By Sophia Chang and Zach Patberg
Like many others who flocked to Flushing Meadows-Corona Park for the Rev. Billy Graham's three-day crusade, the 25-year-old Ecuadorean immigrant went Sunday evening primarily as a spectator to hear a religious icon give his farewell sermon to New York.But when Graham beckoned his listeners to come forward and become not just spectators but believers, Avila found himself joining a line of people shuffling toward the evangelist's specially built podium, drawn by his command that “you come now.”In front of the stage, Avila was soon scooped up by a spiritual counselor who gripped his shoulders, bowed his head and prayed for him in Spanish. Then, the counselor posed a question: “Are you ready to accept Jesus into your heart?”Avila, who moved to the city in 2000 without an ounce of religion but weighed down by the feeling that his life had gone astray, answered, “Yes, I am. I do.”Following his conversion, the young Manhattan waiter said a sense of relief washed over him. “From now on, I will be crushed closer with Jesus,” he said. Avila was one of what organizers said were nearly 8,400 people who accepted the minister's invitation to commit themselves to Christianity during the three-day crusade, which attracted more than 200,000 by subway, Long Island Rail Road, buses and cars despite the weekend's sweltering heat.The spiritual event, his eighth in the metropolitan area, was initially touted as the aging Graham's final American crusade, and possibly last large-scale rally ever. But invigorated by the high turnout – organizers counted 60,000 visitors Friday night, 70,000 on Saturday and 90,000 on Sunday – Graham said in his final sermon Sunday that “this is not the end.” He coyly qualified his earlier statements of this being his last crusade. “It probably is – in New York. But I also said, 'never say never,'” Graham said.Taking note that Graham's strength progressed as the weekend passed and the crowds grew, crusade spokesman Larry Ross said “the lion still has a roar.” No less than former President Bill Clinton, who called Graham “the only person I know who has never failed to live his faith,” showed up along with Clinton's wife, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer and Mayor Michael Bloomberg to pay tribute to the world-famous evangelist.Graham stuck close to the Scripture in his three sermons, touching on rebirth and temptation. He spoke of eternal salvation in his last speech Sunday evening. “The decisions you make tonight will affect your whole future,” Graham told the crowd Sunday while asking them to join his cause. “And your eternal future, 1,000 years from tonight, will depend in large extent on what you decide tonight.”During Graham's sermons, raised arms and bursts of “Amen! Hallellujah!” rose from the crowd. When the preacher asked, “Are you ready?” one woman wearing a sundress and a wide-brimmed hat waved her hands in the air as if ushering in an unseen presence, saying “yes, yes.”Toward the back of the staging area, sections were marked with raised signs offering translations of Graham's preachings into 20 languages. People of various color and garb listened through headphones to Portuguese, Cantonese, Korean, Russian and Urdu, among others while counselors of different ethnicities stood by.The more than 5,000 counselors in navy blue polo shirts joined another 5,000 other volunteers in working the crusade. Most of the counselors were volunteers from churches, some from as far as the Deep South and California, according to crusade organizers. One counselor, Joey Lee, a youth director from Springville, Ala., said he brought his 11 church teens to not only witness the event but to go door-to-door throughout Queens during downtime. “If we don't spread the message, they might never hear it,” the 23-year-old said.Sprawled over 93 acres in the park, the crusade's operations, funded by a $6.8 million budget, included a massive stage and several overflow areas equipped with Jumbotron screens. Organizers erected prayer tents and book kiosks, where much of Graham's catalogue, including the “Christian Worker's Handbook” and his autobiography, “Just As I Am,” were sold.The crusade's three concerts featuring popular Christian acts, food stands, and teenagers dancing marked the event as both a festive party as well as a spiritual gathering.Underscoring the crusade's focus on youth was the Saturday appearance of Bibleman, a light saber-wielding, scripture-quoting defender of the faith who defeated his archenemy Rapscallion P. Sinister. The intention, according to parents and counselors, was to get the young interested in the Bible early. But amid youth groups sporting bright pink “Got Jesus?” T-shirts, there were also pockets of protesters corralled off in special areas along park paths, straining to be heard above the chants of “Amen” and “Jesus is Lord.” One group of eight people from the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., had come specifically to dispute Graham's message of acceptance despite what they claimed were Biblical creeds against groups such as homosexuals.”The bottom line is, Billy Graham is a false prophet,” said Westboro member Ben Phelps Friday afternoon while hoisting a sign that said “Graham leads to hell.” “When you preach that God loves everybody, you've turned the grace of God into lasciviousness.” But in a remarkable demonstration of the crusade-goers' good behavior, the New York Police Department said not a single arrest was made at the park during the three days of the event. Taking no chances, however, event organizers devoted much of their $2.4 million budget earmarked for preparation and cleanup costs to paying overtime for many of the police officers patrolling the park. That security detail was further bolstered by around 50 “Cops for Christ,” off-duty officers who volunteered their services.As the sun set over the Unisphere after Graham's last sermon Sunday and people streamed toward their rides home, food vendor Haig Schneiderman was still slapping knishes and hot dogs onto his grill next to an exit path. Schneiderman said business had been brisk, estimating that he sold at least 10,000 hot dogs during the weekend and up to 7,000 of his signature Nish Nosh knishes.Questioned if any patrons had asked him to commit to Christ, the Rego Park vendor said “there wasn't time. I only asked them, hot dog or knish?” He then turned around to answer a customer's inquiry: “Yes, our hot dogs are strictly kosher.”By Sophia Chang and Zach PatbergWalter