Yiye Avila

Yiye Avila, a Puerto Rican bodybuilding champion turned evangelist, paced feverishly, microphone in hand, across the artificial turf nailed to the makeshift stage at the 50-yard line of the East Los Angeles College football stadium. In a giant huddle at his feet--under a scoreboard that announced "Christo Viene" (Christ Is Coming)--nearly 1,000 ailing believers had gathered, some in wheelchairs, some on crutches, some with just hernias or hemorrhoids.

Yiye Avila, a Puerto Rican bodybuilding champion turned evangelist, paced feverishly, microphone in hand, across the artificial turf nailed to the makeshift stage at the 50-yard line of the East Los Angeles College football stadium. In a giant huddle at his feet--under a scoreboard that announced "Christo Viene" (Christ Is Coming)--nearly 1,000 ailing believers had gathered, some in wheelchairs, some on crutches, some with just hernias or hemorrhoids.