It’s Opening Night for Billy Graham: 60,000 Expected

Thousands of volunteers and Anaheim Stadium employees scurried Thursday to complete final preparations for Billy Graham’s 10-day Southern California crusade, and if there was any news in that, it was that all was being accomplished with nary a hitch.

“If there are any problems, I’m not aware of them,” said Roger B. Tompkins, the Orange County crusade chairman. “It’s coming together as smoothly as can be.”

Greg Smith, the tenant services supervisor at Anaheim Stadium, said that altering the ball field to accommodate the crusade, which is expected to be attended by an average of 60,000 people a night beginning tonight, was a challenge.

Platform Prepared

Thursday afternoon, Smith, his crew and Graham organizers put the final touches on a platform built over the pitcher’s mound. The evangelist will preach from a pulpit there, and the sermon will be televised simultaneously on the scoreboard above left field.

“We had no special problems,” Smith said. “But it was a challenge since we did something that’s not routine for us.”

Tex Reardon, a Graham organizer, said he was impressed with Smith and his crew’s work. Reardon has helped organize about 14 crusades since joining the Graham team in 1977.

“This has been one of the nicest groups of people to work with. Everybody has been more than cooperative,” Reardon said.

Anaheim Stadium crews tore down the outfield fence and took off the backstop. Special lights were installed. In all, Smith said, it will cost about $200,000 to rearrange the stadium for the crusade, Graham’s first in Southern California in 16 years. Those costs will be paid by the crusade organization. Rent, however, is free.

Press Box Converted

Smith added that the football press box was converted into an office to process the paper work for the thousands who are expected to make a commitment during Graham’s crusade. Volunteer counselors will be assigned to help people offering commitments to Christ. The counselors question them briefly to make sure they are sincere in their commitments.

The visitors’ dressing room also was carpeted and converted into a lounge for dignitaries attending the crusade.

Because Southern California is experiencing a summer drought, Smith and Reardon don’t anticipate any rain-outs during the 10 evenings that Graham will preach.

“Hey, it doesn’t rain in Southern California,” Smith mused. “And if it does, we’ll have the biggest baptism ever in Orange County.”

Reardon said rain doesn’t bother Graham.

“We’ve had some of our best crusades in the rain,” he said.

Police to Be on Hand

Anaheim police will provide crowd control but Smith said stadium security officers will patrol the parking lot to ensure that crusade visitors do not solicit or pass out literature, which is prohibited at the stadium by a city ordinance.

The parking lot also will be crowded by an expected 300 buses nightly carrying people to the crusade. Tompkins, the crusade chairman, said people from as far away as San Diego and San Bernardino will be traveling to Anaheim.

The largest group of volunteers tested out the sound system installed especially for the Graham crusade Thursday night when the evangelist met with the volunteers who have been planning the event for the better part of a year. Cliff Barrows, Graham’s longtime music director, rehearsed with the 10,400 choir members. There were so many volunteers for the choir that thousands were turned away, organizers said.

Tompkins also said that the crusade organizers would have no problem raising the $2 million needed to cover all the expenses for the 10-day event.

$1 Million Raised

“We will raise more money in the next 10 days than we have in the past year,” he said.

Tompkins said $1 million has already been raised and the other $1 million will be received in contributions during the crusade.

The crusade chairman, the regional vice president for State Farm Insurance, solved one problem easily Thursday. One of his employees discovered an envelope-opening machine at the State Farm regional office in Costa Mesa.

“I didn’t even know we had it. It’s really going to help. We were trying to figure out how we would open so many envelopes by hand,” Tompkins said.