AREA CHURCHES EXTEND INVITATION TO GRAHAM ASSOCIATE

SIKESTON -- The Rev. Billy Graham himself won't be coming to Southeast Missouri, but a branch of his ministry will.

Graham spent four days preaching in St. Louis last fall and now an evangelism crusade supported by his ministry's umbrella organization is coming to Sikeston.

Celebration 2000, a crusade with the Rev. Dr. Ralph Bell, will be Aug. 24-27. Services begin at 7 p.m.

Bell is an associate evangelist with Graham ministries and is part of a team of people who preach at citywide rallies, churches and conventions. He joined Graham after the Los Angeles Crusade in 1963 and has also been a pastor, professor and chaplain in the Los Angeles area.

It took an invitation of area ministers and churches to bring the crusade to Sikeston. Originally, supporters had wanted to hold the crusade in Mississippi County but expanded the area somewhat.

While it does take an invitation to bring the Celebration events to a community, it isn't just pastors and church leaders who extend those invitations but entire congregations, said Dave Fost, Celebration 2000 director with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

The events are held in small, medium and larger communities across the continent. Fost is also planning a similar event in California. "Our main criteria is to see what is the interest of the community," he said.

Area ministers hope the crusade brings unity and cohesiveness to their community. "It's one of the goals -- to get us working together, and it's already doing that," said the Rev. Gerald Collier, pastor of First Baptist Church in Charleston.

Several churches are already working together on committees helping to organize the crusade rally. A general committee will encompass about 20 people of all denominations and ages.

Generally, when Billy Graham ministries plan a crusade, it takes nearly a year or more of preparation. Graham preached in St. Louis during October and will be in Nashville June 1-4 for a Middle Tennessee Crusade.

The invitation for Bell to come to Sikeston was issued even before Billy Graham came to St. Louis, Fost said. An office opens about two months after the invitation is accepted and will operate for about one year. The Sikeston office is open at 820B N. Main St.

"We are building interest among the churches," Fost said. A "Light the fire" rally will be held April 30 at 7 p.m. at Tanner Street Church of God. It is designed to cross denominational lines and encourage people to take part in the Celebration event.

Most of those attending will likely be workers or people interested in helping with the crusade, said Dr. Jim Davis of First United Methodist Church in Sikeston.

Churches from Missouri, Arkanty will be a "real asset to us as a community of churches," Collier said.

While a crusade offers evangelistic seminars and campaigns for an area, it also crosses denominational lines that a typical church-sponsored revival cannot, he said. "There are a lot of different things that keep us from working together." Some of those are denominational, others are racial. "We're working to overcome that," Collier said.

Crusade directors know that a "constant part of the event is building unity in the churches," Fost said. "We can come together with one focus so that no matter what our doctrinal differences might be at least we are one in that."

Having Ralph Bell come to preach will offer more dimensions than what a one-church revival can, Collier said. It has the backing of Billy Graham. "That will give it a lot of weight."

The evangelism crusade will not encourage people to leave their churches or join others, Fost said. It's not part of the teaching or policy for Billy Graham Evangelistic events. "We don't want to take away from congregations," he said. "

Davis said the emphasis will be on reaching people who are uninformation, call 481-0075.