February 2006

February 2006

2005: A Year of Life

Looking back at 2005, we have seen God's hand move powerfully through signs and judgments, trials and tribulations, mercy and grace. It is easy to walk humbly with God when you are scared to death. He continually reminds us that this battle we fight is His! We are ever so thankful that He has allowed us the privilege of storming the gates of hell in the Name of Jesus for one more year. Your prayers, fellowship, encouragement, and financial support kept us in the battle. Thank you!

January 2005 started off with a bang as OSA leaders in several cities held press conferences at the gates of hell (the local abortion mills) on the 32 nd memorial of Roe v. Wade. Flip was able to join the saints in both Connecticut and St. Louis as they rejoiced over the lives saved from murder by the power of the Gospel of Christ. Remember our statement: “Abortion will come to an end in America when the Church of Jesus Christ makes up her mind it will come to an end, not one second sooner!”

In February 2005 , we had our annual leadership meeting in Concord, NC. It is always so good to be together with our brothers and sisters in the Lord from all over the country and to strategize our next foray into the gates of hell.

We were also privileged in February to send a team from Charlotte to join Cal Zastrow and fellow “gentle warriors” to join Michael Marcavage and the “Philly Five” as they were brought to court by the city of Philadelphia . As you know, these blessed saints were the ones who brought the Gospel of Christ to Philadelphia 's homosexual “Outfest”, where thousands of those enslaved in the bondage of homosexual perversity paraded their sin like Sodom. These Christians read Scripture, sang Hymns, prayed, and were thrown into jail for this behavior, while perversity reigned in the streets. The Judge threw out all the charges. Thank God!

In March 2005, several cities embarked on the “God is Going Back to School” campaign. Literally thousands upon thousands of pieces of literature were placed into the hands of high school students who brought God right back into the conversation of our godless government schools. All the kids and teachers could talk about was what was going on at their school – a Christian revolution! Parents and teachers wrote letters to the editor while talk radio, local TV news, and newspapers carried the stories of Christians living out their faith at public schools.

March was also the month that the dehydration and starvation of Terri Schiavo began again. This time it resulted in her death. We were there on October 21, 2003 when they granted Terri a “stay of execution” after they had removed her food and hydration tubes for seven days. At that time, they reinserted the tubes as a result of “Terri's Law” passed by the Florida State Legislature and signed by Governor Bush. A year and a half later, during Easter season no less, she was starved to death. Many of us were placed in jail because we symbolically attempted to bring Miss Terri a drink of cool water. God also gave us a platform to proclaim the Gospel all over the news on Fox and CNN as we gave a voice for voiceless Terri. Flip was in jail for three days and, after release, was not allowed within a mile of the hospice.

However, young Josh Heldreth is growing up to be a mighty warrior in the lord! Only 10 years-old, Josh attempted to bring Miss Terri a drink and was hand-cuffed and arrested. The Heldreth family had been praying for Miss Terri for almost a month and Josh pleaded with his dad to bring him to Florida so he could help her. His picture adorned the front page of every major newspaper in the nation. Small acts of faithfulness are pleasing unto our Lord.

On Easter Sunday morning, Chet Gallagher and Rick Barnard followed the example of our Lord and laid their lives down that Miss Terri might live. Immediately they were taken to jail. Ed Martin was our Lord's faithful servant all the way through Terri's horrible ordeal. He was there for almost a month.

May and June 2005 found us pressing hard for the National Event in Denver, Colorado. Ken and Jo Scott were magnificent as they prepared the way for us to come. They left no stone unturned, and when Flip arrived in May for several days, Ken and Jo had an incredible line-up of events for him.

June also marked a wonderful reuniting of Pastor Ken Bonner Jr. and Flip in Chicago. Ken and his sister Pam joined us for the National Event in Denver .

July 2005 brought us one of the most remarkable, and well-attended, National Events we have had. Bob Enyart, Ken and Jo Scott, Leslie Hanks, Jason, Phillip, Mike, et. al., did so much to make it possible for the theology of the church house in Denver , Boulder , and Colorado Springs to become biography in the streets. The major news media in Colorado was all over us. They talked about us in the morning, wrote about us in the afternoon, and had us on TV at night.

