Sommers:
With reaction to today’s announcement from Pastor Smith at The Congregation in Central Park Church, we turn to Mark Jacobs who is live at Central Park.
(Cut to Mark Jacobs - live broadcast)
Jacobs:
Leslie, the press conference where Pastor Smith announced tomorrow’s gathering was brief. During the questions, Pastor Smith admitted that his congregation did believe in both visions and miraculous healings, but had never seen or heard of anything like this, short of Jesus feeding the 5,000 as recorded in the Gospels. They’re really sort-of feeling their way at the moment. As Pastor Smith said, this is not something covered in Church Management courses at Seminary.
Word is just starting to trickle out. Most of the people we’ve talked to here in Central Park were unaware of the announcement. But we were able to capture a few reactions on camera.
(Cut to reaction tape)
Robertson:
(Caption: Jake Robertson - Brooklyn) Faith healing is one of the oldest scams. It’s just a way for the Church to make money.
Jacobs (off camera):
The Church has stated it won’t be accepting payment or donations.
Robertson:
That’s what they say, but we’ll see what happens. The proof will be in the pudding. Nobody will really be healed, and the Church will make a ton of money.
Jacobs:
You don’t believe Mr. Nnkoba can heal people?
Robertson:
If he could really heal people, he would have taken the mayor up on his offer to set up less disruptive visits to the hospitals. They set up this thing in Central Park so they could scam people.
Jacobs:
All the information we have to date is that people in the hospitals were really healed.
Robertson:
We’ll see. The truth will come out soon enough.
Chimarev:
(Caption: Constantine Chimarev - Manhattan) I don’t really know what to think about it. Maybe it’s real, maybe it’s not. Who knows?
Jacobs:
Will you be coming out tomorrow to see?
Chimarev:
No. I’m not sick. My family is not sick. We’ll stay away from the crowd. We will watch you on TV to see what happens.
Jacobs:
Thank you for that.
Gutierrez:
(Caption: Maria Gutierrez - Manhattan) I think it’s fantastic. We will be here tomorrow morning. I hope we can be first in line.
Jacobs:
Are you sick?
Gutierrez:
No, it’s my mother. She was sent home last week for hospice care. The hospital can not do anything more for her cancer. We are just trying to make her comfortable until she dies.
Jacobs:
Will it be safe to move her? It will be chilly out here tomorrow morning.
Gutierrez:
It can’t make her much worse. We have been trying everything. We won’t be shy to try this. And if it works, it will be wonderful. If it doesn’t work, we will be no worse off than today.
Jacobs:
We wish you the best. I hope it works out for you.
(Cut to Mark Jacobs - Live feed)
Jacobs:
Leslie, these responses run the gamut from skepticism to uncertainty to support, which is what we’d expect from the people of New York.
(Cut to split screen)
Sommers:
Mark, have any preparations begun?
Jacobs:
Only low-key preparations at this point, Leslie. Police have put up barricades to mark the area the Church will be using, but there are no signs indicating what the area will be used for.
Sommers:
What does the layout look like?
Jacobs:
As marked off, it’s just a large area. The entrance will be here near the 5th Avenue entrance to the park. Inside there’s no indication of any kind of crowd control or where Mr Nnkoba will be standing. I guess we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see how the Church is going to manage it.
Sommers:
Thank you, Mark.
Jacobs:
Mark Jacobs, WNYC Live.
(Cut to studio - guest stage)
Sommers:
We’re back with Dr. Samuel Estive, Pastor of NYC Seeker Church. Welcome back, Pastor.
Estive:
Thank you, Leslie.
Sommers:
Well, Sam, what do you think?
Estive:
Leslie, right now I don’t know what to think. Rick Smith is a friend of mine. He’s a good man and Pastor. We both believe in the possibility of miracle healing, but I would agree that there isn’t any precedent for what is happening here. I’m not sure I would have made the same choice, but I sympathize with what he’s trying to do.
