The Street Preachers Fellowship conducted its first statewide meeting in Salt Lake City Utah April 3rd and 4th at the Bible Baptists Church of Salt Lake City. State Director Lonnie Purciful, pastor of the Wilderness Baptist Church of Duchesne, Utah coordinated the meeting in conjunction with the Mormon church’s annual conference, which gave the attending street preachers ample opportunity to preach throughout the city. Even with the extremely busy schedule, and short amount of time to organize, classes were held on Thursday and Friday. Street preachers attended from Utah, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, California and Pennsylvania. SPF Director Ron McRae and California State Director Ruben Israel taught classes on both Thursday and Friday, along with impromptu first hand lessons on the streets. Classes were taught on the Biblical and legal definition of true Bible preaching, as a style of verbal communication originating with the Bible, distinguished from all other forms of verbal communications in that, as the Supreme Court has upheld, presses the hearers to either accept or reject the message. Instruction was also given in the foundational areas of Constitutional protection under which the street preacher operates, not just limited to “free speech”, but also the vast importance of “religious exercise” and “right to freely assemble”. Brother Israel enhanced the value of 60 minutes on Friday, instructing everyone on the common sense approach to open air ministrations, which some, with no common sense violate habitually on the street, as if being a self centered block head was a virtue.

SPF Director McRae closed the classes with the foundational ground work to the street preacher’s attitude and obedience to God. State Director Purciful having instructed all to leave their attitudes outside and listen and learn, the Director closed the meetings, inviting them to now bring their attitudes back in, and adjust them to the word of God. From the beginning of the church, the first arrest of a New Testament preacher occurred within days (Acts 2:46, 47/ 4:1-3), and produced the definitive attitude that has and must prevail even unto this hour in the Biblical street preaching evangelist.

“Whether it be right in the sight of God
to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.
For we cannot but speak the things
which we have seen and heard.”
- Acts 4:19, 20

The sissies for Christ have never learned this first simple lesson, and probably never will. It is not the street preacher’s concern to make judgment calls on the right and wrong of preaching the gospel where man does not want to hear it. However, honesty demands that the we street preachers admit the obvious, that God commands us to “go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). There is no place off limits in God’s definitive directions of “into all the world”; and there is no person excepted in God’s definitive aim of “to every creature”. However, by such, the command to go preach, steps beyond the boundaries of right and wrong in obedience to God, so that “whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God” is for others to judge. “Judge ye” is the critics job, and of no concern to the God called street preacher. Ours is to “but speak the things which we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20). Accordingly, the God called street preacher, with the courage from God to prove it, accepts that he has no right to preach everywhere to everyone. The God called street preacher with the courage to prove it, accepts the reality that he has no right to preach to folks that do not want to hear it. The God called street preacher with the courage to prove it, accepts the fact that he has no right to disturb people’s peace of mind (as if they had any- Isaiah 48:22) in a nation that promises each citizen the peaceful pursuit of happiness.

Stephen McRae preaching with Terresa Purciful standing by.
Young People standing where Divine Ministers would tremble.

If you concern yourself with judgments of men, then you have to be honest with yourself and admit that it is just not right to break out of jail to go preach in someone else’s church uninvited, when you have been told not to preach there; especially when they put you in jail in the first place to keep you from disregarding the law forbidding you to preach there! Nevertheless, the God called street preacher also reads his Bible, and believes what he reads (see Acts 5:18-25). And though, we argue for Constitutional protection now, the God called street preacher with the courage to prove it, knows full well, that the government is going to do away with the Constitution. And the only street preachers that will continue to preach when they have taken away the constitutional right to do so, will be the ones that have made up their minds now, that they will obey God whether anyone thinks it’s right or not. They preach today with the attitude that we do not have any right to preach. We have a command to preach. “And whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak…” (Acts 4:19, 20).
And speak they did, throughout Salt Lake City. Brother Purciful’s little band of soldiers were reinforced with preachers, signs and joyful purpose, taking to the streets for 7 days. The week’s activities finished up with the last two days of the Mormon Conference.

Dan Gowen declaring the way to God…
…and the way to the Mormon Conference.

