Chapter 10 The Non Establishment Awakening

I. The Evangelical Awakening

II. The Turbulent, Tempestuous, Disorderly, Riotous 1960's

III The Jesus Movement

IV The Born Again Era

V The Moral Right

VI. Parachurch Movement

VII. Everyday Everywhere

The Epilogue

Acknowledgements

The biggest change in American Christianity since the Second World War has been the religious activities outside the Church, and in particular, outside the major denominations. Keith Hardman's description explains these efforts as, "Independently supported ecumenical agencies came to occupy every conceivable ministry niche." The new organizations were created to confront practically every liberal issue and special need that Christians saw in society. The entire auxiliary crusade is best known under the umbrella title - the "parachurch" movement.

After W.W.II America experienced its fifth national revival. Unlike the previous instances this awakening was predominantly outside the Church, hence this chapter is referred by the "sixties" jargon as the "Non Establishment Awakening." The venues took place in nonchurch locations such as sports stadiums, beaches, parks, theaters, drive-ins, coffee houses, college campuses, high schools, homes, workplaces, storefronts, and even the streets. The notion that sacred worship was limited to the church building was dashed by this awakening.

In every decade the fifth awakening reached people groups not always connected to the church. The postwar phase touched Hollywood, colleges, and even Congress. While "post-Christian" became a label in America of the 60's, the hippies and the Jesus people found spiritual answers to their questions and problems. The terms born again, evangelical, and charismatic were popularized in the 70's. In the 80's the Moral Majority led people to believe that our problems would be solved, if every elected official was a Christian. In the 1990's a stunning change in American manhood was made from Macho Man and "in your face" to a Godly Man and a Promise Keeper. The Promise Keepers packed 98 stadiums and arenas with 3.5 million men during the decade. The era was, also, bathed in "Concerts of Prayer" for revival in America. Needless to say, while many of these activities happened outside of the church doors, American Christianity harvested new ministries in the forms of the megachurches and the seven-day-a-week church.

A. W. Tozier, a Chicago pastor, has been considered a "20th Century prophet." In his 1948 book The Pursuit of God Tozier called Christians to not divide their lives into two areas - the sacred and the secular. He said that "every act of our lives contributes to the glory of God; and that every day is holy, all places are sacred, and every act is acceptable to God." By the end of the 20th century this perspective came to be known as the "Christian Worldview," believing that "God is involved in everything, in every place, at everytime."

Another prominent viewpoint of the past 50 years has been the attention to the Middle East. In 1948 the most significant sign in Bible prophecy, since the life of Christ occurred; it was the reborn state of Israel. For the first time in 2600 years the Jews ruled their homeland in the land of Palestine. No other generation in history had seen this. Naturally, Christians began speculating about the end times, the rapture, Armageddon, and the personal return of Jesus Christ.

Furthermore, the Truman administration largely through the efforts of Clark Clifford became the first nation to recognize the new state of Israel. Twelve minutes after the British mandate expired President Harry Truman announced the U.S. recognition. American Christians often assert that the United States has been blessed because of our continued support of the Jews (based on Genesis 12:3 "I will bless them that bless thee"). A few have suggested that the 1948 election upset providentially blessed the Baptist President Harry Truman over Dewey because of Truman's actions on Israel's behalf. They quote Nebuchadnezzar's words in Daniel 4:17 & 25, "the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will".

With the Atomic era came various scenarios on the end of the age. After the Iron Curtain and the Cold War began, the "Doomsday Clock" first appeared in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists in 1947. Both hands on midnight symbolized the nuclear annihilation of mankind. When the US and the Soviet Union exploded hydrogen bombs in 1953, the hands were set at two minutes before midnight. With every threat of war or hope for peace the minute hand shifted closer or farther away from the top of the hour.

Finally, the last half of the 20th Century has seen a conspicuous resurgence of spiritual interests and the supernatural world. The range spans from the pantheism of Bahaism to the cosmic consciousness of the New Age. The terms include mysticism, Eastern religions, yoga, Zen, reincarnation, born again, angels, ghosts, aliens, astrology, crystals, drugs, psychics, the occult, the paranormal, and this only touches the surface. The virtual reality of it all is that there has come to be an acceptance where there is no limitation to time or space, or even life or death. Clearly, the secular world has promoted a vague "god" tolerant of all religions which generally believes about the same things. Certainly their "Man or Woman upstairs" is not the God of the Bible and the Jesus Christ, who is the only Savior and Lord of the world.
 

I. The Evangelical Awakening

Throughout the Non-Establishment Awakening the Evangelical experience grew in prominence. While they espoused some doctrinal differences, Evangelicals agreed on two basic beliefs: a conversion to Christ is the only way to salvation and the Bible as God's Truth of life for mankind. Theologically, repentance leads to justification by faith, and the Bible is the infallible word of God. Consequently, these cornerstones have resulted in a changed life through a personal relationship with Christ and an obedient life as the Bible directs. This change is referred to as a new life, a new creature, and born again or born from above.

After W.W.II an Evangelical Awakening unfolded until the end of the 1950's. Because these developments lacked the devotion of other revivals and the events ripened outside the church, few church historians noticed the scope of the awakening. However, a young Irish evangelist-scholar, who earned his Ph.D. from Oxford in 1948, James Edwin Orr wrote a book Good News in Bad Times: Signs of Revival; and he was able to discern the movement. His 1953 book documented the events and people of the awakening.

The earliest signs of this revival came from the Youth for Christ rallies. Jack Wyrtzen, the founder Word of Life, had surprising success with Saturday night rallies in Times Square. The notion of presenting the Gospel on the night, when young people were dedicated to pleasure-seeking and hanging around, became so well received that within six months turn away crowds were packing Madison Square Garden. The meetings were geared toward the young with stirring congregational singing, testimonies by youthful converts, Scripture reading, and a basic salvation message which had a follow-up in the inquiry room. In 1944 and 1945 the YFC rallies spread rapidly to every big city in the nation. Thirty thousand packed the Chicago Stadium in the fall of 1944, and the next spring in 1945 sixty thousand attended an outdoor rally at Chicago's Soldiers Field.

Chicago became the early YFC headquarters, and "Geared to the Times, Anchored to the Rock" was selected as their slogan. Torrey Johnson served as President, and Robert A. Cook was the Chicago director. Mel Larson kept a history of the movement. In 1945 Billy Graham, a little known speaker, was hired as their first full-time evangelist, and Rev. Graham invited Cliff Barrows to serve as his MC and song leader.

While the objective of YFC was to use spiritual entertainment to reach unchurched young people, critics said that it was too superficial. Philip Kerr said, "it was a matter of fish-catching instead of sheep-feeding." Others said that the rallies were boosting the speaker's or the performer's reputation instead of glorifying Christ. Another criticism was it was not sufficiently church-centered. Although YFC said they cooperated with the churches, they mainly cooperated with churches with an evangelical doctrine. Nevertheless, the movement enthusiastically spread internationally by 1948.

At mid-century if America had one place where sinners abounded and sin was publicized, it was Hollywood. However, the glamour of the Gospel radiated from the First Presbyterian Church. Their pastor was Dr. Louis H. Evans, and Dr. Henrietta C. Mears was the director of Christian Education.

Dr. Mears, one of the great Christian women of the 20th Century, founded Forest Home, a retreat in the San Bernadino Mountains, and Gospel Light Publication, the outstanding Sunday School curriculum. She wrote the great Bible handbook What the Bible is all About, and she was, also, involved in the Hollywood Christian Group, a gathering of believing actors.

One of the wondrous works of God during the 1940's was the movement of "ministers in prayer for revival." Armin Gesswein, a Missouri Synod Lutheran pastor who had studied under the great radio minister Dr. Walter A. Maier, was moved to pray for a spiritual awakening of all Christians and a reviving of the ministers. As the movement grew pastors reported fellowships where every pastor in town attended regardless of denominational lines with their only purpose to simply unite in prayer. A genuine stirring of prayer, confession, even tears and sobbing occurred in these meetings that included pastors and their wives. The most successful pastor's conferences were held in Minneapolis in 1948 and Los Angeles in 1949.

A significant spiritual conjunction happened in Southern California in 1949. Preparatory meetings at Forest Home and in Los Angeles for a Billy Graham Crusade gathered Christian leaders, who would be influential for the rest of the 20th Century. Billy Graham, Chuck Templeton, J. Edwin Orr, Dawson Trotman, Bill Bright, Armin Gesswein, Henrietta Mears, and others met for plans and prayers for the September crusade. Little did they realize that their hopes to make an impact for Christ would result in a national media attention to some changed lives.

Colleen Townsend was a promising 21 year-old starlet for Twentieth Century Fox. While attending the Hollywood First Presbyterian Church and Henrietta Mear's college age class, "Coke" gave her life to Jesus Christ. When she gave up her career "to answer the call of God," her Christian testimony made the Associated Press, Life magazine, and Louella Parson's column. Life magazine devoted three pages to Colleen Meant What She Said. She quietly married the pastor's son Louis H. Evans Jr. and later starred in some evangelistic Christian films.

"Any hope for Hollywood" was a far-fetched concept in the 1940's. But as Dr. Orr has uncovered, the single most important factor in every revival and in most conversions is prayer. Three wives of prominent Western entertainment personalities had their prayers answered when Tim Spencer, Stuart Hamblin, and Roy Rogers trusted Christ as their Savior. Tim Spencer was the manager of The Sons of the Pioneers and like many in Hollywood deeply afflicted by alcoholism. When he was converted, he was freed from alcohol and joined the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood. While he wrote over 200 songs in his career, none was more meaning than Roomful of Roses, a love ballad, which was an answer to prayer on the day he gave up alcohol. He and his wife Velma led the Hollywood Christian Group until 1952 when he became a full-time evangelist. Stu Hamblin, who wrote It is No Secret What God Can Do, was the first publicized conversion at the Billy Graham Crusade. Roy Rogers and Dale Evans maintained an outstanding Christian testimony throughout their over 50 years of marriage.

In 1950 the Hollywood Christian Group held their first annual banquet. Colleen Townsend's public confession encouraged other to take a stand for Christ. Other cowboy converts included the successful tailor Nudie, Cindy Walker, and Redd Harper. Lois Chartrand, a Paramount actress and friend of Colleen Townsend, also gave up her Hollywood career for full-time Christian service. Even TV-Radio Life included an article on the conversions with the headline "Religion: A Hit Parade Trend."

In 1951 the BGEA produced the first Christian Western film Mr. Texas starring Cindy Walker and Redd Harper. The premiere in the Hollywood Bowl drew 25,000 people, and 25 searchlights crisscrossed the sky. It was a record crowd for that period of Hollywood's history, and the Hollywood Christian Group was thrilled at the outreach. Also, the Graham Association began a long history of using motion pictures as an evangelistic tool.

In 1952 another almost forgotten film was Red Planet Mars. It was an anti-Communist film about a voice from Radio Free Mars. The voice was really God speaking. The film closed with world peace when the Soviet Union was converted to Christ.

However, clearly the biggest publicity came from the September 1949 "Christ for Greater Los Angeles" Billy Graham Crusade. The meetings were planned for three weeks with six-thousand-seats in a Ringling Brothers circus tent. Cliff Barrows recruited the choir, Dawson Trotman trained the follow-up counselors, and over 200 churches spent twenty-five thousand dollars on posters, billboards, and radio publicity to promote the event.

Mr. Graham's themes surrounded the increased moral decay of the nation, the sin and wickedness around Los Angeles, and the threat of judgment unless revival occurred. Two days before the Crusade began President Truman announced that the Soviet Union had tested an atomic bomb. During the first three weeks of meetings the average attendance was 3,000 people, but the crowds seemed to be growing. The committee decided to extend the campaign, when radio personality Stuart Hamblin gave his life to Christ.

A second sign of encouragement came when the news media flocked to the tent nightly. Later it was learned that William Randolph Hearst, owner of two Los Angeles newspaper and a nationwide chain, had sent orders to his editors to "Puff Graham." When other famous conversions happened to Jim Vaus, wiretapper for mobster Mickey Cohen, and Louis Zamperini, the war hero and 1936 Olympian, the overflow crowds forced the committee to add three thousand more seats.

The impact was overwhelming. Billy Graham became a national figure, and the old-time revival meetings had returned to respectability. During the eight weeks of the crusade 350,000 attended the Canvas Cathedral. An estimated 3,000 made a profession of faith in Christ (82 percent had never attended church), and nearly 700 churches ended up supporting the campaign. Clearly, God had answered the prayers of Armin Gesswein and the others.

Another significant sign of revival outside the church that resulted in sensational news in the secular press was the college awakenings. While groups like Inter-Varsity, Christian Endeavor, and the Newman Club existed on college campuses, for the most part Christian students were inactive and silent. However, colleges, being interested in a well-rounded individual, provided a spiritual activity on their calendars known as the "Religious Emphasis Week." While these meetings were common at Christian colleges, they continued at secular universities and liberal arts colleges even until the 1960's.

In April of 1949 in the office of Billy Graham, President of Northwestern schools in Minneapolis, five men met to pray for a spiritual outbreak among Christian college students. The prayers of J. Edwin Orr, Armin Gesswein, Jack Franck, William Dunlap, and Graham were answered the next week at Bethel College in St. Paul. The president of the college, Dr. Henry C. Wingblade reported that 95 percent of the students were on their faces praying, confessing, and searching to know God's will for their lives. The chapel services and the days of prayer were even broadcast over the radio station KTIS. Over the final months of the school semester similar spiritual outbreaks were reported on other Minnesota campuses.

During the summer of 1949 the movement shifted to Southern California where five hundred students were meeting at Forest Home. Henrietta Mears saw her prayers answered, when an outpouring of the Holy Spirit occurred. It was similar to the reports in Minnesota. Dr. Mears called Billy Graham to come and help with the harvest. This movement included scores of conversions. When the fall semester started, the awakening spread to other colleges up and down the Pacific coast states especially during their Religious Emphasis Weeks. It was certainly akin to the Bethel events and the September Graham crusade in Los Angeles.

By far the most notable month of the collegiate awakenings was February of 1950 at the most prominent evangelical college in the nation Wheaton near Chicago. It was their practice to begin each semester with an evangelistic campaign. Unusual manifestations had occurred in 1936 and again in 1943 during Billy Graham's impressionable senior year. Now, another seven years later, evangelist Edwin S. Johnson from Seattle had been invited for a week of services. However, on Wednesday before he could start to preach, a stream of students began repenting, confessing, praying, and praising. It lasted all night long and continued through the next 42 straight hours.

On Thursday the Chicago Daily News made it the front-page story. They asked their famous cartoonist, Vaughn Shoemaker, a Christian who was familiar with Wheaton, to give an account of the events. His presentation was favorable as was the flood of nationwide publicity that followed. One writer coined the term "Prayer Marathon" as a spin off of the dancing marathon craze of earlier times. Newspapers and editorial columns throughout the country reported the Wheaton Awakening. Life magazine devoted two-pages with the headline "College Revival Becomes Confession Marathon." Time magazine titled their two-page report "42 Hours of Repentance." Newsweek and Quick, also, gave favorable reports of the remarkable religious fervor of the students.

In the wake of the Wheaton revival spiritual stirrings broke out on other campuses in the Midwest. Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky had a reputation as a fine, evangelical seminary. On February 23, 1950 Rev. Dee Cobb read one verse of scripture and the Holy Spirit sweep across the chapel. Tears and weeping moved most of the young people. When the prayer meeting continued for five days and five nights, it was a continuous momentum of worship and praise that lasted one hundred and eighteen hours. Like Wheaton confessions and repentance for wrongs and backsliding were spontaneous and public.

Reporters from radio, television, and the Louisville and Lexington papers as well as the Associated Press and the United Press hovered over the occurrences. The revival turned classrooms, dormitories, the dining hall, the gymnasium, and even homes in Wilmore into prayer meetings. Many testified that they had never experienced the presence nor the power of the Holy Spirit on any occasion like that one.

After the divine visitations at Wheaton and Asbury a variety of responses came to pass at other colleges. At UCLA Bill Bright led a student revival crusade which resulted in 150 "decisions for Christ." As a follow-up he decided to go to other colleges, his organization became known as Campus Crusade for Christ. At Baylor 3,000 students packed Waco Hall auditorium to hear Billy Graham preach an old-fashion evangelistic sermon, and two-hundred and twenty-six student decided to meet in the adjoining auditorium for further talks. Dr. Orr observed that Religious Emphasis Weeks on State universities and private college had an increased attention on spiritual matters. Still, he estimated that less than one-percent of the student body was affected. While revival results should have been expected fundamentalist schools, Dr. Orr said that, "Many of the fundamentalist schools missed the movement completely except where an Inter-Varsity chapters existed." The revival was, also, witnessed at Northern Baptist and North Park in Chicago; Simpson, Pacific Northwest, Northwest Bible, and Seattle Pacific in Washington; Nyack and Houghton in New York; Lee College in Tennessee; and McGill, Manitoba, and some other Canadian colleges.

The college revivals continued for three years, but they were no longer considered news-worthy. While publicity was never sought, the national attention gave religion in general a greater degree of public esteem than at anytime before in the 20th century. Furthermore a new generation of leaders had emerged, and thousands of students, the most notable being All-American football player Don Moomaw, had announced their commitment to full time Christian service.

By the 1950's the resurgence of religious interest, also, touched government officials in Washington, DC. Abraham Vereide was a man with a burden to pray, "Lord, whatever happens, send us more converted men to Congress." He came to The Capitol in 1942 with a vision to reach the leaders for Christ. Vereide was a childhood immigrant from Norway, who served as a Methodist minister in a small church for two years; but, he enjoyed the work outside the church for Goodwill Industries, CBMC, and breakfast groups. He said, "I loved the sheepfold but was often found outside looking for the lost sheep among the rocks." In Washington he met with various Breakfast groups and Bible studies from the House and the Senate. Among evangelicals Vereide was given the title "Mr. Christian of Washington."

In the 1950 mid-term elections it was estimated that 20 percent of Congressmen were real believers compared with 10 percent at most in the general population. Vereide found a dozen legislators conducting Sunday School classes in Washington churches. Russell Hitt in Christian Life estimated the number of evangelical legislators was in excess of a hundred. During the decade the President and Congress made several religious proclamations. The first notable agreement was the National Day of Prayer which was established by a joint Congressional resolution in 1952.

When Dwight Eisenhower was elected President, he joined the National Presbyterian Church after taking their religious instruction and being baptized. During his baptism the congregation sang, "What a Friend We have in Jesus." Ike told Bev Shea that it was his favorite hymn. President Eisenhower confirmed his faith in Christ several times with Billy Graham especially after his 1955 heart attack.

During his Presidency the first Presidential Prayer Breakfast was held in 1953. It was the vision of Abraham Vereide, who remained the driving force behind it for many years until his death in 1969. President Eisenhower was in attendance, and Billy Graham was the featured speaker. Kansas Senator Frank Carlson persuaded the hotel magnate Conrad Hilton to be the financial sponsor for the first several years. It is now called The National Prayer Breakfast and is held annually in February.

