Crusade to Mix Patriotism, Celebrities

The four-day Harvest Crusade beginning Thursday night at Anaheim Stadium will have a little flash with Fourth of July fireworks, a little politics Friday with Elizabeth Dole and a bit of celebrity July 7 with guest Franklin Graham, the evangelist son of Billy Graham.

Not that featured evangelist Greg Laurie, 43, would be preaching to small crowds without those attractions. Laurie drew a daily average of 41,000 people to his 1995 crusade at the Angels’ ball park.

Pastor of Riverside’s Harvest Christian Fellowship, which has 12,000 in attendance each week, Laurie is often joined on the crusade platform by his onetime mentor, Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, another mega-church.

A fireworks show--customary for the holiday but not for an evangelistic rally--will celebrate not only Independence Day but also “those who come forward and receive Christ,” said spokesman Bryan St. Peters.

St. Peters said this week that Elizabeth Dole, wife of likely Republican presidential candidate Robert Dole, was expected to speak briefly at the Friday night session. So far this campaign, Elizabeth Dole has appeared before conservative Christian audiences to speak openly of her beliefs whereas her husband, as Charisma magazine has put it, “appears uncomfortable discussing his personal faith.”

The nightly music segments will feature Christian recording artist Crystal Lewis. She will be joined July 7 by Grammy winner Cece Winans. The program will begin each day at 7:30 p.m. For more information, call (909) 687-6595.

Laurie traveled to four other states for crusades last year but will only do two more this year--San Diego’s Jack Murphy Stadium, July 26-28, and Los Angeles’ Universal Amphitheater, Nov. 17-20.

TELEVISION

Attorney Hugh Hewitt, a TV co-host of the “Life & Times” public affairs show on KCET-TV, Channel 28, with Patt Morrison of The Times, steps into the world of religion in July with a PBS series “Searching for God in America” and a fat companion book of the same title.

On July 5, the first of four consecutive Friday night shows, Hewitt will interview evangelical leader Charles Colson and Rabbi Harold Kushner, author of “When Bad Things Happen to Good People.” The Rev. Cecil “Chip” Murray of First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles is the third interviewee and the Dalai Lama is the last. In between are dialogues with Catholic, Presbyterian, Muslim and Mormon figures.

The companion book by Word Publishing contains the interviews plus an extensive digest of other religious selections.

* Paul and Jan Crouch’s Trinity Broadcasting Network will be moving its executive offices soon from Tustin to the former headquarters of the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship International in Costa Mesa. TBN recently bought the property near the San Diego Freeway from the fellowship, which has suffered from internal disputes and a membership decline in recent years.

TBN spokesman Colby May, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney, said that the religious cable and broadcasting network would retain its studios, satellite uplink facility and chapel in Tustin. The new site, after renovations, will include a “virtual reality theater” and other projects, May said.

PEOPLE

June O’Connor, a scholar in comparative religious ethics who has taught at UC Riverside since 1973, has been selected by the 525,000-circulation Catholic Digest to be its new advice columnist.

Faced with good-natured ribbing by colleagues for taking on a “Dear Abby” role, O’Connor said that she applied for the part-time job for a couple of reasons.

“As scholars, we have an obligation to share our knowledge with the inquiring public,” she said. “The column also will keep me in touch with concrete, ordinary dilemmas faced by people.”

Rich Reece, editor of the magazine published in St. Paul, Minn., said, “Her wisdom and compassion shone brightest among the hundreds . . . who responded to our nationwide search.”

* Pepperdine University has named Rick Marrs, 43, an associate professor of religion, aschairman of the religion division of the Malibu campus’ undergraduate Seaver College. On Aug. 1, Marrs will succeed Thomas Olbricht, who is retiring. Marrs, also an elder in the Conejo Valley Church of Christ in Thousand Oaks, has specialized in Ancient Near Eastern and biblical studies.

RENEWAL

The newly formed Interfaith Coalition of South Central Los Angeles, which elected former USC Chaplain Alvin S. Rudisill as its president, hopes to encourage greater inter-religious tolerance and cooperation among hundreds of inner-city religious communities.

The coalition is an outgrowth of the United Neighborhood Council’s Religious Caucus, which disbanded in January 1995.

“Our goal is to reflect the diversity of the city and help bridge the differences that seemingly separate us,” Rudisill said before the group’s second quarterly meeting Friday night. Rudisill recently returned to full-time teaching at USC after a year’s sabbatical. A university chaplain for 25 years, he also directed USC’s civic and community relations for 10 years.

* Unity-by-the-Sea, a Santa Monica congregation in the New Thought tradition, led for years by the late Sue Sikking, will mark its reopening at 11 a.m. Sunday in leased quarters inside a converted bank building at 225 Santa Monica Blvd.

The guest speaker will be Rosemary Fillmore Rhea of Kansas City, Mo., a granddaughter of Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, founders of the Unity movement. The congregation, which sold its former church building a few years ago, has been reunited under a new minister, Maya Brandenberger. (310) 393-013.

FOURTH OF JULY

The holiday starts early at some churches: Covina United Methodist Church, 437 San Bernardino Rd., is holding a free patriotic concert and ice cream social at 6:30 p.m. Sunday. (818) 339-7386. On Wednesday, St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, at 1015 Baker St., Costa Mesa, will feature a 200-voice combined choir in a patriotic concert at 8 p.m., preceded by a picnic dinner at 6:30 p.m. An offering will be taken. (714) 549-9619.

* The Crystal Cathedral Ministries will host a July 4th festival Thursday at the 175-acre Rancho Capistrano grounds near the Santa Ana Freeway in San Juan Capistrano. The activities begin at 2:20 p.m. Former 700 Club co-host Sheila Walsh and Christian artist Andrew Culverwell will perform in a free 7 p.m. concert. Reservations are required for a late-afternoon barbecue (714 544-5679).

DATES

In a Westwood concert Sunday night to benefit 40-year-old St. Andrew’s Abbey in Valyermo, St. Paul the Apostle Schola Cantorum, conducted by Frank Brownstead, will perform choral music and readings reflecting the spirit of the Benedictine desert monastery. Basso soloist Louis Lebherz of the Los Angeles Opera will also perform in the program, starting at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church, 1070 Ohio Ave. Proceeds from the $15 ticket sales will go toward building an infirmary at St. Andrew’s. (818) 340-8125.

* Yeshiva of Los Angeles and its Community Beit Midrash, 9760 W. Pico Blvd., will conduct their annual summer Torah study programs July 1 to 31 for entry-level students as well as working adults. A nightly Women’s Seminary will offer classes in Jewish law, Bible and Jewish philosophy. (310) 553-4478.

* The Salvation Army’s 65-voice Pasadena Tabernacle Songsters will perform in a bon voyage concert at 7 p.m. today, as it prepares to leave July 12 for a 16-day tour of Australia. The choir, whose fourth compact disc is titled “Almighty,” will sing at Pasadena Tabernacle Corps, 960 E. Walnut St.

Notices may be mailed to Southern California File, c/o John Dart, L.A. Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth, CA 91311, or faxed to Religion Writer (213) 237-4712. Items should arrive about three weeks before the event, except for spot news, and should include pertinent details about the people and organizations with address, phone number, date and time.