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More than 50 years ago—it was in 1953—Billy Graham awoke at 2 A.M. with dreams for a magazine. "Trying not to disturb Ruth," he wrote in his autobiography, "I slipped out of bed and into my study upstairs to write. A couple of hours later, the concept for a new magazine was complete. I thought its name should be Christianity Today." Billy used that document to recruit board members and staff and to raise the necessary resources. The first issue was distributed in October 1956 to more than 200,000 pastors and church leaders.

Twenty-five years ago, we published CT's 25th anniversary issue, with Billy on the cover. Our founder responded to questions with lively, incisive insights.

This summer, in CT's 50th anniversary year, we were to meet with Billy again. We anticipated less lively repartee on evangelical currents and world events this time. On the plane to North Carolina, Christianity Today International (CTI) president Paul Robbins and I read Newsweek's August 14 cover story, "Billy Graham in Twilight." Yet he had preached earlier in the summer in Baltimore and, before that, in his "final" New York City crusade.

Our car climbed up a steep, narrow road over the multiple folds of rugged Blue Ridge woodlands to his mountaintop home. As we pulled up, three dogs gazed lazily at us. Inside the modest log home, we soon saw Billy's tall, lanky form moving slowly toward us down a long hall. His warm welcome matched his sunny smile.

The day before, Billy told us, he'd felt a great deal of pain, but today he was much better. "Everything is nostalgia now," he said, explaining that he is largely isolated.

Despite bodily limitations, he stays engaged, reading The New York Times, Christianity Today, 1776 by David McCullough, and, most recently, A Mind for God by James Emery White, the new president of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

We talked about the concept paper he had written at 2 A.M., and he smiled, saying he hadn't seen it in a very long time. "It's been a crucial document for us," I said. "When CT was in crisis in the mid-'70s and everyone had a different idea about what the magazine should be, it was pivotal. I remember at a trustee retreat at the Airlie Center in Virginia, Harold Ockenga dug into his old battered briefcase and found it, then read it aloud—every word. When he finished, everyone agreed, 'That's it! That's the mandate for what CT should be.'"

With limited hearing, Billy listened intently. "What year was that?"

"1976. Since then, we've studied and used it regularly as CT's essential grid."

We talked about The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham, the book CTI vice president Marshall Shelley and I wrote as a 50th anniversary project. One of the chapters, "Birthing Dreams," is a case study of his founding CT. Far more than just creating the vision, he communicated it to high-capacity leaders, drove the process, raised money, formed an independent board, and articulated core concepts to staff. He celebrated, prodded, and praised, starting with the first issue and then in supportive ways in various roles for 50 years.

The book, however, is about far more than his founding and leading CT. For 30 years, we on staff have observed how, even though he may not have read management and leadership books, he leads naturally, congruent with the wisdom and skills you find in leadership literature from Peter Drucker to Jim Collins. It was, in fact, Jim Collins's research in his book Good to Great that most intrigued us. Collins learned that the best CEOs—what he calls "Level 5" leaders—combine extreme passion for a cause with deep humility and a sense of teamwork. Billy's closest associates confirm this is exactly the case with him.

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October 2006, Vol. 50, No. 10