Post by Messenger Micah on Jan 5, 2006 21:47:33 GMT -5
Friday December 23, 2005-South Beach: Elizabeth, John, Onica, and myself went to preach to the Christmas shoppers at South Beach?s Lincoln Road Mall. We arrived around 8:30 PM. We got a late start because some of the team members had to work on this day. We came out on Friday because most of the team had family obligations on Christmas Eve.
As we were walking past a homosexual bar named ?Score? Elizabeth was wearing the sandwich board sign and mentioned the name of the bar inquisitively to the workers standing outside, and one threw a glass of water all over her and began to use profanity towards the group. We mentioned it to a nearby officer who said he would come over as soon as he could, but then the manager came out and apologized to us. We accepted his apology and decided not press the matter further.
As we walked through the mall of shoppers and fine diners with our banner and sandwich board sign we received much verbal opposition. People would all be stopping to read the banner and sign and then curse us. We were all a little surprised at how much opposition we got just by walking through.
We each took a turn preaching and stayed for about two hours. I preached from about 9:05 PM to about 9:45 PM and had about ten people standing around listening at any given time. Twice the owner of a nearby restaurant came over to tell me to hold the noise down, but no police interfered with us. I had one heckler who was standing in front of me mocking and shouting at the top of his lungs. I think, I probably raised my voice some during this and after he left kept the same volume and that is why the owner approached me.
Going back to the car we had a good conversation with an African American man named, Gary who was very angry at us at first, but as we talked to him and answered his objections from the Bible he began to open up to us. He had apparently killed people in the Armed Services and was now into law enforcement.
Saturday December 24, 2005-South Beach: I got e-mail from Dean the photographer about a manger scene in Lincoln Road Mall that had apparently caused a lot of controversy. He wondered if we wanted to preach out there as it would be a good way to start a conversation. It was right near where we were the night before but we did not know about it. Elizabeth and I were the only ones able to go.
We arrived at the Lincoln Road Theater around 2:25 PM, but did not see Dean. I wore the sandwich board sign, set up my step-up platform and preached across from the Lincoln Road Theater from 2:30 PM to about 3:15 PM. Dean and another photographer named Steve showed up about 15 minutes after I started preaching.
A few people would stop and listen for a while and then move on. Of course there were people in the immediate vicinity working or standing outside of stores who heard all the preaching. Apparently someone complained and a female officer came on the scene. She did not stop me but told Elizabeth that everything was okay as long as I was not too loud or did not provoke people.
A dark skinned woman named, Sharon who seemed to be from the Caribbean stopped to listen to the preaching and talked to Elizabeth. She followed us to our next destination.
Dean took us to the manger scene and Elizabeth and I took some pictures here but there were not many people stopping to look at it, and there were many people eating at outdoor seating for restaurants in the mall so any preaching here would have to be pretty quiet. We decided to move down and preach in front of the South Florida Art Center.
I preached here from 3:50 PM to 4:40 PM. Here at a few points I had up to 15 people standing to listen, plus others seated behind me, and others working nearby who could hear everything. I had several good hecklers (see pictures at www.pbase.com/lautermilch/opinion). One told me I needed to quit preaching and feed the poor, another lady told me I was ruining everyone?s holiday by scaring them, and another guy stood in front of me a while kicking his hacky-sack. Our new friend Sharon came up after listening to everything and thanked me for my ?kind words? (never heard that before). She also asked a lot of other questions. Elizabeth and I then left because we had to go to a family get together.
Wednesday December 28, 2005-South Beach: Since I had a few days off I wanted to get out and preach as much as possible so I asked my friend, Keith (the Messianic believer who used to preach with Holy Hubert at Berkeley) to join me. Keith and I arrived on South Beach at Lincoln Road around 1:45 PM. I would love to go by myself but did not think it would be a good idea with some of the trouble we have had with the police. I wanted some one there to film.
I was a little concerned being with someone new (Keith is not a new Christian, nor new to open air preaching, but he is new to preaching with us on South Beach and how the police operate). I briefed him as much as I thought I could before we got started.
I began preaching with my sandwich board on top of the step-up platform in front of the South Florida Art Center around 2:00 PM. I had only preached about 20 minutes when two uniformed (or uninformed) code officers told me they needed peace and quiet on Lincoln Road and I would have to leave. I told him I had every right to be here and had been here many times before, with police watching me and was never told to leave. They told me I would have to talk to their supervisor.
I did not like the idea of not preaching while waiting for their supervisor, but since I was with someone new I did not know what to expect. The supervisor came and said, ?Don?t you need a permit to be here doing this?? I told him no, this was public property, none of the street performers who come out need permits, I had been here many times before with officers watching on and was never told I needed a permit. He admitted to having seen me preach here before with police officers looking on. He told me, I would have to talk to police.
