Billy Graham is "America's pastor."

That's not something you would want to argue with, not Thursday, not when presidents and preachers, friends and admirers came to honor the man's message.

At the dedication of the Billy Graham Library, former President George H.W. Bush called him that and much more, at times through tears.

Jim and Judy Powell, who drove 390 miles from St. Marys, W.Va., would agree. The Powells, who belong to a Baptist church at home, have been donating to Graham's ministry for years. "He does so much good," Jim Powell said.

That was the story of the day, the powerful and the people who all come together through the life's work of one man.

It's also the story of the library, where pictures with Bono and Bob Hope and an honorary knighthood share space with "A Journey of Faith," the moving spiritual testimonies of people no one's ever heard of.

Though Billy Graham has said the library is too much about him, how could you leave anything out? The speeches from years ago -- the booming voice, striking looks and piercing eyes -- retain their power. While others used fire and brimstone to condemn, he embraced. Even the much-maligned talking cow calls him "evangelist to the world."

Billy Graham has skillfully walked a tightrope for years, preaching in tents and for politicians, counseling newsmakers while becoming one himself.

Perhaps former President Bill Clinton best captured how he keeps his balance by keeping it personal: "You feel that he's praying for you, not the president."

Graham, at 88, was once again the one everyone came to hear. When he stood -- frail, compelling and commanding attention -- he made fun of all the fuss. "I feel like I've been attending my own funeral."

He alone seemed to downplay all the talk of "America's pastor," though can anyone imagine Pat Robertson with the title? The crowd had come to honor Billy Graham, and he just had to get used to it.

What does being "America's pastor" even mean in a country with freedom of and from religion, with citizens of many faiths or no faith at all?

That's a question for another day, but not Thursday, amidst the songs and prayers.

The dedication was not a campaign rally, with divisive rebukes or political endorsements. Democrats and Republicans shared the stage. Both Clinton and former President Jimmy Carter spoke of Graham as uniter in their home states of Arkansas and Georgia, when he insisted on integrated crusades during times of racial turmoil and discrimination.

You can see Graham's example in the next generation of evangelical pastors, such as Rick Warren, who talk about poverty and the environment.

Still, there's no room for error on that tightrope, and Graham acknowledges a few stumbles. Though he was never touched by personal or ethical scandals, he has regretted getting too involved in politics. He has acknowledged mistakes and has changed his views.

There is one area of no compromise in the Graham ministry and the library. From the outside, the building is plain, reminiscent of the man's beginnings on a Charlotte dairy farm. To enter, visitors must pass through a giant cross.

To his son, the message of that entranceway is plain, as well. "Jesus Christ has paid the debt," Franklin Graham told me during a tour of the facility. "There is no other way to heaven except through Jesus Christ."

Yes, there are many things everyone can learn at the Billy Graham Library. It touches all the bases: his revolutionary use of the media, his impact behind the Iron Curtain, his love for his wife, Ruth.

But as Franklin Graham said, his father wanted "a testimony to Jesus Christ, not to Billy Graham." That's what the library is about because that's what being "America's pastor" means to Billy Graham.