Billy Graham's Prodigal Grandson Shares His Testimony
"God, I have tried my best to ignore you and to do things my way. I'm broken. I'm broken and in need of fixing."
(Margate, Florida)—Tullian Tchividjian is Evangelist Billy Graham's "prodigal" grandson.
As reported in The Tennessean, Tullian is one of seven children born to Stephan Tchividjian and Graham's eldest daughter, Gigi. According to the report, as one of the middle children, he couldn't figure out where he fit in growing up, so he turned to familiar distractions.
"I was a wild man. I lived a no-holds-barred lifestyle," Tchividjian said. "If I believed it would bring me maximum pleasure in the moment, I did it, no matter what it was." (Photo by: Wilfredo Lee/Associated Press)
At 16, unable to obey his parents' basic rules, he was reportedly escorted by police from his home. He dropped out of school and spent the next five years "partying...seeking the company of women and getting high."
One night he said he came home late and, coming "down from a high," he fell to the floor. "God, I have tried my best to ignore you and to do things my way," he remembers praying. "I'm broken. I'm broken and in need of fixing."
It was then that Tchividjian says he recommitted himself to Christ, entered the seminary and became a minister. Today, he is married and the father of three children. He also started a church and recently wrote a book entitled, Do I Know God?
The report also states that friends from Tchividjian's wild youth often stop by Sunday services at New City and are amazed at his turnaround.
Tchividjian calls his famous grandfather "one of his closest friends and one of his most reliable counselors" and the Rev. Graham says his grandson's return to the Lord is "an answer to prayer."
