MONTREAT, N.C. — Sarah Palin dined and prayed on Sunday with the Rev. Billy Graham, who has counseled presidents and other politicians for decades.

Graham had never met Palin, who is scheduled to stop at Fort Bragg in eastern North Carolina today to promote her memoir, “Going Rogue: An American Life.” The former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice- presidential nominee and members of her family flew into Asheville in the western part of the state, then went to Graham's mountaintop home in nearby Montreat for dinner.

Graham said it was an honor having Palin in his home to join his family for dinner and that they took the opportunity to pray together.

“I, like many people, have been impressed with her strong commitment to her faith, to family and love of country,” he said in a statement. “I appreciated hearing her speak of her own spiritual journey and her life in Alaska.”

Graham's son, Franklin, got to know Palin early this year in Alaska, and he invited her to North Carolina. She accompanied him as Samaritan's Purse, a Boone-based international relief agency he heads, delivered 44,000 pounds of groceries to Alaskan families who had been hit by a harsh winter in villages along the frozen Yukon River.