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Talk about being counter cultural: what Billy did was radical. There's no getting around it. He weathered the barrage of angry letters and criticisms. He resisted the idea of simply 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. He had dug the trench, you might say, and he was going through. He knew it was what God was calling him to.

In New York, Billy once and for all made it clear that his ministry would not be a slave to the culture's segregationist ways. He was serious about integrating the crowds at his Madison Square Garden crusade, which had registered a disappointing number of blacks during its first several evenings. Soon after my arrival in New York, he looked to me for counsel on boosting minority turnout. "Howard, what can we do to get more blacks to the meetings?" he asked.

I looked at Billy and gave him the hard truth: "If they're not coming to you, you have to go to where they are," I said. "Billy, you need to go to Harlem."

This is a cardinal rule of evangelism and missions: You have to go where the people are. Jesus knew this well. When he dined with tax collectors and sinners, he wasn't worried about how it would reflect on his reputation (Matt. 9: 9-12). In another instance, while journeying to Galilee he expressed an urgent need to travel through Samaria (John 4: 4-26). It wasn't the most politically correct route for a Jew to take in those days, but he made it a point to put himself where the needs were—where the people were. He was incarnational in every aspect of the term. We can only strengthen our evangelistic efforts by following his example. And Billy did.

Predictably, the prospect of going to Harlem brought Billy even more flack from white church leaders. They warned that it was too dangerous—"Those savages up there will kill you!" Still, Billy made plans to hold a rally in Harlem.

The irony is that some of those whites who were saying "Don't go to Harlem" were members of evangelical churches that were sending white missionaries to Africa. They weren't afraid of ministering to the blacks over there, but the men and women in Harlem were another story.

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