I continued waiting for the officers to show up. After about 20 minutes two officers, one female and two males showed up. The female officer came to talk to me. She told me she remembered me from Ocean Drive, told me she was concerned for my safety, and I could do what I was doing as long as I did not provoke any one and kept my voice down. Keith filmed all of this conversation and did not get involved with the conversation. I knew my voice was at a reasonable volume; I was not in an area where I was interfering with buSINess entrances; and people were free to listen if they chose or move on if they chose. I informed her of this. She and the other officers left.
Keith then took a turn preaching around 3:00 PM. He was preaching some against the sin of homosex, and also preaching to reach Jews. After about 15-20 minutes the same officers come up and say they can hear him a half a block away and he is too loud. She informs us this is our second warning and if we are warned again we could be arrested.
I knew Keith at this point did not know the law all that well and although he would be willing at some point to be arrested, he was not willing to be arrested on this day.
I stepped back up on the platform and began preaching in a volume just above normal with the officer and the head code enforcement officer looking on. After about 3 minutes I was asked to step down. I was told my tone and my volume was unacceptable. The code enforcement officer told me, I could not preach there because people were complaining. I told him that was not a reason to stop. I was then told because they could hear me more than 25 feet away that I was violating the local noise ordinance. I asked them to name it and they could not, but told me I could look it up. I was also told that because people were becoming angry I could be arrested for disturbing the peace. I informed them of the Heckler?s Veto, what it was, and the Supreme Court upheld it. She told me, she had never heard of that but would look it up. She also told me if people were stopping to listen or avoiding the area then I could be arrested for disturbing the peace. She quoted me the Statute for Unlawful Assembly and I told her I was aware of it, and knew I was not in violation.
Keith was not filming the conversation and at this point began to get involved in the discussion. He told me we should not argue, but we needed to look up the laws. Since I did not have anyone filming and Keith was not willing to get arrested I backed down from the officer and conceded to her unreasonable and unlawful request.
As Keith and I began to pack up, an older man from Finland approached Keith and began to ask him questions. The man seemed to be broken. Keith had a conversation with the man and told me he led the man to the Lord.
I wanted Keith to talk to a conservative Jewish guy who was listening to me preach on 12/24. Keith sat down with the guy and began to have a conversation with him. I was very frustrated at this point. I went to the street corner across from the bar and began preaching to the passersby in a normal tone of voice. The officer woman came out of nowhere, walked by, and told me I could do that. I preached here for about 35 minutes. Keith finished his conversation with the Jewish guy and stood behind me.
A young boy of about 10 stood right in front of me for a while, reading my sandwich board and listening to me preach. I asked him a question, gave him a tract, and kept preaching. Keith took him to the side and began talking to him. Later in the car, Keith told me the boy was under great conviction and was able to lead him to the Lord in a prayer of repentance. I look forward to Keith joining us regularly in the future.
Thursday December 29, 2005-Downtown Government Center: Today I took the Metrorail downtown to the Miami Police Station to get permission to preach to the protesters of Supreme Court nominee Alito. This will be on Saturday January 7, 2006. On the way down I preached on the Metrorail.
I remember being on Jury Duty in 1997, and God dealing with me about preaching open air on the streets. I had to come to the Government Center that day and God showed me myself preaching right there. I did not know how I would ever be able to do that then. Since, I have been preaching open air, I always wanted to preach here.
Coming back from the Police Station I stood across the street on the wide sidewalk from the Metrorail station and preached from 3:55 PM to 4:30 PM. I had to get back in time to pick my wife up from work.
This is a much different area. It is located near the inner city. There are many homeless people around here. Many people do not speak English. There were several people selling items at a table across from me. It always has a good flow of foot traffic.
On the way back I preached again on the Metrorail.
Friday December 30, 2005-Downtown Government Center: I was excited to go back downtown and preach again today. My wife was off from work and wanted to join me. We took the car downtown, and I brought the sandwich board sign.
I preached across the street from the Metrorail Government Center from 1:25 PM to 2:25 PM. The same vendors were there today. Before I started preaching I went into the station to use the restroom and ran into a woman named, Lydia who used to do much preaching on the street. She is now pastoring a small church. Back in 1995, she told me through what Pentecostals would call a ?Word of Wisdom? that I was going to preach on the streets. I believe God is leading me to connect with all these people who used to preach open air or have a heart for it to stir them to get back to open air again. This is an answer to my praying for laborers (Matthew 9:37-38).
After a short break, I moved across the street onto the Metrorail Government Center Property. There are stairs and an escalator where people enter and leave to ride the Metrorail. I preached here again right in front of where people exit and enter through the stairs and escalator from 3:30 PM to 4:25 PM. There are hundreds of people passing, as well as a whole courtyard full of people sitting on benches waiting for buses. Many others are standing around talking. Several people sat down on benches behind me. Some heckled, but others listened attentively. I remember one young boy sitting behind me listening attentively for quite a while and as he was leaving he waved goodbye.
I look forward to preaching here again in the near future.