How does a preacher with murky credentials draw a crowd in jaded New York City? Simple. You field a corps of 2,000 tireless, polite young buttonholers who spend weeks offering people free tickets. Invest $300,000 on publicity for the one-night stand—far more than Billy Graham has ever spent for an eight-day crusade. Along with the radio and TV spots and full-page newspaper ads, plaster posters of the smiling preacher on all conceivable wall space.
It all worked for the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, 54, South Korea's crypto-Messiah, who packed Madison Square Garden to overflowing...