Born in Conway, Arkansas, young Jack was baptized at First Baptist Church in his hometown. From there, his life took a steady course into ministry that continued during his formative years in Fort Worth, Texas. In 1970, at age 20, he was an ordained pastor of his first church, married and halfway through Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, where he went on to earn a bachelor of science degree with honors.

By 1976, he and his wife, Deb, had one son, and Jack was associate pastor of Sagamore Hill Baptist Church in Fort Worth. That year he also completed work for a Master of Divinity degree with honors from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Four more years went by (by this time, the Grahams had two children), and Jack received a Doctor of Ministry degree in “Church and Proclamation.”

Graham began his ministry as pastor of East Side Baptist in Cross Plains, Texas (1970—1971). Following his associate pastorate at Sagamore Hill Baptist Church (1972—1975), he went on to pastor First Baptist Church in Hobart, Oklahoma (1975—1978), First Baptist Church in Duncan, Oklahoma (1978—1981), and First Baptist Church in West Palm Beach, Florida (1981—1989).

In 1989, Prestonwood Baptist Church, already a landmark Dallas congregation with a membership of approximately 11,000, called Graham as Pastor after its founding Pastor, Bill Weber admitted to an extramarital affair and resigned. At Prestonwood, Graham quickly shared his vision for expanding outreach and the congregation responded enthusiastically to his straightforward message. As the church family continued to increase by some 2,000 members annually, leaders and members prayed, investigated, deliberated and finally, in 1999 built a new 7,500 seat worship facility, school and ministry complex on in west Plano. In 2006, the church started Prestonwood North, a second campus in Prosper, Texas, north of its Plano campus. Graham's messages at the Plano campus are simulcast to Prestonwood North, where Marc Rylander serves as the Campus Pastor. The Prestonwood North membership is already more than 1,000 people.

Graham has served two terms as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest American Protestant denomination, with 16 million members, and as president of the SBC Pastor’s Conference.

Graham's theological views line up with those of the Southern Baptist Convention's Baptist Faith and Message.