The Macon Telegraph
'Small Town Billy Graham' bringing crusade to Dublin
Rodney Manley, TELEGRAPH STAFF WRITER
Staging a crusade is a lot like getting a team ready for a college football game, says coach-turned evangelist Rick Gage.
Gage remembers the 15- to 18-hour days he put in as a coach at three colleges, including Texas Tech. The days might not be as long now, but there's still a lot of teamwork and game planning required.
"If the preparation has not been done properly, don't expect results. That is the key to a successful evangelism crusade - preparation," Gage said. "It's hard work. It takes a lot of time, a lot of effort. But it's worth it for every soul that is won."
That explains the half-dozen or so trips Gage will have made from his offices in Atlanta to Dublin by the time his next "Go Tell" crusade kicks off May 7 at the West Laurens High football stadium.
Gage, 48, has been dubbed the "Small Town Billy Graham" for his focus on smaller communities. For more than a decade, he has been filling football stadiums in communities ranging in population from 5,000 to 150,000.
"Our vision, our calling, is to do the Billy Graham-type crusade in the county-seat towns of America," said Gage. "There's a lot more Dublin, Georgias, than there are Atlanta, Georgias. People in small towns need Jesus just as much as big towns do."
Gage's father, Freddie Gage, has been a leading evangelist for a half-century, but his son had no plans of following his father into the pulpit. That was before attending a crusade by James Robison and, he said, surrendering "to Christ totally and completely."
He launched his own ministry in 1990. In addition to the crusades, Gage holds summer youth camps and has an overseas ministry that reaches into the former Soviet Union, helping at Russian orphanages and placing some children in U.S. homes.
His crusades often draw well-known guests speakers, including Robison, Jerry Falwell, Florida State coach Bobby Bowden and NFL Hall of Famer Mike Ditka.
Scheduled to speak at the Dublin crusade are Rick Stanley, the stepbrother of Elvis Presley, Pilgrim's Pride Corp. board chairman Bo Pilgrim, and Georgia Bulldogs players Blake Barnes and Brian Mimbs. Georgia coach Mark Richt and Georgia Tech coach Chan Gailey will share video testimony on a giant television screen.
He and his crusade staff also visit area prisons, youth homes and high schools. His "On Track" school assembly program uses a "secular message," he said, to discuss choices high-schoolers face with drugs, alcohol abuse, teen suicide and premarital sex.
"We need to remind these kids that they were brought into this world to be a winner in the game called life. We're here to tell them they can be winners, but it starts with making right choices, right decisions."
The Dublin crusade has been months in planning. Gage's crusade director also has made about a half-dozen trips down I-75 and I-16, meeting with "an army of lay leaders" from area churches.
The crusade runs from Sunday, May 7, through Wednesday, May 10. The final night will be geared toward youths, with the UGA players speaking and Gage serving up 350-400 free pizzas.
The "Pizza Blast" is idea borrowed from his father, who started offering free pizza at crusades during the 1960s.
"He knew the hippies would show up to eat free food."
IF YOU GO
What: Go Tell Crusade with evangelist Rick Gage
When: 7 p.m., May 7-10; Pizza Blast at 6 p.m., May 10
Where: West Laurens High football stadium, off Interstate 16 at U.S. 441, Dublin
Cost: Free
Phone: (478) 274-9470
