Post by Messenger Micah on Dec 27, 2005 22:21:52 GMT -5
December 9, 2005-Key West Fantasy Fest: I had heard about Fantasy Fest and believed we needed to go preach there, so I contacted Ruben from Los Angeles, California last March to come and help us. Key West has been a homosexual stronghold for a long time and Fantasy Fest is a Mardi Gras type of event. Ruben agreed to come for the originally scheduled event during the last 10 days of October, culminating on October 31. Well, Hurricane Wilma hit Key West right before the event and they were forced to postpone it (Hallelujah!). It was rescheduled for December 7-12.
I did not think that Ruben would be able to rearrange his schedule to make the rescheduled event, but he did and was still planning on coming. Now it looked like I would not be able to go because I would have to work all weekend (the only weekend of the year where I am required to do this). Of course I wanted him to come anyway and work with the other members of Miami Bible Believers (Elizabeth, Doug, John, Onica, and Emmanuel) even if I could not go myself. I did not have much hope from the natural of getting out of this but my wife, and other members of the team were praying and believing God I would be able to go. On December 6 (the day before the event started and 3 days before Ruben was to arrive) I was told work was optional for me that weekend, so I would be allowed to go.
This same day, I met with a brother named Jose who was lending us his house in Key Largo to stay at, and a woman named Miriam who was a former lesbian and male impersonator and now a born again Christian and full time minister who specializes in reaching homosexuals. I wanted to meet with them because they were planning on joining us for the outreach, and stay at the same house in Key Largo, so I wanted to give them a complete description of what we were going to do and how we would do it, so there would be no conflicts or misunderstandings later. I was not able to convince them after two and a half hours of talking to them that we were going about things the right way in our approach, but during the event they changed their opinions. Jose and Miriam went to Key West on the 7th and began ministering one on one to people until we arrived.
John did a great job of coordinating the whole event. Ruben brought Rod (also from LA), and Dean (Arizona) along with him. John rented a van and picked them all up at the airport. John, Onica, Elizabeth, Doug, Ruben, Dean, Rod, and Jose all headed to Key West and arrived around 4 PM. I was not there of course, but from what I heard and saw on video, members of the group took turns preaching at corners and had good crowds with lots of hecklers. Jose and Miriam joined the group in the middle of the evening and were very impressed. From that point on they were in total agreement with everything we did.
The police were faxed a 7 page letter from the SPF of which Ruben is a member of letting them know we were coming, what we were doing, and what our constitutional rights are. The police treated the group very well, keeping the crowds at a distance, not allowing volatile hecklers through, and escorting the group when necessary. In spite of the police, the group was still pelted with bead necklaces, doused with beer, and Ruben had an ice cream cup smashed on his head. The group preached until 11 PM and made the two and a half hour drive back to Jose?s house in Key Largo.
I drove out to Jose?s house in Key Largo by myself and arrived around 11 PM and called John, who told me they were just leaving Key West.
December 10, 2005-Key West Fantasy Fest: The group members arose between 10 and 11 AM after arriving at the house after 2:00 AM. We fellowshipped, had a Bible Study, and left Key Largo around 4:30 PM to make the 7 PM parade.
As we began walking the street with banners, sandwich board signs, and Ruben on the bullhorn, a man came and grabbed Ruben?s shirt at the neck, but the police immediately pulled the guy away.
We set up with banners, bullhorns, and sandwich board signs at the beginning of the parade. We began to get pelted with bead necklaces and doused with beer right from the get go. Ruben and John did the preaching at this point as the floats paraded by. Near the end of the passing floats I was given a bullhorn.
Once the last float passed we made our way through the gate and began following the parade, preaching behind the street cleaners? pick-up with bullhorns on both sides of the street. The police did not care if we followed behind the parade as long as we kept a sizeable distance. Ruben let others do the preaching and made sure we maintained a proper distance behind the parade. As the night wore on the frequency and accuracy of bead necklaces being thrown at us became greater and greater. Soon, there was a huge crowd of people following us, as we followed the parade.
