Evangelism

Membership in the United Methodist Church, the nation's second largest Protestant body, has been eroding annually for two decades, but only now are church leaders talking seriously about reversing the trend. The denomination two years ago hastily adopted a goal of reaching 20 million members--double its current membership--by 1992.

San Fernando Mission and Laurel Canyon boulevards in Pacoima is a popular spot for "cruisers" in sleek, customized cars who hang out at fast-food outlets on weekends. The cruisers draw "born-again" Christian missionaries, who have made a personal crusade of spreading the gospel among young people who congregate there.

Evangelist Billy Graham says he is weary of the world's iniquities and ready to move on to heaven. But he no longer talks about retiring. "I've quit that because I feel so good," says the elder statesman of globe-trotting crusades for Christ. "I've slowed down a little bit. I've got more gray hairs. When I go down steps, I hold on to the rail."

IRVING, Texas -- The rainstorm poured through the half-open roof of Texas Stadium and hit the blue tarp so hard it almost drowned out the old man's words, and yet the faithful, 34,000 of them, were rapt. The tall white-haired old man was saying the same thing he said when he started these rallies back in '47. The same thing he said in '49 when a three-week Los Angeles crusade exploded into eight weeks, catching the nation's ear for the first time.

Thousands of Southlanders are expected to jam the Pacific Amphitheatre tonight, kicking off a week of religious revivals that will mix evangelism and rock music in an effort to win converts to Christianity. After five days in Costa Mesa, the Summer Harvest Crusade, which sponsors say is costing about $225,000, will move to Anaheim Stadium on Friday.

The first-ever mass evangelism crusade in the San Fernando Valley begins five nights of rallies Wednesday with organizers hoping that earthquake-awakened spiritual needs and broad church backing will offset the low name recognition of the featured evangelist. To be sure, Luis Palau posters, lawn signs and bumper stickers have been spread around the Valley with the zeal of a political campaign. "I thought he was a candidate for a long time," said one Valley resident.

The Rev. Keenan Roberts looked surprisingly calm for a playwright on opening night -- especially one who had traveled from Denver to see how Hollywood had hijacked his work. "What they're doing is not my material," he said, standing in the parking lot of the Steve Allen Theater on Saturday. He smiled, though he was not exactly amused.

A new organization linking American churches with those in Communist and Socialist countries has been launched in Costa Mesa by a British and a Soviet Christian. In its first 9 weeks, Assist, which stands for Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times, has lined up 50 churches in Cuba for U.S. churches to "adopt" in its Sister Church program, according to Dan Wooding, 48, journalist, author and the new ministry's president.

It's 7:30 a.m., and the group gathering in a Los Angeles hotel conference room this January morning doesn't look like a group at all. Some of the 497 volunteers are barely old enough to vote, others are veterans of the second World War. Bikers from as far away as Alabama arrived on Harleys; Baptists from Roseburg, Ore., arrived on a church bus.

With more than 50 Christian artists and musical groups booked, including headliner Carman and the rock group Petra, Summer Praise '94 is being promoted heavily among evangelicals, who have turned out in respectable numbers for contemporary Christian music concerts and a recent series of crusade rallies in the Southland. But the event set for Aug. 11-14 at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center is still a risk for its organizers.