The time is 5:00 pm and the summer sun is beginning to weaken…but already, the people are coming. At the doors of the warehouse-size building, deacons are standing ready to meet and greet incomers with friendly handshakes. They are quietly on hand to see that things run smoothly.
Youth hostesses – young ladies in long dresses, wearing identification badges – seek out newcomers. Those found will be introduced to the Centre’s young people. There is an air of welcome, of unhurried order…an easy church to enter, this church.
Inside, row after row of chairs – 1,300 in all –stretch into the distance, and the concrete floor and plain brick walls are Spartan in their simplicity. The building was constructed to be a warehouse, and when not filled with people has an air of great emptiness.
Up front, musicians have finished rehearsing – tonight they will back a young, female vocalist – and now gather, talking the language of music around a grand piano.
5:20 pm. Small groups are now forming, as friends come together. Some have brought newcomers, and introductions are frequent throughout the auditorium. People are relaxed, yet are aware of moment-by-moment changes in the mood of the meeting. Something “different” will happen tonight, they say one to another.
Tonight’s meeting will be “the best ever!” They say this every Sunday and usually they’re right. There is a persistent conviction that God is present here among His people.
5:40 pm. A marked change has now taken place. The television lighting throws a powerful brightness over the stage, pulpit and piano, creating a studio effect. Cameramen and technicians move with quiet efficiency, checking camera angles, discussing lighting, sound and format. Outside, in the recording van, figures sit hunched over television monitors, adjusting, planning, preparing…
Inside the auditorium, the small groups have merged into a crowd of hundreds, and the hum of conversation is now a hubbub of voices. All forward seats have been claimed and those seats remaining are filling fast. The atmosphere is different – alive! Expectancy is everywhere in the voices and on the faces.
“Good meeting tonight!” someone nearby remarks. Yes, it will be, something inside replies. It’s hard not to respond, easy to agree.
5:55 pm. One thousand people – at least – are now present. It’s time to be seated, to talk to someone new, to pray. New faces – every week new faces – appear. Pastors move among the people, meeting and greeting. Each face tells a story: glowing faith, sadness, apprehension, and expectancy.
A common feeling, unspoken but shared, is that tonight will not be ordinary or predictable. “Church Was Never Like This!” the newspaper advertisements have proclaimed in what now seems an understatement.
6:00 pm. A tall young man, blonde hair shining under the bright lights, steps forward on the stage and the music begins. In a moment all present rise as one. A wide grin breaks the young man’s face as he shouts: “Is everybody happy!” A roar of response: “Praise the Lord!”
“Then let’s praise the Lord together in song!” and his voice rises in the words of a song that all present and tens of thousands of television viewers have come to know: “I’ve found a New Way of Living…”
Many are clapping and some are dancing, and some are clapping and dancing. If it’s different, the difference is refreshing – and enjoyable. The words of each chorus are projected onto large overhead screens, yet it’s obvious that most people present know them by heart.
Here and there, there’s hesitancy…then participation, enjoyment, and involvement. Not all dance, but most clap in time with the music. Few remain unaffected by the friendliness, the music, and the radiance of the young man onstage.
6:30 pm. The voices of 1,300 people rise in spontaneous praise…fall, rise, fall again…this time to a hush. The music has ceased. Now a voice, a new voice, is heard. Sometime during the praise and worship, a man has stepped to the pulpit and he is praying…
“Father God…” There is assurance in this prayer, and intimacy, coupled with simplicity. He prays for the sick, the lonely, and the depressed. With each expression of faith, murmurs of agreement ripple through the auditorium, and it is clear that the prayer of one is the unspoken prayer of all.
6:50 pm. The time has passed quickly. Announcements, the offering (taken up quickly and without fuss), testimonies from those who have been saved and healed in the meetings, the young female vocalist, further prayer… By this time the meeting is really flowing. The auditorium is packed, the people settled. They now anticipate the preaching of the Gospel and the events that will follow.
The evangelist begins. He is at once dynamic and restrained. Those present have come to understand that a climactic conclusion will follow, and settle back to listen intently, to the prelude.
Clark Taylor is the evangelist’s name. A lithe, former stockman from the Northern Territory, he preaches as though he were still in the saddle. He is relaxed, yet mobile. Bible cupped in hand he roves from the pulpit, descends the steps to make a point…walks to and fro…at times skips to express the joy he obviously feels. He is determined and disarming, relentless and relaxed.
Walking backward to the steps, he turns suddenly and vaults to the pulpit – a return to base – only to begin the cycle again.
He speaks for 40 minutes, at times humorously, often with intensity, and always interestingly. He speaks from the viewpoint of his hearers and he speaks plainly. He encourages, teaches, illustrates and preaches, but never threatens. Australians, he says, are good people – they just don’t know Jesus Christ. When they come to know what Jesus is like, they will respond…they’d be silly not to, he declares.
Woven into the subject of the sermon is the need for every person to be saved; to be forgiven, restored to God. Jesus came and died for the sins of the world, the sins of everyone, of all present.
Those who would be right with God must be “born again” of the Holy Spirit. Jesus, he preaches, waits to be invited into the heart of every person. He will reject no one. No sin is too great, no person too sinful, to be forgiven.
The moment of truth has now arrived for many in tonight’s audience. The evangelist asks for decisions, for public commitments. Will they come, he asks? His voice is soft, his message inescapable.
Some will… walking quickly to the front. Others hesitate, and then follow. Will they come, he asks, will they? His voice is insistent — time is important; for some, this might well be their last chance to accept Jesus.
