Into the Storm!

Virginia Show the Truth Tour Cut Short by Hurricane Isabel.

The Tour was scheduled for Sept. 15-19 but was cut short as we traveled toward the coast of Virginia and into the storm. We cut it short, headed home and battened down the hatches. The Murch Family lost power at Covenant Farm for four days, and the generator motor blew on Day One. God provided for us though, and our freezer full of game and other food was protected as a local business owner, hearing of our predicament, let us borrow a spare one he had.

This ministry report comes late because we have been on the road doing ministry work almost constantly since this tour, including a Philadelphia Tour, an Ecclesiastical Court at the Supreme Court in Washington DC, and the Soul Force sodomite group that gathered in Lynchburg, VA. We also head to South Carolina Oct. 22-25, York, PA on the 26th for the annual city-sponsored Halloween Parade that got us in so much trouble last year, and on to Texas in November. Please pray for us as we complete this grueling schedule. After November we will be active mostly in our local area until February or March.

The Virginia Tour was organized by Denny Green of Life & Liberty Ministries, and included going to a university campus each day and busy intersections for the afternoon rush hour. We had along several young street preachers, including Edward Gathwaite of Missouri, Michael Marcavage of Philadelphia and Jason Storms of New Orleans. These zealous preachers are always a great asset when they travel with us.

  

Left: Murch kids line the sidewalks at Virginia Tech. Right: Tech cop walks of with one of our signs.

Campus tours are by far our favorite, as they allow tremendous interaction with folks, and plenty of time to discuss and debate. The problem often is getting on the campus in the first place. Every State university is public property, therefore is a traditional "free speech forum". While the Supreme Court has allowed for "reasonable time, place and manner restrictions", they have rejected all permit laws which simply require you to get a permit or register with them prior to being "allowed" to exercise your First Amendment rights on the campus. Many campuses have unconstitutional permit rules and policies, and they each must be fought and dealt with one campus at a time, unfortunately.

At the Campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, we were told that preaching and witnessing were OK, but handing out literature, and holding signs were against the law! This is a clearly unconstitutional rule, but the Tech cops proceeded to confiscate about eight of our signs which they would not return until our event there was over.

  

Left: Preacher Jason Storms holds forth to the stopped traffic at the busiest intersection in Lynchburg. Standing next to him is Preacher Michael Marcavage of Philadelphia.  Right: Lauren Murch passes out literature to cars stopped in traffic.

Our stop in Lynchburg (Jerry Falwell country) was somewhat eventful as well. We were fighting a new Permit Ordinance passed by the City Council, and after we had been set up for an hour or so, the police told us that we would have to shut down the event because it violated the new ordinance. Prior to that, we had a lot of feedback from the locals, mostly in our favor! Business owners came out, not to complain about the signs in front of their place, but to thank us for being there!

Of course, almost no stop is devoid of controversy or confrontation. A couple of abortion supporters showed up with blankets and stood in front of two of our folks. Also present at this stop was a local Pastor, Richard Knodel of Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Pastor Knodel joins us frequently for local events, is about the only local pastor who does.

   

Left: Pastor Richard Knodel of Lynchburg preaches to stopped traffic while a pro-abort blocks his sign. Of course we had about 30 signs out on the street, so his protest was only symbolic. Right: Bruce discusses the new Permit Ordinance with Major Lewis of the Lynchburg Police Dept. Bruce told them they were facing a Federal Lawsuit as a result of this.

Eventually the police tried to put a stop to the event by claiming we were in violation of the new Permit Ordinance. Bruce demanded to speak to the Supervisor, which they called. This was Major Lewis, known to pro-life activists for years. He is not particularly hostile to us, but doesn't go out of his way to be helpful either. We have told the City and the Police Dept. that we would sue them in Federal Court if they try to enforce the ordinance against us, so we were prepared as to what we needed to do. Our attorney instructed us as to what we needed as proof that our rights were being violated by the ordinance, and Bruce had a very detailed discussion, caught in its entirety on videotape, in which the Major explained that we would be arrested if we did not stop the event, and what part of the ordinance we were in violation of.

In Roanoke the following evening, we had the same kind of run-in with police. In both cases, we stalled long enough to stay the entire time we had scheduled on the itinerary. In both cases, we were told we would be arrested if we did not fold up the event. In both cases, we gathered enough evidence by videotape to win in court most certainly if we pursue it. We will absolutely pursue this case against Lynchburg. We need a Virginia ruling in Federal Court to have in hand when we face these unconstitutional challenges on the street. It is tedious and time-consuming. But someone has got to be willing to fight these battles, or the right to witness  for God and against evil will vanish! We are willing to fight that fight!

Bruce preaches to the heavy Roanoke rush hour traffic.

