Lottery’s Offering of Car and Cycle Drives the Multitudes Into Church
LA MARQUE, Texas — Faced with a new year and the continuing challenge of filling a 4,000-seat church, Pastor Walter Hallam prayed for inspiration and got it.
Since November, Hallam has offered a deal: Each time someone attends a service at his Abundant Life Christian Center, that person may enter a church-sponsored contest. Frequent churchgoers with multiple entries have the best chance of winning one of two grand prizes -- a $17,000 Chrysler PT Cruiser or a $6,500 Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
“It’s a way to compel you to come to the house of God,” Hallam said. “It’s a way to attract people with something they can use. Sometimes, you just have to roll with the times you live in.”
Hallam, 49, is standing in the cavernous church sanctuary as volunteers hefting banners and ladders hurry to prepare it for New Year’s Eve, when the prizes will be awarded. The auto and motorcycle, which the church purchased, gleam under the lights.
“I’ve never heard of giving away cars and stuff like that. As a church, we have to use new methods to help take the old Gospel and give it to the new world,” Hallam said.
Pat Lannen, who is helping inflate 4,000 balloons that will be released at midnight, glances at Hallam with admiration. “I think it’s just a brilliant idea,” said Lannen, 49, a homebuilder. “It’s working.”
During the first week of the contest, more than 10,000 people filled out entry forms, said Hallam. Thousands more have since entered, forming lines at tables outside the sanctuary during the three services held each week. Members bringing visitors can fill out two forms at each service.
The auto will be awarded to a woman, the motorcycle to a man. “We’ve had many women say they’d rather have the Harley, but that’s not how this giveaway is set up,” said Jim Walker, the church’s business administrator.
After tonight’s service, two large tumbling machines made of wood and chicken wire will be rolled onto the stage. The names of 12 people will be drawn. Each semi-finalist, who must be present to win, will be given a key and a chance to turn the ignition in the auto or motorcycle. Two will drive away winners.
Doris Meador hopes to be one of them. She has entered the contest 17 times. Earlier this week, she tied a red velveteen ribbon around the PT Cruiser, a festive accent against its silver-gray exterior.
“Is that bow straight? Does it looked centered?” she asked, adjusting the loops just so. Meador wanted the auto to look nice, no matter who won it. And if her name is called? Meador looked up from the giant ribbon and smiled at the prospect. “I’ll get in and drive it home, of course,” she said.
For Robin Armstrong, a 34-year-old internist who has attended this church since 1992, the contest may be a nod to “materialism or a lottery-like mentality.... But it’s getting a lot of attention.
“People may come here hoping to win a car, but they may get something they didn’t expect, something deeper and more real.”
Rusty Carr, 38, said the contest offers a way to coax friends to church. He used to be just like them, he said. “I wasn’t churchgoing at all. But everyone needs a car, it’s free and it gives them incentive to come here. If I can get them in the door, maybe it will change their life.”
Carr is a refinery worker in La Marque, a blue-collar community south of Houston that’s struggling to move beyond its oil town roots. Along the freeway, new housing developments and an outlet mall share land with the aging Boot Kikker Bingo and a dog racing track.
Hallam wants his church to move forward as well. He installed Internet connections and put in a cafe that serves Starbucks coffee in the main church foyer. His sermons are broadcast by satellite around the world. And if it takes a Harley to attract new members, so be it, he said.
After midnight tonight, when the indoor fireworks display is over, the confetti and balloons are scattered on the floor and the grand prizes have been driven off, some may be thinking about a return visit, Hallam said. “Obviously, I’m not in the car business, I’m in the people business,” he said. “The whole goal is to attract people. How do you do that in today’s world? Any way you can do that, to be creative, I think is good. It’s good to be proactive.”
