1999 The year in review

Miles Ahead Crusade top story of 1999

By KEITH STEPRO
Valley Press Religion Editor

Perhaps the most important religious story of 1999 was that more than 300 houses of worship opened church doors weekly to serve the spiritual needs of the diverse religious community in the Antelope Valley, and tens of thousands in the Valley attended a church, synagogue or mosque. In 1999, 25 new houses of faith opened to add to the Valley's religious diversity.

The faithful turned out in larger numbers for all of the religious holidays. And there were several special events that drew many people out to worship, pray and meditate.

There were also several religious leaders who moved on to other ministries. We'll explore the comings and goings of those leaders in a feature story in next week's religion section.

Below are the top five stories of 1999:

1. MILES AHEAD CRUSADE DRAWS MORE THAN 20,000, SEPT. 24-27 - There were young people and all of them were different - different hair, different clothes, different talk, different walk.

Some were Christians; some were not. Some were athletes; some were gangbangers. Some were loners; some were joiners.

They were all different. More than 20,000 different people, mostly young people, were at The Hangar in Lancaster for the three-day Miles Ahead Crusade.

The music and the gospel message of former San Diego Charger football player Miles McPherson brought out an estimated 7,500 people Sept. 24. On Sept. 25, 8,500plus people showed up; and 4,500 came by Sept. 26.

The Sept. 25 crowd was the largest in the history of The Hangar, according to officials.

Ninety percent of the crowd was junior high-, high school- and college-aged youth from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds and ethnicities.

Each night saw a concert of cutting-edge Christian modern rock, punk, techno, alternative, grunge, hip-hop, rap and ska bands.

While they turned out for the youth-oriented music, they stuck around for the gospel message from McPherson, according to event organizers.

During the three-day event, youth responded well to McPherson's open call to "believe in Jesus Christ." More that 2,000 people came forward to make that profession of faith - 802 on Sept. 24, 899 on Sept. 25 and 300 on Sept. 26.

Those 2,000 youth who professed their faith were most important to McPherson and those who organized the crusade locally, members of the AV Network of Youth Workers of the Antelope Valley Ministerial Association.

This was what the crusade was all about for them, they said.

2. LANCASTER BAPTIST OPENS NEW BUILDING, MARCH 22 - Lancaster Baptist Church opened the largest auditorium in the Antelope Valley and Pastor Paul Chappell got a full house. Located at 40th Street East and Lancaster Boulevard, the facility can seat 5,000 people and features a sloped floor with fanshaped seating, state-of-the-art sound, video and lighting systems, and easy expandability. The project cost $6.9 million - $4.2 million for the sanctuary - and took 20 months to build.

All of the numbers are impressive, but for Chappell it's not the most impressive aspect of the church.

"Building the new building is humbling," he said. "I'm more impressed with the people of this church. They are the reason we are able to build things like this. They are indeed a people of faith and have been since the very beginning.

"We have to give God the glory and the people the credit for everything."

In 13 short years, God blessed the church, according to Chappell, as the congregation grew from an average attendance of 20 to an active membership of 3,000, and a high single-day attendance of more than 5,000.

The church owns 51 acres as it moves into the multimillion dollar facility.

3. PROMISE KEEPERS RETURN TO AV, APRIL 17 - At the second annual Promise Keepers stadium-like conference in April, an estimated 1,500 men - up slightly from the 1998 rally - filled Challenger Memorial Center at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds.

Featured speaker Dr. Raleigh Washington, the national vice president for reconciliation for Promise Keepers and the founder and senior pastor of Rock of Our Salvation Evangelical Free Church, spoke to the men about practical ways to become "Men of Morality."

The rally was much like the first one. Little controversy. No fights. And no women.

Instead, the 1,500 men - the largest single gathering of men ever in the Antelope Valley - sang praise, prayed and answered an invitation from Washington to become "radical wall busters" and find "real peace" through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The 1,500-man "choir" was powerful as the men rocked, stomped, clapped, danced and sang along with a big-band worship team complete with a seven-piece brass section.

4. GRACE RESOURCES GETS NEW FACILITIES - The Grace Resource Center began refurbishing its new location at 45134 Sierra Highway, just south of Avenue I, the old Sierra Toyota. The property is being rebuilt to become the new home of the Grace Resource Center in late winter or early spring of 2000.

The center actually received use of the new facility in 1999, putting up its annual Christmas tree lot in the parking lot on the property in December.

More than seven years ago, Grace Resource Center, a ministry of the Antelope Valley Christian Ministerial Association, began providing emergency groceries to 1,500 needy people each month with the help of 16 volunteers. Now it has 400 volunteers, and 6,000 people receive emergency groceries, hot "Souper" meals, clothing, hygiene items, counseling and help, with Thanksgiving baskets each November.

5. HUNDREDS SEE "OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE" OCT. 3 - An exact replica of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, blessed by Pope John Paul II, drew several thousand pilgrims during a stop at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Palmdale.

The people who came to see the traveling image celebrated the event with singing and dancing. There were long lines filled with the faithful who waited to see the replica.

"It is our hope that, as the Pilgrim Virgin, 86 inches tall and 56 inches wide, visits the parishes, she may be a catalyst in bringing together our archdiocese in a new evangelization, giving birth as she did in 1531 to a new culture envisioned by our Lord Jesus Christ, a new civilization of love, which is grounded on mutual respect, open dialogue and collaboration," Cardinal Roger Mahony, archbishop of Los Angeles, said about the tour.

Uploaded January 1, 2000