We finally reached a point in the parade where they shut a gate behind the parade to keep us from entering. Now we were locked out of the parade with the massive crowds on the street as well as the massive crowd behind us. People kept trying to snatch the bullhorn from me as I was preaching. We walked back into the crowd about 25 yards and positioned ourselves in the middle of the street, with John preaching on one side and myself on the other, back to back. This was the most intense part of the evening. Ruben likened it to a Thursday at the real Mardi Gras (New Orleans). Crowds were gathering on either side of us. Beads, and beer were thrown, people grabbing the bullhorn, grabbing us, girls exposing themselves, dancing against us, and photographers taking pictures.
We were unable to get behind the parade again that evening, but we continued walking the streets preaching on bullhorns on either side of the street, with banners and sandwich boards. We arrived back at our starting point around 11 PM and headed back to Key Largo.
December 11, 2005-South Beach: Ruben thought we needed to go preach at South Beach today instead of investing the extra day at Fantasy Fest, because of the police harassment and arrest threats I had gotten the week before. I wanted our out of town guests to try some Cuban food, so Ruben, Rod, Dean, John, Onica, Doug, Elizabeth, and myself feasted on a large meal at Sergio?s before heading to South Beach and arrived at 5:30 PM.
We do not usually go to South Beach on a Sunday and it was very quiet on this night with few people out. I preached in the Square in front of Wet Willie?s for about 25 minutes. Most of the listener?s were a small group of thugs hanging out on the edge of the sidewalk. They did some heckling, and a few others stopped to listen for a while.
We moved down to the Clevelander Square but decided it was much too loud to preach. We then moved down to the Square next to the Versace Mansion where Officer D. threatened us with arrest the week before. Doug preached here a little while and then stopped because there were so few people in the area.
We then walked by the Palace (homosexual bar), and the sodomites saw our banners and signs and began yelling at us. Rod had a good conversation/debate with one of the homosexuals for a while and then we moved on. After we had walked about a block away from the Palace Bar, three squad cars stopped and about six officers approached us (we had seven in our group and there were maybe 20 in the homosexual bar).
The officers told us to try not to say things in a way that would offend people, and Ruben suggested to the officer that someone who had called on us was stretching the truth, as there was obviously no major disturbance that called for 3 squad cars.
We moved down to Lincoln Road mall and set up next to the Lincoln Road Theater where I was threatened and harassed by Officer D. the week before. I preached for about 40 minutes and had small groups of about 10 standing around listening at any given time. About halfway through a police officer showed up. When I stepped down off the step-up platform, he came and began talking to me in a reasonable way. John was videotaping everything going on and the officer became upset and told us we did not have permission to videotape him. Another officer then came up and began shining a light into the video camera. We informed the officer that a camera was like a witness and he should not do that.
A large crowd had now gathered to see what was going on, and Doug got on the platform and preached to them. Another officer (a Sergeant) came over and talked to us politely, asked us a few questions, told us about the complaint he received, and apologized for the behavior of the other officers. He allowed us to continue preaching, and stayed and observed for himself. Elizabeth finished off the preaching that evening and a few people stopped to listen.
The complaint came from a guy who several months ago had also complained to police and I was almost arrested because of him that day also. He was the Middle Eastern looking guy who always complains when I quote Matthew 5, 18, and Mark 9, where Jesus told us to cut off our hand, or foot, or pluck out our eye if it causes us to sin, because it is better to go through life maimed than to enter into hell. He tells the police I am telling children to pluck out their eyes, and cut off their hands.
We thank and appreciate Ruben, Rod, and Dean for all their help, and especially Ruben for his leadership and example. Thanks to John for doing an outstanding job of coordinating the whole event. Thanks to Jose for allowing us to use his house in Key Largo. Thanks to Doug for sacrificing by being away from his family on the weekend of his birthday.