Aaron Brummitt and I were witnessing at the Craft Beer Fest in downtown Springfield, MO on July 20, 2013. There was a band playing on the square and we have a decibel reading of over 105 decibels. This was about the fifth concert in a row that was confirmed at being over 100 decibels.
We were one block South of the square and Aaron was ticketed with disturbing the peace and the police illegally confiscated his equipment! Please click on the link and watch the short video of this police action. Also please notice how loud the concert is in the background while we were preaching and at the time the police confiscated Aaron’s amplifier. Springfield police confiscate street preacher’s amplifier!
According to Romans 12:14 we are to bless those who persecute us. So in addition to praying that my friend gets his equipment back, I also pray that God will bless and protect the fine men and women of the Springfield Police Department.
Update: 10/5/13 Preacher arrested along with two others and new equipment stolen by the police! This is the second time the police have robbed this young man. Do you still think you have free speech in America? God help us.
There is a difference between “illegally stealing” his equipment vs. confiscating it as evidence. the court summons has nothing to do with the decibels, it’s a summons for peace disturbance, only issued because of a formal complaint filed by a business owner and/or resident in the immediate area .
The sound from the concert is not 10 feet in front of the business. As Christians we have the right to, and we should open air preach; however, as Christians we should also be respectful of the people and businesses around were we are preaching as to not give a bad testimony.
The title in your video and post is, I believe, deceptive to the actual facts and should be changed to something else.
I appreciate your comments, but I was there when the police stole my friend’s equipment. If you watched the video then you could see that when I was preaching before Aaron, you can barely hear me over the concert one block away. I still contend that the rock group playing at 105 decibels was every bit as loud as we were at 75 decibels. You can also see the speaker in the box in the video and it is pointed toward the street. The other speaker is pointed north – toward the square. The speakers were not pointed toward the business. We’ve preached on that corner (one block South of the square), in that exact location many times before and we’ve never been ticketed there before.
I also find it interesting that anyone can claim that you are disturbing their peace. It’s also interesting that the last five concerts on the square have all been illegally over 100 decibels, we’ve shown the evidence of this to the police and they have not written one ticket to any promoters or bands. How is it that the loud bands don’t disturb their peace? Maybe it has to do with the message.
Josephus, thank you again for your comments. I was reading Romans Chapter 12 tonight and God convicted me on Romans 12:14, that we are to bless those who persecute us.
So I have changed the title to my blog and the title on the media page to say confiscate instead of steal or illegally confiscate. I am also praying that God will bless and protect all Springfield police officers. Thanks, Dennis.
LOL – “as Christians we should also be respectful of the people”.
Got my laugh for the day. While you people pray for working people like me to be denied Medicaid, I suffer, hurt, and will die most likely. I don’t want any part of your Jesus if you people speak for him…
I don’t know who you are, but your comments make no sense at all. What makes you think that any Christians are praying for you to be denied Medicaid? That doesn’t make any sense and has no bearing on this post.
But you are right about dying one day. We are all going to die. You cannot cheat death. God loves you and He made you, but you have rebelled against almighty God every single time that you have ever sinned. You have earned a mountain of sin debt that you can never repay. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Only Jesus saves. You need to repent and put your faith in Jesus.