Local News in Brief : 3-Day Swaggart Crusade

Fiery evangelist Jimmy Swaggart, who tearfully stepped down from his Assemblies of God pulpit after a liaison with a prostitute, will conduct a three-day Los Angeles crusade later this month.

Swaggart will lead followers at the 6,300-seat Shrine Civic Auditorium, just south of downtown, during evening meetings on Aug. 26 and 27, followed by a Sunday afternoon show, a spokeswoman said.

“This is the Bible Belt of the Southland,” crusade spokeswoman Nadine M. Henning said, adding the “curiosity factor” may lure a big crowd to the free sessions.

Southern California has traditionally provided a strong base of support for Swaggart, but the scandal may have eroded his following here because it previously came from Assemblies of God pastors, said crusade vice chairman Mark Wilson.

“They are not boycotting the meeting. They are simply ignoring it,” Wilson said.

Swaggart stepped down from the pulpit for three months after admitting to an unspecified moral problem. Prostitute Debra Murphee said Swaggart paid her to pose nude for him.

The leaders of the Assemblies of God Church ordered him to step down for a full year, and when Swaggart refused, his credentials were pulled.