Enon 'sowing' for the needy on Easter

There is nothing small about Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church, particularly on Easter.

Not the choir, not the congregation, and not the charity, either.

"We don't apologize for being large, we don't apologize for packing out a place, but our largeness has got to turn into something for someone else," the Rev. Alyn E. Waller told thousands of congregants Sunday at a special service in the 10,200-seat Liacouras Center.

Each Easter the Cedarbrook church picks three charities to receive donations from congregants. The service typically generates $50,000 to $75,000 for the organizations, said Waller's wife, Ellyn Jo.

Waller calls it sowing.

"Today we come to sow into these organizations," he said.

This year, Enon selected the child-services organization Wordsworth, the antiviolence Father's Day Rally Committee, and a pair of doctors providing care to street children in Nairobi, Kenya.

Sowing, Waller said, is part of being involved in "real ministry" rather than simple "religiosity."

"The real test of what we do is when we give the benediction, and when we get up out of here, are you going to love somebody? Are you going to help somebody? Are you going to get involved in the community?" Waller asked his congregants.

As an example, he pointed to the Father's Day Rally Committee, which describes itself as "a responsibility movement." The money collected for the organization Sunday will be used for its Rites of Passage Program for African Americans ages 10 to 17.

"It's manhood development. We have sessions on male-female relationships, health issues. We take them to Harlem historical sites," said Bilal Qayyum, president of the Father's Day Rally Committee.

He did not know how much in contributions his organization would receive.

"I have no idea, but every penny counts for a group like ours," Qayyum said.

An Enon congregant who is the social worker for a foster mother employed by Wordsworth recommended the organization for the charity drive.

Wordsworth offers a wide array of services, including a residence and a school, for 1,700 special-needs children in the Philadelphia area.

"We are thrilled to be a recipient. We're really honored," said Madeleine Kessler, Wordsworth's corporate director of community relations. "Everything we get will be used to help the children and families that we serve."

The final recipients of the congregation's contributions are Michael and Kay Johnson, former Philadelphia residents affiliated with an organization called World Gospel Mission.

The Johnsons, who were not at the service, provide medical care for thousands of homeless and orphaned street children in Nairobi.

"We're praying for our young people in the streets of Philadelphia and the challenges that are facing them, and we're praying for those in the streets in the cities of Africa," Waller said at the 21/2-hour service.

The ceremony was a classic example of Enon's style. It featured a reenactment of the Resurrection in song and dance, a performance from a drum troupe, remarkable music, a slickly produced video urging young people to look out for one another, and a teleconference prayer with congregants in South Africa.

Like many pastors, Waller was intent on using the unusually large Easter crowd to try to win a few new congregants.

"I'm not one of those who likes to beat up on people who only come on Easter. If it's the only shot I got, it's the shot I got," he said.