The police, for the most part, left us alone. This was due primarily to the faithful stands that Ken, Jo, and others have taken in Denver . They have been arrested on so many occasions and acquitted so many times that they have won the hard earned respect of the Denver Police Department. The police trust them to do what they say they are going to do. The folks in Denver and Colorado Springs have really done the hard work of plowing up the ground so that we could easily sow the seed of the Gospel. Thanks to all of you for bringing us to the gates of hell in Denver . We love you!

A remarkable aside is that abortionist Warren Hern took out a full page ad in the Colorado Rocky Mountain News the Saturday that we were leaving that advertised the powerful effectiveness of Christians living out their faith in the streets. He ended the ad by saying, “…if they keep on doing this, doctors won't do abortions. Would you?”

August 2005 , began on a very difficult note as many of us traveled to Waco, TX to bid farewell to our precious sister in the Lord, Liz Thomas. She had suffered so much throughout the months of 2005, and on August 3rd the race our Lord marked out for her was finished on this earth. Over 100 of us from all parts of the country joined her family with hundreds of others in Waco for Liz' Homegoing service. It was a sorrowful, yet joyous, occasion as the life of Liz Thomas resounded in all of our hearts. She served us in her life and she served us in her death, and she is now serving us as one in the great cloud of witnesses, encouraging each one of us to run the race of faith with a reckless abandon. As we said there, we'll say it again, “Good night for now, sweet Liz; we'll see you in the morning.”

Mid-month we joined Fr. Francis and crew as we stormed the gates of hell in Albany, Schenectady, and Saratoga Springs, New York. We gave ‘em heaven at the abortion mills, the New York State Capital, and the race track for five consecutive days. Needless to say we created quite a stir, but it was a stirring in the Gospel direction.

Once again, we were reunited with the wonderful Minutemen of Ohio. Coach Dave, Pastor Dunphy, Dave Ford, John, Scott, and all of the Minutemen and women had us gather together for a powerful week of ministry. Little did we know that God would bring us together again at the end of the month to bring relief to the folks in Louisiana and Mississippi, devastated by hurricane Katrina.

We also won a major federal court case this past August in Ohio as one of the Minutemen children wore our “Intolerant” T-shirt to his school. He was told to take it off or be thrown-out, but he stood his ground under his dad's tutelage. He can now wear the T-shirt to school!

September 2005 saw us spending the entire month helping our brothers and sisters devastated by Hurricane Katrina, and arranging for teams to follow in waves. As pastor Sam Green put it, “We came with bread in one hand and the bread of life in the other.” OSA had teams from Florida, Kansas, Ohio, Alabama, North Carolina, Texas, Georgia, Missouri, Nebraska and, of course, the folks from Mississippi (brother Butch and the High Place), and Louisiana (Brother Bill and the gang from New Orleans).

We have never had such an opportunity to be a blessing to so many. Thanks to your generosity, we had more than enough to supply every need wherever we went with the OSA RV, Dave Lackey's truck and sundry other tractors and trailers. You gave so liberally and we were able to bless so freely that we almost had to laugh. We had never seen such provision to do God's work. We were greeted with wide-open arms and the Gospel of Christ went forth powerfully. We have made many lasting friends in Jackson and the surrounding area. We had teams on the ground for almost two months. So many of you volunteered with much time and expense. Freely we have received so freely we give. Our God is an awesome God and the people of Mississippi and Louisiana heard it, saw it, and now know it.

As a sign of more good fruit from our efforts, we were able to play a part in bringing 55 brand new bicycles to the kids at Mount Olive Ministries . Mount Olive is about 40 miles south of Jackson and was hit hard by Katrina. We were the first responders to that city and the Sheriff brought us right up to Main Street, got all the city officials out of their offices, got the inmates out of jail, and had them help us pass out all of the food and clothing we had on our trucks. From Dawn till dusk we were able proclaim Christ and give a loaf of bread. Boy was it ever hot!