In 1954 at the urging of President Eisenhower Congress passed an act establishing permanently "One Nation Under God" into the Pledge of Allegiance to our Flag. On Flag Day 1954 President Eisenhower stood on the steps of The Capitol Building, and he was the first to recite the Pledge with the words "under God." In 1956 Congress, also, made an official government announcement that our coins are to be stamped with the phrase "In God We Trust."

The "piety on the Potomac" was, also, reflected among the general public in the 1950's. After the Great Depression and World War Two Americans hoped for a period of prosperity and peace or at least personal peace. Despite all this, the postwar affluence produced a disillusionment that was expressed in fiction like The Organization Man and Death of a Salesman. The flight to suburbia and the demand for conformity became known as the "lonely crowd." Some social scientists suggested this was a reason for the tremendous growth in church membership during the decade.

The search for peace of mind during this "age of anxiety" gave rise to a number of books on the subject by religious leaders. Norman Vincent Peale had millions of followers with his Guide to Confident Living (1948) and The Power of Positive Thinking (1952). Bishop Fulton Sheen wrote Peace of Soul (1949), and he received enormous popularity from his CBS television program The Catholic Hour. Billy Graham's Peace with God (1953) was written for "the man in the street," and it was eventually published in over 50 countries. Another best-seller was Peace of Mind (1946) by Rabbi Joshua Loth Liebman. It satisfied the growing interest in Freudian psychology from a religious point of view.

An additional factor for the disenchantment over peace was the Cold War. The United States' adversary was the Soviet Union, the first openly "atheist" government in history. Consequently, being a Christian or at least a church member was the antithesis of the Communist enemy. In 1956 ninety-six percent of American proclaimed a church affiliation, and by 1960 sixty-nine percent were church members. The popularity of religion was, also, exhibited in the increased spending on church-building construction which surpassed a billion dollars annually in 1960.

Clearly the growing powerful force in American Christianity was evangelicalism. It was conservative, patriotic, racial, and attractive to many former fundamentalists. Between 1945 and 1965 membership in churches with this emphasis increased 400 to 700 percent. In the meantime mainline denominations only grew 75 to 90 percent according to William McLoughlin. Also, two key organizations provided leadership for the evangelicals. They were the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) and the Billy Graham Evangelical Association.

The National Association of Evangelicals was born out the network guidelines for religious radio broadcasts in 1942. The Federal Council of Churches offered to coordinate the network's required and donated public service time for religious programs. Their policy called for a "broad" message rather than any narrow sectarian view. The practice would have ended the selling of time to independent radio preachers and, also, stopped such gospel programs as the Old-Time Gospel Hour and the Lutheran Hour. NBC and CBS adopted this policy. When Mutual, the third major network, decided to consider whether or not to drop all paid religious programs, the NAE appeared on the scene.

In April 1942 more than 150 evangelical leaders met in St. Louis to form a national organization (NAE). John Ockenga of Boston's historic Park Street Church was elected President. J. Elwin Wright urged the NAE to become the "fourth force." The first was the so-called liberal or modernist group which was represented by the Federal Council, and the other two were the Catholic and Jewish faiths. The NAE did succeed in keeping The Lutheran Hour on the Mutual network. However, at the 1944 NAE convention a new organization named the National Religious Broadcasters was born. With the blessing of the NAE the NRB continued the pressure to purchase time for religious broadcasts. When W.W.II ended and the ABC network began operations, the restrictions on religious radio time ended. In the meantime the NAE blossomed into a powerful voice for conservative Christianity by the 1950's. They claimed a million and a half members, and to be the preference of ten million American Christians.

In 1956 Christianity Today was born as the magazine for evangelicals. It was Billy Graham's idea to counterbalance the Protestant liberal magazine The Christian Century. Its editor was Dr. Carl F.H. Henry, a Wheaton College friend of Billy Graham. The hallmark of their editorial principles was the trustworthiness of Scripture as The Word of God. After a shaky start, Christianity Today assumed a status as the nation's most widely read serious religious publication.

When Walter Maier died of a heart attack in 1950, The Lutheran Hour was the largest program of its time. Dr. Maier had an annual audience of 700 million listeners on 1200 stations in thirty-six languages. Billy Graham was approached to take his place. At the Portland Crusade he jokingly told the audience about a $25,000 "fleece." That night before midnight Grady Wilson had the exact amount in a shoe box in their Portland hotel. Thus, The Hour of Decision was born. Within five weeks the program had the highest audience for a religious broadcast that the Nielsen rating service had ever recorded.

Meanwhile the issue over money had been the evangelist's stigma since the days of Elmer Gantry bilking his fictional crowds. The "love offering" was a traditional gift at the final service for most evangelists. After the 1950 Atlanta Crusade the Atlanta Constitution printed two picture side by side. The first had Billy Graham waving good-bye to Atlanta. The second one was two ushers with their arms wrapped around four bulging bags of money and being escorted by an uniformed policeman. His love offering was over nine thousand dollars and more than most pastors made in a year at that time. Billy Graham was embarrassed and vowed it would not happen again.

Consequently, the Billy Graham Evangelical Association was born in Minneapolis in 1950. The BGEA was an incorporated, non-profit organization that would handle all donations from the crusades and the radio ministry. They hired George Wilson as business manager, and Billy Graham as a salaried employee. They, also, promised a policy of open disclosure of contributions and expenses from all the BGEA's ministry's - advertising, crusades, films, radio, books, and television. Whether it was Billy Graham or Cliff Barrows, they maintained a low-key financial emphasis by simply saying, "Send your prayer requests and contributions to Billy Graham Minneapolis, Minnesota." Above all they keep an extensive mailing list and tried to answer every letter.

The most noteworthy single event of the Postwar Evangelical Awakening was the 1957 Billy Graham New York Crusade. Twice Graham had turned down offers for a New York crusade, and New York had the reputation as the town "Billy Sunday could not shutdown." However, after the tremendously successful 1954 London Crusade at Harringay and Wembley Stadium, and a worldwide reputation and prayer support, he accepted a scheduled six-week summer campaign at Madison Square Garden. The Graham Association estimated a base of ten thousand prayer groups in seventy-five countries.

The BGEA team spent two years on crusade committees. They received the most influential help from corporate executives of MONY, Chase Manhattan, and United States Steel; from the famous like Eddie Rickenbacker and Norman Vincent Peale; and from rich families, who had backed Moody and Sunday, such as Dodge, Phelps, Vanderbilt, Gould, and Whitney. Using pro football terms the official team had 22 members, and a taxi squad of 14 workers.

The media gave wide exposure to the Crusade. Many were anxious to interview Mr. Graham. All five daily newspapers covered the story. The New York Times had three pages on the first night of the Crusade. Look, Life, and Ebony magazines had pictures from the first day. The television coverage included interviews by Walter Cronkite on CBS, John Cameron Swayze on ABC, and Dave Garroway on NBC, as well as the Steve Allen Show, Meet the Press, and from numerous local stations.

The Crusade was not without controversy. Graham hired Howard Jones, a black pastor from Cleveland, to join the team, and to lead the services in Harlem. He, also, praised the controversial civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. for his "example of Christian love." He even put Dr. King on the platform as a prayer leader. The great Ethel Waters sang in the choir and as a soloist on the platform. She endeared herself to audiences numerous times for "His Eye Is On The Sparrow," and for her closing testimony "I know He watches WE." During the closing weeks the crusade the attendance was made up to 20 percent Negroes. Billy Graham's stand against racism and bigotry and for brotherhood and integration was growing, since he had personally removed the segregation ropes at the 1953 Chattanooga Crusade.

Graham drew fired from Bob Jones Sr. for his position on integration. He was, also, criticized for the makeup of committee members and churches. The leading fundamentalists Jones, Carl McIntire, and John R. Rice of The Sword of The Lord objected to his association with liberals and modernists because it showed a growing ecumenicalism. Reinhold Niebuhr attacked him numerous times in the Christian Century for simplistic revivalism in an enlighten age, and for shallow meaningless conversions, and for the lack of social action. A Catholic leader Rev. John E. Kelly forbade Catholics from attending the crusades, listening to Graham on radio or television, and reading his books or sermons.

Nevertheless, Graham did not fight back against his critics, but decided the best course was to ignore them. He called his policy "cooperation without compromise." No group was to be excluded whether from the mainline churches, the cults, and eventually even the Communists. However, he stood his ground on the central issue of the opportunity to preach Christ and to call people to commit their lives to Him. Graham refused to criticize pastors or their churches, but rather he emphasized the importance of the church for spiritual growth and Christian service.

The Manhattan Crusade was a marvelous milestone with a record attendance at every endeavor. The crusade began May 15th in Madison Square Garden for six weeks. It was extended to sixteen weeks because of the overflow crowds, which averaged 19,000 per night. Originally the planned closing ceremony was scheduled for July 20th in Yankee Stadium. The event went on in 105 degree heat and drew 100,000 people including Vice President Nixon. Another 25,000 were turned away from the record crowd. The crusade closed Labor Day weekend with a Sunday service in Times Square where an estimated 160,000 to 200,000 people were jammed shoulder-to-shoulder around Broadway.

The counseling and follow-up committees had a momentous task. Charlie Riggs, who was active in the Navigators, was picked as the new leader, since Dawson Trotman had died in a boating accident at Schroon Lake the previous summer. More than 60,000 came forward at the alter calls, and Times Square was so packed that people could only raise their hands to make a "decision for Christ."

Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt, called Eleanor, was one of the converts, and she led many of her socialite friends to Christ. Tom Phillips, President of Raytheon Corporation, was another famous convert, and he instrumental in leading Watergate figure Chuck Colsen to The Lord. Clearly the most memorable story was a simply dressed women from a tenement. She cried, "God, protect me." When the counselor asked for an explanation, the woman said, "My son hates the church, he drinks allot, and he'll beat if he finds out I'm a Christian." Almost immediately a voice nearby called out, "It's okay, Mom. I'm here, too."

This was the first crusade on national television. ABC televised 14 Saturday nights. Network officials were surprised that the first telecast drew an estimated 6.5 million viewer, even though it was opposite the very popular Perry Como Show and Jackie Gleason Show. The responses to the BGEA were ten thousand a day, and overall a total of 1.5 million letters were sent to Minneapolis from the New York TV programs. At least 30,000 proclaimed a "decision" in the privacy of their homes.

At the conclusion, Billy Graham had preached to 2,357,400 people. He had lost 30 pounds and was exhausted. Bev Shea had sung "I'd Rather Have Jesus Than Silver or Gold" over one hundred times. The Protestant churches gained an estimated 6,000-10,000 new members. A planned follow-up to visit 200,000 homes seemingly failed and reaped no notable harvest. There was no change in Times Square. The nightclubs and the crime remained. The one important criteria the change in people's hearts was immeasurable. Only the Lord, who runs to and fro to search for hearts toward Him, knows the results of the New York Crusade.

One final significant factor during this era was the accidental discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947. A Bedouin boy, who was looking for his lost sheep and throwing stones, hit several jars in a cave near Qumran. The collection of leather and copper scrolls were part of a library of Essenes, a monastic community of the first century BC. The documents gave invaluable information on Jewish life during the times of Jesus. The manuscripts, also, gave a greater authenticity to the Old Testament, since they were a thousand years older than existing documents. The discovery further encouraged biblical scholarship, and the Bible as a source-document for historical evidence.

According to Sydney Ahlstrom by 1958-59 observers began talking " about the postwar revival in the past tense." The churches had "failed to sustain human religious needs" of the mobile population. The social and moral challenges of the turbulent sixties would shake the will of the American Republic, and the confidence in America as the "Chosen Nation" and the "beacon to the world."

II. The Turbulent, Tempestuous, Disorderly, and Riotous Sixties:

Sydney Ahlstrom of Yale said of the sixties, "The decade did experience a fundamental shift in American moral and religious attitudes. The decade..was a time, in short, when the old foundations of national confidence, patriotic idealism, moral traditionalism, and even of historic Judeo-Christian theism, were awash." The trauma that took place was described by such titles as: "post-Puritan," "post-Protestant," "post-Christian," and even the "death of God."

The US government had made a dramatic shift in their attitude toward religion. In 1947 the Supreme Court in the case of Everson v. Board of Education declared there to be "a separation of church and state" in the First Amendment. It was the first time in our history that the Supreme Court interpreted "a wall between church and state." It totally reversed the government's long-standing traditions on religion. The words of the decision did not receive national attention until the election of 1960. Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy, a Roman Catholic, announced his religious position in a TV speech by saying, "I believe in a America where the separation of church and state is absolute - where no Catholic prelate would tell the President, should he be a Catholic, how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote."

In 1962 the Supreme Court began what David Barton called "an all-out and widespread war against religious principles." In the Engel v.Vitale case eight of nine Justices ruled that a verbal prayer in public schools was unconstitutional. The ruling was made on the regent's prayer in New York state. The 22-word prayer during morning announcements read: "Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers, and our Country." The Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren not only reversed the entire history of public education, but it declared that verbal prayer to be unconstitutional, "even if it is both voluntary and denominationally neutral." The Supreme Court had overturned the decisions of the New York State Legislature and the New York Courts.

The next year the Court continued its "new" doctrine in Abington v. Schempp 1963. The Abington School District had a policy of voluntary Bible reading to open the school day. The plaintiff Schempp was a Unitarian, who objected to the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus. Rabbi Dr. Solomon Grayzel testified as an "expert" witness that portions of the New Testament "could be psychological harmful to the child." The Warren Court accepted Grayzel statement as "fact," and declared Bible reading, also, unconstitutional. The Washington Evening newspaper declared, "God and religion have all but been driven from the public schools. What remains? Will the baccalaureate service and Christmas carols be the next to go? Don't bet against it." For years afterward Congress attempt to override the Court through bills and amendments, until finally the Equal Access Bill was enacted in 1984.

David Barton in The Myth of Separation pointed out that the make up of the nine justices on the Supreme Court was political in background and not judicial in experience. Earl Warren was the former governor of California and seven other Justices were all political appointments. Only Justice Potter Stewart had been a federal judge with training in Constitutional law. It is, also, important to note that he was the only dissenter on both 8-1 decisions. The churches wanted to give him sainthood for his minority position.

It should, also, be noted that on June 25, 1962, the same day the Supreme Court banned prayer from the public schools, they opened the US mail to a magazine published by homosexuals. The decision was one in a series under which long banned books such as Lady Chatterly's Lover and Tropic of Cancer were classed as "literature" and therefore exempted from obscenity laws. As a result, pornography became free to flow through the US Postal system.

Future generations would look back on what they would call "the moral decline of America," and they would always say, "the fork in the road was when the Supreme Court kicked school prayer and Bible reading out of the schools." They could quickly cite the rapid increase in the major measures of morality in society such as violent crimes, teenage pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, divorces, and unmarried couples living together.

Nevertheless, there were many other factors that gave the sixties the epitaph "Post

Puritan." Clearly, a sexual revolution took place among women. The Kinsey Reports (males 1948 and females 1953), while not truly representative of the US population, seemed to imply that premarital abstinence and the Judeo-Christian standards were unnatural. Kinsey's findings claimed that 50 percent of the women had sex before they were married. While he openly challenged the hypocrisy of America's double standard for males and females, moralists, especially the clergy, felt Kinsey undermined the virginal status of American womanhood.

Another barrage on women's mores came from Playboy and some women's magazines. While feminists labeled the Hugh Hefner approach as degrading to women, centerfolds sent a message that some women wanted to be free, groovy chicks. Other women boldly wore the new swimsuit rage - the bikini in public. A new women's revolution was being exposed.

On the other hand a new feminist wave came from Betty Friedan, who in The Feminine Mystique reported deep pockets of discontent among American housewives. The new "Women's Lib" movement received impetus in 1965 when thousands of women publicly burned their bras in New York City. When the National Organization for Women (NOW) was founded in 1966, they proclaimed that the traditional institutions such as marriage, family, and motherhood needed to be redefined to prevent the oppression of women. They began a political campaign for the equal rights of women, gays, lesbians, and the handicapped.

In 1960, ironically one hundred years after the first condom, Enovid, the first commercially produced birth control pill, was made available to women. While the fifty-five cent pill liberated women from the chance of pregnancy, some felt it increased promiscuity. However, in 1968 when Pope Paul VI issued a encyclical condemning artificial methods of birth control, he met unprecedented resistance from even devout Catholics. Sydney Ahlstrom said, "one may safely say that America's moral and religious tradition was tested and found wanting in the sixties."

For women the dual messages of sexual freedom and the old-time Puritan restraint found a wide gulf with a variety of moral choices, and meanwhile the Judeo-Christian standards were being pushed farther to the fringe. John Stormer in his book The Death of a Nation explained how the new morality of the sixties was being defended by the catch phrases of conformity "everybody's doing it" and "it's between consenting adults." His chapter "The War in the Churches" criticized the amended view of rules where "anything and everything is right or wrong according to the situation." Nevertheless, the sexual revolution was not as scary as the violence from the other revolutions of the sixties.

JFK's call for activism - "ask what you can do for your country" - became a reality with the protest movements during the decade. The disenchanted and the idealists protested against the government and the "establishment" in four ways: the Black civil rights movement, the anti-Vietnam war protest, the youth counterculture, and against the environmental exploitation and ruin. Only the final area ecology did not result in turmoil and violence.

The first protest movement of the decade was civil rights. The original impetus came from the 1954 Brown vs the Topeka Board of Education, when the Supreme Court declared racial segregation in public schools illegal. In 1955 Dr. Martin Luther King, a Baptist minister, gained national fame from the Montgomery bus boycott. Rev. King earned the support of northern and white churches when he emphasized the peaceful methods of nonviolence and passive resistance from the philosophies of Thoreau and Gandhi. The demonstrators used sit-ins, pray-ins, marches, boycotts, and voter registration drives. Their theme of "freedom now" stirred the nation's conscience and admiration as the passive protesters sang "We Shall Overcome." The highlight was two hundred thousand marchers at the Lincoln Memorial, when Dr. King gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. In 1964 he was given the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Congress did respond by passing legislation for equality in jobs, housing, public transportation, voting, and some other discriminatory practices. However, in 1965 the movement turned violent and militant. In the Watts riot in Los Angeles thirty-four people were killed. The Black Muslim's leader Malcolm X called for a separate state. The Black Panthers urged Blacks to arm themselves, shoot white cops, and force the whites to give them equal rights. Summer riots in Black ghettos became a common occurrence. The Kerner Commission blamed the cause on "white racism." Rumors spread around the white suburbs that Black militants were going to invade and burn their neighborhoods. Finally, one-hundred and twenty-six cities erupted when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968. Frustration and bitterness grew as polarization, not integration, divided the two American cultures.

The second protest of the decade was the war in Vietnam. At first, even after the flimsy Gulf of Tonkin incident, the churches like most people followed the patriotic position of supporting the government. Then the military involvement escalated the "search and destroy" missions "to stop from losing the war." The critics said that it was a civil war in Vietnam and not a "domino threat" from Russian or Chinese Communism. But, suspicion and mistrust grew because for the first time television brought the war into every living room with a graphic daily "body count." When Robin Moore's book Green Berets was released, everyone wanted to know how much of it was true? The servicemen said, "It's all true!" Even the popular John Wayne, who starred in the film version, could not dissuade public opinion about the war.

