Luis Palau marks a half-century in international evangelistic work

By JOHN FORTMEYER
CNNW publisher
    PORTLAND — An ever-energetic Luis Palau admits he is much more inclined to look forward than look back. But as roughly 1,000 people gathered at the Oregon Con-vention Center Thursday evening, April 22, the famed Portland-based international evangelist had no choice but to briefly ponder what the past half-century has wrought.
   “God has done a great thing in Oregon,” said Palau, the 75-year-old Argentina native who has made Portland his home and base of operations for decades.
    The occasion was the 50th anni-versary celebration of Pa-lau’s international evangelistic mi-nistry.
    Since 1960, and with the full encouragement of his wife Pat, Pa-lau has shared the Good News of Jesus Christ with more than 1 billion people through radio, television and live events. He has reached more than 25 million people in person, partnered with more than 50,000 churches, held more than 500 evangelistic events, trained more than 400,000 individuals and served the church in more than 73 nations.
    Most important, he has led more than 1 million people in public commitments to Jesus Christ.
  “I suggest that most of us won’t know one person who has had more contact with other people about the most important thing in life,” said KEX radio personality Paul Linnman, who served as the celebration’s master of ceremonies. “I think it’s incredible.”
    In addition to a talk by Palau, the evening dinner event in-cluded vid-eos on the Palau team’s history; brief comments from Palau’s son Kevin, Palau board member David Hall and Portland City Commissioner Amanda Fritz — who substituted for the ailing Mayor Sam Adams — and a testimonial and music by famed Christian artist Steven Curtis Chapman.
   “I’ve learned so much from this friend and brother,” said Chapman, who has performed at a Palau festival in Portland and also accompanied the evangelist to China.
    Palau came to Portland from Argentina five decades ago to attend what is now Multnomah University. He met his future wife there.
    While acknowledging at one point his age — “I need the young people’s help because all my friends are dying,” he quipped — Palau gave no hint of any slowdown in his rapid pace of activity worldwide. He and his son Andrew, who has followed Luis into evangelism, have between them about 15 different outreach festivals scheduled nationally and worldwide this coming year.
   “We’re excited with the many years of ministry Dad has left, but also long-term with Andrew and our partner evangelists,” said Kevin, who is president of the Palau team and who helped persuade his father in 1999 to abandon the traditional crusade format for an outdoor “festival” outreach in Portland’s Tom McCall Waterfront Park. The response was so huge — with more than 90,000 people attending over two days — that it has become a model for dozens more events worldwide.
   “And now, just about every evangelist in the world calls their crusades ‘festivals’ ’’ said Luis Palau.
    While the festivals got their start in Portland, so also did a newer effort — the Season of Service program that sees thousands of church people do volunteer work in their communities in conjunction with the Palau events.    Much of the evening focused on the success of those efforts and “how they give people an opportunity to know the faith community,” said Fritz.
    David Hall, a longtime board member, also spoke in tribute to Palau’s wife.
    “I’m grateful to have served on the board to see what kind of man (Palau) is and what kind of woman supports him,” he said.
     Andrew Palau was unable to attend the dinner because of scheduled meetings in Great Britain. But he sent a video greeting and he and Kevin both praised their parents.
    “We’re so grateful for your living out a faithful Christian life for all of these years,” Kevin said.