By 1976, he and his wife Deb had one son, and Graham was associate pastor of Sagamore Hill Baptist Church in Fort Worth, pastored by G. Fred Swank.[3] That year he also completed work for a Master of Divinity degree with honors from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. Four more years went by, and Graham received a Doctor of Ministry degree in “Church and Proclamation.”[citation needed]
Career
Graham began his ministry as pastor of East Side Baptist in Cross Plains in Callahan County, Texas (1970–1971). Following his associate pastorate at Sagamore Hill Baptist Church (1972–1975), he went on to pastor First Baptist Church in Hobart, Oklahoma (1975–1978), First Baptist Church in Duncan, Oklahoma (1978–1981), and First Baptist Church in West Palm Beach, Florida (1981–1989).[2]
In 1989, Prestonwood Baptist Church, a Dallas megachurch with approximately 11,000 members, called Graham as pastor after its founding pastor, Bill Weber, admitted to an extramarital affair and resigned.[4] Weber unsuccessfully sought to regain his old post, then convinced several of the church's wealthier members—including cosmetics magnate Mary Kay Ash—to support a new church he was starting.[5]
Despite this, Prestonwood's membership rolls grew by 2,000 members annually, and it was apparent that it had outgrown its location in Far North Dallas. A new 7,500-seat [6]worship facility, school and ministry complex on 140 acres (0.57 km2) was built in west Plano in 1999.
In 2006, Prestonwood opened its second campus in Prosper, near U.S. Highway 380 and Dallas Parkway. The church reached the 43,000-member mark in 2018, with regular attendance at worship services averaging about 17,000.[7]
Pastor Graham served as Honorary Chairman of the 2015 National Day of Prayer and was a member of President Donald Trump's Religious Advisory Council.[9] He participated in the National Prayer Service at the Washington National Cathedral the day after the inauguration.[10]
In May 2022, Graham was named in a report on sex abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention, which stated that he allowed a youth music minister at Prestonwood Baptist Church, John Langworthy, who had admitted to church officials that he had molested at least one student in the late 1980s, to be removed quietly, without notifying police.[11][12][13] Langworthy was able to go on to become a youth music minister at Morrison Heights Baptist Church in Clinton, Mississippi, where he was later accused of abusing young boys again.[14][15][16]
^ abSouthern Baptist Historical Library and Archives (February 2010). "Inventory to the Jack Graham Papers"(PDF). Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives. Retrieved March 7, 2017.