During the first few nights, critics and supporters alike
noticed a disturbing trend: the audiences looked more like a
cross section of Middle America than the diverse streets of New
York City. Especially notable was the absence of African Ameri-
cans. Lamenting this fact, Billy called Cleveland pastor Howard
Jones, an African American, and asked him how to reach the
city’s minorities. Jones pulled no punches and told Billy to go
where the blacks lived—Harlem. Jones even left his job in Cleve-
land to organize this effort. Eight thousand people attended the
first event there. One week later at a similar event in Brooklyn,
Billy for the first time voiced his support for civil rights legisla-
tion. Though Billy focused his efforts on spiritual change and
emphasized the necessity of inward transformation, he also lob-
bied for institutional reform. Billy’s leadership tactics reflected
his belief that a variety of devices would be needed to coax
change.
Jones later noted Billy’s leadership with admiration. “For bet-
ter or worse, the church has typically followed the lead of secu-
lar society when it comes to our attitudes about race,” he
reflected. “When Billy approached me to join him in New York,
it was more or less understood that white Christians worshiped
with white Christians and black Christians worshiped with black
Christians. Our evangelical churches seemed to believe that
heaven too would be ‘separate but equal.’ We recited the Lord’s
Prayer and prayed: ‘Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven’
but then proceeded to bow at the altar of Jim Crow. Talk about
being countercultural; what Billy did was radical. There’s no get-
ting around it. He weathered the barrage of angry letters and crit-
icisms. He resisted the idea of pulling the plug on the whole thing
and playing it safe. There was never any hesitation on Billy’s part.
He remained faithful to his convictions.”
Billy’s brief foray into Harlem produced the intended result of
involving African Americans and marked the beginning of an
important relationship. Two rally organizers were close friends
and advisers of Martin Luther King Jr. Together with King, they
huddled with Billy in private strategy meetings and even swapped
Expanding the Growing Edge