Birmingham Church Declares War on Drugs Defeat Results In

Birmingham Church Declares War on Drugs Pdgc 4 P, Defeat Results in Victory Health System Deals With Radical Changes jq )(.) Floi,zot4 Breakthrough in Miami by the Editor he evangelist left the pulpit tions the "Evangelism Explosion" in the metropolitan area are hundreds and stepped to the front of program, home Revelation Seminars, of thousands of Hispanics, many of the auditorium. People were active, soul-winning churches, and whom speak only Spanish, plus tens streaming down the aisles to pastors who have soul winning on of thousands of Haitians, most of T whom speak only French fluently. meet him. their hearts. A typical altar call? Yes and No. There were the usual obstacles, and In an effort to reach a broader spec- A Revelation Now crusade was to others unique to large cities. "One trum, radio and newspaper ads and begin at the Airport Lakes Holiday Inn was trying to get the word out, ex- posters were prepared in Spanish. March 6. plains Halvorsen. "Miami is such a Meanwhile, the pre-work was con- But this was November 8, four massive complex that it is hard to tinuing. Gail Skilton is what some months before the crusade was to have enough money to advertise. would call a Bible worker. Young and open. Secondly, the traffic is terrible. energetic, she wheeled into town in a And the location was the Miami Another thing—people work a lot of pickup truck pulling a travel trailer. Springs church. night shifts in Miami." For three months she worked with The occasion? The morning wor- His remarks were understated. the churches to develop Evangelism ship service. Miami is the 14th largest media mar- Explosion (EE). The program calls for For Ron Halvorsen the campaign ket in the nation, with 28 television a trainer to visit with two trainees. had already begun. stations and nearly 50 radio stations Once or twice a week they visit homes, bombarding the city. The budget make a gospel presentation, explain By the following April, nearly 70 would allow ads on only one small TV Bible subjects, and invite people to people had been added to the Miami station and three radio stations. One make decisions for Christ. After sev- Springs, Temple, and Westchester standard-size newspaper ad would eral weeks, the participants are now Spanish churches. have cost $5, 500. qualified to be trainers, with each of "The pre-work was the secret to the Few cities are as culturally diverse. the original three now taking two per- success," says Halvorsen. He men- Among the three million inhabitants sons with him. What had once been three is now nine. Within a few more weeks the nine has "exploded" to 27, then 81! Rallies were held in the sponsoring churches, plus others in the sur- rounding area. When opening night arrived, so did gale winds and torrential rains. Half of the 80 or so who had seen brochures or posters and called for reserved seats failed to come. Total attendance was 325—respectable, but not equal to expectations. In most instances, attendance usually goes downhill after opening night. Halvorsen and Skilton, together with Pastors John Newbern, Dan Bentzinger, and Carlos Turcios, began to implement contingency plans. Although Halvorsen and the team had engaged in a strong visitation program before the crusade, "the first two weeks we had a very heavy visiting Dan Bentzinger explains the registration booklet to those attending the opening night. schedule. The pastors and I visited 2 ■ Southern Tidings May, 1987 evangelism must be a process, not an down and involved two other event. "If you don't have evangelism churches, the fact that we did a lot of year around or a growing church preparatory work on a larger scale program, you can't expect an than simply our church, we'll come evangelist to come in for a month or out with 60 or 70 baptisms. You go two and do it." through all the motions for five or 70. Bentzinger detects a trend. "Years You preach, you visit, you run your ago we used to do a lot of preparatory classes, you live in your trailer—you work. More recently we get up a few do the whole nine yards whether you weeks before and announce, 'We're reap 10 or 100. It is just more cost starting meetings. Hope you can effective, if you are going to send an come.' No evangelist should go to a evangelist in, to do some preparatory church unless there has been five or work and reap 100." six months of preparatory work." Meanwhile, the follow-up con- "The conferences, the Union, and tinues. Halvorsen remained for an Carlos Turcios translates the messages into churches should send evangelists additional week to visit and secure Spanish. Headsets were providedwhich allowed into areas that are actively involved in additional decisions. "Shepherds" persons to sit anywhere in the auditorium and receive the translation. reaching