Word: humbard
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That kind of joyful, superconfident soul balm is probably the reason many listeners tune in. But as more than 20,000 letters a week attest, many others are troubled people seeking help. For them, an important part of the standard Humbard service begins when Rex walks over to a prayer table piled high with letters and-a scrupulous touch -microfilm copies of all those that could not fit on it. "Every name," he assures listeners, "is on the table." After the prayer there are down-home introductions of visiting notables, more music, Humbard's sermon and the final "altar...
Moral Truths. "We're simple people with a simple message," Humbard says, and his sermons bear him out. In his Arkansas twang and a blizzard of linguistic barbarisms ("cain't," "we's"), Humbard usually deals in congenial pleasantries about the love of God and what it can do. He touches doctrine only in passing. "People know I'm old-fashioned enough to believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, virgin-born and resurrected," he explains; he just prefers to stress "moral truths." Though he worries about such national problems as drugs and pornography, Humbard tries...
...avoids political and social issues like the plague: in comparison, Billy Graham sounds like Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Humbard simply will not speak on racism. As for the Viet Nam War, he just shakes his head. "I dunno. Before I'd say anything about Viet Nam I'd have to hear the Lord speak twicet." That kind of political laissez-faire endears him to many flag-waving right-wingers, who read into it more than Humbard really intends to say. Indeed, in the adult Sunday-school class at the cathedral last week, Humbard's associate Wayne Jones deplored...
...help cement such loyalties, Humbard once a month packs a small, multipurpose staff* into a four-engine Viscount turboprop to fly to one-night stands around the northern U.S. and Canada. Last week Humbard was in Chatham, Ont. (pop. 33,000) to play to a crowd of 2,700. Both the music and the message were familiar: "I believe that God wants us to be happy 'cause there's enough troubles in the world," he told the audience. Afterward, like a candidate on the hustings, he signed autographs and pressed flesh for 25 minutes while the crews packed...
...weeks are no less busy. Part of the cathedral staff spends long hours opening letters and tabulating contributions in three sorting and counting rooms. Others are occupied duplicating tapes of the service and dispatching them to TV stations. The work, up to 18 hours a day for the indefatigable Humbard, pays off. It has been 19 years since Rex dropped out of his parents' traveling revival troupe to start his own church in Akron with $65 in his pocket. Again and again he has mortgaged the cathedral to buy more television time; eventually listeners become happy contributors...