September 24th brought hurricane Rita through the southeastern portion of Texas. We were able to provide 100 mattresses, 100 pillows, 200 sheets, and several pallets of water to the Church of the Open Door who had taken in 300 refugees from the Houston area. Pastor Ronnie Holmes said that though there was a wind blowing outside, there was another wind blowing inside. 75 people gave their hearts to Christ on this night!

October, 2005 found us traveling down south again, this time to pick up Gib Killion who had spent so much time in the hurricane areas. We found him in Sulfer, LS, hardest hit with hurricane Rita. We were able to help purchase

several tractor trailer loads of food and supplies (about $35-45,000 of goods each load) to help the folks here. Coach Dave Daubenmire arranged these loads to be brought to the hardest hit areas. It was a miracle of provision. It cost us approximately $1500 to bring a tractor trailer loaded with food to these areas. We were able to purchase several loads because of your generosity.

Also in October we had a regional event in Wichita . Pastor Mark, Bob and Donna Lippoldt, Kendra, her girls and her mom, and so many more made this a spectacular Gospel proclamation. We went to the schools, the abortion mills, the college, the streets. Everywhere the gates of hell were manifest the saints in Wichita helped us to get there. The newspapers were filled with stories about the Christian radicals invading their town. It got to the point where several students of one of the local high schools decided to come to Spirit One Church on Sunday morning and protest us. This was great and widely covered by the media. Several young people gave their hearts to Christ during this wonderful campaign we will forever call “School Goes Back to Church.” Only the devil himself could come up with such a foolish idea. The gates of hell in Wichita are still hemorrhaging.

Another event in October pitted the Concord City Police Department and the City of Concord, North Carolina against gentle Christians living out their faith in the streets. We were required to get permits (48 hours in advance) if two or more persons were to gather together to promote any cause or person. Our great attorney Rick Nelson of the American Liberties Institute won this battle for us. We can preach the Gospel of Christ at any time, anywhere on the public right of way, for any reason without having a permit.

November 2005 , found Flip back in Connecticut. This time to confront the Planned Parenthood abortion mill just outside of Yale. He was arrested for carrying the graphic picture of Baby Malachi. He spent the day (Saturday) in jail, went to court on Monday and was found guilty. They let him go with time served, but they destroyed the sign. Baby Malachi is hated in New Haven . He is hated all over the world because, “…though he is dead he still speaks.”

December 2005 , eleven of us took our first mission overseas to Holland with Dave Lackey and Dr. Pat McEwen leading the way. We came equipped with the large graphic pictures of Baby Malachi and our brochure “Abortion is Murder, Homosexuality is a Sin, Islam is a Lie.” Our part in the International Pro-life Conference was to teach people (Christian pro-lifers) how to allow their theology to become biography in the streets. When they saw what we were about, and realized the confrontational manner with which we presented the Gospel of Christ, they were quite taken aback.

They had not seen the graphic pictures and wanted no part in bringing them or our brochures to the streets. They were doing very well at having conferences and praying for revival, but they wanted no part of storming the gates of hell, nor associating with anyone who would. So we went out into the streets ourselves and created quite a stir. It is usually revival or riot with us. The people of Holland , are a very tolerant, laid back sort who believe that everyone can pretty much do as he pleases so long as he leaves everyone else alone. The Dutch are for the Dutch. They hate Americans!

When we would take Baby Malachi to the streets the expression on the people's faces was very revealing. They had never seen anything like this before. The police kept repeating to Pastor Mike Warren that the graphic pictures of the aborted baby was shocking. One can only wonder how many babies would be saved if the pro-life Dutch Christians would get out in the streets at the abortion mills rather than attending Pro-life conferences.

I cannot say it enough, though I will say it once again. Thanks to all of you for your prayers, your witness as we stand together, your encouragement, your faithfulness to God's Word and your financial support. Without you, none of this would have been possible.

Keep storming the gates!

Flip