the community," believes are being assigned to the new mem- Halvorsen. "I don't think we are bers. Pastors' Bible classes are being strategizing the places where we are held to further indoctrinate and inte- their main interests to encourage going to hold meetings. We are going grate new converts into the faith. Ef- them to come to the meetings. Once by lottery concept. People put their forts are being made to involve the into the meetings, we visited all the names in, they want a meeting, and new members in Evangelism Explo- primary interests in their homes to we draw the names out of a hat, as it sion. encourage them and to set and seal were. We must come to grips with the "There's a threefold thrust in this them with the message," explains needs of certain churches. We should program," says Halvorsen, "training Halvorsen. study demographically which of laymen, the crusade and baptisms, The crusade wasn't confined to the churches are most likely to grow. To and the continuation of a lay-training Holiday Inn. Each Sabbath would be send an evangelist to an area that is program." an evangelism rally in the churches. unprepared and demographically This was Halvorsen's first crusade Altar calls would be made, people unpromising is wasting God's money since his arrival in the Southern Union would respond, and the team would and the energy of those engaged in as co-director of the Church Growth/ work with them. soul winning." Evangelism Institute. He and his col- "We started to work with the non- Why did things go better in Miami league, Dennis Ross, will be entering members who were coming to bring than they have in most other areas in other cities, sometimes together, their nonSDA friends," adds Halvor- the past five years? "I think Ron would sometimes separately. Halvorsen will sen. New members and nonAdvent- have had a good meeting anywhere be going to Memphis, Charlotte, and ists are your best salespersons, he be- he went," says Bentzinger. "We would Birmingham. While the learning lieves. have gotten our usual 30 if we had process continues and methods are Bentzinger agrees. "Every year you held the meetings here in the Temple. refined, one thing is certain—each are in the church your sphere of But, due to the fact that we were in an city stands to benefit from the break- nonAdventist friends shrinks. After auditorium, the fact that he came through in Miami. C3 you've been in the church for five or eight years that sphere is almost gone." Better weather, audience-building techniques, and an advertising strategy that highlighted Halvorsen's "From Gangs to God" conversion story combined to build the attendance to 650 one week after opening. That was the night the "punk gangster of the fifties" told how he became the "prophecy preacher of the eighties!" The crusade was a breakthrough. Although black and French- and Spanish-speaking evangelists have done well in recent years, it had been at least four since a white, English- speaking evangelist had witnessed 50 or more baptisms from a single crusade. Ministerial and lay training are key elements in Ron Halvorsen's strategy. During January pastors from "Evangelism isn't dead, by any future sites came to Miami to undergo an orientation and instruction session. Among them were Robert means," declares Halvorsen. The se- FoUcenberg, Jr. (left), and Frank Ottatt from Carolina, and Charles Jenkins and Paul Boling from Gulf cret to success, he maintains, is that States. Volume 81 SOUTHERN TIDINGS (USPS 507-000) Number 5 Published monthly by the Southern Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Box 849, Decatur, GA May, 1987 30031. Second-class postage paid at Decatur, Ga., and additional offices of entry. Subscription rate—five Southern Tidings ■ 3 dollars per year. POSTMASTER: send changes of address to SOUTHERN TIDINGS, Box 849, Decatur, GA 30031. by 'death dealers' for use first and foremost by children, In Birmingham, this is the most widely used drug, Birmingham Church marijuana is second." lie said that, despite the existence of 500 treatment programs in NYC, there is up to Declares War on Drugs a seven-month waiting list for addicts trying to enroll in expensive treatment programs. by Antonio Hall "Even sadder is that most of these programs are designed for failure. In these state-funded programs, you oday's drug problems were "This scene is moving rapidly to- seldom hear God mentioned," a examined in a special pro- ward us (Birmingham)," commented self-proclaimed drug fighter and gram sponsored recently by Blass. former addict added. the Temperance Department "Although heroin has fallen from Larry Patterson, a recovered addict, T fashion, with a steady half-million told of years of squandering money of the Real Truth church in Birming- ham, Alabama.

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