Thousands of Volunteers Mobilized for Billy Graham Crusade

With his strong Christian convictions, it was easy for Roger Tompkins to accept the general chairmanship of next summer’s Orange County Billy Graham Crusade, but the timing of the offer did surprise him.

Tompkins, regional vice president for State Farm Insurance, was about to go to Peru with 15 Americans beginning Bible-teaching duties among native Indians when his pastor, George Munzing of Santa Ana’s Trinity United Presbyterian Church, broached the subject.

“This was almost a year ago. Here we were, the night before George and I were to go to Peru, when he tells me the nominating committee wants me to be the crusade chairman. He said, ‘If you are interested, we’ll talk about it when we get back from Peru,’ ” Tompkins recalled last week from his Costa Mesa office.

He sought the advice of his wife, Elinor who advised him to accept the offer.

“If both my pastor and my wife wanted me to do this, there was hardly any way I could say no,” said Tompkins, who has lived in Orange County 11 years.

Although the 10-day crusade is scheduled for July 19-28 at Anaheim Stadium, Tompkins and his colleagues have been in motion for the past nine months.

Approximately 600,000 people are expected to hear evangelist Graham’s gospel message, and about 30,000 volunteers are being recruited to serve as drivers, singers, ushers and even counselors--for those who accept Graham’s invitation to make a “personal commitment to Christ” after each of the 10 sermons.

“It’s a big job just to get the word out,” Tompkins said.

Graham, the best-known international evangelist for almost four decades, is in Orange County this week to begin his first crusade in the area since 1969, when he drew 384,000 people to the then much smaller Anaheim Stadium. His last sermon on that crusade attracted anaudience of 56,000--12,600 more than the stadium’s capacity.

Anaheim Stadium now accommodates 70,500, and, “The goal is to fill the stadium (each night),” said Doyle Braden, head of the Orange County Southern Baptist Assn., which is in charge of coordinating the denomination’s 59 churches and missions in the region.

Although the crusade is being orchestrated by the general committee, another 20 local panels and hundreds of Southern California pastors, Graham’s own staff has been in Orange since last July to help with preparations.

Larry Turner, a longtime Graham aide who helped coordinate the 1969 crusade, is directing the local office with a paid staff of about 30.

“The crusade office’s main responsibility is to assist the churches of Southern California with the provision of materials and information,” Turner said. “The committees have their own goals and objectives. The work of the crusade is really their responsibility.”

Tompkins also stressed that the Billy Graham Orange County Crusade is mainly the work of local people and their pastors. The invitation to Graham, who will not be paid for his 10-day appearance, came from a committee of pastors representing hundreds of Orange County churches.

“Billy only comes when he is invited,” Tompkins said. “In other words, we are putting together a crusade, and Billy and his people are coming in to help us.”

He also said that about $1.8 million will be raised locally to cover crusade costs, or about $3 for each person who hears Graham’s message. Of course, contributions will be accepted at the stadium.

The chairman said all funds collected and spent on the crusade will be properly accounted for in a statement to be published in newspapers after the crusade ends. He added that any surplus funds probably will be given to another host community as “seed money” for a future crusade.

“We don’t want any mysteries about the finances,” Tompkins said.

Money matters aside, the intent of the crusade, of course, is to spread the Christian word and attract new followers. And that is the primary concern of Tompkins and the hundreds of pastors who are personally involved.

For example, weekly seminars will be conducted in hundreds of Orange County churches through March to train counselors for those who make personal commitments to Christ during Graham’s crusade. These counselors will be ready “to point them in the right path” after they come forward, said Dr. David Hocking, pastor of Calvary Church, Santa Ana, and a member of the ministers’ steering committee.

Also, the International Outreach Council is working with the crusade’s general committee to arrange for simultaneous translations of the sermons, in perhaps 10 languages. The middle deck of the stadium will be reserved for persons wishing to hear Graham in a language other than English. Tompkins said the message will be translated into Spanish, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, Laotian, Cambodian, Hmong and three Chinese dialects.

“Personally, I find this (aspect of the crusade) very exciting and satisfying,” Tompkins said.

For Dr. Robert Schuller, pastor of Garden Grove’s Crystal Cathedral, the crusade has special significance. He was vice chairman of the 1969 crusade, and it inspired him to launch his religious television program, “The Hour of Power,” which begins its 16th year next month.

Schuller, who has known Graham since 1946, when Schuller sang in a student choir for one of the evangelist’s early crusades, said people today are having the same problems they had 15 years ago--abuse of drugs, a breakdown of the family and general decay of moral standards.

“The condition is no better than in 1969, it is as serious as it was then,” he said. “It is like a cancer. You have to take chemotherapy. You have to come back again and again for treatment.”

For Tompkins, who became a committed Christian 12 years ago through the example of his son, the goal is the same. He said a recent survey found that a majority of people in the county talk about being Christian but do not deliver in their everyday life.

“My own personal commitment is based on the conviction that we are all part of the same commission. I really take that personally and seriously,” he said.

“For me to do this in Orange County is a natural extension of what the Lord has asked all of us to do.”

Tompkins, 52, says he met Graham only once, but he is encouraged by the participation of thousands of Orange County residents in preparing for the crusade and predicted success for the July affair.

“I don’t have a close personal relationship with Billy, but I have a great deal of respect for him as a person. I am very pleased to be involved. I believe in what we are doing, and Graham does it better than anybody,” Tompkins said.