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Saturday, June 15, Wisconsin Christians United was back
on the parking lot and one-mile gravel walk-way of the Mazo nude beach.
About eighty Christians met to pray, hand out gospel tracts, preach, and
hold signs with biblical messages. Nudists walking to the beach to get
naked at taxpayers' expense had to walk a 3/4-mile-long "gospel
gauntlet" of signs and preachers. This was the first WCU event since Pastor
Ovadal was sentenced to a $1,000 fine and court costs several
weeks ago for preaching on the Mazo Beach parking lot.
The ministry event began at 10:00 AM and lasted until
5:15 PM. At approximately 1:15 PM, without warning or any apparent reason,
a Dane County Sheriff SWAT team arrived on the scene with a large paddy
wagon and, complete with billy clubs, formed up around the WCU Christians
who were eating lunch at the time!
In response, the Christians sang a number of hymns and
prayed. Pastor Ovadal also delivered a sermon dealing with matters of
God-given authority, law, and the role of Christians in standing for
righteousness no matter the cost.
By the time the impromptu open-air church service was
done, a noticeable softening in the originally tense, hostile-appearing
SWAT team officers was apparent. The Christians then returned to their
gospel gauntlet set up; and the rest of the afternoon, SWAT team officers
escorted nudists to the beach. However, during that entire time, the
officers were again exposed to gospel preaching. After a time, a friendly
rapport had developed between the SWAT team and WCU. One officer told a
WCU Christian, "You people are nothing like what they told us you
are. We can see that you are the ones who need to be protected, not the
beach users." Another officer commented, "Just so you know, we
don't like the beach either." Several officers also expressed genuine
concern for the Christians manning the gospel gauntlet, for instance,
reminding them to drink plenty of water and regularly checking with older
people to make sure they were doing all right. Late in the day, Regional
Warden John Glennon arrived on the scene, the first DNR
official to do so. Mr. Glennon appeared to be somewhat chagrined over the
friendly relations that had developed between WCU and the Dane County
Sheriff's SWAT team.
"Given the way the SWAT team originally came on
like gangbusters and in light of what several of them told us, it is
obvious to me that the DNR had clearly misrepresented the Christians with
WCU to someone in the Dane County Sheriff Department who then briefed the
SWAT team. I wish to commend those officers with the SWAT team who policed
our ministry event Saturday. It was a breath of fresh air to watch
professional police officers at work after having to deal with Department
of Natural Resources officers for over three years. I hope that the SWAT
team polices every WCU event at Mazo Beach from now on."
Pastor Ralph Ovadal, Director, Wisconsin Christians United
Related articles:
WCU at Mazo Beach Today
Gov. McCallum, please do your job.
Pastor Fined $1000 for Preaching
WorldNetDaily
Exclusive: State joins tug of war over nude beach
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