FRANK BURGOS Herald Staff Writer

The Rev. Mauricio Medina, minister of the Star of Bethlehem Baptist Church, usually hurls his best oral thunderbolts at the devil and the wages of sin.

But lately the preacher and his brethren have been taking some of their best rhetorical shots at a couple of new and unexpected targets: the Hialeah City Council and Mayor Raul Martinez.

Conservative ministers and their followers are railing against a proposed city law setting time limits on tent gatherings, including tent revivals. One revivalist has taken to the airwaves to excoriate the commissioners.

"Along with The Last Temptation of Christ, I think this is part of a diabolical plot to limit the influence of the church," Medina said. "I think the Hialeah administration is an unknowing instrument to this plot."

"I think they stabbed the Gospel in the back," said Pentecostal preacher Hector N. Ruiz.

Martinez and the council are stunned by the furor the proposed tent restriction has generated. Under the plan, no organization can hold a tent gathering for more than 15 days and then only once a year.

"I had no intention of fighting churches," Martinez said. "I feel maligned."

"I feel hurt that it's been said throughout the city that we're trying to stop the preaching of the word of God," said Councilman Herman Echevarria. "This is unfair to the administration, unfair to the council."

The mayor says the restriction is just a simple attempt to plug a loophole in city laws regarding tents. But preachers, clinging to the earthier style of tent revivals in an age of television evangelism, say the law is an attack on their ministry.

But tent revivals, relics of pre-electronic days, still are a powerful emotional draw, some theologians say.

"There's nothing very personal about reaching out and touching a television," said Melvin Schoonover, president of the South Florida Center for Theological Studies. Schoonover, a professor of religion, said some people attend rousing tent revivals to recharge their spiritual life.

"Some have profound experiences that launch a new life and join a local church," he said, "while others just sort of wait around until the next tent comes around."

Martinez suggested regulating tent gatherings after learning that a preacher, Oscar Aguero, pitched a tent in a grassy field and held fire-and-brimstone revivals for almost a year, to the chagrin of neighbors and heads of mainstream churches.

Martinez said noise complaints started streaming into his office about the tent gathering, which attracted crowds as large as 300 for nightly meetings filled with bright lights and music bound for the heavens.

Some complaints also came from mainstream church leaders, possibly upset over competition, but Martinez declined to name them.

Bringing the good news

Aguero said he was not aware of any problems with neighbors in the mostly residential area. He declined to comment further.

Last September, Aguero told a Miami Herald reporter, "By preaching outside the church we can get to more people with the good news. People see the tent and the signs and get curious, so they come in."

Some people left the tent professing to be cured of drug addiction, ulcers and other diseases.

The tent, which sported a banner proclaiming, "Drugs, Alcohol and Adultery are Death. Jesus Christ is Life," has been dismantled.

Martinez said giving preachers like Aguero free rein to hold tent revivals would be unfair to pastors with established churches who have to comply with zoning, parking and building codes.

During a council meeting, Martinez asked the lawmakers to consider stricter regulations of tent gatherings, including circuses and other businesses. He asked if a new law could be drafted in time for the next council meeting. Aguero was in the audience.

Taking to the airwaves

On radio station WVCG-AM, Aguero alerted followers to the mayor's proposal and urged them to pack the Aug. 9 council meeting and oppose the new tent rule.

Pack the meeting they did, many carrying the Bible and clapping and shouting "Amen!" after each of four preachers stepped to the podium and chastised the mayor and council.

"When we fail to give the message of God and to help people, especially in the old-fashioned way with tents all around the city, beloved, we're going to be in bad shape," said Medina, who was considering having his first tent revival in Hialeah.

"Let us preach the Gospel, please!" pleaded the Rev. Luis Miranda, a Pentecostal preacher, who has had two tent revivals in Hialeah.

The meeting, which Aguero did not attend, grew so heated that a man who criticized Aguero was escorted by police out of City Hall for his protection. As he spoke, the group hissed and called him "Judas."

Council votes to restrict

Outside City Hall, an Aguero supporter leaned against a tree and wept. At one point, dozens stormed out of the meeting when they sensed that the council was going to vote for the proposal.

Despite the outcry, the council tentatively voted to restrict tent gatherings. Echevarria cast the sole dissenting vote after his suggestion to give organizations more than one time a year to hold tent gatherings was rejected.

The council has to vote again on the matter Tuesday before the restrictions can become law.

This is the second time Dade's second-largest city has been rocked by religious controversy. A year ago, the City Council was grappling with the Santeria church of Lukumi Babalu Aye over the practice of animal sacrifice. The council, which outlawed the ritual killing of animals, now is defending itself in federal court against a Santeria lawsuit.

Aguero said he will obey the tent restrictions if passed and won't fight it. "This is a case that is over," he said.

But Aguero follower Robert Concepcion says he plans to be at the council meeting to pitch a final battle. He thinks the council's action is just a first step in wiping out religion entirely.

"Maybe next year they won't permit tent revivals at all," he said. "And then after that, they'll stop the preaching on the radio."

REVIVAL REGULATIONS
How other governments handle tent revivals:

* Hialeah's plan would limit organizations to one tent gathering of no more than 15 days a year. Revivals have been less of a problem in Miami and Metro, where strict zoning standards regulate where and for how long a tent can be up.

* In Miami, tent revivals can be Thursday through Sunday, and no organization can have more than two a year without City
Commission approval.

* In unincorporated Dade, Metro is even stricter. While county law is silent on how many times a year there can be a tent gathering, no tent gathering can last longer than 15 days. And before the first stake is hammered into the ground, the organizer must get the approval of every property owner within 500 feet of the tent.

* In Miami Beach, there is no ordinance regulating tent revivals.