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Bartlett church wants to reach out and bless someone

Since the invention of Caller ID, many suburbanites never answer unsolicited telephone calls from "anonymous," "out of area," "private caller" or even a local phone number that doesn't ring a mental bell. Call it cynicism or common sense.

Neither deters the phone volunteers at the Faith World Outreach Church, a conservative, Bible-based church in Bartlett.

"I've made about 4,000 calls in 37 weeks," says Mimi Steigelmann, a 49-year-old mother of six and a 23-year member of the nondenominational Christian church founded in 1985 by retired firefighter and senior pastor Ed Weiss. "Pastor has always had a heart to reach people; just bless them and encourage them."

At the start of 2014, Steigelmann, who lives in Bolingbrook, and a few other church members began plowing through phone books - yes, phone books - in alphabetical order, calling strangers.

"The idea was just to offer to pray for families who need help," says Steigelmann, who makes it clear that credit for the idea belongs to her church, an aggressive supporter of Jesus and the Gospel. She says that maybe one in five of her phone calls is answered by a person. When that happens, she introduces herself and the church, and then gets right to the point.

"We're just calling to find out if your family needs prayer," she says. "Then there's a pause because most people are dumbfounded."

Most folks politely express a lack of interest and bid farewell to the volunteer caller. But of Steigelmann's 4,000 blind phone calls, a couple hundred people have welcomed the prayer offer, she says.

"People have started crying and think it's wonderful that somebody cares," says Pastor Weiss, who makes many of the calls himself. "We're not doing this for evangelism or to try to bring people to the church. That's just one of the things we do, call total strangers. Our goal is that we just want to encourage people."

Most do appreciate that, he says.

"I'm really very grateful for the opportunity to speak to her. She wasn't pushy or preaching, just open and kind," says one Arlington Heights recipient of a Steigelmann call. That woman, as do many of those total strangers, soon discovers that she doesn't agree with other aspects of the church's policies.

The church opposes abortion rights, evolution and gay rights, and it supports theories saying that God made the world in six days and Adam and Eve arrived about 6,000 years ago. Its fwo.org website currently sports a screed against Halloween and all the popular suburban customs surrounding the holiday.

Early settlers with "strong religious convictions" banned Halloween, the church website says. It then explains how "immigrants" brought Halloween evils, describes Frankenstein author Mary Shelley as "a cocaine addict," warns that "witches" use the holiday as "a night of drugs, hallucinations, blood sacrifices and horror," and explains how one teenage satanic priest developed his craving for evil power by taking notes during episodes of TV's "Bewitched."

This Halloween, the church will be active.

"We send out prayer teams and pray that things will be peaceful," Weiss says, noting that members won't be confronting trick-or-treaters, which have even included some children of church members. "That's none of our business."

The church does support missions around the world, including a bishop in Nigeria who has created some controversy through his confrontations with "witch doctors" and people under the influence of "demons" and evil powers.

"In these days, everything is controversial," Weiss says.

The church, which has 150 members, often draws local attention for its outdoor productions at Christmas, when it hosts a "living Nativity" with people and animals, and at Easter, when it recreates a "live crucifixion" and a joyful resurrection.

"As a church, we've taken a radical stand. We get flak for it, but that's OK," Steigelmann says, noting that almost all the people she calls, whether interested or not, are polite.

"I did have one gentleman who was in a rage. He said, 'How dare you interrupt my day,'" she says. "About every two or three days, he'll come to my heart, and I'll pray for him."

She got the opposite reaction from another man, who was on the other line with his sister, who told him that her husband had just died.

"How did you know to call?" the man asked Steigelmann.

"I pray about the time to call," says Steigelmann, who credits God for her fortunate timing.

Some people will never answer a stranger's call.

"I'm with you. If I don't know who it is, I'll probably not pick up," admits Weiss. "Now, if I thought it was someone calling just to encourage me, I'd pick it up."

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