Billy Graham's daughter has her own message on faith

She is clearly her father's daughter.

Statuesque. Piercing blue eyes. An intense love and knowledge of the Bible. Riveting oratory skills and a commanding stage presence.

But don't mistake Anne Graham Lotz for someone who made a reputation solely on the coattails of the man she calls "Daddy," famed evangelist Billy Graham. She is clearly her own person.

For more than three decades, Lotz has made her way around the globe as a Christian speaker, taking the message of God's love from prisons to the United Nations. She's led "Just Give Me Jesus" revivals in more than 30 cities in 12 countries, taught Bible Study Fellowship to thousands over a dozen years, wrote 11 books and founded AnGeL Ministries, a nonprofit teaching ministry. In 1999, the New York Times called her one of the five most influential evangelists in the United States.

Even her father once referred to her as the "the best preacher in the family."

At 63, she shows no signs of slowing down. Zondervan just published Lotz's first children's book, "Heaven, God's Promise For Me." And on Sunday, the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11, she will lead a worldwide simulcast with author Joel Rosenberg through Internet streaming, radio and television called "A Wake-Up Call for God's People."

She says the free two-hour event is aimed at "refocusing on Jesus as our hope for the future" – something she believes people have lost sight of in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks. Her ministry hopes to reach millions with her message that it's time to heed the wakeup call that came on that tragic day in 2001.

"We're living in difficult times," Lotz says. "My main message is to get right with God. If you do that, you don't have to fear the future. You can live the rest of your life, however long it is, without regrets."

Lotz is the second of five children of Graham and his late wife, Ruth. She says she accepted Christ as her savior at 8 years old, after watching Cecil B. DeMille's film "King of Kings." Still, there was nothing to suggest in the early years of her life that she would eventually follow in his footsteps as a Christian leader.

She married Dan Lotz, 11 years her senior, a former All-American basketball player from the University of North Carolina. They settled in Raleigh, N.C. He became a dentist, and she was a homemaker. They had three children in four years.

Like any young mother juggling child-rearing and a bustling home, those were stressful times.

"I felt like I was drifting away from God," she says. "My spiritual base was crumbling because I put in on the back burner.

She remembered how the Bible gave solace to her own mother, who had to raise her five kids on her own while Billy Graham followed his own calling as an itinerant preacher, leading crusades and meeting world leaders. She decided to lead a Bible study as a way to make that close connection to Christ again.

The first year, 300 women took the course; the second year, 400. Not only was Lotz's faith re-energized, she also discovered a hidden talent. She was a natural teacher. She found her calling and ran with it.

In recent years, Lotz has had the same challenges that many of us face. Her husband of 45 years suffers from diabetes, kidney disease and heart issues, and he has lost his eyesight. A son is a cancer survivor who endured chemotherapy and radiation. A hurricane devastated her home.

And like many baby boomers, Lotz has lost one parent – her beloved mother died in June 2007 – and is coming to terms that her ailing father is in the last stage of his life.

She can't help but think about death. But when her three grandchildren started asking questions after Ruth died, Lotz decided to write them a poem about what comes after a person leaves this earth -- the gift of heaven. Zondervan loved the idea and decided to make it a book.

"I wanted to put profound truths in a child's language," she says. "It's a subject that can either be scary or inviting, depending on how it's presented. I made it simple and I made it true, based on God's word. But most of all, it's imaginative and not frightening at all."

The whimsical illustrations by North Carolina artist Laura J. Bryant complement the upbeat poem about heaven. Drawings of angels are also hidden on the pages for kids to seek and find.

Ultimately, she hopes the book will help parents talk to their children about personal loss, as well as big-scale events that affect all of us, such as Sept. 11 and the Columbine school shootings. She also developed a five-week curriculum for Sunday school classes for children ages 4 to 7.

Lotz says she's had a "very, very blessed life" on this earth. But it doesn't begin to compare with what's ahead.

"I don't want to go to heaven and just slide in," she says. "I want to have an abundant entrance into God's house. When that day comes, it's going to be glorious."

A WAKE-UP CALL FOR GOD'S PEOPLE

WHAT: Free simulcast on how to refocus on faith by Anne Graham Lotz and author Joel Rosenberg. Worship music led by Saleh, Dove Award winners.

WHEN: 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday

WHERE: Live Internet streaming at www.annegrahamlotz.com. Local viewings will be broadcast on big screens at Bayshore Baptist Church, 3111 W. Morrison Ave., Tampa, and Oakwood Community Church, 11209 Casey Road, Tampa.

INFORMATION: Call (813) 253-3411 or (813) 969-2303, or go to Lotz's website.