c. 1997 Religion News Service

PASADENA, Calif. _ Some 20,000 evangelical Christian women gathered in Southern California’s most famous stadium May 16 and 17 for Chosen Women _ an event that was part convention, part pep rally, part concert, and part revival meeting.

Although attendance was much lower than organizers predicted _ initial estimates ranged from 35,000 to 100,000 _ Chosen Women founder Susan Kimes said she was”in shock”over the number of women who attended the Rose Bowl meeting, declaring the first-of-its-kind event a success and a”movement of God.” It was a judgment affirmed by others.”These seats are full,”declared emcee Alaina Reed-Hall Friday (May 16) as the muggy, humid afternoon turned into a cool evening.

Reed-Hall, an actress who has appeared on TV’s”227″and”Sesame Street,”pointed to the blocked off, empty sections and declared,”The angels are sitting here. We’re going to change the name from the Rose Bowl to the King Dome.” Kimes, who also founded the Network of Evangelical Women in Ministry, said the idea for a mass rally of Christian women came to her seven years ago and she began planning in 1995.

Chosen Women has assiduously avoided comparisons to Promise Keepers, the stadium-filling evangelical men’s movement that urges men to reclaim their traditional roles as head of the family by rededicating their lives to serving God, their wives and their children.

There was little such talk at Chosen Women.

Still, no one disputed the role of men as head of the family and no one claimed the mantle of feminism.

Speaker Bunny Wilson, author of”Liberated through Submission,”called submission to authority _ including pastors, employers, husbands and God _ a”biblical principle.”Even Kimes said she sought her husband’s confirmation before beginning work on Chosen Women.

But, added Kimes, the primary reason for the rally was more about evangelical women coming together for spiritual encouragement than for discussions of gender roles.”It’s about surrender to the Lord, and letting him lead you in every part of your life,”she said.”I think we can just relax and be (ourselves).” Like similar rallies, the event offerred immediate spiritual nourishment and a wide array of material goods and resources, such as books, tapes and souvenirs.

Merchandise ranging from 50 cent pens, to $10 Chosen Women seat cushions to help combat the Rose Bowl’s hard aluminum benches, to $38 white-and-navy sweatshirts were sold in a tent where 15 cash registers hummed continually during the weekend.

Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of evangelist Billy Graham, was the keynote speaker for both evenings and Saturday’s program included Lotz’s videotaped interview with her mother, Ruth Bell Graham, shown on a huge TV monitor.

Other speakers included evangelical authors Jill Briscoe and Elizabeth Elliot. And entertainment was provided by The Praise Band with John and Anne Barbour and Marilyn McCoo, best-known as a member of the 1960s singing group The Fifth Dimension.

Although the Chosen Women rally was aimed primarily at professed Christians, Friday evening’s program also included an old-fashioned altar call by Lotz _ her face, voice, and mannerisms echoing her famous father’s. About 200 women walked onto the field to dedicate _ or re-dedicate _ their lives to Jesus under a cream-colored banner declaring”The Lord Reigns.” Joanne Herdrich, spokeswoman for Chosen Women, said the only hitch to a completely successful event was a low volunteer turnout. Chosen Women had hoped 1,500 volunteer would help run the event but only 800 came forward. Upon hearing of the shortage, a small corp of men _ some Promise Keepers _ arrived Saturday to lend a hand.

Despite marked enthusiasm from many attendees, Chosen Women organizers said they were not looking to establish a permanent program of meetings.”Unless the Lord moves it,”said Kimes,”I’m not going to do it.”

MJP END RUTHSTIVER