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Some evangelists rue Salt Lake tactics
They're critical of aggressive behavior during the Games
By Carrie A. Moore
Deseret News religion editor
A sizable number of local Christian evangelists were embarrassed by the aggressive proselytizing and Mormon-bashing employed by some evangelical groups during the Olympic Games.
Corky Seevinck, pastor of Salt Lake Christian Fellowship, said he was so dismayed at some of what took place that at one point just after the Games ended, he talked with a group of fellow Christians about taking out a full-page ad in both Salt Lake newspapers apologizing for the tactics some street evangelists employed.
A group of local Christian churches called the Utah Games Network decided years before the Games began to be respectful in their philosophical differences with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during evangelizing efforts and encouraged outside Christian groups to do the same. The Salt Lake Theological Seminary even taught classes in respectful evangelizing to members of more than 50 churches along the Wasatch Front last summer and fall and offered a "short course" from its "Bridges" curriculum to visiting Christian evangelists just before and during the Games.
While at least 1,200 people participated in those classes, according to seminary development director Charlie Huebner, several groups made it clear they thought aggressive tactics would be more effective. The Network was aware of about 1,800 evangelists in town during the Games. "A number of groups that came to Salt Lake City opted not to interact with us. It is difficult for us to exert any direct influence over some of these groups, because many of them operate independently."
"They almost became lone rangers," said June Evans, vice president of administration for the seminary. "We did have people who wanted to do it their own way. It's a free country, and there's nothing we can do about that. We wish they would have listened, but again, just as we have differences with the LDS religion, they have a right to their opinion. Though we don't agree with it and we don't like it, they can do it."
Seevinck, who with Huebner and Evans is affiliated with the Utah Games Network, said members agreed early on that "we didn't want people to come to Salt Lake City and kick the beehive and then leave and leave us with a bunch of angry bees to deal with. To some extent, that's happened."
While Seevinck said he no longer is considering a newspaper ad, he has considered writing a letter to the editor of the Deseret News with a copy to LDS Church leaders apologizing for the way some evangelists behaved.
Huebner said his response to the offensive proselytizers was "to pray for them. In one instance we went and stood in close proximity to one group that in my estimation was particularly insensitive and prayed for them, hoping that by the ministry of the Holy Spirit they would get a clue of the damage they were doing."
Seevinck said the little cart that drove around downtown with graphic pictures and a message about abortion was particularly offensive, as were those standing outside the LDS Conference Center shouting through a bull-horn at crowds entering the building for the church's production of "Light of the World."
One of the Network's primary goals was "that if we share the gospel with people we want it to be good news. Some of the presentations that happened never got to good news; it was only bad news," Seevinck said. Despite some of what he considers bad behavior, he hopes Utahns understand there was an orchestrated effort to share the Christian message in a positive way.
Huebner said some people did notice the difference in the way various groups evangelized, and some were even complimentary of the way members of the Utah Games Network interacted with visitors.
Paraphrasing an e-mail he received from a Brigham Young University professor, Huebner said the man brought his wife and daughter downtown during the Games to enjoy the festivities and they interacted with some of the "More than Gold" evangelists that were part of the Network.
He called the experience "one of the more pleasant" he had downtown, and he was particularly impressed by "how they explained the colors of the pin and how they relate to the mission of the Savior. He said they were not confrontational or did they undermine his daughter's understanding of her faith.
"Would that we all could interact with the same type of respect."
Huebner said several visiting evangelists from Athens and Torino, Italy, were so impressed with the way the Network had organized their outreach efforts that they met to ask how the principles could be adopted to their own cities in order to share their faith and not offend local residents.
E-mail: carrie@desnews.com
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March 16, 2002
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