Daily News from New York, New York • 7

"SI rinnr PffW! WBPJ5 IHWBKHpHfc 0 0 IT uuuy gle set of rules. Prof. James Cone of the city's Union Theological Seminary said evan true whether they are poor or middle class." he said. "It's the power of the spirit that makes the difference." They appeal to people consistent basis, recapturing the values of family, loyalty, integrity." The evangelicals in the city see in the Holy Spirit a way to deal with some gelical churches "seem to be able to give people a kind of perspective that is spirit-filled, and that enables them to cope with life's adversities and difficul-; ties." "This is without strong denominational ties, and often their pastors who usually are also their founders target their message. Bernard, who'll be preaching at the coliseum today, initially geared his message toward young professional black men.

Now, where church membership traditionally is 10 to 15 male, and much of that older, Bernard's congregation is more than 50 male, and the average age, he said, is 32 "coming to church on a of the problems of life here. Wilkerson tells of a continuous concert of prayers orchestrated to fight the city's crime rate. For four years now, he said, several city churches have taken turn in prayer. "The whole month of January," he said, "we had 3,000 people praying around the clock against the spirit of murder in the city." "There's a spiritual hunger, a hunger and thirst for things of God," Wilkerson said. "People line up here for two hours to get a seat on Sunday." 1978 TODAY 1997 TODAY 600 10,000 4,000 8,000 TIMES SQUARE CHURCH 'I video hookup.

Miguel and Karen take their seats there regularly, now joined by daughter, Rebecca, 3 months old. They had never met when they first sat next to each other in October 1994 and felt God tell each of them "that the person next to us was the one." The couple, born-again Christians, were engaged six months later and got married in another seven months. With membership growing at this rate, the church recently ilk i5 1 IGUEL AND KAREN AVILES insist God introduced them to each other as they worshiped in the Times Square Church 3V2 years ago. People like Miguel, 38, and Karen, 30, have turned the interdenominational church into one of the fastest growing congregations in the city. Membership has more than doubled to about 8,000 just in the past year alone, the pastor, the Rev.

David Wilkerson, said. In a city constantly regenerated by immigrants, there are 110 nationalities represented in the Times Square Church. The congregation worships in the old Mark Hellinger Theater, where Julie purchased an adjacent 75.000 square feet to accommodate the crowd, Wilkerson said. And all in 11 years. Wilkerson, 66, said he started the church after coming across dope peddlers in Times Square.

Shaken by what he witnessed, "I prayed to God to raise up a church in Times Square that would confront this thing," he said. "God has a place here in Times Square as much as the theaters." STARTED: 1987 INTERDENOMINATIONAL MESSAGE: Accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior to help you fight the temptations of life. Andrews sang in "My Fair Lady" and Jeff Fenholt starred in the 1970s rock musical "Jesus Christ Superstar." The faithful cram into the 1,600 red velvet seats, squeeze into every alcove and rotunda, and fill the basement and three auditoriums, where they worship along with the others by More on page 36 1 1. 5 T3 A DIVINE INTERVENTION: The Aviles, with daughter, Rebecca, worship where they met. PHOTOS BT JON HASO DAILY NEWS.