The Fellowship came to Salt Lake City with initial expectations of seeking a Federal Restraining Order against the SLC Police, to prevent further arrests of street preachers holding forth the word of God against the wiles of Mormon devils. However, when viewing the videos of activities in around the SLC area, SPF Director McRae felt another approach more beneficial. Pastor Lonnie Purciful has clearly been fighting a one man fight, against almost insurmountable opposition from every side. The Mormon church controls everything including the police department and the city. In countless hours of video evidence, Pastor Purciful can always be seen standing fast, unwavering, and unflinching in the midst of legal and violent opposition. He is always the courageous soldier, compassioned preacher, and legal defense spokesman against every Mormon police officer that enforces more church doctrine than state laws. The police have repeatedly, not only threatened the preacher, but stood by in plain view of the camera, and allowed agitators to violently assault Brother Purciful time and again. In one video, Pastor Purciful is again shown trying to get the officer to stop and arrest his assailant, showing the officer the blood on his hand, dripping from his mouth after being punched. On the video, the officer is heard threatening Pastor Lonnie, “You get that blood on me or my uniform, and I will give you some more blood!” In every video, the police stand by and watch the assaults, then assist the assailant in escaping, while threatening Brother Purciful with arrest if he continues to preach. However, as straight as Brother Purciful preaches, and as firm as he stands, all around him are young preachers with a clear view of self, that care little about the cause of Christ, if they are not the center of that cause. And beyond the scripture being yelled out their mouths, there is little observable difference between their conduct, and the conduct of the contradictors tearing away at their preacher, while they vie for a showing on the video. Failure to learn that you are not that important, is also a failure to learn that you are! Video evidence is a great tool for the street preacher that strives lawfully like Pastor Purciful. But it can also capture the self centered interest of those who don’t, to the harm of valiant men like Lonnie Purciful.

Utah State Director Lonnie Purciful preaching
To thousands of Mormons

Every experienced street preacher at the Utah State Meeting went away convinced that Brother Purciful did not ask for this fight. But now that it has come to him, he has no intentions of backing away, or allowing overzealous students to continue to hinder or delay the victory. Accordingly, several times during the street preaching, Pastor Purciful’s long arm could be seen reaching through the crowd surrounding some street preacher, and grabbing a young soldier by the neck and dragging him backwards with this admonition, “Shut up and get back here!”
As with any God called street preacher in love with Jesus Christ, Lonnie Purciful demonstrated as the apostle Paul testified, “None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself…” (Acts 20:24). With that clearly manifest, Brother Purciful and Director McRae, with the avid assistance of the other Cabinet members of the Fellowship, stood before the City Council and Mayor Tuesday night, and testified of God’s intentions that Jesus Christ be preached in this city, and that Mr. Purciful would not go alone into that dark prison cell! When Pastor Purciful wound up the orations, all the street preachers got up and walked out, and all of the news media and concerned citizens followed them, leaving the City Council Chambers empty to the Council members. Outside the chambers, the street preachers had the attention of all of Salt Lake City, including the City Attorney, who set an appointment for the very next morning to attempt a reconciliation.
Accordingly, Brother Purciful and Director McRae, with Cabinet Advisor Davis in company, met with the three top lawyers for Salt Lake City, and for three hours informed them that no street preacher was going to ask for, or accept a permit to preach the gospel in Salt Lake City, that city police officers had repeatedly violated the Constitutional rights of street preachers, as well as the Mormon church security guards; and that the city was going to have to immediately offer some concrete assurances that this conduct was going to cease. It cannot be stressed how important it is for the street preacher to make up his mind and settle his heart as to what he is going to do before he does it! There is a confidence in God, that shows beyond words, that God will bless the character that is “stedfast, unmoveable” (1 Corinthians 15:58). God will not bless even the outward manifestations of a wavering (Judges 7:1-7).
When walking out of the City Attorney’s meeting, SPF Director McRae commented, “I believe we got somewhere with those men!” And it became clearly evident that very night, when Pastor Purciful led the men downtown to a rock concert to preach. Before Brother Bruce Perrault from New York could finish his first verse, bottles were flying, and the congregation of the dead were proving again that “there is no peace to the wicked”. Howbeit, in complete reverse of previous actions, the Salt Lake City Police showed up with more officers than there were preachers, arresting one sodomite for tearing up Pastor Purciful’s Bible. When the Bible and the Constitution of the United States are both upheld in one location, the Preachers will always be allowed to do their job, the police will have to do what they enjoy most, and they that love to riot in the day time will be put where they belong. A truly great American event…as apple pie! In the words of Director McRae, “I just love to see their kind in handcuffs!”
By Saturday, it became apparent that God had moved in the hearts of the higher powers, and despite the obvious frustrated and indignant few Mormon police officers of no rank, the Police supervisors and City Attorney’s staff remained close at hand to all the street preachers to assure the Word of God was not bound, nor the Constitution violated. And throughout the conference, O how they preached and preached!

Fellowship Editor preaching in the gate of the temple,
With Salt Lake City Attorneys standing close by.

Though it was a victorious weekend, and a great start to the SPF’s Utah State Meetings, we should not be naïve. State Director Purciful will be back on the streets in Salt Lake City this week, to ascertain if the Constitutional protection demonstrated so superbly by the SLC police will continue when he is all alone. It is the Street Preacher’s Creed that members of the Fellowship will not allow a fellow soldier to have to stand alone under such opposition, and unconstitutional violations. If Brother Purciful meets with the same treatment as previously recorded, fellowship members will be expected to head to Utah sine dine. It is one thing to help the Brethren to preach at special conferences, it is quite another to help when the publicity is over, and the opposition is a single police officer with a personal grudge and a determined look on his face and little regard for the Constitution or Jesus Christ