The college campuses became the hotbed of discontent as "teach-ins" grew in popularity. Inspite of their draft deferment status students began protesting the military effort. They burned their draft cards, mocked the flag, and refused to stand for the national anthem. They demonstrated against military recruiters, government speakers, and employers with military contracts. Finally, riots broke out at the ROTC buildings. When antiwar parades were organized in big cities, others joined the protest. In October of 1967 two-hundred thousand protesters marched on the Pentagon. Meanwhile the Marines were barely hanging on to the landing sites like Danang and Chu Lai, but the Johnson administration claimed that we were starting to win the war.

The Tet Offensive in January of 1968 was the turning point of the war. The media mis-informed the nation that we had lost the battle. The question that hurt the most was by the respected Walter Cronkite who said, "I thought we were winning this war." In truth the Viet Cong attack on thirty targets was an American victory. However, after reading Ho Chi Minh's book, the media postulated the Tet attack to be the final phase of a Viet Cong victory. Back home further contempt raged at one single picture during Tet. It was the Saigon police chief pointing his pistol inches away from a Viet Cong prisoner's head, and then executing him for the camera and the eyes of the nation.

During the next months LBJ announced, "I shall not seek, and I will not accept the nomination of my party for another term." However, he continued to bomb North Vietnam and the Ho Chi Minh Trail to the dismay of the protesters. More anguish spread throughout the nation when Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated. The nation only hoped for peace talks, and some kind of quick end to the war. Even Nixon's withdrawal policy of "Vietnamization" would become an acceptable closure. Finally after the deaths at Kent State and Jackson State the demonstrations declined.

Unfortunately, the real American victims of the war were the servicemen. The US government seemed confused in their purpose. Khe Sanh was sieged for most of a year, and then it was abandoned in a matter of weeks. The soldiers could not tell the "gooks" from the "friendlies," and mistakes like My Lai happened more than once. They would defoliate the jungle around their bases, and then marched into the clearing only to wiped out in an ambush. It became a war of attrition, and the soldiers only hoped to survive, and go home, and block it out of their minds. But when the veterans returned home, they received no heroes welcome, no parades, not even a thanks. The protesters spit on them and called them "baby killers." Their lives were even threatened for being veterans and wearing military fatigues.

As the protests against the war and the draft grew, the churches joined the academic community as the most verbal dissenters. Christians were respected for their approach to the rallies. They obtained permits and observed the rules for the marches. They made sure the march and the program was patriotic. They waved the American flag and marched with their tots in strollers. They cooperated with other factions for a peaceful coalition.

Eventually, the bishops and the church bodies passed resolutions labeling the war as "wrong," "immoral," "unjust," and "pointless." Clergymen not only organized demonstrations, but they picket the home of Dean Rusk, Secretary of State. The Yale chaplain Rev. William Sloane Coffin Jr. was convicted with Benjamin Spock of conspiracy to defeat the operation of the draft. Catholic priests Fathers Daniel and Philip Berrigan were celebrated heroes of the anti-war protest. In 1972 a dozen nuns were even arrested for disrupting a Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in protest of the Catholic apathy toward the war. Nevertheless, as the church became a leader in the anti-war movement, denominations were part of the establishment, and thus they lost relevance and influence, especially among the young.

By the late 60's church attendance was down, large financial contributors had cut back, and religious book sales slumped. Those over 30 opposed the changes in the liturgy, the doctrine, and the social emphasis. The older Roman Catholics frowned upon Vatican's II's change in the Mass from Latin to English. Some theologians even endorsed the "God is dead" movement, and it eroded some religious opinions. It seemed clear that any hope for revival would not take place in the established churches.

The only religious groups elevated in prestige during the war were the Mennonites, Amish, Friends, and Church of the Brethren, who had a history as conscientious objectors. In other wars they were scorned, but in Vietnam the "C.O.'s" were gladly given alternative service. Ray Abrams said, "Never before in modern times has so much support been given to the right of conscientious objection to war."

The most perplexing protest was the youth culture. Their generation was the most affluent in history. Their parents, who had experienced the Depression and several wars, wanted the kids to have everything they had not had. Kids had their own bedroom, television, the family car, Little League, a family vacation, fast food, and seemingly almost free from want. Their parents used Dr. Benjamin Spock's "permissive" child-rearing techniques, and some said, "they sparred the rod, but spoiled the child." Thus, a so-called "generation gap" developed.

The social revolution among the youth was eventually referred to as a counterculture. Their lifestyle included long hair, sloppy dress, and a generally unkempt, dirty look. Their behavior was to "do your own thing," which meant promiscuous sex, drugs, and loud rock music. They claimed to be revolting against materialism, technology, and the over thirties value system of conformity and success. Numerous communes sprang up based on agriculture, religion especially Eastern mysticism, crafts like macramé, sexual orientation, or just to dropout of society or college.

They were ascribed the prominent title of hippies. Their emphasis on universal love, peace, and freedom, also, gained them other names like flower children, gentle people, and love children. They gathered in the section of San Francisco called Haight-Ashbury and in the East Village section of New York City. At its peak the movement claimed 300,000 followers, and in 1967 the publicized attraction was called "Summer of Love." However, they were notorious as panhandlers and thieves. The movement declined because of drug overdoses, hepatitis, and disease from malnutrition and exposure. Also, the violent wing or yippies gave them a negative image especially after the Sharon Tate murders by the Charles Manson family.

The most violent year of the decade was 1968, and possibly the worst year in US history. Television specials called it The Crack in Time. Time magazine said, "the year severed past from future." It was the year of Tet, the U.S.S. Pueblo, and riots in Paris and Prague; the despair of the King and Kennedy assassinations; and the rage at Columbia and the Chicago Democratic Convention. The marches and mobs were angry, and they thrust the "bird" finger at everyone. They shouted obscenities and profanities. They rioted, and looted, and burned ghettos, and businesses, and ROTC buildings. Chaos was the goal of the Black Panthers, SNCC, SDS, and the Weathermen. When Nixon was elected, he promised withdrawal from Vietnam. It was referred to as "peace with honor." Nonetheless on Christmas Eve the moon provided a ray of brilliance, when Apollo Eight circled the JFK goal for the decade - someday a lunar landing.

Meanwhile observers of Bible prophecy explained 1968 in different terms. On June 7, 1967 during the Six-Day War, the Israeli army under General Moshe Dayan captured Jerusalem and the Wailing Wall. As the Jews gained their holy city, the words of Jesus Christ in Luke 21:24 "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled," caused Jews and Christians to herald a new era. Jews began looking for the Messiah, and Christians started talking about the Temple, the Tribulation, the Anti-Christ, and the Rapture. For those who believed that God established the Americans as His "new Chosen people," and their nations as the "New Testament Israel," after 1967 they had to admitted God's dispensational plan always centered on the Jews in Israel. Nothing called attention to that fact more than Hal Lindsey's Bible prophecy sensation The Late Great Planet Earth. It appeared in print in 1970, and it out sold every book (20 million copies) during the decade except The Bible. It foretold the Second Coming of Christ in "this generation" based on the Olivet discourse in Matthew 24 and the return of the Jews to their homeland in 1948.

As the decade came to a close, Todd Gitlin's title Years of Hope, Days of Rage proved to be a proper postscript. The violence ceased as the Paris Peace talks brought withdrawal and a Vietnam cease-fire by 1973. The civil rights movement produced a Black female Presidential candidate in the 1972 election Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm. Rachel Carson's Silent Spring resulted in the first Earth Day in 1970. Finally, the youth movement pointed a finger in two different paths.

One road led to Bethel, New York in August of 1969; it was Woodstock, the pinnacle of the counterculture. Between a quarter and a half million young people gathered for three days of rock music and drugs. It was billed as an "Aquarian Exposition of music and peace." In reality there was almost unanimous use of marijuana and hallucinogenic drugs like LSD and Mescaline. One ironic side trail was that the two leading entertainers Jimmy Hendrix and Janis Joplin both died from drug use the next year. Hendrix O.D.'d on a barbiturate and drowned in his own vomit, and Joplin died from a heroin overdose.

The Woodstock rock festival will be remembered however for the weather. During the three-day weekend off and on cloudbursts and thunderstorms made Max Yasgur's 600-acre farm a sea of mud. By the second day the festival goers were belligerently flipping the "bird" finger skyward to the God of heaven in open defiance to His rain.

The second road was a spiritual revival among the young people, who became known as the Jesus People. Outside the institutional church at rock concerts, on beaches, and in the streets they could be seen jabbing their "index" finger heavenward and chanting "one way, one way, one way" in reference to salvation only through Jesus Christ.

III. The Jesus Movement:

The Jesus Movement, sometime called the Jesus Revolution, was unlike the old-time revivals in that it was mostly outside the organized church, and it was more like the counterculture of the day. The young people had found the hippie culture of drugs, "free love" sex, and rebellion unsatisfying. When they were converted, their long hair, bell-bottoms, and barefoot appearance was overlooked because of their smiling faces, emotional joy, and bold, unabashed words of praise for Jesus. They were referred to as Jesus People, Jesus Freaks, Jesus Kids, and Street Christians.

While the movement originated in Southern California, spontaneous ministries sprang up in many places and in many forms. The Jesus People were known for spreading the gospel in the streets, coffee houses, rescue missions, communes, rock festivals, and hip churches. These new Christians made a fanatical effort to know the Scriptures and to quote the chapter and verse. Bible studies were the central emphasize in every segment of the new Jesus culture. Furthermore, their testimonies were laden with hip culture terms. "Jesus is real, man." "I'm on a Jesus trip." "I'm high on Jesus." That Bible verse is "heavy" or that is, it has a deeper meaning.

In 1966 John Lennon of the Beatles said, "Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. We're more popular than Jesus now." But he was wrong, the next year the Jesus movement was in full bloom among the flower children. They said that Jesus was "the first hippie" because of his long hair, and they were proclaiming "Hal-lay-loo-ya, Jesus loves you." It is hard however to pinpoint the beginning of the movement to any one person or single group.

One of the famous early ministries was Calvary Chapel at Costa Mesa in Orange County, California which was led by Pastor Chuck Smith. They had three youth services a week, and about 2,000 kids in jeans, tie-dyed tops, and hip clothes came in carrying Bibles and bear hugging one another. For three to four hours they sang, prayed, and studied the Bible. An older member estimated 150 converts a week and upwards of 500 baptisms a month. The most publicized baptisms of the Jesus movement took place at the nearby Corona del Mar beach in the Pacific waters.

The emotionalism of the Jesus movement was most apparent in the music. Rock groups with electric guitars, drums, and kinky piano music were another major attraction of the monthly rock festivals at the Chapel. The best known Jesus rock groups were the Love Song, Blessed Hope, Country Faith, Children of the Day, and the All Saved Freak Band. A staple song was "Pass it On" with the congregation interlocking arms and swaying to the music. Also, "Kum Ba Ta" (African for Come by here) was another popular song for swaying to and fro.

Many of the new converts were homeless, runaway street people, who needed nurturing and discipleship in the Word. Calvary Chapel established a chain of Christian communal homes called the "House of Miracles." The usual stay was two to six months, and each house was led by an elder, who was assisted by several deacons. John Higgins, an early leader at the House of Miracles, had a vision to "descend to a northern location." He and his wife Jackie founded the successful Shiloh houses around Eugene, Oregon. It became the fastest growth communal system and spread to thirty states until the ministry split in 1978. Mansion Messiah and Philadelphia House were some other famous homes.

Another star attraction at Calvary Chapel was the Youth minister Lonnie Frisbee, who was known as one of the leading Jesus Freaks. He was convinced that the Jewish victory in the Six-Day War of 1967 set the stage for the last days and the Second Coming of Christ. Frisbee emphasized the outpouring of the Holy Spirit prophecy in the Book of Joel and the charismatic gift of speaking in tongues. Most of the Calvary Chapel people stressed the tongues experience less than Frisbee, so he left in 1971 for Bob Mumford's Florida ministry, and he died of AIDS in 1983. However, before the end of the century Calvary Chapel grew to over 750 Chapels in the United States and another 500 overseas.

One "hip church" that did stress the Pentecostal experience was Bethel Tabernacle in Redondo Beach. Lyle Steenis and a 19-year old convert Breck Stevens made it famous as a haven for ex-drug addicts. The place was renown for the "thirty-second cure from heroin" which consisted of merely offering prayers "in the name of Jesus." They claimed that 100,000 inquirers came through their church. In 1972 Pastor Steenis died in a plane crash, and Stevens committed suicide in 1986.

The original and most flamboyant leader of the Jesus Movement was Arthur Blessitt, who was called the "Mod Minister of Sunset Strip." He was noted for his bold, sidewalk evangelism, such as leading the Jesus kids in a Jesus cheer ("Gimme a J; Gimme an E"; and so on) in front of Hollywood's topless bars and pornographic bookstores. He established His Place on Sunset Boulevard as a type of nightclub/rescue mission. Thousands of kids flocked into His Place for free sandwiches, Kool-Aid, and the midnight message on Jesus Christ. The most noteworthy event was the "Toilet Party." When the drug users converted to Christ, they went to the restroom to flush their pills and powders down the toilet, and thus symbolically "flushing away the old life."

Blessitt faced continuous opposition from the Strip businessmen and the police. The Sheriff's Department enforced an anti-loitering campaign against the street witnesses. Some Jesus freaks were busted dozens of times and told to stay off the Strip, but they kept on returning. Finally, the landlords gave in to pressure and they stopped renting to the ordained Baptist minister. Blessitt spent twenty-nine days on the sidewalk chained to a cross to protest his unfair eviction. Then for seven months of 1970 he dragged a cross 3,500 miles from California to Washington, DC preaching along the way. His accounts of the dens of iniquity from Hollywood and New York were sensationalized in Turned On To Jesus. In the early 1970's he continued to carry his cross to Europe, Asia, and over 70 countries of the world before the end of the century.

Elsewhere in Los Angeles Duane Pederson directed the most successful and widely known "underground" Christian newspaper of the Jesus movement: the Hollywood Free Paper. Pederson, a stuttering farm boy from Hastings, Minnesota, overcame his childhood stammering and became a nightclub magician. In 1969 he published the first edition of the HFP with the financial support of Hollywood's First Presbyterian Church. By the end of 1971 the HFP had a circulation of five hundred thousand.

Pederson used eye-catching headlines on social issues of the day and Judgment Day cartoons, while sowing soul-winning seeds throughout the paper. The classified section had a listing of Jesus People programs and their activities in all fifty states. The paper had remarkable results including one salvation testimony of a street kid, who picked up a Free Paper in the gutter and found Christ.

The HFP had a mail-order enterprise for posters and bumper stickers known as The Emporium. The paper, also, sponsored monthly Jesus concerts at the Hollywood Palladium. They established a Jesus People Training Center and advertised a nonexistent university. While Pederson was a respected as a leader in the Jesus movement and was quickly recognized in his fringed buckskin vest, he maintained "the only leader is Jesus Christ."

Another vehicle of the Jesus Movement the coffee house was popular with the "beatnik" generation in the 1950's and with the hippies in the sixties. It quickly became a hangout for Jesus People to "rap" about Jesus and the Bible. An early famous location was "The Living Room" in the heart of San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury drug culture. The founders were Ted Wise, who is referred to as the first hippie convert of the Jesus People, and his wife Elizabeth; Dan and Sandy Sands; Jim and Judy Doop; and Steve and Sandy Heefner. Their storefront ministry began in late 1967 and lasted for two years during which time an estimated thirty to fifty thousand young people wandered in and out of the coffee house. Meanwhile, the coffeehouse with its casual atmosphere served as a key link between the young people, the adult workers, the street people, and the evangelical churches in both big cities and small towns throughout the country.

In many cases the coffee house led to another important ministry of the Jesus movement: the commune. The first such halfway house was "The House of Acts" in Novato, California. It was founded in 1970 by Ted Wise and "The Living Room" founders as a rehabilitation center from drugs. It provided a fellowship for the new life in Christ and a separation from the former friends and temptations of the old life. It set the pattern for the Jesus Houses with daily Bible study, worship, and prayer.

The communes, also, became well known for their community outreach of street witnessing and passing out tracts. But, in some cases rural communes wanted to maintained a separation and independence from the secular world. Two of the most publicized communes of each type were: The Children of God and the Christian Foundation.

The Children of God was clearly the most controversial group in the Jesus movement. They had a closed system with tight security against outsiders. They expected 100 percent commitment even turning over all earthly possessions to the community. Members gave up their birth names for an Old Testament name from the tribes of Israel. If they were married they were expected to, also, give up their spouse.

They preached a forceful "repent or go to hell" message. "Speaking in tongues" was a sign of their "saved" life. They, also, believed only in the King James Version of the Bible and in their leader's interpretation. They were opposed to the established churches and received much publicity for their militant disruptions of church services with chants and yells, sometimes even swearing at the church attenders.

The Children of God movement was very much noted for their strong-personality, extremist leaders. The original founders were Fred Jordan, a Pentecostal evangelist, and David Berg, an ordained Protestant minister. They ran the "Texas Soul Clinic" on Jordan's 400-acre ranch near the ghost town of Thurber, Texas. David Hoyt observed the Thurber operation and founded his communes in the Southeast from his Atlanta, Georgia headquarters. Linda Meissner, another high profile COG leader, was called "the Joan of Arc of the Jesus Movement" in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. Her followers were called the "Jesus People Army." Russ Griggs and Carl Parks attracted larger followings in the Northwest. The leaders of the Children of God movement were more badly divided than the children of Israel in earlier times.

Finally, the Children of God groups were dubbed as a cult. They were accused of brainwashing, kidnapping, and even stockpiling weapons. A parent's group received national publicity for trying to get their kids back. Eventually, Fred Jordan ordered them off of his properties. David Berg, who renamed himself "Moses," became regarded as a false teacher for his heretical interpretations of the Bible. In one of his "Mo Letters" he called for the female members to use sacred prostitution to recruit prospective members. They became known as "the flirty little fishy" and "hookers for Jesus." By the mid-1970's the COG had experienced a large number of dropouts, and Berg with some of his followers fled the country to avoid prosecution. Erling Jorstad called it "a commune that failed."

The Christian Foundation under the leadership of Tony and Susan Alamo was located in Saugus fifty miles north of downtown Hollywood. This commune was in a remote hillside area which had been damaged by a recent earthquake. An abandon restaurant was used as their worship center. Nevertheless, they had a reputation for the most ecstatic and charismatic worship services of the Jesus movement. Their music was spirited, old-time revival songs like "I'll Fly Away" and "When the Roll is Called Up Yonder." Their worship was described as several hundred "wildly gyrating bodies" that were "on the edge of hysteria the entire time." A steady stream of personal testimonies flowed throughout the enthusiastic services. A regular schedule of shuttle vehicles from the corner of Hollywood and Highland transported inquirers and recruits for an hour and a half ride to the eight weekly meetings at Saugus.

The Alamo's, who were like a Mom and Dad to the Jesus kids, were both reared in Jewish homes. Sue converted to Christianity, when she was miraculously healed of a hopeless childhood disease. She became a Pentecostal evangelist. Tony was a recording industry executive, who said that the Lord appeared to him during a business conference and ordered him to proclaim His imminent return. Consequently, their street message was always apocalyptic: "Repent or go to hell, the world is coming to an end, and Jesus is returning soon."

