Rev Billy Hargis remembered as minister, loving friend and grandfather

TULSA (AP) -- A few hundred mourners packed a Tulsa church Tuesday to remember the Reverend Billy James Hargis.<br/><br/>Hargis was remembered as an anti-communist crusader and minister to the world. He

Tuesday, November 30th 2004, 4:54 pm

By: News On 6

TULSA (AP) -- A few hundred mourners packed a Tulsa church Tuesday to remember the Reverend Billy James Hargis.

Hargis was remembered as an anti-communist crusader and minister to the world. He died Saturday in Tulsa at 79.

Robert James Davis says his grandfather taught him what it meant to be a Christian. Davis recalled that Hargis took all the grandchildren to the circus each year.

Hargis' sermons were heard on hundreds of radio and television stations for about 40 years starting in the 1950s.

In 1953, Hargis launched balloons filled with scripture from West Germany to reach Christians in the Soviet Bloc nations. His Christian Crusade had the message: "for Christ and against Communism."