Last week our team visited the Arab-American Festival in Garden Grove. After watching the video of Christian evangelists in Dearborn, Michigan, who were arrested for sharing their faith outside the venue, we were wary of similar events happening to us.

Here are the reports from team leader “Righteous Richard” Chavarria, and team member Tony Yu. Make sure you read both accounts; they are encouraging.

From “Righteous Richard”:

All went well until the time just about 15-20 minutes after we entered the festival. It was at that time that I handed out a  tract to an individual who told me that I needed to get permission to hand the tract.

So, I followed him to a person who’s title was Commissioner. After the Commissioner had a quick glance at the tract, he said I could not pass out the tract and order me to leave. He stated that he had paid $100,000.00 for permission to conduct a private festival inside the park.

At this point a gentlemen came up from behind me and put his hand on me forcefully as to push me away. I turned and told him that it was assault to place his hands on me. He then stopped.

I then told the commissioner that I wasn’t wanting to cause him any trouble and that I wanted to see his permit as to be sure that it forbids the public from distributing literature since he had invited the public inside.

At this point the commissioner said, “Look just get the —- out of here.” At this point I left and followed the gentlemen to speak to the police about the matter. The gentlemen told me that if I persisted that he would order a citizen’s arrest against me.

We handed a police officer a copy of the tract and a million dollar tract. Then he left to speak with his authority. Then a police sergeant came out and said that we could not pass out the tract inside the grounds. He stated that we could pass out the tracts at the entrances to the festival.

Now, get another perspective from Tony Yu:

I just wanted to fill you in on what happened on Saturday at the Arab American Festival.  As you probably already know, the Hope Chapel evangelism team was shut down and ejected from the festival premises when an angry booth operator complained to officers (not sure if they were police or security).  He specifically threatened to arrest me if he saw me passing out literature.  The Hope Chapel team stopped handing out literature on premises.  Some went outside to hand out literature and others went in to witness verbally.

The part you don’t know is that I called Garden Grove PD after the Hope Chapel team went back to Hermosa Beach.

In the future, when we are asked to stop our activities at public events, I recommend complying immediately.  But, I would suggest we should call the local PD for clarification and support.

The shift captain told me that he thought we had the right to do what we were doing. He directed me to the Garden Grove police truck inside the festival for clarification. I spoke to an officer Martin (at the truck) who informed me that we had every right to peacefully distribute literature and to speak to anyone who was willing to speak to us. He just warned me not to create any disturbance.

So, I continued to distribute our tracts.

When the angry booth operator saw me distributing literature again, he confronted me.  I led him straight to the police truck.  The officers informed the booth operator that I was allowed to distribute literature. The booth operator then began to lie about me – accusing me of shoving my tracts into people’s faces, being rude, etc.  I denied that and the police did not buy it either. The booth operator then asked me if I would voluntarily stop passing out literature.  I said, “I can’t do that.”

He left in a huff.

More importantly, our rights to speak at public events just got confirmed this past Friday.  The four evangelists who were arrested in Dearborn, MI were acquitted.

http://www.dearbornfreepress.com/2010/09/25/acts-17-group-acquitted-of-inciting-crowd/

In the future, when we are asked to stop our activities at public events, I recommend complying immediately.  But, I would suggest we should call the local PD for clarification and support.

***Steve’s note: Richard and Tony performed proper police protocol. Read this important article called “On Dealing with the Police.”