Another heavily premillennial, but not charismatic group, was the JC Light and Power House near the campus of UCLA. The leaders Hal Lindsey and Bill Counts were both former staff members of Campus Crusade. Their commune was more like a dormitory for forty Bible students, who were being trained for full-time Christian service. While they rejected the emotionalism and the experience-centered emphasis of the mainline Jesus movement, they agreed with their anti-institutional philosophy. As a result of criticizing both sides, they appeared uncomfortable with the church and with the Jesus People. Critics like Lowell Streiker found them lacking in enthusiasm and failing in compassion toward each other.

The San Francisco Bay area was the center of the hippie culture since the days of Haight-Ashbury and the radical New Left of the student rights movement at the University of California at Berkeley. That climate produced perhaps the best Christian response to the counterculture in the Christian World Liberation Front which was based in Berkeley. The founder was Jack Sparks, a former Ph.D. college statistics professor and a Campus Crusade associate. CWLF was an organization of well educated, evangelical Christians, who ministered to the students and the street people around the Berkeley campus.

In July of 1969 CWLF began publishing Right On, the first and what many called the best underground newspaper of the Jesus movement. It was written in the hip language of the street people. The organization, also, addressed the political platform of the radical Berkeley Liberation Movement with a matching thirteen-point program in Christian rhetoric. Their literature ministry included pamphlets, tracts, leaflets, comic books, and manuals on diet, nutrition, and a shoestring budget for street survival. Everything they printed carried a simple gospel message about Jesus in the vernacular of the hippie and the revolutionary.

When the leftists held marches or rallies, the street Christians echoed their cheers with Jesus chants. The cheer "Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh, the NLF is Gonna Win," was answered by the Street Christians cheering "Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh, Jesus Christ is Gonna Win!" The CWLF gave out free Kool-Aid to marchers, but their sign read: "Whoever drinks this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I'll give him will never thirst - Jesus Christ." CWLF's placards read: "I'd Walk a Mile for Jesus" and "Curse The War - Jesus The Cure."

On the other hand the CWLF marched for other causes. They picketed San Francisco's notorious North Beach Beach topless & bottomless clubs. They demonstrated at the Russian Center to protest the Soviet Union's policies toward Czechoslovakia. They joined other Jesus People in picketing the downtown San Francisco Glide Memorial Methodist Church which was known for homosexual weddings and unorthodox worship services.

Jack Sparks and his staff put together the best organization of the Jesus movement. They tried to be academic and Biblical in their approach. They were the only group from the Jesus movement that attempted to worship and work with the straight, evangelical churches. They even actively backed a Billy Graham Crusade. Unlike many of the Jesus People organizations they were not charismatic in their orientation. While they did not forbid tongues, the CWLF staff pointed out in Scripture that the gift was not required for everyone. Consequently, they discouraged anyone from guilt-tripping others about the Pentecostal experience.

While their best recognized endeavor was Right On, CWLF had a many-sided ministries including several Jesus "houses" for Bible rap sessions, the distribution of food, clothing, and medicine to the street people, and an overnight hostel on Telegraph Hill as a crash pad for Christian workers. They established a youth ranch in the mountains north of San Francisco in the heart of the largest concentration of hippie communes in the West. Sparks visited Francis Schaeffer's L'Abri with a vision of developing a Christian "Counter University" in Berkeley. But always, Sparks and CWLF maintained that only the transforming power of Jesus could truly meet the needs of people.

Elsewhere, the Jesus movement flourished in other parts of the nation. In New York City David Wilkerson, whose celebrated story was The Cross and The Switchblade, ran the well respected the drug rehabilitation program called Teen Challenge. While it was not part of the counterculture, the Teen Challenge ministry gathered some of the Jesus people converts.

In 1968 outside of Mansfield, Ohio Gordon Walker started an early Jesus commune at "Grace Haven" farm. The former OSU Campus Crusade leader emphasized "grace" outside the institutional church rather than the theological hair splitting done within the fundamentalist congregations. They, also, operated a bookstore-restaurant The Yellow Deli on the downtown square. Thirty years later Grace Haven still continues today as fellowship church with an emphasis on family centered ministries.

In Houston, Texas Pastor John Bisagno of the First Baptist Church promoted a unique revival program called SPIRENO - Spiritual Revolution Now! It was developed by evangelist Richard Hogue, and it combined rock music, mass baptisms, and personal witnessing. The program was given to the public and school kids over three months, and it registered 11,000 decisions for Jesus. Even the Southern Baptist Convention attempted to mainstream the program. From 1970-74 they had the highest baptism rate (2 million) in their history.

Throughout the country Jesus houses could be quickly recognized by the spiritual connotation of their titles. In Nashville it was called the "23rd Psalm." In Lansing Michigan the "Master's House" was sponsored by businessmen called "The Carpenter's Men." Titles like "Koinonia," "Soul Inn," "House of Acts," "Living Waters," "Agape House," "Sheepfold House," "His House," and the "Lord's Fish House" were all part of the Jesus movement. One famous chain the Shiloh Youth Revival Centers was started by John Higgins in Eugene, Oregon. Sociologist Marion Goldman claimed that 100,000 young Americans passed through the Shiloh Houses.

A most significant feature of the Jesus Movement was the music of the Jesus People. Their accent on feelings and emotions made it the best medium to reach the young people. It also proved to be a common link to connect the coffeehouses, communes, and churches. The new "God-rock" tunes even made the popular music charts. In 1969 the first gospel song to make the Top-40 radio stations was "O Happy Day." It was sung by the Edwin Hawkins Singers, who came out of the Black gospel tradition. It was followed shortly by Andrew Lloyd Webber's rock opera Jesus Christ, Superstar, which was a financial success on Broadway. Another pair of God-rock tunes to make the charts were "Jesus is a Soul, Man" and "Put Your Hand in the Hand of the Man from Galilee." Judy Collins had a successful number-one hit with the eighteenth century hymn "Amazing Grace."

Billboard magazine pointed out that the religious theme was catching on in popular music. "Spirit in the Sky," "Let It Be," "Bridge Over Troubled Waters," and "My Sweet Lord," all had religious values, but they were not Christian songs. When the opera Godspell hit Broadway, Christians criticized the depiction of Jesus in a Superman sweatshirt and the cast in clown costumes. They pointed out that the divinity of Jesus and His resurrection had been omitted from the musical. Larry Norman, the leading artist of the Jesus music, said, "There is no real Jesus music out yet. No music that sees Jesus as the Son of God who died for our personal salvation." Other critics made claims that the music capitalists were only exploiting the spiritual revolution of the time.

By far the dominant feature of the Jesus music was the use of the guitar in the worship. The song lyrics used the "message" style like the contemporary folk music along the lines of Bob Dylan and Arlo Guthrie. The words usually included verses from Scripture and finding Jesus as the source of peace. The conversions of famous entertainers like Noel Paul Stookey of "Peter, Paul, and Mary," Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, and the Statler Brothers increased the influence of the new kind of gospel music. Nevertheless, the church people, who favored the old-time traditional hymns, leaned more toward notable Christian singers like Pat Boone, who was now receiving fame for his Pentecostal baptism and the baptisms in his swimming pool at his Beverly Hills home.

When the "Dove Awards" for Christian music began in 1969, the winners were Bill Gaither, James Blackwood, the Speer Family, and the well known inspirational singers, while the Jesus musicians remained unacknowledged. Anyway, the soul of the Jesus music came from the many little known individuals and groups in every coffee house and church where the young people would gather. The better performers were invited to Jesus rock festivals like Duane Peterson's Palladium events and the concerts at Calvary Chapel. The most notable groups included Love Song, Resurrection Band, Daniel Amos, Lost and Found, Everlasting Water, Harvest Flight, Dove Sounds, Phoenix Sunshine, the 2nd Chapter of Acts, Paul Clark, Andrae Crouch, and a young Phil Keaggy. But by far the most remembered pairing was Larry Norman and the Salt Company, who were backed by the Hollywood Presbyterian Church. Norman's classic song about the Rapture "I Wish We'd All Been Ready" was the theme song for the popular film A Thief in the Night. Yet, the church and the Jesus People parted company over the anti-church themes and the continual repetitive phrases of their music.

While the music usually included a vary of multimedia effects like strobe lights, blacklights, and psychedelic sights, the most memorable visual message of the Jesus movement was the bumper sticker. The first popular bumper sticker was "Honk if you love Jesus." The most popular subject was the rapture. Those stickers read "In case of the Rapture - This car will be unmanned" and "The Rapture - The Only Way to Fly." Most bumper sticker user were not trying to evangelize people, but only to identify themselves as believers in Jesus Christ. Church leaders responded with everything from admiration for their boldness to calling the bumper stickers "undignified to God." One irritated sticker read "Anyone can honk, Tithe if you love Jesus."

A spin-off of the Jesus movement was the revival on American campuses in the 1970's. While colleges experienced protests, marches, and riots in the 1960's, the new decade saw an evangelical harvest by the leading campus Christian organizations such as Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, Campus Crusade for Christ, and the newly formed American Association of Evangelical Students.

In 1970 IVCF held a missionary conference at Urbana on the campus of the University of Illinois, and it drew 12,000 which was probably the largest religious gathering of students to that date in American history. They invited a non-traditional speaker Tom Skinner, a black, former gang member, who knew firsthand the crime and drug culture of the ghetto. While his audience was primarily from the white middle-class, his message attacked the institutional racism of the church, the middle-class, and the national institutions such as Wall Street, big business, and government. He did not see revolution, or social action, or political change as the answer to the evil and the poverty in the world, but he proclaimed "the liberator has come," and it is Jesus Christ, who is the only force powerful enough to change and save humanity from destroying itself. His message was overwhelmingly accepted by the students, and the Skinner phenomenon attracted larger crowds at the future Urbana conferences.

Campus Crusade annually held regional rallies throughout the country, however in June of 1972 they met in Dallas at the Cotton Bowl stadium. It was called "Explo 72." Almost 75,000 young people showed up, and it was the largest event of the Jesus movement. The week-long event featured evangelism training classes on the "Four Spiritual Laws" and Jesus rock festivals. In the stadium atmosphere yells like, "Two bits, four bits, six bits, a dollar. All for Jesus stand up and holler," and fingers pointing the One Way sign were exuberantly common. The honorary chairman Billy Graham called it a "religious Woodstock," but the lasting religious title was "Godstock." When the three thousand full-time staff workers returned to the field, they reported an increase in "decision prayers," and the greatest increase in new staff personnel in CCC history. Nevertheless, CCC remained mistrusted by the churches because of their simple evangelism and a divisive relationship with most major denominations. However their emphasis on a prayer time, personal Bible study, and witnessing resulted in a growing, vibrant relationship with Christ for many new Christians.

The third campus organization the AAES moved in a different direction away from evangelism toward social action. Their delegates had a spirit discussion on such issues as racial prejudice, population control, and the Cambodian invasion. At their 1971 convention at Oral Roberts University they surprisingly invited Kevin Ranaghan, a well known Roman Catholic Pentecostal leader, to address the convention. After a female was elected President of the organization the delegates debated abortion, capital punishment, a ban on DDT, selective service, and even lesser marijuana penalties. In the end a resolution calling abortion "murder" was badly defeated, and a resolution asking for the abolition of capital punishment passed.

Meanwhile the most spectacular outpouring occurred at Ashbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky in February of 1970. The chapel service turned into a 185-hour marathon of prayer, confession, forgiveness, and rebirth. The revival broke out among the students and faculty members, and spread to another dozen evangelical colleges. The event was told by Robert E. Coleman in his book One Divine Moment.

Another amazing part of the movement touched the secular colleges. In 1971 at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute four thousand students, nuns, ministers, and Jesus people gathered for a two-day festival for "turning on to Jesus." At Harvard one staff member reported that many students were "changed to a full commitment to Christ." At Stanford University the neighboring churches scheduled seven Sunday School classes to handle the college students. Two Illinois campuses Eastern Illinois University in Charleston and North Park College in Chicago were moved by the revival. Everywhere the young adults of college age, who have always been known for their idealistic dreams and hopes, were quickly interested in reaching out to the victims of social oppression after they had experienced the grace of Christ's salvation.

Alongside the campus revival was the Pentecostal impact on the Roman Catholic Church. The "charismatic renewal," which stressed the "baptism of the Holy Spirit" and speaking in tongues, touched Catholic believers especially in college communities. It first appeared in 1967 at a Duquense University prayer meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and reached Notre Dame in South Bend and the universities at Ann Arbor and East Lansing in Michigan.

Although their renewal was related to the Jesus movement, the Pentecostal Catholics, unlike the Jesus people, stayed within the church and hoped for a revival among all Catholics. While they appeared almost like Protestants in their worship, the remarkable transformation was that these Catholics and their Protestant friends stopped trying to convert one another to each other's religion. They talked about "faith in Christ" alone and not their church. They reached an upward estimate of 50,000 adherents by 1971. Their most important influence on the church was the emphasis on searching the Scriptures to be accurate in their doctrine.

Another large group affected by the Jesus movement was high school students. Two youth organizations that began in the 1940's were Youth for Christ and Young Life. They were noted for their non-denominational approach that crossed racial, cultural, and economic boundaries. Both majored on bringing young people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Another parachurch organization that ministered to high school and junior high athletes, coaches, and trainers was the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. The FCA used sports lingo in "huddle groups" with "scouting reports" on the Bible to present "God's game plan" for salvation. FCA had founded in the mid-1950's with the blessing of Branch Rickey, a reputable Christian who the owned the Brooklyn Dodgers and integrated baseball with Jackie Robinson.

A final group touched by the movement were the Jewish people. In 1968 it was estimated that 30 percent of the hippies on the streets of San Francisco were Jewish. Surprisingly, hundreds began finding Jesus as their Savior. From their slogan "Jews for Jesus" Moishe Rosen, a missionary to the Jewish people, founded the Jews for Jesus organization in September of 1973 with their home office on Haight Street in San Francisco. The Messianic Jews began proclaiming that Jesus or Y'shua was the Messiah, and thousands of Jewish street Christians became aggressive witnesses to their people.

By 1971 the "Jesus Revolution" was receiving full blown media attention with articles and pictures on the Jesus people in Look, Life, Time, and US News and World Report. Time picked them the third top "story of the year." Almost every religious periodical like Christianity Today, Christian Century, Guidepost, and Moody Monthly, and most of the denominational journals carried opinions on the movement. Unfortunately, the extremist sects received an excessive amount of attention.

By 1973-74 the war in Vietnam was over and the counterculture seemed to have ended. The media gave the publicity to Watergate and to the "deprogramming" of the "brainwashed" young people, who had fallen victims to cults like the Charles Manson Family. The Children of God and the Way International, an anti-Trinitarian sect under Victor Paul Wierwille, were easy examples to expose the dangers of the exclusive, cult activities.

In spite of that people began wondering "where have all the Jesus people gone?" It was surmised that they joined the established churches; some went to seminary or a Bible college; others became missionaries, pastors, Sunday School teachers, or they joined the choir. Several leaders, Duane Pederson, Jack Sparks, and Peter Gillquist, joined the Eastern Orthodox Church. Ted Wise joined the Peninsula Bible Church and still serves today in their ministry to drug addicts. Nevertheless, the evangelical Christians hoped that they had not dropped out again. When all was said and done, historians and sociologists began speculating as to whether this was just an extension of the counterculture or was it another work of God again.

For years very little was written as if the Jesus people were a forgotten people. Finally, in 1999 three things happened to revive the memories of the Jesus Movement. David Di Sabatino, a professor at Virginia Tech, released the first major book in the post-Jesus Movement era. It was a bibliography of resources on the movement. Secondly, a very valuable website was established by Dave Hollandsworth at http://www.one-way.org. And thirdly, on Saturday April 24th the "first-ever Jesus People reunion" was held at the Arrowhead Pond sports arena in Anaheim, California. A remnant of 10,000 former Jesus people attended to hear Chuck Smith Sr. of Calvary Chapel and a string of speakers and singers from the glory days of the Jesus Movement. The stadium Jumbo-Tron flashed a montage of images from thirty years ago. The index fingers were pointed to the sky, the singing and swaying began again, and most of all tears of heartfelt joy swelled up for the faithful work that God had done in transforming the individual lives of these Jesus freaks over the past thirty years.

In retrospect several questions arise: "how did this happen?", "how could the hippie culture of "do your own thing" lead to the Christian environment of a personal God with absolute values?", and "where did the Jesus people go?"

Francis Schaeffer reasoned that the drug culture of the hippies became only an escape. It left no hope and only a vacuum due to the impoverished values of personal peace and affluence. In the late sixties when hundreds of thousands of young people, who were running away to the counterculture, found only broken dreams, and then they were drawn into the Jesus movement. The amazement of the crossover between the two extremes eventually attracted widespread media attention.

Looking backwards Don Richardson in his books Peace Child and Eternity in Their Hearts explained "redemptive analogies" to show how God used opposite ends of the cultural spectrum to gather a harvest of souls. Richardson pointed out how a similar goal or a language key or a custom or a tradition had a parallel in Christianity, and it prepared people for cross-cultural evangelism. Clearly the search within the counterculture by the hippies and many young people was satisfied in their personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

In the postscript the major phenomena of the Jesus People movement was the number of youth, who entered the mainstream of American Christianity. A second wonder was the spiritual renewal in the parachurch organizations and the conservative churches which included the Pentecostals, the evangelical and fundamental denominations, and the Eastern Orthodox denomination. A final legacy was the momentum that ignited the "born again" era of the mid-seventies.
 

IV. The Born Again Era:

When the US reached the mid-seventies, Nixon had fallen from Watergate and Saigon had fallen to the Communists. While confidence in the government had toppled for the young people in the Sixties, now citizens of every age had contempt and mistrust for politics and their government. To further add to their skepticism the only non-elected President Gerald Ford failed to whip the inflationary trend of the decade.

But as the United States made plans for the Bicentennial Year, everyone anticipated a nostalgia of patriotism and glory. When the nation turned its eyes backwards on two hundred years of independence, many citizens perceived that our successes were based on either political, economic, military, geographic, or immigration factors. Yet, many Christians were surprised to learn that the US had a rich spiritual heritage which had been either omitted or ignored in their American history textbooks. Publishing companies reprinted a host of old classics and a number of new revival-slanted books which bore witness to the powerful Christian influence throughout our nation's history.

By enlarge Americans practiced a civil religion where Christmas was being remember more for the gifts than the birth. Easter was promoting bunnies and eggs rather than the resurrection. Thanksgiving was becoming a day of gluttony and football, and the original purpose of thankfulness was being overlooked. While Francis Schaeffer and other thinkers were declaring that Europe was in a "post-Christian" era, many surmised that the United States might possibly be in their last generation as a so-called "Christian nation."

To the outsiders church people were viewed as religious marionettes, who dressed up to perform a rote memorized service, which appeared to be an apathetic and lethargic obligation. Usually when they were questioned about their faith, their response was "that it is a personal and private matter." If they talked about God, he was "The Man Upstairs." Their sincere religious conviction was that "my faith can be seen in my behavior. I don't have to say it, I do it."

Be that as it may, the American Christian church was suddenly astonished by the "born again" movement. Taken from the words of Jesus to Nicodemus in John 3:3 "you must be born again (or born-from-above)" the command clearly called for a conversion experience. In 1976 the Gallup reported that one in three Americans (around 50 million) claimed to be born again.

