Evangelist Palau promotes racial reconciliation

c. 1996 Religion News Service CHICAGO (RNS)-Doug Hansen first realized that he contributed to, and must repent of, racism at a prayer meeting for evangelist Luis Palau’s “Say Yes, Chicago” crusade. To prepare for the crusade, which began last week, about 75 pastors-half of them black, the rest white-gathered late last year at a church […]

c. 1996 Religion News Service

CHICAGO (RNS)-Doug Hansen first realized that he contributed to, and must repent of, racism at a prayer meeting for evangelist Luis Palau’s “Say Yes, Chicago” crusade.

To prepare for the crusade, which began last week, about 75 pastors-half of them black, the rest white-gathered late last year at a church in Chicago’s predominantly African-American south side.


The topic: “Breaking Barriers and Building Bridges.”

It sparked a flashback for Hansen, the minister of discipleship and evangelism at Chicago’s Rock Church. He remembered his basketball-playing days at the mostly white Eisenhower Junior High School in Rockford, Ill.

The “Ikes” had traveled to play the mostly black Washington Junior High. In the locker room, paint peeled from the walls, and dirt covered battered lockers.

It was a stark contrast to the gleaming new building Hansen attended in the same city.

At the time, Hansen didn’t think much of it.

But at the Palau prayer meeting, surrounded by fellow people of faith, it dawned on Hansen that “I’m a part of” a sinful system that penalizes some and rewards others based on the color of their skin.

Kneeling before his African-American brothers in the Lord, he asked for their, and God’s, forgiveness. It was an example of the multiracial, reconciliatory approach the Palau team is promoting in the country’s third-largest city.

“I believe the Spirit of God is moving, without question, throughout this country,” said Hansen. “He is calling people to repent of all of their sins. But one of the catalysts for this revival is repenting of racism.”

It’s a theme heard throughout evangelicalism these days.

The Promise Keepers men’s movement, to which Palau belongs, lists racial reconciliation as a major goal. Last year, the mostly white, 15 million-member Southern Baptist Convention apologized for condoning racism, and before that, slavery.


The response was mixed from African-American Christians, with some welcoming the resolution and others questioning the sincerity of the Johnny-come-lately approach.

Palau has encountered similar skepticism. Kevin Palau, the evangelist’s son, moved his family to Chicago a year before the crusade to work with local churches.

He said only about one in four black pastors has agreed to help. But several are prominent, including the Rev. Clay Evans, pastor at Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church, where the Rev. Jesse Jackson is a member.

To effectively evangelize the ethnically diverse big cities, the Palau team says it must appeal to a rainbow of people, not just whites from the suburbs. They hope Palau’s Hispanic ancestry and bilingual approach will attract a more diverse audience than has the Rev. Billy Graham.

In 1953, more than a decade before the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Graham stunned the evangelical world when, in Chatanooga, Tenn., he personally took down the ropes that customarily separated the black and white sections of crusades. Still, his crowds have been largely white.

Before a Palau crusade last year in Tyler, Texas, the Beaverton, Ore.,-based team took out a full-page ad in the local black newspaper inviting African-Americans to come.


The total attendance was 52,000. How many were black?

“Well,” said John Warton Jr., the Palau team’s executive vice president, “there was the guy in section four.”

A lesson learned from that experience is that minority churches want more than just an invitation to attend a crusade. They want to be a part of it, from the very beginning.

MJP END OKEEFE

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