single parents and grandparents, and then I didn’t know any different.”
Anne Graham Lotz accepted Jesus Christ
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
as her savior at the age of about eight years old after watching King of Kings, a Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil Blount DeMille was an American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer in both silent and sound films. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies...
film.
Early adulthood
Anne Graham Lotz graduated from high school and shortly thereafter, married Dr. Daniel Lotz on September 9, 1966 at the age of 18. The young couple lived in Raleigh, North CarolinaRaleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...
where Dr. Lotz was beginning his dental practice. She had her first child at the age of 20, with two more in the three years that followed, and she did not work outside her home. Anne says this was a hard time in her life saying: “Early in my marriage, I felt like I drifted from God just because I was busy – you know, small children, small house, all the business of being a housewife. But I sought God through the Scripture. That’s when I got into the Bible myself.”
Early ministry: Bible Study Fellowship
In 1975, Anne heard about Bible Study Fellowship, a BibleBible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
class for women that used a highly structured study method, and wanted a class to be offered in her hometown of Raleigh. She waited for a year for someone else to teach the class, but when no one else did, she decided to teach the class herself. The class immediately filled up with 500 people and had a waiting list. Anne continued to teach the weekly class for 12 years. During this time, she began to receive many speaking invitations and in 1988, Anne left BSF for an itinerant teaching ministry.
AnGeL Ministries
Upon leaving her BSF teaching class, Anne Graham Lotz founded AnGeL Ministries, a non-profit organization based in Raleigh, NC to undergird her ability to accept teaching invitations. Anne says the name “AnGeL Ministries” takes her initials “AGL” and adds the “n” and “e” to form the word “AnGeL” because “angels in the Bible were messengers of God, and they went where God sent them and they give the message you put on their heart, and I felt that describes what I do.”In the early years of AnGeL Ministries, Anne accepted invitations to speak all over the world: at pastor’s conferences, at women’s conferences, and world evangelism conferences. By the year 2000, she felt her ministry taking a different direction.
Although as a female evangelist she's encountered some resistance from conservative Christians, her popularity is such that she draws large crowds across the world, and the New York Times in 1999 considered her one of the five most influential evangelists in the United States.
Just Give Me Jesus revivals
In the late 1990s, though AnGeL Ministries was growing, Anne’s personal life became very stressful. Within two years, a hurricane devastated their property, her husband's dental office burned to the ground, their son was diagnosed with cancer and went through major surgery and radiation, all three of her children got married within an eight-month period, and her mother’s health was failing, requiring multiple hospitalizations. Once again, Anne turned to her study of Scripture for comfort. This time, she immersed herself in the Gospel of JohnGospel of John
The Gospel According to John , commonly referred to as the Gospel of John or simply John, and often referred to in New Testament scholarship as the Fourth Gospel, is an account of the public ministry of Jesus...
and from that study, came her book Just Give Me Jesus.
Having experienced a personal revival herself as the result of her study of John
Gospel of John
The Gospel According to John , commonly referred to as the Gospel of John or simply John, and often referred to in New Testament scholarship as the Fourth Gospel, is an account of the public ministry of Jesus...
, Anne felt called to begin offering Just Give Me Jesus revivals in major arenas, both domestically and internationally for women who also desired a renewing of their walk with God. Though the revivals are aimed at teaching women, men are not turned away should they desire to come, and there is no admission charge for anyone.
Over the course of 10 years, Anne has offered Just Give Me Jesus in 34 cities around the world, 11 of those internationally.
Publishing
In addition to her itinerant teaching ministry, Anne Graham Lotz is author to 11 books, including her signature book, Just Give Me Jesus. She also wrote The Vision of His Glory, God’s Story, and My Heart’s Cry. Other published works include Heaven: My Father’s House, Daily Light, Why?: Trusting God When You Don’t Understand, The Joy of My Heart, My Jesus Is…Everything, I Saw the Lord, and Life is Just Better…with Jesus. Additionally, she produces daily radio messages, Daily Light for Daily Living, that are heard on more than 700 outlets worldwide. Anne’s most recent works, The Magnificent Obsession: Embracing the God-filled Life, made its debut in August 2009 and Expecting to See Jesus: A Wake-Up Call for God's People in July of 2011.Education and honorary degrees
Though Anne Graham Lotz did not attend college and she has chosen to not pursue becoming an ordained ministerOrdination
In general religious use, ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart as clergy to perform various religious rites and ceremonies. The process and ceremonies of ordination itself varies by religion and denomination. One who is in preparation for, or who is...
, she has been awarded the following six honorary doctorates for her extensive work in the area of Bible study and exposition:
Awards
Anne Graham Lotz has been awarded four Gold Medallion Book AwardGold Medallion Book Award
The Christian Book Award is an annual award given by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association to honor Christian content in several categories, including Bibles, Fiction, Children, Inspiration, Bible Reference, and Non-Fiction. Winners are announced each year at the industry's Executive...
s from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association
Evangelical Christian Publishers Association
The is an international non-profit trade association whose member companies are involved in the publishing and distribution of Christian content worldwide...
for excellence in Christian publications: