Thomas Lansford is a professor of political science and academic dean at the University of Southern Mississippi, Gulf Coast. He wrote about Graham for the Encyclopedia of American Religion and Politics. He can be emailed via this contact form.

Research at Hartford Seminary found significant racial diversity among American megachurches. Thumma found that 35 percent of megachurches studied claimed to have at least 20 percent of their membership from a nonmajority ethnic group, and more than half were making specific efforts – such as diversifying their staffs or holding worship services in a language other than […]

Read a Feb. 28, 2001, story from Christian Century outlining the findings of the Congregations Project at Rice University and other research studies on multiracial congregations. The article is posted by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research.

Michael G. Long is an associate professor of religious studies and peace and conflict studies at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. He edited The Legacy of Billy Graham: Critical Reflections, a collection of essays examining the evangelist’s impact on mainline Christianity and American civil religion, and is the author of Billy Graham and the Beloved Community: America’s Evangelist and […]

Read a story from The Associated Press, published Feb. 24, 2007, in the Deseret News, about the efforts megachurches are making to become multiracial and multiethnic congregations.

Robert Coleman is Distinguished Professor of Discipleship and Evangelism at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. For many years, Coleman directed the School of World Mission and Evangelism at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School while also serving as dean of the Billy Graham International Schools of Evangelism and director of the Billy Graham Institute at Wheaton College. He is a […]

Read a Sept. 27, 2010 Baylor Media Communications article that finds that nine in ten congregations have a single racial group that accounts for more than 80 percent of their membership.

George F. Bennett is chairman emeritus and a longtime member of the board at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Mass., which Graham co-founded. Bennett also has served as a trustee of Wheaton College and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. He is a knowledgeable source on Graham, the contributions of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association […]

Read a May 3, 2013 AllChristianNews.com article about the lack of racial diversity in U.S. churches, but the raised awareness about the issue around the nation.