‘Christians told me I was going to hell’

As a young surfer Ernie Morrow was hounded by a preacher who told him he was destined for hell. Even as more of Ernie’s friends became Christians he brushed off their attempts at evangelism. But witnessing one of America’s worst fires coupled with an evangelistic message from Billy Graham turned his life around

I could not wait to get to the beach at Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It was spring break 1978, my last year at the State University of New York at Morrisville, and I was going with a bunch of friends to “party hardy” in the sunshine.

I was somewhat of a big shot at the college because I was a drug dealer and often had lines of students waiting at my dorm room door. Jokingly, I would tell my clients, “I am the ‘unregistered pharmacist’ on campus.”

As far as I was concerned, things were going great. I was playing well in soccer and other sports and it looked like I would graduate with honours. Sports scholarships were pouring in from good schools across the state. It didn’t hurt that I also had a steady stream of money. Life was good. 

But, there was one thing I did not anticipate at the beach. As soon as my feet hit the sand with my entourage, a skinny preacher came out of nowhere and made a beeline to me. He said, “Hey dude, you’re going to hell!”