The Graham family were very present at the Fourth European Congress of Evangelism in Berlin, where over a thousand evangelical leaders from more than 55 countries came together for four days of training, encouragement and challenges towards evangelistic mission in Europe.

Will Graham, son of Franklin Graham and grandson of Billy Graham, follows in family footsteps in answering the call to evangelistic preaching throug the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) .

In Berlin, he briefly spoke with Spanish news website Protestante Digital about his overall vision for Europe, and more specifically for Spain, where churches in Madrid are working with the BGEA to organise the Festival of Hope, due to take place in May next year.

“The need for bold, biblical proclamation evangelism is the same today—if not greater—than it was in my grandfather’s day”, he told a few weeks before the event.

During the convesation in Berlin, he addressed one of the issues that often came up in informal conversations among congress participants: the impact of technology, and AI in particular, on the development of the ministry.

Question. You have had several evangelistic experiences in Europe. Could you tell us about them?

Answer. I wouldn’t say there have been many. Most of my ministry has been in the UK, preaching in different churches. When it comes to evangelistic crusades or city-wide outreaches, I have only been part of a few: one in Thurrock, two in Scotland, and then Porto, which was an unforgettable experience. I have preached in other places too, but not in large-scale evangelistic events.

Q. Do you see a difference between the way Europeans respond compared to Africans or Asians?

A. Honestly, I see people from all walks of life. In Europe especially, you get a real mix of backgrounds. It really feels like the center of the world — close to Africa, near Asia, and even Americans are only a few hours away. So at the events, you meet a very diverse group of people. In Africa, we have also seen large crowds and God working powerfully. Wherever it is, it is always amazing to see who God brings.

Q. You mentioned  your grandfather Billy Graham at the press conference prior to the Congress. How has he influenced your preaching and style?

A. There are similarities, of course. I never tried to copy him, but being his grandson, growing up in the same part of the U.S., even sharing the same accent, people sometimes say I sound like him.

Still, I have my own way of preaching. I usually follow a biblical story and develop the message from there, whereas he often preached topically, although he loved stories too, like the Prodigal Son, one of his favorites and also one of mine.

But in the end, the goal is the same: to preach the gospel clearly and invite people to make a decision for Christ.

Q. Technology, artificial intelligence, social media… all of this is transforming the way we live. Do you think they are also changing the way mission is done today?

A. Technology has been a huge help in spreading the gospel, but it can also be a hindrance.

Take AI, for example: there are good things it can do, and also risks. A pastor should never use AI to write a sermon, that has to be between him and God. Preparing a sermon means wrestling with God’s Word, asking: “What do You want me to say to Your people?” AI cannot replace that.

That said, there are good uses for AI and other technologies in ministry. The key is to use them wisely, not letting them replace the message of the gospel.

At the end of the day, AI is made by people, and there are always human agendas behind it. So we have to be careful, but it can be useful in certain contexts.

Q. Next year, the BGEA will hold the Festival of Hope in Madrid. What are your expectations for Spain?

A. I have never been to Spain, so I do not have direct experience yet. But Spanish people are always lively and welcoming. I am very excited about Madrid.

I hope to be there with my father, not to preach, but to see what God will do. And maybe in the future God will open doors in other Spanish cities, whether for him or for me.

Spain is special because it is one of the countries my grandfather Billy Graham never visited. He once had an invitation, but it fell through. This will actually be my father’s second time in Spain, which is historic. There is great expectation about what God will do.

Plus, I will get to practice my Spanish, though I feel sorry for the people who will have to figure out what I am really trying to say.

Doug Steinberg, 46, is a software engineer who lives in Coral Springs, Florida. He isn’t worried that artificial intelligence will steal his job because he’s able to use it to be far more productive. The following has been edited for brevity and clarity.

In the last year or so, I’ve been using AI-assisted coding, and I’ve gotten really used to it. I don’t want to go back to the old way or be at a company that doesn’t think that you should be using it.

AI takes a lot of the load off of you. As an example, one thing that every developer has to do is make commit messages. You write some code, you do your work, and you save it, basically, to a checkpoint. You write a message about what you’re saving. It seems no one has ever really put a lot of effort into that. Now, you just say, “Hey, write me a good message,” and AI writes incredible, detailed comments.

In the past, you’d always see messages like “work in progress” or totally unusable stuff. Even if it was kind of useful, AI adds a lot more detail. Now, I never have to think about what I have to write for that. That’s only one tiny slice of the whole big picture with AI.

AI will make you better

Using AI, it almost feels like you have another person with you at all times that you can ask anything you need to or try to brainstorm with. Before, it was all on you. It’s crazy to me to think about going a day without using it, even though it’s only been a year or two since this came out.

I can write an entire app now in days, where before it would have taken me months. For example, my wife and I have a side business developing software for sales agencies in the lighting industry. We’re not using AI for it yet, but we plan to.

I started writing an app for our company back in 2023. It took me months. There’s a similar app, complexity-wise, that I made more recently for our daughter’s school to track volunteer hours, and, using AI, I made the thing in a few days. My wife says it’s like changing out your shovel for an excavator.

What really turned my thoughts about AI was when I discovered Claude Code. It seemed to do at least 5x better than anything I’d seen before. The first website I vibe-coded that actually worked out was for my wife’s company for a conference. In the past, they would just make a simple site to let people know about the event.

This time, I ended up making this whole conference platform where guests could register and get notified, manufacturers could register, and manufacturers could scan guests’ name tags to see who visited their booth.

Without AI, I would have never invested the amount of time it would take to build a thing like that. It would have easily been a couple of weeks. In this case, I got it up and running in just a few days, and looking really nice.

AI can do visual design way better than I can. That’s not something I’m good at, and it can make things look pretty decent. If I were good at design, it could probably make things look amazing. I’m good at software development, but AI will make you better at what you’re good at.

Amplifying productivity

Software engineers work for companies that build software, and their whole thing is they want to keep on putting out features as fast as they can and doing things for their customers. I just see AI amplifying it. I see there being more features — faster and better.

Ultimately, the customers are going to get more out of whatever tools they have. In some cases, maybe they’ll think they don’t need some software products anymore because they can just do it themselves. Honestly, I still think it’s going to be a net-positive. As a maker, I’m not afraid of people like me being negatively impacted.

When it comes to my career, I think the only reason I’m any good is because I had to go through all that pain to learn how things actually work. If I didn’t have to do that, I don’t know if I would have had the discipline to actually learn it. If you don’t really know how things work, you’re not going to get that far. It’s going to be a house of cards that will eventually fall over.

It’s possible that companies won’t need as many people, but I’m not that worried about it because I can make things and could make money on my own. I’ve always wanted to make my own apps, but I’ve never had enough time or been fast enough to do it.

Now, it’s almost like you have another you. You can give it a prompt, walk away, and come back later, and this whole feature is built. There’s just never been anything like it.

Do you have a story to share about your career? Contact this reporter at tparadis@businessinsider.com.