While Time and Newsweek magazines labeled 1976 as the "Year of the Evangelical," every spiritual indicator pointed to an awakening. For the first time in seventeen years church attendance was up (85 million a week). The Christian Herald reported that giving to church and religious organizations rose 9.9% to 12.8 billion dollars. One out of every five adults attended a Bible study or prayer meeting during the week. There was a noticeable increase in Christian discussions about prayer and fasting. Above all, the laity became active in witnessing about their faith.

Campus Crusade for Christ initiated the most ambitious witnessing program in history called "Here's Life America." In 165 cities through TV commercials, billboards, and telephone calls Americans were exposed to the proclamation "I Found It." Almost a third of a million lay people were trained as Here's Life workers. CCC founder Bill Bright and Field Director Paul Eshleman estimated that 129 million people were acquainted with the message of Christ, and supervisors estimated around two million decisions were made for Christ. Unfortunately however, a follow-up study reported that "97 percent never bothered to join a church."

Evangelism Explosion was another training program to equip lay people as soul winners. It was founded by Dr. D. James Kennedy of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The program was unique in that everything was done within the local church body. EE was quickly recognize by the "two question marks" on a lapel button which hopefully initiated the two diagnostic questions about "going to heaven." After EE was incorporated in 1977, the training program was taken worldwide to every populated continent.

The most profound feature of the born-again era was the activist position by the laity in witnessing. Here's Life and EE weren't the only groups providing evangelism training. Others like "Equipping the Saints" by the Navigators, the "Christian Life and Witness" training for the Billy Graham Crusades, the Christian Business Men's Committee breakfasts, the Flame Fellowship, Women's Aglow, and numerous other parachurch organizations placed a high priority on evangelism. While in other generations outreach to the lost seemed to be for those missionaries in Africa, now the Great Commission (Matthew 28) was pointed toward a believer's hometown, neighborhood, workplace, friends and family.

Another distinctive earmark of the born-again period was the number of famous personalities, who publicly announced their "new life in Christ." In March 1976 Democratic Presidential candidate Jimmy Carter told a press conference that he had "formed a very close, intimate, personal relationship with God through Christ." Chuck Colson, former Nixon hatchet man and once Watergate federal prisoner, released his book Born Again about his recent Christian conversion. Within the year he was at a prayer breakfast with Harold Hughes, a former liberal Democrat Senator. In another opposite extreme Colson was photographed in church singing hymns with ex-Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver. Hughes and Cleaver, also, professed born again experiences.

From every quarter around the nation many reported a spiritual rebirth. Astronaut James Irwin; UN Ambassador Andrew Young; Golden Circle President Martin Clark; Howard Butt Jr.; the "praying millionaire" Wallace Johnson of Holiday Inns; song writers Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan; crime figure Jack "Murf the Surf" Murphy; Mansion member: Charles ("Tex") Watson; and Anita Bryant, Good Housekeeping's "most admired woman" all asserted a born again experience along with millions more.

In 1960 a Christian athlete seldom found a Christian fellowship on his team or in his sport. For the most part they had an individual witness such as Stan Smith in tennis, Gary Player in golf, Rafer Johnson in track, and Bob Pettit and Bill Bradley in basketball. Some like Fran Tarkenton wrote tracts which spoke about their faith. Others like Kermit Zarley and Babe Hiskey formed their own Tour Bible study of two golfers. Early on the one watershed organization for all of them was the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. By the 1970's other similar organizations appeared and Sport Illustrated referred to sports getting religion as "Sportianity." By the end of the Century when the roots of the first one hundred sports ministries were traced, over half were born out of the FCA.

The sports arena soon became the most visible pulpit for the born-againers. Their off-the-field activities and media interviews provided an opportunity for them to take a stand for Christ, and they did it as never before. While the Dallas Cowboys were known as "America's Team," most Christians had seen head coach Tom Landry and QB Roger Staubach on the speaker's platform at a Billy Graham Crusade. Offensive tackle Norm Evans at TCU, the Miami Dolphins, and the Seattle Seahawks was always known for his testimony. Bill Glass, a former Cleveland Brown's defensive end, was a successful evangelist. Archie Griffin, the only college football player to win the Heisman trophy twice, began giving his testimony in local churches around Ohio. Rev. Billy Zeoli, President Ford's personal pastor, was the most popular sports chapel speaker.

The first sports ministry to its athletes was Baseball Chapel. It was founded in 1972 from the vision of a retired sportswriter Watson Spoelstra, who had a passion to help Christian baseball players with their spiritual walk. By 1976 the organization established the Danny Thompson Award for "exemplary Christian spirit in baseball." It was given in honor and memory of Danny Thompson, who played for the Twins and the Rangers before leukemia took his life in 1976. Over the course of time Baseball Chapel has reached just about every major and minor league professional team.

Campus Crusade initiated a basketball schedule with Christian athletes, who gave an evangelistic half-time presentation to the fans. They were known as Athletes in Action. The team barnstormed the country with former college players. Over 100,000 watched their games live and another 20 million saw their televised games. By 1976 A-I-A had a staff over 250 men.

The movement spawned other groups like Pro Athletes Outreach which was headed by Arlis Priest. Wes Neal, a former A-I-A, founded the Institute for Athletic Perfection, which applied biblical principles in athletic manuals for coaches and players. Jerry Lucas, the All-American boy every place at Middletown, Ohio, Ohio State, and the New York Knicks, wrote The Memory Book and Theomatics, which showed clear evidence that a Christian athlete wasn't just a dumb jock with blind faith.

By the mid-70's most of the professional and college teams had some sort of chapel or team prayer before their games. Probably none was as famous as Notre Dame. When a priest led the team prayer, there was always hope for a miracle finish on a "Hail Mary" pass. And of course the mosaic in the end zone of Jesus with his hands raised became known as "Touchdown Jesus." How could the Fighting Irish lose?

The Christian witness wasn't only on the playing field. By the end of the decade the most common visual witness was the John 3:16 signs in the stands. The most discernible sign-bearer in his rainbow wig was Rockin' Rollen Stewart. He aligned his John 3:16 sign and T-shirt with the television cameras behind home plate, in the end zone, or over the green. He made himself a spectacle at the Super Bowl, World Series, Miss America pageant, NBA championship, and over 30 PGA events. He even was paid to do an Anheuser-Busch beer commercial. Rockin' Rollen helped make the John 3:16 sign as common a sports legacy as the placards rooting for the home team.

By the 1980's hardly a college or pro game was played without a Bible verse message on a sign or a bed sheet in the stands. This author watched the 1984 USA Olympic hockey team play the Russian team at Richfield Coliseum near Cleveland. A bed sheet was hanging near the scoreboard on the top level with a sign in Cyrillic letters. He climbed up to ask two spectators near the sign what it said, and they replied, "It's John 3:16 in Russian."

On the coaching staff at Ashland High School in Ohio the head tennis coach, the head baseball coach, and consecutive head football coaches began attending home Bible studies and the same Grace Brethren Church. All four coaches were born again by the mid-70's. One of the football coaches was convicted by the verse John 16:8, and he realized prostrate at the foot of the Cross that he was a sinner unworthy to even raise up and kiss the feet of the Savior. That coach was this author, who began working on this book.

The born again epoch had some other special manifestations that marked another shift in the Republic's religious landscape. First, the "new evangelicalism," was what some said just a reborn version of the old fundamentalism with the same principles, but it now appealed to Northerners, the well-educated, and the middle-class. The writers and apologists presented a scholarly, historical, and intellectual defense of Christianity. Josh McDowell in Evidence That Demands A Verdict detailed a long list of OT Messianic prophecies that Jesus Christ fulfilled, and he challenged readers with the impossible improbability that the Scriptures were not correct. Others writers such as C.S. Lewis, who wrote Mere Christianity, Francis Schaeffer, and Paul Little of Inter-Varsity became popular defenders of the faith for the born again evangelicals.

Secondly the new Pentecostalism became known as the "Charismatic Movement," when it expanded into the mainline Protestant and Roman Catholic churches. At first almost every denomination adopted a "cautious openness" toward the movement except for the resistance from the Southern Baptist Convention and the Lutheran Missouri Synod. But by the mid-70's the Episcopalian, Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Mennonite denominations were all referring to the charismatic experience as a church "renewal." They were even providing special worship services to practice the gifts of tongues (glossolalia), interpretations, miracles, and healing. The followers, who were involved in the charismatic experience, were called "spirit-baptized" and "spirit-filled" Christians.

As the Charismatic Movement blossomed, believers found plenty of encouragement from support groups. Oral Roberts University became known as "the world's first Charismatic university." Ralph Wilkerson's Melodyland Christian Center with its graduate school was the most famous Charismatic church in the nation. The publishing company of Logos International in Plainfield, New Jersey was the best source for charismatic literature. Regardless of ones location, a lay person could find a Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship for charismatic worship and to hear speakers of the same persuasion. Demos Shakerian, an immigrant from persecution in Turkey and a wealthy California dairyman, was the founder of FGBMFI. His organization not only reached the grassroots believer, but it also provided a bridge between the older Pentecostal churches and the new Charismatic movement. Even the Charismatic Catholics were warmly praised for their activities by Pope Paul VI during his 1975 Pentecost Sunday message.

Nevertheless, the movement was not without criticism. Some said that the tongues sounded like "gibberish," and there was an excess of emotion. Hard-liners proclaimed that "tongues ceased" in I Corinthians 13: 9-10. The toughest critic was Jerry Falwell. In September of 1977 he announced, "the modern charismatic movement to be of satanic origin. We reject tongues as ..unscriptural...and do not permit our staff to participate in charismatic churches or programs. We feel that association with a charismatic ministry creates a false impression that we believe in what they are doing." But, everyone was reminded that the Apostle Paul said, "do not forbid speaking in tongues." I Corinthians 14:39

Far and away however, the most widespread influence of the movement was the "electronic church." Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network spent $20 million to broadcast The 700 Club over 130 stations in 1977. The next year CBN spent $50 million for a new communications school, a university, and a global satellite connection. Nevertheless, another Pentecostal Oral Roberts built a bigger university, a 10,575-seat sports arena, $100 million medical center, and a 200-foot Prayer Tower. Prayer Partners continued to supply "seed faith" money for the multi-million dollar City of Faith in Tulsa, Oklahoma. From Charlotte, N.C. Jim and Tammy Bakker's PTL (People That Love or Praise The Lord) made a meteoric rise with an estimated 20 million viewers on 181 stations and 4000 cable systems in 1977. The dominant topics for most Pentecostal broadcasts were the work of the Holy Spirit and the coming day of judgment.

By the late 70's the TV church had an estimated billion-dollar revenue, and it was judged that 90 percent had either an evangelical or Pentecostal countenance. Their audience, the supposedly 60 million unchurched in America, was given what was referred to as "armchair religion." Rev. William Fore of the National Council of Churches expressed the major concern for the situation when he said, "What worries me is whether the "electronic church" is in fact pulling people away from the local church, whether it is substituting an anonymous and therefore undemanding commitment for the kind of person-to-person involvement and group commitment that is the essence of the local church."

Possibly the biggest shift in directions for American Christians during the born again era resulted in the birth of the Moral Majority. A negative worldview was growing because of the threats from world hunger, pollution, diminishing energy sources, nuclear proliferation, and international terrorism. While Americans were facing inflation, high interest rates, and a gas shortage, several responses took place in the face of the so-called American "despair."

The most remembered response was President Jimmy Carter's "malaise" speech on July 15, 1979. In a nationally televised chat with 65 million viewers he said that Americans were facing a "crisis in confidence." He attempted to inject morality and faith into public life. He said that the direction could be fixed by "faith in each other, faith in our ability to govern ourselves, and faith in the future of this nation." Americans were stunned. His approval rating began to plummet, however his inability to get the hostages out of Iran caused much of the doubt in his ability to lead the nation.

A second response came from Christians, who decided to pray for Washington, DC. While some had gathered in 1979, a major prayer rally called "Washington for Jesus" was planned for April 29, 1980. It was the heart felt response of Pastor John Gimenez of Rock Church in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The date was the anniversary of Chaplain Hunt's prayer at Cape Henry in 1607. Many evangelical leaders from Bill Bright to Pat Robertson backed the march to the Mall. The focal verse was "If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray....I will heal their land." (II Chronicles 7:14). For twelve straight hours an estimated 500 thousand people showed up to pray. It was an extraordinary day of cooperation and participation by Christians.

In an unprecedented shift Christians were challenged to get involved in government and politics. The key issues that had caused their disenchantment with the government were over school prayer and Bible reading, abortion, pornography, and equal rights. Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell led the call for political action. In 1979 Falwell took over the Moral Majority. He called for Christians to register and vote, and for conservative Christian candidates to run for public offices. By the fall of 1980 they had nearly a half-million members and a war chest of a million dollars. The evangelicals, who were sympathetic to the born again Jimmy Carter, drifted toward the Republican Party and their candidate Ronald Reagan.

One other major response to the secularization and morality of the nation was the Christian school movement. In 1972 the Supreme Court decided in favor of the Wisconsin Amish in the Yoder case. William B. Ball, a lawyer from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, argued that "the Amish right to practice their faith was more crucial than the state's claim to set educational requirements." The landmark decision encouraged the growth of Christian schools. The National Observer (Jan. 15, 1977) reported that it was "the most significant trend in American education." These schools grew from 652 in 1971 to over 10,000 by 1979. Bible-believing evangelicals were the main force behind the objections to the man-centered values that were being taught in the public schools.

They argued that the first premise in public education was to leave God out of the classroom, and that secular humanism had taken over education. After the US Supreme Court ruled "secular humanism as a religion," the US House of Representatives even passed an anti-secular-humanism amendment in 1976. However it died, when the Senate failed to act on it.

Another objection along the same lines was the teaching of evolution as a "scientific fact," and the omission of any discussion of Biblical creation. Christians did not advocate abolishing evolution from the curriculum; they asked for equal time while teaching both ideas. The State Legislatures in Arkansas and Louisiana passed acts requiring equal time to creation science and evolution. However the courts struck down both acts, and they based their decision on the "establishment clause" from the First Amendment.

A subtler issue was what information was in the textbooks. Mel and Norma Gabler, an evangelical Christian couple from Longview, Texas, began exposing the content and topical selections in the textbooks. They pointed out the liberal bias including the "value-free" education ideas of situation ethics and relativism in morals. Their most famous exposure was the 5th grade history book that had seven pages on Marilyn Monroe and nothing on Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, or Nixon. The Gabler's crusade was written in their book What Are They Teaching Our Children?.

The Texas textbook watchdogs drew the attention of writers, publishing companies, and national radio and television shows like "60 Minutes," "Today Show," and "Phil Donahue." School officials and State curriculum leaders began taking a closer look at the textbooks. Terrell Bell, who had been the US Secretary of Education, even said that the textbooks had been "dumbed down." The Gabler's became a favorite target of Norman Lear's People for the American Way (PAW). Meanwhile the classroom teachers began better scrutinizing their textbooks for errors and suggestive literary positions.

However, many saw good signs for the future of young people with the enthusiastic, large crowds at the Jesus festivals. Easter weekend in Orlando, Florida attracted over twenty thousand to "Jesus 77." During that summer there were Jesus music festivals in a half-a-dozen states, and "Ichthus 77" near Ephrata, Pennsylvania attracted almost 100,000 campers. Another good sign was the increased Bible sales with the very popular New International Version, the eighth translation of the Bible since W.W.II. The Iron Curtain was opened a bit when Billy Graham made the first evangelical trips to Hungary in 1977 and Poland in 1978. While Evangelicals believed only Christ's return would solve the world's problems, they concluded that mankind still had a moral duty to slow the earth's decay. They became active in single-issue causes like abortion, pornography, school prayer, education, and the bumper sticker campaigns.

On the down side of the revival, while many talked about a "born again" experience, few joined a church. George Barna concluded that eighty percent of the church growth was just "church migration" to another fellowship. Every mainline denomination lost between 30-50 percent of their members during the 60's and 70's except the Southern Baptists. The Seventies were titled the "Me Decade," and Jim Wallis, editor of Sojourners a more radical Evangelical magazine, said, "the Evangelical movement is presented in terms of what Jesus can do for me. It calls many to believe and few to obedience." Others worried that the Christian lifestyle wasn't much different from everyone else, who just wanted to be rich, comfortable, and happy. George Gallup evaluated it this way, "Religion is increasing its influence on society but morality is losing its influence. The secular world would seem to offer abundant evidence that religion is not greatly affecting our lives."

Nevertheless, the born again era like the other post-W.W.II revivals was short and intense. It, too, drew noticeable national attention from the media. Like the other occurrences it was as if a wave of the Holy Spirit had rippled over a designated segment of the population. To those, who had experienced it, the life changes clearly were "born-from-above" as Jesus had said in John 3:3.

V. The Moral Right:

The decade of the 1980s opened with tremendous anxiety over the possibility of a nuclear war. With the United States and the Soviet Union boasting arsenals of tens of thousands of warheads dialogue surfaced about the chances for a pre-emptive, Pearl Harbor type, nuclear strike. When the TV movie The Day After was viewed on national television, the demonstrations increased for a "nuclear freeze." The Reagan administration began talking about an expensive "Stars War" defense system that would shoot down incoming missiles. President Reagan called the Soviet Union the "evil empire," and he, even, threatened to ignore the SALT agreements. Any chances for a "strategic arms reduction treaty" seemed unlikely.

In Christian circles speculation increased about the Apocalypse and Armageddon. Billy Graham released a book on the Approaching Hoofbeats. After the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut prophecy buffs were quick to point out the nearness of the Kishon valley of Armageddon to southern Lebanon. They, also, pointed out that Gog of Magog (Ezekiel 38) was from Russia, and that Moscow was directly north on Jerusalem's line of longitude. When Israel discovered a planned, surprise Soviet attack from Lebanon in August of 1982, fears increased about the possible Communist advances into the oil-rich Middle East.

Since their beginning Israel always had a friend in the United States. The US was first to recognize the State of Israel and quick to send the best military equipment. President Nixon turned the tide of the 1973 Yom Kippur War be sending military aid. President Carter negotiated the 1978 Camp David Accords, the first Arab-Israeli agreement, for which only Sadat and Begin received the Nobel Peace Prize. Israel was receiving more in US foreign aid than any other country. It was a surety that if anyone invaded Israel the United States would join what they considered a righteous cause.

For all the doomsday talk around the world scene the domestic-political picture was just the opposite. With the election of Republican President Ronald Reagan the conservative Christians were optimistic that the government would return to the traditional values of earlier days. They hoped that the Reagan administration would reverse abortion, endorse school prayer, support financial aid to parochial and Christian schools, even send a representative to the Vatican, and help to cleanup the sex obsessed society created by television and Hollywood. The great irony was that they pinned their hopes on the only divorced President in US history, who made his name in Hollywood.

The conservative agenda for traditional values was the most ambitious religious-political movement of the 20th Century. The only family structure that they preferred was a lifetime monogamous marriage of a husband, who was the bread winner, and a wife, who was the homemaker. They disapproved of the homosexual lifestyle and the "feminist" ERA Amendment saying that both eroded the traditional family. They objected to the sex education programs in public schools because it failed to promote abstinence before marriage or to decry any sex outside of marriage.

