The late Rev. Billy Graham’s seven-foot statue has been unveiled in Washington DC.

The bronze sculpture shows the evangelist gesturing towards an open Bible in his hand, and the pedestal is inscribed with a cross and two verses from the Bible—John 3:16 and John 14:6.

It also has a plaque at the base that reads “Preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Rev Graham, who died in 2018 at the age of 99 spent more than 80 years preaching to more people in live audiences than anyone else in history—nearly 215 million people across six continents.

He also provided spiritual counsel to twelve sitting presidents and dozens of world leaders.

His son Franklin Graham, who is President of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse, told the crowd who’d gathered at the National Statuary Hall that his family was “honoured”:

“My father would be a little uncomfortable with this being here because he would want the focus to be on the one that he preached,” he said.

“He’d want the focus to be on the Lord Jesus Christ, the son of God…Our family is honoured that our earthly father will be here in this Capitol, pointing future generations to our heavenly father.”

The unveiling ceremony also featured remarks from House Speaker Mike Johnson who held up a copy of Billy Graham’s study Bible and read aloud Galatians 6:14, a passage that Rev Graham had underlined in red in his personal Bible.

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