CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Billy Graham celebrated his 86th birthday Sunday, Nov. 7, while making final preparations for his Greater Los Angeles Crusade at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Nov. 18-21. This will be his second evangelistic campaign of the year, following his recent Heart of America Crusade at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., Oct. 7-10, according to a news release.

To pay tribute to Graham on his birthday, thousands of volunteers gathered at the Rose Bowl on Sunday to pray for the upcoming Los Angeles Crusade and to sing “Happy Birthday” to Graham. A nine-foot-tall, seven-foot-wide cake held 86 candles that were lit by each participant to represent an individual they hope will be reached with the message of God's love and forgiveness during the crusade meetings.

Graham normally celebrates his fall birthday by resting from summer crusades. But two separate falls early in the year caused the crusades originally scheduled for Kansas City in June and Los Angeles in July to be postponed.

Back in the pulpit in Kansas City after a hiatus of more than 15 months, Graham admitted to feeling a little rusty.

“This is the first time I've preached in more than a year,” he said. “I feel like I did when I was a teenager starting to preach. I feel like I'm starting over again.”

But he seemed to gain strength each evening as an average of more than 1,900 individuals responded each night to his invitation to make a commitment to Christ. Altogether, nearly 155,000 were in attendance over the four days of meetings.

In addition to preparing for his 2004 crusades, on Sept. 30 Graham announced his final New York City area crusade, to be held in June 2005. Pastors from more than 150 churches in the Tri-State region met at Madison Square Garden to confirm their unity in inviting Graham to New York.