The conservative's platform included several other issues that undermined their family values. They were fervently anti-abortionists, who preferred adoption as a better choice for unwanted children. They protested the use of their federal tax dollars to fund abortion clinics and to use Medicaid payments for abortions. They wanted commercial television with its violence and suggestive sexual advertising cleansed. They opposed pornography and called for stiffer laws to punish the creators and distributors of such literature, films, and videotapes. They, also, cried out for some sort of major federal program to stop the flow and use of illegal drugs. On their behalf national surveys showed that a high percentage of Americans, also, favored their positions on values.

The right wing conservative Christians began working through political action committees (PAC) to inform, persuade, and lobby for their concerns. Three organizations of the "New Christian Right" were formed in 1979. Obviously, the most powerful and notable was the Moral Majority, founded by Jerry Falwell. After Falwell lost credibility for calling Desmond Tutu a "phony," it was renamed the Liberty Foundation and headed by Atlanta businessman Jerry Nims. The Christian Voice compiled the voting record or "Congressional Score Card" of the candidates and provided a list of approved and disapproved candidates, who supported conservative issues. The Roundtable, once called the Religious Roundtable, was a quarterly two-day meeting of 150 major conservative and fundamentalist Christian leaders, who were briefed on key issues which they could pass on the information to their flocks.

Some other political actions organizations were led by women. Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum worked to defeat the ERA Amendment, and Connaught Marshner headed the Library Court, which spearheaded the failed Family Protection Act. Both organizations campaigned to get an anti-abortion amendment passed. A third women's group founded in 1979 was Beverly LaHaye's Concerned Women for America (CWA). This organization has focused their efforts on marriage and family workshops.

The most radical idea to change US society came from the reconstructionist movement. The term was coined by Gary North, who founded their Journal. Their think tank was the Chalcedon Foundation at Vallecito, California. The Christian Reconstructionists believed that the whole American society should be "reconstructed" to conform to God's law. With an aggressive fervency they have called for a theocracy to Christianize all aspects of American life.

Any discussion of the "moral right" and those who call for a righteous lifestyle must include the Roman Catholic Church and particularly their worldwide leader Pope John Paul II. While many of the American Catholics disagree with him, this Pope has certainly made his position known on ethics and the lifestyles of this age. However any considerations on the contemporary Catholic Church must involve Vatican II.

Pope John XXIII called the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), and they made several changes in their church life. First, the Mass was permitted in English, and the priest faced the congregation more times during the service. Lay people were permitted to serve in the worship service. The obligation of fish for the Friday meal was rescinded. Nevertheless, priests were still consider the go-between to reconcile, to forgive, to hear confession of the sins, and to make sacrifices for the laity "in the name of Christ."

Some other doctrinal positions were reaffirmed, especially the "infallibility" of the Pontiff. The dogma of purgatory and prayers for the dead continued. The veneration of Mary was upheld, and her station as sinless, a perpetual virgin, and a co-laborer in the atonement was corroborated. The doctrines of her immaculate conception and her resurrection "incorruptible" to heaven where she reigns as queen were also upheld.

The most revolutionary development was the ecumenical feature toward Protestants, who in times past were declared heretics, but the council referred to them as "separated brethren." While the door of reunion was opened, the council made it clear that the "other Christians" had to return to the Catholic Church, the one true church. Vatican II maintained that baptism was the basis for Christian unity, however the council still perpetuated the necessity of baptism for salvation.

In 1978 Karol Wojtyla, who spoke eight times at Vatican II, was selected Pope John Paul II, the first non-Italian Pope in 456 years. He had studied for the priesthood at an illegal underground seminary during the Nazi occupation of Poland. He, also, had risked his life to help Jews escape from the Germans. After the war he spent much time ministering to Polish refugees in Western Europe. By 1967 he was given a Cardinal's red hat.

In the years after his election Pope John Paul II gained tremendous influence and popularity. While his flock numbers one billion baptized members, his opinions have had a global impact. Not only has his charismatic personality won followers, but he has traveled over a half a million miles to win admirers worldwide. He has become a strong moral force and has used his papacy to stand for conservative policies.

In 1994 he released Crossing the Threshold of Hope, which covered topics from the existence of God to the mistreatment of women. At the Cairo International Population Conference he used his influence to defeat a US-backed proposition to encourage abortions worldwide. Also that year, his most powerful publication "Evangelium Vitae" or "Gospel of Life" was published. The 200-page encyclical addressed the "culture of life" which affirmed human life from conception to death. He, also, condemned the "culture of death" which supported abortion rights, euthanasia, capital punishment, and the use of human embryos for medical research.

Nevertheless the people in the American Catholic Church have some different views on sexual morality from that of the Roman Church and their Pope. The Church disapproves of abortion, birth control, premarital sex, extramarital affairs, homosexuality, divorce, and remarriage. According to the Gallup polls American Catholics for the most part have the same opinions of these issues as the American Protestants and the non-Catholics. They accept abortions in cases or rape, incest, and fetal defects especially when the mother's health is endangered. Birth control is a very testy issue. By 1990 ninety percent of the American Catholics under age 50 favored artificial birth control for family planning, and the practice is widespread. Their standard rebuttal is always, "The Pope doesn't play the game, so he shouldn't make the rules."

A second issue of contention between the Church and the American Catholics is the divorce policy. The Church does not recognize divorce, however it permits the long and expensive policy called annulments. The procedure alleges that the marriage really never took place. The practice get touchy when children have been born during the marriage. The Church does not recognize remarriage, and it teaches that remarried couples are living in sin. Divorced Catholics are not suppose to receive the Eucharist, but many local priest overlook the status of their divorced and remarried parishioner when they administer the Sacraments. Meanwhile many American Catholics have changed their minds about divorce and remarriage, and they tend to believe along the same line as other Americans in their acceptance of the matter.

In the same vein the Church's position on priests and nuns has come under sharp criticism. The Church's strong official policy is no married priests and no female priests. While there has been a steady decline in men and women entering the Catholic ministry especially since the 1960's, there has been a increasingly strong support among American Catholics for both the ordination of women and the permission for priests to marry.

While the Church teaches that sex outside of marriage is wrong, most Catholic would prefer abstinence, but premarital experimentation has become more accepted. However, when it comes to homosexuality and extra-marital affairs, the Church and its members still strongly disapprove of both.

The Catholics with one-fourth of the US population are the largest single group of religious people in the country. Their parochial school system with 2.6 million (1997) students is the largest and strongest training ground outside the public schools in the nation. Historically from the earliest days in this country they have been a politically active people. They have held many elected public offices and exerted a strong influence at every level of government. The most recent achievement being VP candidate Geraldine Ferraro, the first female candidate for a major party office (1984). Regardless of whether the lay people agree with their Church or their Pope everyone is aware of the powerful moral influence and the ethical stance expected by the Catholics. They are a stronghold for the conservatives and the religious right in this Republic.

By far the most influential American Catholic position has become the Archbishop of New York at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Cardinal Francis Spellman, who held the position from 1939 to 1967, elevated the position to one of international power and respect. He was a friend of Popes, Presidents, and politicians. Author John Cooney called him "The American Pope." In 1939 Spellman was appointed military vicar of the US armed forces. He served through World War II and the Korean War. In 1951 he began the practice of spending Christmas with the troops overseas. Cardinal Spellman started the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner as a fund raiser for Catholic buildings. It has become one of the most significant annual political banquets in the nation. He was, also, a close friend of Pope Pius XII. In his endearing brilliant career Cardinal Spellman met world leaders from Europe to Asia. He was one of the great Americans of his era.

During the 1980's a movement for lay people Christ Renews His Parish swept across the country. It was a weekend retreat at the parish in which everyone discussed their spiritual journey. Everyone kept a personal journal and emphasis was placed on sharing, discernment, confession, reconciliation, and a closer relationship with Jesus Christ. Several gave their personal testimony. Each group gave a skit and made a poster. The closing ceremony was a Sunday morning service including the Eucharist. The retreats were for men and women separately. After one's first retreat you were expected to form the leadership team for the next retreat in six months. One uniqueness of the experience was that Protestants were invited to participate. This author was involved in two such retreats at St. Edward's Catholic Church in Ashland, Ohio in 1981.

Since this author attends a Catholic funeral or service just about every year, this is a personal observation. The liturgy certainly has all the right words that salvation is based on Jesus Christ's death on the cross for our sins. However when it comes to the Eucharist at the closing, invariably everyone takes the wafer or the bread, but almost everyone skips the Cup. Now in their doctrine the Cup is the actual blood of Jesus Christ (transubstantiation - John 6). Then, why do so many Catholic skip it? Is it corrupted or diseased? The command for the Lord's Supper in I Corinthians 11 is "do this in remembrance...and to proclaim the Lord's death." To my Catholic friends this author must say, "If the crucified Christ's blood pays for our sins to get us into heaven, then why omit the most important part of the worship service?"

This is one final observation for my evangelical friends about the Catholics. The evangelicals complain that the sermons are too short, and that the Scripture is not chapter and verse. The congregation usually only hears, "reading from the book of Romans." On the other hand this author appreciates the style of worship in the Catholic liturgy. The congregation always has a chance for confession. They, also, always have an opportunity to humbly kneel in prayer. For the differences in both camps Chuck Colson said it best in his book The Body, "Historically, Protestants have done a better job of making visible the spiritual reality of the Word in preaching, while Catholics have better made visible the spiritual reality of worship." Amen!

By 1987 the fulfillment of the Righteous Right's goals seemed right around the corner, if another Republican President could be elected. The "electronic church" was reaching 100 to 130 million people with their message, and one of their own Pat Robertson, a "religious broadcaster" not a TV evangelist, had entered the Presidential race. The Supreme Court might be within their grasp if George Bush could win twice, then the abortion decision might be reversed.

At that time the momentum of the "Moral Right" was broken by the prime time scandals that exposed two of their most successful TV evangelists: Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart. At first a "holy war" ensued over Bakker and John Wesley Fletcher's "tryst" with Jessica Hahn. The sleazy details were uncovered in every major publication from Time and Newsweek to Christianity Today. Evangelist John Ankerberg went on national TV to expand the accusations against Bakker and his staff. Jerry Falwell and Jimmy Swaggart each offered to "takeover" and to direct the PTL ministry.

Next, in February 1988, Jimmy Swaggart in a tearful confession to millions of TV viewers spoke to his family, his followers and God about his own sexual sins with prostitutes and pornography. He centered his appeal on the need for universal forgiveness for everyone. While no one could see a broken and contrite heart, they certainly heard a crying confession. Unfortunately three year later, 1991, Swaggart was caught in traffic violation accompanied by a known prostitute. His ministry of over 200 stations, in 145 countries, and an annual revenue of $140 million apparently came to an end.

During that time Jim and Tammy Bakker were banished from the Assemblies of God ministry. The PTL including Heritage USA filed for federal bankruptcy protection. Later, Heritage USA was purchased by an Orthodox Jewish developer from Canada. Bakker was prosecuted for fraud, sentenced to prison for 45 years, and served almost five years. Tammy Fay divorced him and married Roe Messner, the builder of Heritage USA. Jessica Hahn posed nude twice for Playboy.

After Jim Bakker was released from prison, his book I Was Wrong was published. He admitted to wrongfully preaching a "prosperity gospel," while the PTL collected $500 million dollars. He is now working on a new 24-hour TV healing ministry with former Green Bay Packer great Reggie White.

While Jim Bakker was trying to raise a million dollars every other day, Oral Roberts, the most successful fund raiser among TV evangelists, made the boldest announcement of all. Roberts declared that the City of Faith medical school needed $8 millions or "God will kill me." The outside world mocked and jeered him. He entered the ORU Prayer Tower to fast and pray, and miraculously the donors gave the money in one week. Nevertheless, it was just another contributing factor in what Michael D'Antonio called the "Fall From Grace: the Failed Crusade of the Christian Right."

The fallout from the scandals resulted in several consequences to the cause of conservative Christianity. First was the impact on Christian television. According to Jeffrey K. Hadden, a long-time Christian TV analyst, the market was being saturated because of dissatisfaction with commercial television, and PBS was the only other alternative choice for like-minded viewers. However, the audience was not pleased with the continual fund-raising appeals or the increasing political involvement of the televangelists.

While the broadcasters claimed that their primary goal was evangelism - soul winning, the message did not match the viewing audience. Studies agreed that the majority of the viewers were Southern and Midwestern Christian women, who were over 50 years of age. Most of the viewers were regular church attenders, who financial supported their local church. The only viewers, who substituted TV for their local church, were the elderly, handicapped, or young mothers with children. Clearly, one statistic that broadcaster did not want to hear was that the viewer estimates were inflated, and their ratings deserved to be lowered.

Marshall Fishwick referred to the whole escapade as "the Rape of the Vunerable," but it became obvious that the scandal only wounded the industry. With the core of Christianity being confession and forgiveness Christian TV survives and even thrives. The National Religious Broadcasters and the Financial Evangelical Council for Accountability (ECFA) tightened their standards to help regulate the industry.

One new Christian TV idea is the Faith and Values Channel which merged with the Southern Baptists' American Christian Television System in 1992. They have three appealing features. They have no on-air solicitation for funds, no attempt to make converts, and no attacking other faiths. It is a coalition of fifty religious groups (Protestant, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and American-born).

During this time the 1988 Presidential campaign had several revelations of misconduct. Democrat Gary Hart was forced to withdraw because of his affair with Donna Rice. Innuendoes became prevalent that the hero of Camelot President JFK was a womanizer. Finally, a bombshell fell on the Christian Right and Pat Robertson. The press learned that Pat and Dede were expecting their first child on their wedding day. He admitted the pregnancy, but he tried to soothe over their premarital behavior by saying that they had not yet been born again. When he withdrew from the political race, it was another setback to the activism of the Christian Right. The next year the Moral Majority went out of business, and some said that it was the death knell to the movement.

In 1989 Pat Robertson founded the Christian Coalition for grassroots activism and hired Ralph Reed as the Executive Director. Reed said, "The Christian community got it backwards in the 1980's, we tried to change Washington when we should have been focusing on the states. The real battles of concern to Christians are in neighborhoods, school boards, city councils, and state legislatures." Their goal was to organize the 175,000 precincts and carry the fight to the local level. They were more flexible than the Moral Majority, less dogmatic, and more willing to compromise.

Another post-Reagan Christian-right organization was the Family Research Council directed by Gary Bauer, a former top aide to Reagan's Education Secretary William Bennett. The FRC was formed in 1988 by Dr. James Dobson, who has the nation's second largest radio voice of over 1450 stations, with his Focus on the Family. Dr. Dobson gained national attention with his conversion stories of basketball phenom Pete Maravich and serial killer Ted Bundy. His group has focused on family issues such as no-fault divorce, tax breaks for families with pre-school children, and welfare policies for unmarried mothers. FRC has tried to avoid foreign affairs, and centered on the American family and the Judeo-Christian heritage of this nation. Their goal according to Bauer is to become "the premier experts on the family and family issues," so they can provide research data to policymakers in Washington, DC.

While some have claimed that the Christian Right's campaign failed, it has accomplished what third parties can only hope to achieve in politics that of getting their issues before the two major parties' platforms. They have clearly realigned the Republican Party. In 1982 about one-third of the evangelical voters called themselves Republicans. In the 1994 mid-term elections 74% voted Republican and made them the majority party in the 104th Congress for the first time since 1955.

The Republican's Contract with America, the legislative social agenda under Newt Gingrich, was mildly accepted by the conservative religious groups. While their intentions of "turning the nation around to public acts of piety," the primary issues of the Christian Right were on the back burner of Congress' priority list.

Clearly the traditional cornerstone for the Christian Right was overturning the Roe-Wade abortion decision. The battleground was now being defined as Pro-Choice vs Pro-Life or Right-to-Life. An amendment requiring two-thirds of Congress was hopeless. A Supreme Court reversal seemed even more remote. The struggle was limited to funding for "Planned Parenthood" clinics and to third trimester abortions. Christians offered "Crisis Pregnancy" centers and Operation Rescue as alternatives. But as the abortion total neared 40 million by the turn of the century, Christians painfully ponder whether anything short of a miracle would change this policy.

The second major issue school prayer has been a hop-scotch battle between legislative attempts and court decisions over the separation of church and state. In 1962 the Supreme Court struck down teacher-led classroom prayers. In 1992 the Supreme Court ruled that clergy-led graduation prayers were unconstitutional, too. The next year The Court let student-led prayers at graduations stand, and in 1997 they permitted student-led prayers at religious club meetings on school property. However, in June 2000 The Court ruled against the student-led prayer before the football game at the Santa Fe (Texas) school district.

In 1999 Marian Ward, daughter of a Baptist preacher, won a court-order to pray before the football games at Santa Fe, Texas. However in June of 2000, the Supreme Court ruled against the student-led prayers before the football games. Nevertheless, throughout the South the fall football season opened with a rebellion against the Court's decision. Some schools had a non-school sponsored prayer at the flag pole. At other games the fans "spontaneously" stood up on cue and began reciting the Lord's prayer. At Batesburg-Leesville (S.C.) the student body president disobeyed the Supreme Court and led the football fans in a prayer over the public address system after which the cheered.

In the meantime student-led prayers came to national attention in Burleson, Texas in 1990. The movement became known as See You at the Pole. SYATP has grown internationally as students gathered in front of their schools at the flag pole at 7AM in September to pray for their school. Advocates for student's right to pray have argued that their free speech is being denied if the courts decide against student-initiated prayer in schools.

The recent school violence has revealed the prayerful faith of some students. The Paducah, Kentucky students were shot during a circular prayer. At Columbine Cassie Bernall became the most famous student martyr for her "Yes" answer to the "do you believe in God?" question. Even editorialists and cartoonists are posing the question, "Why is it OK to have prayer after the school shootings when it is forbidden before the violence?" This issue and the other points of debate by the Christian Right continue to remain unsettled.

From the words of Matthew Moen the political activism of the Christian Right has "transformed" over the years. At first they were politically naive with a "kaleidoscopic structure" usually on single-issue campaigns. As they developed political savvy, their enemies and the media portrayed them as narrow-minded bigots far from the mainstream of American life and politics. Meanwhile, their viewpoint has been assimilated into the political scene and especially the Republican establishment, and they have influenced every election since their birth in 1979. Recently in the 2000 Republican Presidential campaign John McCain's campaign stalled when he criticized the "religious Right."

However, their success is cause for concern because as every Christian historian realizes, "the more involved they are for social causes, the less motivated they are for purely spiritual concerns." Chuck Colson has made an astute parallel to their predicament. He said, "Our well-intentioned attempts to influence government can become so entangled with a particular political agenda that it becomes our focus: our goal becomes maintaining political access. What happens the gospel is held hostage to the political agenda, and we become part of the very system we are seeking to change."

VI. The Parachurch Movement:

Parachurch means "alongside the church." Their work is to augment the churches and the denominations. They are a group of not-for-profit, non-denominational ministries to aid the spiritual, mental, and physical needs of people. Although they operate outside the church, these agencies either seek a partnership with or at least a sympathetic support from the local churches. Still since their beginning, the mainline denominations have generally viewed the parachurch organizations as antagonistic outsiders or competitors.