Twenty have come and now stand at the front, heads bowed. They are a cross-section of the community…they are humanity, in search of a meaning that suddenly, through God’s Word, has become real. There are still some who need to come…who will come, as the hymn “Just As I Am” is sung. Hardly has the first verse ended when more come. “I appreciate your coming… Thank you for coming… I appreciate your coming, sir…” The evangelist has moved to greet each person, to shake each hand…
“O Lamb of God, I come,” more than a thousand voices sing…and behind the song, the voice of the evangelist: “Will you come?” And come they do. (At times before the preaching concludes, they come and stand, heads bowed, at the front.
They are all here now, all who will come tonight. There are others who know they should come, but who hold back. Some of them will come next time…others perhaps never…but all have heard.
Quietly, with heads bowed, the thirty or so who have come repeat together a prayer of committal to Jesus Christ. Some weep. Others look relieved. For many, the seed of their decision was planted when they viewed “A New Way of Living,” the Centre’s weekly television program, and the time of harvest has arrived.
The evangelist moves among them, praying for each one. “Lord, that he may KNOW that he is born of God…” “Father, that she may KNOW that she is born of God!” There is a disturbance among those who are waiting for him to pray for them…
An elderly man has fallen backward under the power of God. A deacon, ready for this, catches him and lowers him gently to the floor.
“That’s alright,” reassures the evangelist, “that’s just the power of God touching him.” Again, it happens…and again…now a woman…now a young man…another woman. Those waiting for prayer show no concern…for them God is real: a thought that might have startled them yesterday. But yesterday is years away, and tonight is now…and God is here in this place.
“Is anyone in need of prayer for healing among these who have come forward for salvation? If so, I would like to pray for you…that Jesus would heal your body, now that he has healed your soul.”
A pause…then a hand is raised. “There is? …then come here, sir. I’d like to pray for you now…are there others?” He prays. A man who was deaf in his left ear now hears. He looks up in amazement. Is it real? It is. He is now able to hear a whisper.
“Praise the Lord!” Encouraged, others press forward for prayer…to receive healing from God…until all have been prayed for.
8:00 pm. New believers have been directed upstairs for further attention by trained counsellors, who are well aware of their immediate needs. They will give each person instruction on the meaning of their new relationship with God through Jesus. The past, with all its guilt, fears, sorrows, and frustrations, is fading. At last their search is ended, and Jesus is real – REAL!
There is great expectancy now among those in the auditorium. They know of miracles done by the supernatural power of the Spirit of God – not only from the Bible but also from their attendance in previous meetings. They are not disappointed as they see, before their very eyes, sicknesses and injuries healed.
“There is a person here tonight, and you suffer from a severe pain in your neck…right about here (the evangelist points to an area of his own neck.) You have suffered from this pain for a long time, but tonight, God will remove it…God will heal you.” He raises his hand. “Where is that person?” He repeats the call. The auditorium is quiet. “It’s you? Praise the Lord! Then come to the front — God will heal you tonight.”
It is a man, in his late thirties. He walks to the front, a little surprised. The television cameras capture the drama of the moment. Thousands will later view a miracle of healing in their own homes – proof positive that Jesus is alive and is just the same today!
“Loose him!” There is authority in the words. “Loose him!” The evangelist has laid his hand on the afflicted area. “God, I pray in Jesus’ name that this condition will be healed…in Jesus’ name!”
“Ah…ah…here it comes…it’s the anointing…my brother, it’s all over you! God’s Spirit is healing you! Father…in Jesus’ name!” He stands back, satisfied that the work is done. “Now, can you feel that the pain is gone? It has? Praise the Lord!” He turns to the many hundreds whose eyes are fixed on the man. “Isn’t God good?” “Amen!” they respond.
Their reservations gone, others stream forward for prayer. How many sick there are! Thoughts come of Jesus, who “healed them all”. Some need healing in their bodies, others a release from mental pressures. Still others the Gift of the Holy Spirit and a closer walk with God.
Faces come alive as the power of God flows into areas of need. “The works that I do, you shall do also,” Jesus said. He promised that those who believe would “lay hands on the sick, and shall shall recover.” Many tonight will be living witnesses to the reality of the risen Christ and the power of the Spirit of God to liberate men and women.
Suddenly, those who were sick are no more. All have had their needs met.: body. Soul, and spirit. Throughout the auditorium, the air of expectancy is replaced by a sense of freedom…a certainty that God has yet again revealed Himself as one who is mighty in the midst of His people.
And, as the mood changes, so too does the music, which is now bouncy, full of vitality and joy, and expresses the love of God’s people for His many blessings in their lives. Many dance out in front, unwilling to leave a meeting that is now over and a building that will soon close.
9:00 pm. Forgiveness, healing, miracles of changed lives…a new way of living for scores of people. It has all taken place here, tonight. Church: was it ever like this – a rewarding, satisfying involvement in the flow of God’s Holy Spirit; a refreshing new approach to basic Christianity by people from all walks of life.
The service has ended but the fellowship continues as the evening at last draws to a close. Upstairs, the tape lending library is busy; so too, the bookshop.
9:30 pm. Now only the television van and cameras remain. Soon they too will go. The auditorium, emptied of people, falls silent. The endless rows of chairs wait for the next meeting, as though forlorn, without people so without purpose.
This thought seems somehow to sum up Christian Outreach Centre, West End. Built as a warehouse, it was designed for the movement of goods of all description. Now it is empty, it’s goods – people with all their joys and sorrows – now gone…until the next meeting, which will be “the best ever”!