 

Our day at Virginia State University was by far the most productive, and as a result, met with the most resistance. As soon as we began walking onto the campus with our literature and signs, a campus police officer approached Bruce Murch and told him that we were "not allowed on the campus". Bruce told him in no uncertain terms that it was a public university and that we had every right to be there. He proceeded to tell Bruce that he would be arrested if he did not leave. Bruce instructed his children to begin setting up the signs, while the officer hurriedly got on the phone. The rest of the folks on the tour (20 other people) began quietly dispersing throughout the campus with the literature, sensing that we were in trouble from the very beginning, and wanting to make it as difficult as possible to find us all and kick us off campus if it came to that.

 

  

Left: VSU officer tries to explain to Denny Green why having signs on a public sidewalk on a public university is illegal; meanwhile, at Right: Murch kids engage students in dialogue and hand out literature.

 

The officer began questioning Bruce as to how old his children were. Bruce told him it was none of his business. The officer, in front of Bruce, called Social Services and reported him, telling them that Bruce had his small children out in public "breaking the law". While we have faced this threat before, it is usually out of state and Social Services has no jurisdiction over your children when you live out of state, especially when you are not actually breaking any law. But we were in Virginia, our home state, so Bruce sent Beverly and the younger children back to the van. The police followed and wrote down their license plate number, then were heard on the phone calling it in. It was all a little intimidating, but we held our ground, and refused to leave.

  

Left: Preacher Jason Storms preaches to the students gathered outside; Right: Nancy Major and Linda Beckman of the Philadelphia area witness to a group of girls.

 

Soon, two of the preachers we had with us started preaching to the students. Hundreds were gathered around, because the school had announced it was closing down at noon because the approaching hurricane, and they were evacuating the students. It was a perfect opportunity for excellent conversations with the students, and a large audience for the preachers, while Denny Green and Bruce Murch kept the cops busy. The students, predominantly black were much more receptive than at most predominantly white campuses. There was a rather nasty incident where two students grabbed the sign of 69-year-old Randy Beckman and ran off with it, and jumping up and down on it, but it was actually other students that approached these clowns to tell the to quit. The police stood by and did nothing, which was about what we expected. One of the students actually approached the campus cop and asked, "aren't you going to do anything about this?" He replied, "I'm too busy dealing with this situation right now" (meaning trying to get us kicked off campus).

 

Preacher Mike Marcavage holds forth to the student body.

 

Social Services never did show up, or if they did, they realized they were dealing with an over-zealous cop who had no clue what was illegal and what was not, and that having your child on a public sidewalk on a public university is not a crime. All in all, it was a great stop with a lot of seeds planted. It is vitally important to reach college-aged kids with the truth. This is the time they are forming their world-view and their politics, this is also when they have been cut loose on their own and feel a sense of license to do whatever they want and to cast off all restraint. The Campuses need more Gospel!

  

Our last stop before heading back home to batten down the hatches for the hurricane was Chester, VA. The clouds were already rolling in and the wind was picking up. It was getting hard to hold the signs in place at times. There was a lot of interaction with the public at this stop, with folks parking and getting out to have discussions with us. There was the usual objection from restaurant owners as well, who hate to have the signs in front of their places.

 

One local business called police and tried to claim we were "trespassing" on their property. Of course we were not. We were on the public right-of-way that always exists on public streets. The city or county must always buy the property next to the road to install public utilities such as electric and water and traffic signals. We always know where these rights-of-way are, so trespassing is never a valid claim. The officer spoke briefly to Bruce and told him we would need to move. Bruce explained to the officer about public rights-of-way. The officer thought about it a minute and said, "I think you may be right about that". He proceeded to make phone calls, though, to try to "confirm it". Ultimately, we were left alone, though.

Left: Bruce tells restaurant owner that we will not move from the front of his place. He suggested maybe we should move in front of the Steak House across the street. Right: County cop is searching for some way to call what we are doing "trespassing". He looked up a lot of stuff and made a lot of calls, but alas...

  

Left: Jason Storms is approached by two street punks with the black clothing, baggy pants, close-shaved heads and backward hats. Having been converted from a similar lifestyle, he had a great conversation with them. Left: Just as were leaving, this man with his wife and two kids in the car started cussing a blue streak about our pictures. Jason stopped and talked to the guy calmly, and after ten minutes of dialogue about how the photos help show people what abortion is really like, and how they must come to grips with that, he had changed his tune and said he no longer disagreed with us doing it!

 

Even though this tour was cut short, it was a great success. We are confident many hearts were touched by the preaching, the literature, the signs, and the dozens of personal conversations that took place on this tour. Our prayer, as always, is that there will be lasting fruit in changed lives and touched hearts. God grant it!

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