Full Quiver Mission Runs the Race
That is Set Before Them.

Richmond & Philadelphia Marathons

November, 2003

Full Quiver Mission teamed up with Life & Liberty Ministries and Repent America to conduct a sign witness at two big marathon races in Richmond, VA and Philadelphia, PA. Many people have criticized us for going to such an event, wondering why we would "protest a marathon". Of course, we are not protesting the marathon. We are going to a venue where we have a captive audience of 10,000 to 15,000 people, who have the same abortion statistics as everyone else in society. Runners abort one out of every three children just like the rest of the population.

LEFT: The first place runner passes by our line of signs. It always seems to be a skinny Kenyan :)  RIGHT: Hannah and Evan Murch face the runners.

LEFT: This year race organizers had a new tactic. They brought out signs to try to cover our signs. All they did was draw more attention to our signs, and none of them was successfully blocked from view. RIGHT: This poor volunteer doesn't stand a chance at blocking when 6'4" Aaron holds his sign aloft.

Last year, we were assaulted several times in Philadelphia. More police were called in and things settled down. This year, the police on duty basically let runners get away with doing whatever they wanted to us. The police stood by and looked away when things happened to us, but actually threatened us with arrest when we tried to protect our children from assault. They insisted that WE restrict our first amendment rights, instead of them doing their jobs to protect us WHILE we exercise our rights.

LEFT: Since roads were closed, we had to carry our signs for a bit to get them set up in the perfect location along the race course. RIGHT: Christian Green (11) and Ben Murch (17) in the foreground as the marathon gets underway.

This year, Denny Green had these banners made up, in case the Philadelphia Marathon organizers tried a similar sign-blocking strategy as the Richmond organizers did.

The marathon events had an added bonus in terms of reaching people. The magazine "Runner's World" has a web site with a discussion board. This year, as last, the board was abuzz with chatter and debate about our event, and there was a tremendous opportunity for at least two weeks to communicate directly with runners who had seen the signs. The fruit of the work was multiplied greatly in this.

LEFT: Local resident stops to discuss abortion with Joe Chriatian, who is also local to the Philly area. RIGHT: Two Philadelphia Civil Affairs officers stand together. These officers complained that we needed to group all of our people and signs in one tight little bunch in order to protect us, that they couldn't spread themselves out over our whole line (they could if they called in other police like they did last year, of course). But most of the time, they just stood together and pretended they were there for our safety. 

About a dozen assaults too place here in the City of Brotherly Love. Jesse Murch(13) a fairly small 13-year-old was knocked to the ground twice and hit or kicked three other times. His sign was broken in half. We pointed the man out to police and they didn't even attempt to stop him. Michael Marcavage the street preacher was punched in the eye by a woman. We were kicked and spit on and threatened. Denny Green and Bruce Murch had video cameras and were patrolling the line, but the assaults happened so often and so quickly, they often couldn't get there in time to help. We eventually had to tighten the line up significantly, compressed to about one-third of our original line length, just to protect our children. The assaults were almost ALL on our children!

On the discussion boards, the runners kept telling us what a family-oriented activity it was, and how noble and good runners are. These grown men were attacking children, studiously avoiding anybody big enough to fight back. And in front of children, these "family-oriented" noble souls cussed the bark off the trees with the most foul language ever heard in a locker room, spitting at us as they ran by. A true tribute to the character of these fine men and women.

One woman wore a shirt that said it all, and summed up the attitude we have seen in most of the runners: "It's all about ME!"

To be fair, there were a few at both marathons that gave us thumbs-up (instead of middle finger up), and gave blessings, thanks and words of encouragement for being there.

LEFT: A runner stops his race for several minutes to speak to Lauren about abortion. He was baffled at why we thought it was always wrong. The police hustled this guy off when he was no danger to anyone, and was actually responding to what Lauren was saying (and adults were close by). But of course, they were nowhere to found, or had their heads turned whenever someone was actually threatening us. RIGHT: With our signs already being carried away, this European young man stops to talk with Bev Murch. Coming from an even more promiscuous as permissive society than we have in America, he was insisting that if she was against abortion, she would need to be opposed to the death penalty also, to be consistent. Liberals never seem to be able to differentiate between the State killing a person who is judicially guilty of a capital offense, and a judicially innocent child being slaughtered in his mother's womb.