Sommers:
What do you think we’ll see tomorrow?
Estive:
I think we’ll see some small crowds at first. After that, it depends on whether this Mr. Nnkoba is the real deal. If people are truly healed, I think there will be some serious crowd control problems.
Sommers:
You doubt Mr. Nnkoba has a gift of healing?
Estive:
It’s hard to doubt the results at the hospitals. Seeing is supposed to be believing. But I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around this. I’ve known my share of scam faith healers, and seen very few real healings. I really want to believe God has decided to act in this way, and that Mr. Nnkoba is merely being faithful to his calling. But it’s tough to ignore all the times I’ve personally prayed for healing only to have a good friend or a member of my congregation die. I’m going to be cautiously optimistic, but I really need to wait and see.
Sommers:
What advice would you give to a sick person about coming out tomorrow.
Estive:
Until I know more I would counsel caution. Don’t forego a doctor’s visit. Don’t walk away from surgery or urgent care. Don’t add risk by coming to Central Park before going to a doctor. But if it won’t hurt, if the doctors won’t do anything for you, or if you’re waiting for the next step in a medical process, come on out. There’s nothing to fear, and there may be a great deal to gain. I certainly hope and pray that the mother with terminal cancer is helped, and I admire her daughter’s determination to try anything. Maybe this will be her answer to prayer.
Sommers:
Thank you, Sam, for taking time to talk with us today. I’m sure we’ll call you again when we see what actually happens tomorrow.
Estive:
My pleasure, Leslie. I’ll look forward to it.
Sommers:
We go now to Central Park where Mark Jacobs is standing by at the site where the man known as The Healer will meet the public for the first time in just a few minutes. Mark?
(Cut to Mark Jacobs - live feed)
Jacobs:
Leslie, it looks like everyone has underestimated the sick or injured who would be willing to trust Mr. Nnkoba, the man known as The Healer, with their health. As you can see behind me, police are working hard to contain the crowds spilling out into public spaces from the barricaded section reserved by The Congregation at Central Park Church.
Sometime during the night people began pushing past the barricades into the Church’s area. At around 6:00 this morning staff from the Church came in and attempted to impose some kind of order inside the barricade. They’ve created a snaking line and appealed to everyone inside to respect the line and be patient. It looks like Mr. Nnkoba will be standing in the northwest corner of the area. There’s a space along the western edge to allow Mr. Nnkoba to get in, and people from the front of the line to exit.
About 10 minutes ago volunteers from the Church came and took places to help protect that space and keep the line orderly. And I can see Pastor Smith coming now with several people, including an African-American man who may be Mr. Nnkoba. Pastor Smith, can you answer a few questions for us?
Smith:
Mark, you and your team have been doing a wonderful job covering this, but right now I need to focus on getting this process started and ministering to these people. Setting everything up has been real chore. We haven’t had a chance to think about dealing with the press. I’ll try to keep you and the other members of the media informed, but for now I’m going to ask you to be patient.
Jacobs:
Well, that was probably the most polite brush-off I’ve ever received. As you can see, Leslie, nobody who was with Pastor Smith stopped when he did. Mr. Nnkoba is nearly at the front of the area. Church staff had to physically block the hopefuls to allow him to get to his place. We’re going to try to get a shot of him as he’s doing what he does.
From this angle, Leslie, the person who appears to be first in line is a woman in a wheelchair. Mr. Nnkoba’s hands are on her head and he is saying something. Now she’s standing up. I don’t know what her need was, but she looks extremely excited. She’s trying to hug Mr. Nnkoba but the members of the Church are trying to move her out, I guess so he can help the next person in line. I know you need to go to a break. We’ll try to get her on camera to share with you when you return. Mark Jacobs, WNYC Live.
(Cut to studio)
Sommers:
Thanks, Mark. It looks like it’s going to be a very interesting day. We’ll go back to Mark after these messages.
(Cut to break and top-of-the-hour news theme)