During the 1920's the traditional denominations (Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Disciples of Christ, and others) sent the missionaries, printed the Sunday School materials, supplied the hymnals, and regulated the colleges and seminaries. When the Scopes Trial over evolution and the modernist-fundamentalist controversy occurred, the conservative believers, who were still referred to as "fundamentalists," began withdrawing from the mainline churches. They shifted into doctrinal coalitions that are now being called "evangelicals."

By the 1930's they created strongholds where the Gospel could be spread without liberal leanings and secular enticements. They founded 30 Bible schools between 1930-40 and 60 more in the next decade. They used radio programs, youth organizations, and the printed word to add a new vitality to American Christianity. As the evangelicals left the mainline denominations, they took their money and their energies into the new ministries. Furthermore, their zeal was "to honor God" and to insure that their work was His work, so they bathed their efforts in prayer. Thus were the modern parachurch ministries born.

In those days not all the biblical conservatives made the flight to the right. The ones who stayed had sincere hopes that their denomination might retreat to a position on the Scriptures of earlier days. Consequently they found themselves not only on the fringe of their church family, but embroiled in splits and schisms and successions. While every major denomination faced some sort of division or debate, the evangelicals were left with the alternative to either leave for another denomination or redirect their zeal into some new organization. They became the backbone for the parachurch organizations.

In the early days of the modern movement the agencies had a heart for the young people away from home. Evangelism was their priority; and servicemen, college students, and the high school youths were their objectives. The first successful parachurch organization was Dawson Trotman's The Navigators. His goal was to evangelize sailors and then make them disciples, who would in turn evangelize another serviceman. "Daws" was noted for his follow up techniques of "scripture memory" and the Billy Graham "counseling" classes. His aim was "to know Christ and make Him known," so he earned the title "the apostle of follow-up."

As in so many fields of human endeavors where lives cross each others paths, they inspire and feed off of each other. W. Cameron Townsend, a good friend of Dawson Trotman, started the Wycliffe Bible Translators. It has become the largest missionary organization in the world. Their students learned linguistic skills for deciphering unwritten languages; and missiology, cross-cultural communication, became their evangelistic tool. They have translated the Scriptures into languages of over seventy countries of the world.

Quickly, new ministries sprang up with a passion for the young. The earliest was Evelyn McClusky's Miracle Book Club for Portland high school students in 1933. Also, new Sunday School materials came from Gospel Light Press, written by Henrietta Mears, and from Scripture Press, published by Victor and Bernice Cory. Young Life was founded by Jim Rayburn to take the gospel message to youth groups at the high schools. The final three agencies all continue to operate at the turn of the century.

Historically, the preeminent parachurch organization that has maintained a creditable reputation for integrity is the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Since their beginning, Billy Graham and his exemplary team have made decisions that have set the standards for other groups to emulate. First, they changed the practice of the evangelist collecting a love offering to just receiving a regular salary. Another shift was eliminating the longtime method of criticizing the local church and their pastor for failing in evangelism. They, also, worked with the local churches, and they counseled the "inquirers" to attend a church regularly for discipleship. Perhaps their utmost example was to form a non-profit corporation, the BGEA, to handle all their monies and to make an open disclosure of their financial records.

Over the years, as the BGEA has grown and expanded, they have taken advantage of every opportunity to preach the gospel. They have used nationwide radio, films, television, magazines, newspaper columns, books, and in recent years international evangelism conferences, satellites, and now the Internet to preach Christ. Doors have opened to Dr. Graham and his Crusades where others could not go. Starting in Los Angeles, to London, to New York, to every continent, behind the Iron Curtain, even to North Korea, and to the globe where Billy Graham has been able to proclaim the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for sinful man to hundreds of millions of people.

As other individuals and groups have recognized the need for a specific ministry, the parachurch movement began to focus on its role in the body of Christ. They could do things that the local church and even the denominations could not do. Foremost on the list was evangelism. With the cooperation of a variety of sources they could raise the finances and the people to fulfill the Great Commission. They could devote their energies full-time to a single project whether it was broadcasting worldwide like the Trans World Radio or translating the Bible like Wycliffe Bible Translators or feeding the needy like World Vision.

Over the years the two have realized their need for each other. The church can not hire a big enough staff or develop enough programs to reach the world, and the parachurch can only reach the world with the help of the volunteers and the donors from the church. However, neither can replace each other.

Joe Maggelet, a Navigator at Ashland University, gave this warning, "Sometimes they (parachurch groups) become so narrow and exclusive that they think a chapel service or a Bible study replaces church." He continued, "We can't do what the church does in worship and fellowship and administering the ordinances (sacraments)."

The church needs to guard against the same danger. Sometimes they (the church) becomes so complacent in ministering to the same comfortable congregation that they fail to have any outreach. It appears that the healthiest congregations have a variety of ministries: local, cross-cultural, national, and international.

Clearly, the single common goal for both the church and the parachurch is the Great Commission to evangelize the world. In the author's opinion the best single vehicle has been the Jesus film. This docudrama was taken from the Gospel of Luke. It was released in 1979 to US theaters. Since that time, Campus Crusade has made it the most translated (over 500 languages) and most viewed film (over 3 billion people) in the history of the world. It is seen daily by over a quarter of a million people, and over 100 million people have responded to the invitation.

Throughout the 20th Century the number of parachurch organizations has proliferated so much that well over 10,000 groups exist today. Most of them are so tiny that they have more people on their governing board than on their mission field. How effective or how useful they are is not widely known. The main criteria must be that they have earned the faithfulness of their donors, so it must be assumed that they have a viable ministry.

The PTL scandal exposed the need for some sort of financial watchdog or at least a financial disclosure system. It was Senator Mark Hatfield (Oregon), who called for "a Christian Better Business Bureau" or face the potential of government intervention. In 1979 the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) was born with their offices in Washington, DC. They have almost a thousand members, who submit to the EFCA standards and to the 50-60 random inspections annually. They feature a Donor's Bill of Rights and a Stewardship Responsibility to insure truthfulness in conduct and fund raising so as not to jeopardize their credibility or the IRS tax deductible status of their members.

At the beginning of the 20th Century only a handful of parachurch organization existed. The Society for Christian Endeavor was the first national youth organization. It was founded by Dr. Francis E. Clark in 1881. At the turn of the century because of fears that the Judeo-Christian values were being removed from the public schools youth agencies appeared such as: Boys Scouts of America (1906), 4-H Clubs (1907), Camp Fire Girls (1910), Girls Scouts of America (1912), and hundreds of lesser known religious based groups. As the American Republic enters the 21st Century the parachurch movement has enlarged, and specialized, and outstretched to the utmost parts of the world. This is a short list of notable Parachurch Ministries since the 1930's:

Parachurch Organizations Date: Founder:

Indp Fundm Churches of America 1930

Gospel Light Press 1933 Henrietta Mears

Navigators 1934 Dawson Trotman

Scripture Press 1934 Victor E. Cory

Alcoholics Anonymous 1935 Dr. Bob (Smith) & Bill W. (Wilson)

Wycliffe Bible Translators 1935 Cameron Townsend

Child Evangelism Fellowship 1937 Jesse Irvin Overholtzer

Young Life 1940 Jim Rayburn

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship 1941

(NAE) Nat. Assoc of Evangelicals 1942

National Religious Broadcaster Asc 1944

JAARS 1944

Youth for Christ 1945

Campus Crusade for Christ 1947 Bill Bright

World Vision 1950 Bob Pierce

BGEA Billy Graham Evang Assoc 1950 Billy Graham

Christian Business Men Committee 1951 Demos Shakarian

Trans World Radio 1952 Paul Freed

FCA Fellowship of Christian Athletes 1954 Don McClanen

National Prayer Breakfast 1955 Abram Vereide

700 Club (CBN) 1961 Pat Robertson

Templeton Foundation Prizes in Religion 1972 John M. Templeton

Baseball Chapel 1972 Watson Spoelstra

Jews for Jesus 1973 Moishe Rosen

Evangelism Explosion 1973 James Kennedy

Intercessors for America 1973 John Beckett,Derek PrinceErnBaxter

PTL Club 1974 Jim Bakker

Stephen Ministry 1975 Dr. Kenneth C. Haugk

Prison Fellowship 1976 Chuck Colson

Basic Institute for Youth Conflicts Bill Gothard

Habitat for Humanity 1976 Millard & Linda Fuller

Focus on the Family 1977 James Dobson

American Family Association 1977 Donald Wildmon

Evang Council for Financial Acctblty 1979

Moral Majority 1979 Jerry Falwell

Samaritan's Purse 1980 Franklin Graham

Arthur S. DeMoss Foundation 1983 Arthur DeMoss

Christian Coalition 1989 Ralph Reed

Promise Keepers 1990 Bill McCartney

Internationals USA, Inc 199? Ivanildo Trindade

The meteoric parachurch organization of the 1990's has been Promise Keepers. It was founded by Bill McCartney, the born again, former football coach at the University of Colorado. It was Coach Mac's vision to fill stadiums with men cheering and praising Jesus Christ. The all-male rallies have been scenes of hugs, tears, and emotional praises, while men behave like boys batting beach balls around the stands, doing the wave, and jumping to Jesus cheers. This evangelical men's movement has attempted to be a non-denominational, multiracial organization that calls men to be responsible to Jesus, to their wives and families, to their church, and to each other. Each man is challenged to find an "accountability partner," who will check on him so he becomes a better husband and a better father.

Critics have pointed out that the cost made attendance mainly for white males (85%). The women's group NOW has lead small demonstrations against the "males leadership in marriage" position. Gay men have objected to the opinion that homosexuality is a sin. Others have mentioned McCartney's admission of adultery and his daughter's two sons born out-of-wedlock from two different men. Nevertheless, it has become the fastest growing men's organization of the decade with over one million men attending the conferences annually. Also, a spin-off organization of Christian women called Praise Keepers has emulated the ideals of Promise Keepers. They began in Missouri in 1996.

In 1997 Promise Keepers made several major successes. Their Pastor's Conference in Atlanta was attended by almost 40,000 church leaders which was possibly the largest single gathering of pastors in the history of the Christian Church. PK went international with conferences in Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. In October the rally in Washington, DC at the National Mall drew an estimated 710,000 men. It was called "Stand in the Gap: A Sacred Assembly of Men," and it was broadcast live on C-Span. Since then, Promise Keepers has waved the stadium fees to attract a more diverse group of men. However, they continue to stress reconciliation and spiritual renewal as their central message.

No group is too large or too small that it goes unnoticed by the Creator of the universe. The author is President of a released-time Bible-in-the-school program which dates back to 1946. It has a corporation's board of 12 trustees. The heart of the program is two male teachers, who teach the Bible to elementary kids grades one through four in one school system north of Ashland, Ohio. Once a week during their lunch hour one hundred and some kids walk to a nearby church and get a Bible lesson in some classes under ten students. Insignificant as the program may seem, it makes one speculate on how many thousands or millions of little works God is doing all over the world.

The New Testament verse that inspires these church and parachurch works is Matthew 25:36, "I was naked..sick..in prison, and you came to me." Every church and hospital has a chaplain or a visitation program for their patients. Most communities are reached by the Salvation Army or an interchurch group that provides food and clothing for the needy. While jail ministries usually happen at the local level, Chuck Colson started Prison Fellowship, one of the great parachurch group in recent years. Most local works have aligned themselves with the national organization and particularly the Angel Tree project for the children of the incarcerated.

This author's mother spent almost thirty years at an "Interchurch Thrift Shop" distributing food, clothing, and money to the needy. Her kids and grandkids at different times helped sort clothing or went on food runs with her. When she died in December of 1999, the work continued and others stepped into the gap.

Lyle Schaller wrote a great statement about these ministries in his book Innovations in Ministry. In Chapter 2 "Filling in the Vacuum" he said, "When we look more closely at the passing ecclesiastical parade, we see individuals, pastors, missionaries, teachers, leaders, congregations, parachurch organizations, theological seminaries, publishing houses, denominational agencies, authors, Christian colleges, and other institutions dropping out. Everyone, however, is replaced in one form or another, and the parade continues to grow larger. Nursing homes and cemeteries are filled with people once identified as irreplaceable. God continues to raise up both people and institutions for God's world."

VII. Everyday Everywhere:

The collapse of communism in 1989 astounded the world. During the last months of the decade revolutions occurred in five Eastern Bloc dictatorships: Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Romania. Two years later the Soviet Union shattered into 15 pieces. The Cold War was over, and the Berlin Wall came down. Now only one superpower remained and peace was at hand.

How was the course of history so dramatically reversed? Everyone praised Mikhail Gorbachev for his policy of glasnost (openness). Most credited Ronald Reagan for a military buildup with such a staggering cost that the Soviet Union was bankrupted. Some believed that Pope John Paul's support of Lech Walesa and the Solidarity trade union encouraged a chain reaction that toppled the Eastern Bloc. But a few said that, "It was a miracle of God through His church."

The clear fact is that church people and ordinary citizens discovered the most effective non-violent tool of the 20th Century - the candle. One satellite country after another pierced the darkness of communism with peaceful candlelight marches. The flames were ignited by pastors, who called for prayers, masses, sermons, or just singing hymns and Christmas carols. The crowds swelled the streets, the town squares, and the churches as they defied the troops, the tanks, and the Communists regimes. Thus, as Bud Bultman called it, the Revolution By Candlelight brought down the Iron Curtain. Barbara Von Der Heydt concurred in her book Candles Behind The Wall.

But, another curtain was drawn back, and it revealed a never before realized worldwide persecution of Christians. For years Richard Wurmbrand, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, and Georgi Vins had cried out about the Marxist war on Christianity. As the Siberian atrocities were being exposed, a flood of blood was unveiled about the tortured, imprisoned, and martyred Christians around the world.

Two important authors have called attention to these widespread human right violations against Christians. Nina Shea, director of the Puebla Program of Religious Freedom, wrote In the Lion's Den, and Paul Marshall released Their Blood Cries Out. Their voices caused Ralph Kinney Bennett in a Reader's Digest article to proclaimed that there is a "Global War on Christians." And that "Never before have so many Christians been persecuted for their beliefs. An estimated 200 million to 250 million are at risk in countries where persecution is most severe."

James and Marti Hefley in their book By Their Blood stated that "More Christians have been martyred in our century than during all the other eras of church history combined." Thanks to the growing awareness of the situation in 1997 Christian leaders set November 16th as the first "International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church." There is a great irony about the countries where the worst persecution occurs (Africa through Asia). Missions boards are calling this evangelistic target the "10/40 window." It is the area of Africa and Asia between 10th and the 40th degree of latitude. Nevertheless the mission's door appears open more now than at any time of the 20th Century.

Every generation of Christians has been motivated by Matthew 24:14 where Jesus said that "the sign" of His return and the end of the world would occur when the gospel of the kingdom was preached in every nation. At the end of the Millennium it appears that the fulfillment has never been this close before. In 1988 David Barrett and James Reapsome listed some 700 plans throughout history to evangelize the world. They said that 387 were still being pursued.

One of the great ideas for reaching the world is Patrick Johnstone's book titled Operation World. It is a day-by-day prayer guide on every nation, people group, agency, and mission's organization. His calendar is packed with facts and needs to pray for around the globe. Every believer would agree that the first step in reaching the world is prayer, and Operation World may be the best prayer list anywhere. In 1995 Dr. David Barrett speculated that in excess of 10 million weekly prayer meetings were being held with 160 million participants.

In the past centuries global evangelism has no overall coordination or cooperation. But, Ralph Winter founded "the U.S. Center for World Missions" to help remove any obstacles to the "hidden or unreached people" groups. Since 1975 in Pasadena, California, mission-related organizations have met regularly for prayer, discussion, and problem solving. Dr. Winter, who was inspired by Dawson Trotman and Donald McGavran, has been considered a man ahead of his time because of this vision.

Dr. Winter has tried to convince Christians that "the key to a genuine renewal will happen when world missions is the church's ultimate concern." In 1974 he pointed out that most of the missionaries and Christian workers (91%) worked mainly to win nominal Christians to real faith in the Lord where churches are already established rather than to evangelize unreached people groups. He estimated that only 9% of the workers are deployed among the 16,750 unreached people groups. He has identified the task for missions to recruit missionaries from the world and not just the West, but from Asia, Africa, and Latin America, too.

Meanwhile, in the past two decades several circumstances have opened areas that were resistant to Christianity. The Muslim world with the flood of oil wealth has become more secularized and worldly. The fall of Communism has torn down once impossible barriers. The emphasis on a global economy has given the gospel a chance to ride in on the shirttails of international business. When disasters have occurred, the dollars within American Christianity have provided not only relief, but Bible tracts have been passed out to the suffering people. Perhaps the greatest passageway is the satellite communication system for radio, television, and the Internet which is reaching every corner of the globe.

It could be God's most glorious work of late has been in China under the Communist Party. When they took over in 1949 there were an estimated 3.3 million Catholics and 1.8 million Protestants with 6000 missionaries. During the Communist reign Bibles have been destroyed, believer's home were looted, and Christians have been imprisoned, tortured, and killed. The government's record on human rights violations has been notorious with Tiananmen Square in 1989 being the most infamous incident.

Nevertheless, researchers estimated in 1990 after 40 years of atheist indoctrination, there were now 30-75 million Christians in the country. The growth occurred through itinerant preachers, house churches, and revivals caused by wars, disasters, and disillusionment with communism and the old religions. The harvest has been amazing without Bibles, or missionaries, and with little evidence of response to Christian broadcasting.

Another breakthrough in the Communist world was in Cuba, the only Communist country in the Western Hemisphere and the lowest percentage (44%) of Christians in the Caribbean. In January of 1998 Pope John Paul II made a five-day tour of the nation where only five percent of the people attend church. The crowds were a mix of political and religious fervor with "freedom" as their favorite word. Tens of thousands attended the final Mass in Havana's Plaza of the Revolution with Fidel Castro seated in the front row. Believers and non-believers proclaimed that they were encouraged by the Pope's monumental visit, and missionaries were even permitted to go door-to-door with catechisms and gospel tracts of the book of Mark.

For now, the state of world evangelism is cause for rejoicing. Several web sites on the Internet have made it possible to keep tract of the progress of the Gospel. Dr. Winter (www.The State of World Evangelization), Patrick Johnstone, David Barrett, Todd Johnson of YWAM, and others are keeping Christians informed about every corner of the globe. The exciting news is that while the world population is growing at a 1.6 rate Christianity is expanding at a 2.6 rate. The fastest growing groups are: Pentecostals and Charismatics 7.3, Evangelicals 5.7, Protestants 2.9, and Roman Catholics 1.2 rate.

Some other exciting facts are that in 1974 Dr. Winter estimated that one-half of the world had not been reached by the gospel. In the year 2000 David Barrett now estimates that the figure for the unreached peoples is down to one-fourth. Dr. Winter reports that the Bible-believing Evangelicals are 11% of the world's population, and that the figure is increasing one percent every 3-4 years.