Avila wasn't planning on making any eternal promises last weekend.Like many others who flocked to Flushing Meadows-Corona Park for the Rev. Billy Graham's three-day crusade, the 25-year-old Ecuadorean immigrant went Sunday evening primarily as a spectator to hear a religious icon give his farewell sermon to New York.But when Graham beckoned his listeners to come forward and become not just spectators but believers, Avila found himself joining a line of people shuffling toward the evangelist's specially built podium, drawn by his command that “you come now.”In front of the stage, Avila was soon scooped up by a spiritual counselor who gripped his shoulders, bowed his head and prayed for him in Spanish. Then, the counselor posed a question: “Are you ready to accept Jesus into your heart?”Avila, who moved to the city in 2000 without an ounce of religion but weighed down by the feeling that his life had gone astray, answered, “Yes, I am. I do.”Following his conversion, the young Manhattan waiter said a sense of relief washed over him. “From now on, I will be crushed closer with Jesus,” he said. Avila was one of what organizers said were nearly 8,400 people who accepted the minister's invitation to commit themselves to Christianity during the three-day crusade, which attracted more than 200,000 by subway, Long Island Rail Road, buses and cars despite the weekend's sweltering heat.The spiritual event, his eighth in the metropolitan area, was initially touted as the aging Graham's final American crusade, and possibly last large-scale rally ever. But invigorated by the high turnout – organizers counted 60,000 visitors Friday night, 70,000 on Saturday and 90,000 on Sunday – Graham said in his final sermon Sunday that “this is not the end.” He coyly qualified his earlier statements of this being his last crusade. “It probably is – in New York. But I also said, 'never say never,'” Graham said.Taking note that Graham's strength progressed as the weekend passed and the crowds grew, crusade spokesman Larry Ross said “the lion still has a roar.” No less than former President Bill Clinton, who called Graham “the only person I know who has never failed to live his faith,” showed up along with Clinton's wife, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer and Mayor Michael Bloomberg to pay tribute to the world-famous evangelist.Graham stuck close to the Scripture in his three sermons, touching on rebirth and temptation. He spoke of eternal salvation in his last speech Sunday evening. “The decisions you make tonight will affect your whole future,” Graham told the crowd Sunday while asking them to join his cause. “And your eternal future, 1,000 years from tonight, will depend in large extent on what you decide tonight.”During Graham's sermons, raised arms and bursts of “Amen! Hallellujah!” rose from the crowd. When the preacher asked, “Are you ready?” one woman wearing a sundress and a wide-brimmed hat waved her hands in the air as if ushering in an unseen presence, saying “yes, yes.”Toward the back of the staging area, sections were marked with raised signs offering translations of Graham's preachings into 20 languages. People of various color and garb listened through headphones to Portuguese, Cantonese, Korean, Russian and Urdu, among others while counselors of different ethnicities stood by.The more than 5,000 counselors in navy blue polo shirts joined another 5,000 other volunteers in working the crusade. Most of the counselors were volunteers from churches, some from as far as the Deep South and California, according to crusade organizers. One counselor, Joey Lee, a youth director from Springville, Ala., said he brought his 11 church teens to not only witness the event but to go door-to-door throughout Queens during downtime. “If we don't spread the message, they might never hear it,” the 23-year-old said.Sprawled over 93 acres in the park, the crusade's operations, funded by a $6.8 million budget, included a massive stage and several overflow areas equipped with Jumbotron screens. Organizers erected prayer tents and book kiosks, where much of Graham's catalogue, including the “Christian Worker's Handbook” and his autobiography, “Just As I Am,” were sold.The crusade's three concerts featuring popular Christian acts, food stands, and teenagers dancing marked the event as both a festive party as well as a spiritual gathering.Underscoring the crusade's focus on youth was the Saturday appearance of Bibleman, a light saber-wielding, scripture-quoting defender of the faith who defeated his archenemy Rapscallion P. Sinister. The intention, according to parents and counselors, was to get the young interested in the Bible early. But amid youth groups sporting bright pink “Got Jesus?” T-shirts, there were also pockets of protesters corralled off in special areas along park paths, straining to be heard above the chants of “Amen” and “Jesus is Lord.” One group of eight people from the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., had come specifically to dispute Graham's message of acceptance despite what they claimed were Biblical creeds against groups such as homosexuals.”The bottom line is, Billy Graham is a false prophet,” said Westboro member Ben Phelps Friday afternoon while hoisting a sign that said “Graham leads to hell.” “When you preach that God loves everybody, you've turned the grace of God into lasciviousness.” But in a remarkable demonstration of the crusade-goers' good behavior, the New York Police Department said not a single arrest was made at the park during the three days of the event. Taking no chances, however, event organizers devoted much of their $2.4 million budget earmarked for preparation and cleanup costs to paying overtime for many of the police officers patrolling the park. That security detail was further bolstered by around 50 “Cops for Christ,” off-duty officers who volunteered their services.As the sun set over the Unisphere after Graham's last sermon Sunday and people streamed toward their rides home, food vendor Haig Schneiderman was still slapping knishes and hot dogs onto his grill next to an exit path. Schneiderman said business had been brisk, estimating that he sold at least 10,000 hot dogs during the weekend and up to 7,000 of his signature Nish Nosh knishes.Questioned if any patrons had asked him to commit to Christ, the Rego Park vendor said “there wasn't time. I only asked them, hot dog or knish?” He then turned around to answer a customer's inquiry: “Yes, our hot dogs are strictly kosher.”
