Word: presbyterian
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Burr Under His Saddle. When Hollywood called Louis Evans in 1941, he was pastor of the steel-rich, conservative Third Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh. At first, the un-Presbyterian prospect of sports jackets and starlets did not attract him. "I said no at first when their call came," he said. "But later I realized it would be a burr under my saddle and that Hollywood would be one of the finest recruiting grounds in America. Also, I wanted to get my teeth into something...
...debt of $250,000. He wiped out the debt within the first year. Each year since then, on all his calls for money, his flock has answered by topping the figure. All told, his church members* gave $328,000 last year, more than was given by any other Presbyterian congregation in the U.S. Hollywood First Presbyterian claims two other records: more new members during the past five years, the largest Sunday School enrollment (3,783 children...
Strapping (6 ft., 4½ in.) Presbyterian Evans needed only a few days to find out where to start. Then he looked. up the leader of the town's young hooligans. The boy told him, "Yes, we're going to the devil all right. There's no place else to go." Evans promptly commandeered a hotel, rallied the town's boys with saws and hammers to convert it into "Evans' Gym." By the time he left, three years later, order was restored and his congregation had swelled from...
...keeping church members jumping with activity seven days a week.* A major source of pride to the congregation is Dr. Evans' team of five vested choirs, totaling 309 voices. Dr. Evans says that this is probably the only way in which his church services deviate from the Presbyterian norm...
...Evans is too good a Presbyterian to be overly impressed by his church's new pre-eminence and the block-long queues that often form outside it on Sundays. Says he. "Mere size doesn't matter." He would like the world to realize "that Hollywood isn't just a glitter spot; it is also a remarkably Godly spot. The press has given a distorted picture of our community. There is an enormous spiritual hunger here, and one of the finest groups of people in the world. Do you know that more divinity students are coming from Hollywood...