One of the big questions is: who will paid for these world missions? Presbyterian Pastor Stephen Crotts' scenario of the global population in terms of 100 people clearly directs the responsibility at the USA. He divides the ratio like this: "21 Europeans, 24 persons would be from North and South America, 57 Asians, and eight Africans; 48 would be males and 52 would be females; 70 would be non-Christians and 30 would be Christians. Six people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth. All six would be from the United States, 50 would experience malnutrition; 70 could not read; one person would be near death, one person would be about to give birth; 80 would live in poor housing; one would have a college education; and one would have a computer. Who can afford to pay for evangelization of the world? It is us!

A disturbing concern about world missions is the imbalance of the effort toward the unreached or unevangelized peoples. While the annual income of the global church members is estimated at 12.3 trillion dollars just $11.4 billion goes for missions. However, only 114 million dollars or one percent is spent on the 10,000 unreached people groups. Eighty-seven percent of the mission's dollars goes for work where the Christian church already exists. Furthermore, of the 420,000 missionaries only 2-3 percent work in the unreached mission's field.

In spite of that George Barna reports, "America represents one of the great untapped mission fields in the world today. North America represents the one continent on which Christianity is not growing." Each new generation requires a new evangelistic effort. Thus even longtime Christian areas need to be re-evangelized in each generation.

The 21st Century US faces a home missions challenge in the urban areas where the inter-city, the gated apartment complexes, and the security-minded condos all offer stiff isolation to outside evangelistic efforts. Also, the non-traditional family structures such as the singles, the co-habitating couples, the divorced-single parents, and the gays and lesbians all need a compassionate effort to win them to Christ. It is still however historically true that the church tends to flee to the comfortable, safer, wealthier suburbs.

Meanwhile as the Christian church looks for the "blessed hope" of the appearing their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, continually the world standard, that the faithful keep their eye on, is the status of world evangelization from Matthew 24:14. Nevertheless, believers still maintain a confidence that God is at work everyday everywhere in every life throughout all of history.

On the other hand the American church of the 1990's faced some new changes, too. Lyle Schaller, the foremost observer of Protestant Christianity over the past 30 years, feels that there have been more changes in the Protestant church between 1960 and 2000 than there were between the years 1820 to 1960. Among his over forty books the best description of this transformation is The Seven-Day-a-Week Church.

During the 1950's three of four adult members belonged to the same denomination as their parents and grandparents. Their congregation had one or two Sunday morning worship services with a Sunday School and the Adult Bible classes during the opposite hour. Their hymnals and Sunday School materials were published by the denomination's printing company. Their Minister either remained at the same church for years or the denomination shuffled him and others around the district and the state. During the week the church held a youth meeting, some women's meetings probably associated with missions, and an occasional church board meeting. Since the congregation size remained rather constant, the same building had been used generation after generation. While the oak pews lasted for years, the only capital improvements projects were for renovation and for restoration. The church service, the church calendar, and the church life was simple, consistent, and comfortable.

In 1955 Donald A. McGavran founded the Church Growth Movement with his book The Bridges to God. His basic theory was that people come to Christ in homogeneous groups, and that "people like to become Christians without crossing racial, linguistic, or class barriers." At first his principles were used on the mission field in Third World countries. Then in the 1970's he taught his ideas to American pastors. Lyle Schaller said, "The Church Growth Movement was the most influential development of the decade." McGavran disciples like Peter Wagner, Win and Charles Arn, and other non-Fuller Seminary experts like Elmer Towns and Medford Jones began explaining webs and networks in growing the churches.

By the 1970's these large churches of over 1,000 Sunday morning worshippers were called the "Megachurches." During this time the Jesus People and the "baby boomers" were coming into the church. They were attracted to non-denominational, evangelical, and charismatic congregations. They desired a Christ-centered church with Bible-preaching, since many of them had experienced a life transformed by Jesus Christ.

While bigness was a major concern, the megachurches compensated by providing a number of congregations within the congregation, smaller classes, cells, groups, and fellowships. Their spiritual supermarket could offer a wide range of specialized ministries. The point of entry was just not the Sunday morning worship service, but the Saturday night dress-down, music-centered service, a weeknight Inquirers' class, the youth program, seniors' support, singles' volleyball, men's basketball, jail ministry, divorce-recovery, alcohol-rehab, mother's club, MOPs, a Christian school, and family offerings were all attractions. Consequently, they needed a larger pastoral staff, and many had to relocate because of the needed building program for larger facilities and increased parking requirements.

Although a large sanctuary with multiple services was a necessity, the centrality of the seven-day-a-week church was children's ministries according to Lyle Schaller. A two or three day-a-week pre-school was the easiest entry for any size church into weekday ministries. A Christian elementary school and a home schooling program could usually be accomplished by doubling up with the Sunday School classrooms. The non-church addition that required the congregation to reach out for ministry was a gymnasium. However, it needed a crossover name such as the activity center, or the family life center, or the multi-purpose room, or just a fellowship hall for church gatherings after church, a wedding, or funerals. Outside of the sanctuary this building became the key bridge to the community. Thus, the seven-day-week church was born.

Peter Wagner pointed out that "the Pastor is unquestionably the key to the growth in churches." His tenure was at least twenty years at most of the megachurches. He was usually a dynamic preacher, who centered on the Scriptures; and he was a CEO-type with a vision for growth. Likewise, he had a congregation with a passion for evangelism and for inviting new people to their church. They, too, had a vision for people needs, and the term "lay-driven ministries" began appearing in church growth circles.

Nevertheless, in many cases the megachurch is known for the messenger and not the ministry such as Jerry Falwell rather than Thomas Road Baptist Church of Lynchburg, Virginia. Jack Hyles at Hammond First Baptist, Chuck Smith at Calvary Chapel, Tommy Barnett at Phoenix First Assembly of God, Dr. Richard Jackson at North Phoenix Baptist Church, John MacArthur at Grace Community Church, Rick Warren at Saddleback Valley in Orange County, Calif., Robert Schuller at the Crystal Cathedral, Leith Anderson at Wooddale Church, Ross Rhoads at Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Knute Larson at The Chapel in Akron, Ohio were just a few of the top names at megachurches.

One of the biggest attractions among the megachurches is the Willow Creek Church in South Barrington, Illinois. It was founded by Bill Hybels in 1975 in a motion picture theater. At the turn of the century Willow Creek is now the largest Protestant church in the nation averaging over 17,000 people a week. Lyle Schaller called it, "the most widely studied, the most controversial, the most publicized, and the most copied church in North America."

Their top priority has been reaching the unchurched adults, who displayed no interest in the traditional church or church service. Willow Creek's approach is to the boomer generation, who sees the uncertainty of modern life and experiences the dysfunctional episodes of family life. Their staff assumes that many have broken relationships and are in need of healing. Consequently, most of the four weekend services are for "seekers" and "searchers."

When one drives up to this church, it is as if the traffic cops and parking lot attendants are directing you into a sports stadium or a rock concert. As one nears the building, it doesn't seem like church, but a 120-acre suburban business headquarters. Inside there are no greeters only information centers where "community updates" are passed out. The auditorium and the seating are more like a movie theater with a large video screen up front. There are no hymnals or religious decorations. To that point everything is very user friendly to the non-church person.

The service begins with non-participation, upbeat music and usually includes a dramatic skit. There is no liturgical type of involvement, and the attender is only gradually and moderately drawn into the singing portion. The 35-minute message (sermon) deals mainly with the issues of life and a limited amount of references to Bible passages. The entire program is like the 4,000 to 5,000 people are watching everything on a television screen up front. One goal is to attract the listener into one of the 250-small group Bible studies or some further involvement at this church. As one leaves it is as if they have been to the mall or at least a religious supermarket that they might return again to do some spiritual shopping. The "believers" can attend a midweek service for worship and Bible teaching.

Critics, such as Gregory Pritchard, have questioned the consumer-oriented approach by Willow Creek as just "theological engineering" that appeals with a multi-media method of delivery. Marshall Fishwick, also, points out that the new mass culture has electronically consumerized and "McDonaldized" the church. That "Big Mac" and "Big Jesus" are being marketed with fast, high-tech versions that are feeding the church growth movement. Their observations are a kin to Marshall McLuhan's theory that "the medium is the message."

Others contend that since the traditional worship is left out of the Willow Creek seekers service subsequently a "nonworship epidemic" is being fostered at all the copycat churches. Since the attenders are not being called on to participate or directly respond in worship, they do not have a chance to engage in a relationship with God through Christ.

To his detractors Pastor Hybels points out, "At Willow Creek I preach about sin. I use the 'S-word." He identifies the Willow Creek theology with Wheaton College and the Billy Graham Evangelical Association. One Grace Brethren pastor, who has heard Hybels preach, said, "He is clear on sin, salvation, repentance, and redemption." It is also noteworthy that Pastor Hybels has been one of President Clinton's spiritual accountability partners since the Lewinsky escapade.

During the rapid growth years Willow Creek and most of the megachurches emphasized evangelism and soul-winning. At some plateau along the way their approach switched to discipleship, equipping their saints, and care for their members. They then became known more as a "teaching church." Thus, the seven-day-a-week ministry became a passion. By the 1990's even the smaller churches of 500 to a thousand found it easy to implement the pattern and to have a program for every day of the week.

In the meantime many pastoral staffs faced several burdens. First, newcomers were entering the church everyday of the week at some morning, afternoon, or evening program. According to George Barna's growth estimates "80% was just church migration." The staff was having a hard time tracking where these people were spiritually especially if they only attended and never considered membership or ministry. Secondly, the church growth resulted in a large increase in the demand for counseling and care ministries. As pastors got more involved in their lives, they found too many of these "church hoppers" were not clear about their faith in Christ.

One care and assimilation pastor explained it like this, "There has been no contrite heart, or repentance, or spiritual transformation. They come in for a quick fix change to save their marriage or solve a problem with their kids or another relationship. But they are like II Timothy 3 they have not experienced the power of God in their life or understand how He can change their life. They might as well go to a secular counselor and get one of those self-help programs."

At Saddleback Valley their ministry goes around a four-part life development process that uses a baseball diamond for an analogy. Getting to first base means coming to a personal faith in Christ. After that each base leads to the development of growing, serving, and sharing Christ. Pastor Rick Warren has written a church classic for the 1990's titled The Purpose Driven Church.

The single greatest purpose of the church and perhaps the most important paragraph of this book is the issue of where each person will spend eternity and how they will get there. This author's pastor said, "Paul, this is my greatest burden for each person in our congregation." Throughout the history of the church and in every generation it has been the concern of the ages. Even the Apostle Paul said, "I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel." (Romans 9:2)

At no time in history has the message that "Jesus Saves" been better communicated than in the 20th Century. While it's no longer on the Burma Shave signs, the idea of conversion and born again is continually in the media. Even Larry King and Barbara Walters know how to ask the questions about Jesus Christ as the Savior. In the summer of 2000 ABC's Peter Jennings promised a personal search for Jesus. However, he only consulted the scholarly scoffers of the repugnant Jesus Seminar. After all, the idea that Jesus is the only way to heaven has come under increasing skepticism.

During the last half of the 20th Century, the world has become a village; and we have become next door neighbors. While some have different gods, our expectations and doctrines have a degree of similarity. If we are a good person and treat our fellow man with kindness, and we are sincere in our religion, then surely we will end up in the same place with some kind of eclectic god. Beside he or she might really be the same god with different meanings.

Another confusing religious discrepancy is the difference between the Christians and the non-Christians. Among those, who profess a faith, their lifestyle, their morals, and their divorce rate isn't any better than the non-believers. In fact everyone has friends, who do not attend church and are extremely well behaved. They are faithful to their family and friends. They are honest in their work and to their employer. In what they say and do one could not find a more genuine friend or a better person. In the eyes of the world they may even be preferred to those so-called "hypocrites" that are seen in churches. How we wish that some kind of Shechinah glow would surround the believers rather than the clouds of doubt. The clarity of the issue is jumbled even more within the Christian church itself.

At this point in his closing the author would like to veer from the third person to his personal experiences. My family background is Lutheran and Catholic. Anytime that I attend a funeral, I continually hear, "Well, he (or she) was baptized and confirmed so we think he's in heaven." The minister or priest usually adds some religious standards such as attendance, service, confession, and some sacraments. In the end the deceased either deserves or should get into heaven.

As I grew older I attended and belonged to other Protestant churches. They usually had a strong message about God's love and forgiveness. I was discipled not to be too judgmental because God's mercy extends to all people. I was told, "Don't be too critical of sin since God loves sinners." A faith was encouraged that a loving God would not be too harsh because hell is a place reserved for people like Hitler and Stalin.

Also, along my spiritual journey I found that the evangelical or fundamentalist churches were the best at emphasizing salvation. Their message is simple that heaven is a free gift. One only needs a sinner's prayer just inviting Jesus into their heart. By repeating the preacher's or Sunday School teacher's words they can be guaranteed eternal life. The fundamentalists usually include a public declaration of faith such as raising a hand or going forward at an alter call. Believer's baptism is, also, accepted as a public witness of faith. But, the method is in question whether by sprinkling or immersion. Then, is the immersion once or three times forward or backwards?

When I first realized that Jesus Christ was the way to salvation, I wanted to tell everybody about it. Some were persuaded to say a prayer. Others had a polite interest and a passive agreement with my witness. No one cussed me out or yelled at me for talking about it. Over the years some are still involved in a church today, while others lead well-mannered lives, however they are too busy for spiritual matters. Recently, an African-American pastor pointed out to me that Jesus only harvested one-in-four in the sower and the seed story.

As I grew spiritually I, also, realized that witnessing needed the work of the Holy Spirit. I clearly backed off on my efforts, while telling myself that I was trying to see the Spirit do a work. Meanwhile, I was trying to sort out what part comes from man and how much of the saving of mankind belongs to God.

I have arrived at the conclusion that the 20th Century church and the parachurch organizations have given the wrong "assurance" to people. They have placed too much emphasis on the "I have decided to follow Jesus" and "my" personal testimony. They have centered on "the choice" and "the decision" to become Christian. Consequently, so many testimonies start with "I" did something to get closer to God.

While 95 percent of Americans say they believe in God, there is a wide discrepancy between their actions, and their attendance at worship, and their obedience to the Scriptures. There is also a large falling away by those, who at some time showed a spiritual interest or make a profession of faith. I'm afraid that the dropout rate may be larger than the faithful followers of Christ. Some might classified them as "nominal," or "carnal," or "lukewarm" Christians.

I fear that too many people have an assurance that they are going to heaven because they said a prayer at a church, or at a rally, or in front of a television, or with a Christian. Others proclaim their church membership, or that they follow the Ten Commandments. Some even mention a Sunday School attendance pin, or throwing a stick in the fire at a church camp out, or throwing their rock music in a trash can, or a God and Country award from the Boy Scouts, or that they raised their hand at a meeting. They major on what they did will get into heaven.

I like the words of Bernard A. Weisberger on the matter, who said, "Once, the salvation of a soul had been a miracle, recorded in God's book of life. Now, it was a nightly crowd performance registered on cards."

Heaven, eternal life, salvation, redemption, the life hereafter is based totally on what Jesus Christ did on the Cross. His death, His blood payment, His sacrifice is the only acceptable payment for our sins. The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians Chapter 2 (verses 10 & 11) that at the judgment, "Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." To me it is pride and vain glory for anyone to make any claim that they did something to get saved. Even our faith should come after Jesus is praised for what He did on Good Friday. This being the case then all the glory goes to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The only thing we get credit for is being a sinner saved by grace.

The Epilogue:

While this is not intended to be a disclaimer to the final paragraphs, all those religious activities are fine and may well confirm one's faith and give them assurance. And while salvation comes only through the blood payment by Jesus Christ on the Cross, God is a personal God, who has created each person with unique and individual characteristics. He, also, directs His works and thoughts toward each human being so that they may come to know Him personally. As the Psalmist said, "Thou art acquainted with all my ways....and hast laid thy hand upon me." (139:3) Nevertheless, I sense that the smartest, and the wisest, and the most brilliant people haven't been able to write, or say, or sing, or scratch the surface of His indescribable greatness in dealing with the billions of people, who are alive and who were ever born. I trust His promise that He has worked in the life of every person in history so that all have had an opportunity to know Him.

Believers are aware of the mercy and grace and compassion that gave us this undeserved salvation, and we enjoy the overwhelming blessing that accompanies this relationship in Christ. We realize Christ's sacrifice covered our selfishness, and our self-centered overestimation of our value. While we evangelicals, who were born again, don't understand why the Holy Spirit moved upon us, our gratitude goes beyond words. With glad hearts we humbly hope that all the glory goes to God for driving us to the foot of the Cross and for the resulting work that changed our lives.

As I have researched this history and particularly the last three decades my heart is lifted up in thanksgiving for the privilege of being in Christ during these events. I have sat under the preaching of Knute Larson, John Teevan, Dan Allan, and others. I have been inspired to tears by the singing of the Gaithers, Sandi Patti, Larnell Harris, and others. I have been enriched by the teachings of Chuck Colson, Josh McDowell, Hal Lindsey, and others. I have been edified by the witnessing courses of I Found It, Equipping The Saints, Evangelism Explosion, the Christian Life and Witness, and others. I have been blessed by Christ Renews His Parish, FCA conferences, Promise Keepers, and others. It has been an honor to work on the Jesus project, the Billy Graham films, his Crusades, and others. Most of all I have loved being in the local church, the "bride" of Christ.

The local church and particularly my church Grace Brethren on West Main in Ashland, Ohio has been where God has intended my spiritual growth to take place. I have had pastors, who have loved me and who have watched over my soul to equip me for service. I have had the pleasure of serving as an elder, a member of the building committee, a school board member, and a Sunday School teacher. I have had the joy of giving my tithes and offerings to the budget and the ministry goals of this church. Many of my dearest friends have a common bond in Christ at our church. Most of all I have been blessed by the music and the preaching to worship my Lord and my Savior weekly at this church.

Acknowledgements:

Throughout my teaching career I was forced to evaluate numerous textbooks. I came to the conclusion that single author texts usually missed some topics and information. Now that I have written and researched this book, I did what I never thought was a good practice - a single author text. However, this book is intended to a "supplement" not your basic survey textbook. Consequently, I admit that areas may be lacking or some topics are excessive. I see that three chapters on the 20th Century take up almost half the wordage. Nevertheless, I will accept any criticism or suggestions for inclusions.

Secondly, this nation has had so many Christian, who made an impact, yet they were not recognized for their faith. This past February on the same Saturday Tom Landry and Charles Schulz died. In the newspapers almost nothing was said about their tremendous Christian testimonies, but plenty was written about the coaching and the comics. This happens so often. I know I have failed to include some wonderful Christians. Again, please give me suggestions.

Finally, I must thank my former students, who wrote hundreds and in the thousands of those "dreaded" research papers. We both disliked the work, but I know it was good for the learning. I learned a great deal about research and how to write the stuff. I, also, appreciate those who have read parts of this manuscript and given me suggestions. This list includes: Dan Allan, Doug Denbow, Ken Cutrer, Sherm Brand, Joe Maggelet, Wes Collins, and all those friends, who kept asking "how's the book coming." Thanks, also, goes to Jon Hall, Kevin McQuate, and Tim Sinchok, who helped make this into an eBook and a CD-ROM. And last, my wife, who sat across from me at her sewing machine creating wall hangings and quilt blocks, and lovingly encouraging me when I got stuck with those writer's blocks.

Psalms 145:4

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