Tuesday, September 5, 1978
9
Bv MARY ERNST
Royals Stadium reborn at Graham rally
Staff Reporter
KANSAS CITY, Mo. The tragic jam that was winding off Interstate 70 to Royals Stadium here yesterday evening was similar to the pile-ups that frequently form for Royals baseball games and—somewhat infrequently—for outdoor concerts.
Gone were the "Royalmannia" and "Kansas City Royals" stickers. Gone were the "KY102" and "Bock 93" stickers. In, instead, hundreds of cars, buses and vans spread the message of "He is Alive!" and "I found it."
The mood inside the stadium was much more somber than the bustling crowd of fans.
Billy Graham's Mid-America Crusade had made it to Royalts Stadium for the final
Instead of the grinding organ music of a baseball game or the pulsating rhythm of a rock band, an organ sothets the crowd with gospel music from a large platform directly behind second base. On the pitcher's mound, there are three rows of serene gardens of roped-off yellow lilies.
PEOPLE IN the crowd sat quietly in their seats, and the mobs that usually assemble near the concession stands were not to be found.
The crowd had not come for entertainment. Many said they came to hear the spiritual message that Graham promised to give them. Many heard that message during the first eight nights of the crusade at Kemper Arena.
While the crowd waited for the service to begin, a young woman was pushed onto the field in a wheelchair. The entire stadium rose to cheer her.
"Beautiful, beautiful," one middle-aged woman said quietly to herself.
Joni Eareckson, the woman in the wheelchair, was being pushed to the stage where later she would give her testimonial of how God helped her cope with a broken neck, which paralyzed her from the neck down.
AFTER SHE was on stage, a loud roar of the crusade's radio and television director, Cliff Barrows, went ripping through the crowd.
"We're happy that you could join us tonight in Royals Stadium—the most beautiful baseball stadium in the world," he said.
"And we're giving a copy of the Rev. Graham's book, 'How to Born Again, to Kansas City's police chief, because of the evidence that the police force has given us here."
Barrows also mentioned several political leaders from Missouri and Kansas who were at the crusade, including Republican Sen. Bob Dole. Barrows pointed out that these men were not coming for "political display," but for God.
Barrows then pumped up the crowd with three songs before the opening invocation was given and a special song was sung by a member of the Graham crusades, Merylee Hunt.
And, then, after a long introduction by the local chairman of the Mid-Merica Crusade, John Williams, Billy Graham and the podium to a loud response by the audience.
reported to be 135 degrees, Graham looked unaffected and believably cool in his blue shirt.
Although the temperature on the field was
"I know where he (Williams) is going."
Graham bellowed out. "And I know where I'm going, too. And we're all going to the same place—heaven."
The crowd sat in silence.
Then he talked about the crusade's finances. He said he was asked by the crusade committee to tell the crowd that the committee thought it had met its budget.
The crowd responded warmly.
The local crusade committee at first set a goal of $457,000 for crusade expenses. That amount did not cover the entire mittee was not able to raise 50 percent of the projected expenses before the crusade committee.
GRAHAM THEN explained that any extra money that was raised during the service would be used to cover expenses of the television production of the crusade, which will be shown worldwide on
"We hope that you will give a missionary offering—the biggest missionary offering
"I don't receive a penny for my visit to Kansas City," he measured the crowd.
Graham said his finances were open to the public and his financial statement would be released to the media at a later time. Production was between $75,000 and $100,000.
"We're going to have some music while you're filling out your envelopes," Graham said. "And for those of you that don't have envelopes, ushers will give some to you."
NEXT CAME Johnny and June Carter Cash singing two songs. Between the songs, Johnny Cash told the crowd about Graham's friend, Sam Warnock, which he said he had not been asked to plug.
Another song, and then Eareckson gave her story of how she found Christ and accuse her of being a demon.
Earreckson's testimony noticeably moved many of the people in the crowd and proved to be the perfect introduction to the final message that Graham was to give.
Flailing his arms wildly and using a much stronger voice than he had earlier, Graham kept the crowd in silence as he preached to the them.
"God is using that pain in Joni as a blessing to millions who have seen Joni on television."
HE MENTIONED Eareckson's book about her experience and a forthcoming movie about it, in which she will play herself.
A young man from Kansas City said he thought Graham was the kind of minister who could relate to both the young and the old.
"I've heard the same sermon three or four times," he said. "But each time I get a different one."
Gagelene Maze, Olatee, said Graham was 'God's man of this age.
operation and many people were involved in the crusade.
"What he's preaching about the end of the world, people should hear," she said.
Another man refused to comment, saying he had only good things to say of God.
TWO OF TROSE are Donald Bailey, Graham's executive assistant in charge of publicity, and his assistant, Joanne Johnson.
But what brought all of these people together was not just Graham. A large
Both Bailey and Johnson put out material that makes up a "media information packet." The packet not only provides information about the crusades and how they are organized, but also the answers to frequently asked questions.
But the crusade depends on the local organization, coordinated by a member of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association named by Graham as the crusade director.
Also included is a list of "suggestions" for photographers, which included not shooting pictures of Graham after 45 minutes into the service.
These answers, they said, help weed out unnecessary questions that reporters may
An executive committee is formed by local laymen and clergymen and is responsible for determining the budget, budget allocations, meet that budget and disbursement all funds.
THE EXECUTIVE committee also helps organize the special-duty officers who roam the crowd with walkie-talkies and watch for people distributing non-Christian literature.
"We get a lot of kools," Jud Jack,
assignment director for the special-duty
court.
out literature and taking people aside to try to ask them to join their church."
And so, with the crucade almost over, the people in the crew watched Graham as he left.
And as many of them worked their way down to the field, where they were assigned a counselor—usually of the same sex and appropriate age group as the inquirer—to answer their questions, the rest of the crowd laid out to form a traffic jam of 17.0
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