That Old Time Religion: The Evangelical Empire

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contemporary culture, and Pentecostalists, who have experienced the "baptism in the Holy Spirit" and practice such divine "gifts" as speaking in tongues and miraculous healing by prayer. The latter include everything from Episcopalians to nearly a million Roman Catholics, to oddball healers and assorted tent preachers. Most Evangelicals, though, are basically conventional Protestants who hold staunchly to the authority of the Bible in all matters and adhere to orthodox Christian doctrine. They believe in making a conscious personal commitment to Christ, a spiritual encounter, gradual or instantaneous, known as the born-again experience.

Almost by definition (the Greek word evangelion means gospel), Evangelicals also believe in bringing the word of God to their fellow man, and today they are bringing it more exuberantly than ever. The faithful throng to gaudy superchurches with 5.000 to 10,000 seats, green shag wall-to-wall carpeting, pit orchestras and Jesus rock bands. From such places the message rolls out, often multiplied many times over on TV programs or projected by satellite to impromptu global parishes of 20 million or more at a time. The message rings out, too, at the early morning pre-work prayer meetings held by businessmen and in the liniment-and-locker-room chapels that seem to have converted half of the players in the National Football League.

"Trying to live as a Christian when I was in high school in the late '40s, I was regarded as some kind of speckled bird," says David McKenna, 48, the Evangelical president of Seattle Pacific University. "Now when Seattle Seahawks Tackle Norm Evans states his faith in Jesus at a school assembly, he is greeted by shouts of'Right on!' "

In terms of sheer hoopla, 1978 promises to be one of the biggest years in recent history for the Evangelicals. Items:

> Gerald and Betty Ford, whose oldest son, Michael, is a Pittsburgh-based Evangelical who gives religious guidance to college students, have joined U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young, Football Coach Tom Landry and other notables in convoking 800 "national leaders" to a glittering "Congress of the Laity" in Los Angeles next February. The vague forum, devised by wealthy Lay Evangelist Howard Butt Jr., is intended to gather in one place the broadest possible collection of influential people who are at least "open to the leadership of Jesus Christ."

> Global Soul Seeker Bill Bright, 56, director of the successful Campus Crusade for Christ, plans to raise $100 million next year—and a cool $1 billion by 1982—for another project. Its aim is to saturate the earth with Gospel preachers and placards. Bright, who is based in Arrowhead Springs, Calif., describes the effort as "the most extensive Christian social and evangelization mission in recorded history." A number of the richest businessmen in America are backing his campaign.

> Some 2,000 broadcast preachers, those who have taken their Gospel from tent to tube and also reach 114 million radio listeners, will hold their annual convention in Washington, B.C., next month. Among the speakers will be Anita Bryant, just named "Most Admired Woman" by 22% of 11,530 voters in the annual Good Housekeeping poll, and Marabel (Total Woman) Morgan. As if to emphasize the extraordinary range of