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TIME: Almanac 1993
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TIME Almanac 1993.iso
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022789
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02278900.062
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1992-09-23
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RELIGION, Page 79Many Are Called
Dialing for Jesus
Next to Muzak and talking cash registers, few spin-offs of
modern technology are as irritating as the junk phone call. At
virtually any hour of the night or day, the unsuspecting
telephone subscriber is likely to receive unsolicited sales
pitches -- some of them prerecorded -- for anything from opera
tickets to Oriental rugs. But what about Dial-a-Communicant?
That is just what a number of church groups across the U.S.
have taken up in an effort to found churches or attract
additional members.
A pioneer and chief practitioner of this new art is Norman
Whan, a former insurance telemarketing consultant, who runs a
nonprofit Los Angeles-based organization called Church Growth
Development International. Whan, 46, a Quaker, specializes in
starting up brand-new churches, using a target of 200 members as
the number needed for a self-sustaining congregation. "When you
ask 20,000 people," explains Whan, "you can get at least 200 to
do anything." In addition to canvassing, Whan has conducted "The
Phone's for You!" seminars for 2,000 Protestant congregations
from Canada to Florida (cost per attendee: $295). Another of the
telemarketers, Church Growth Inc. of Monrovia, Calif., helps
existing churches expand their membership rolls.
"Most ministries realize how to reach rural people," says
Whan, "but there are millions in cities, in high-rises and
behind gates." To reach these urban populations, the telephone
has proved to be a handy -- and safer -- substitute for
door-to-door buttonholing and an ideal pastime, especially for
older churchgoers. Whan claims that about 10% of those dialed
by churches seem mildly interested at first contact; after
follow-up letters and calls, some 1% of them end up visiting
worship services. Calvary Church, in a yuppie enclave outside
Tampa, did even better. After eight volunteer canvassers
phoned 10,000 new residents, 200 turned up for the first
service. Today 600 belong.
Whan's ultimate goal is to phone every household in North
America each year with a personal invitation to attend church
services. That would require 2 million callers to contact 100
homes apiece -- a total of 200 million heavenly junk calls. No
problem, says Whan. "It literally could be done in three
hours." Even St. Paul might be impressed. If the telephone had
existed in his day, he could have evangelized from his living
room instead of wandering over land and sea for two decades.
Just imagine the sales pitch: "How are you this evening? Good.
My name is Paul, and I'm calling from Antioch. Some of your
neighbors are starting up a new church over there in Corinth
and . . ."