ARTICLES
June 2002 ARTICLES
Contents © 2002
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
It's a Lighthouse When We're Standing Out There
Pro-lifers Picket a Church
By Christopher Zehnder
"I'm a big old fat guy -- really ugly -- certainly not a pleasant sight for the moms in a crisis to look at -- abrasive looking, you know; a big old fat guy with a beard." So it is, said Robert Ferguson of Bell Gardens, that he's "not the sidewalk counselor type." Instead, when he goes to abortion clinics, Ferguson mostly prays or holds a sign.
Still, even this silent witness can be effective.
"About two months ago," Ferguson told me in April, a woman in a car pulled up to him as he was standing vigil in front of Edward Allred's Family Planning Associates clinic in Rosemead. "She was going to the laudromat," said Ferguson, "and she had her kid, about two-years old, inside the car seat. 'I just want to stop and tell you,' she said, 'I'm going down here to the laundromat, but two years ago I drove by here, and you were standing right here by the fire hydrant with a sign that said, "What Do You Need? We Have It."' She said, 'I knew it was you because it was a big old fat guy. I came to abort this child. and here is my child here. I just wanted to stop and thank you.'
"There are things that you don't ever know that happen," continued Ferguson. "You don't know how many people there are out there like that -- just because somebody was able to go and have a presence of light from the church. It's a lighthouse when we're standing out there in front of that place."
On Palm Sunday, March 24, Ferguson and other pro-life activists tried to bring that message to the pastor and congregation of Evergreen Baptist Church in Rosemead. That Sunday, in conjunction with an outreach in front of Allred's Family Planning Associates' clinic, Ferguson and his fellow activists held another at the doorsteps of the church.
"We parked a 26-foot motor home with pictures of life and death, and scriptures about abortion and what not, across the street at the abortuary," said Ferguson. "Then I parked in front of the church with a sign that said, 'Please Come Help Us.' We handed out the 'Blood Guilt' brochure, which, on the outside says, 'Jesus Loves the Little Children,' and then on the inside, says, 'Even When We Don't.' It lays out the teaching on Blood Guilt in the Bible, how people who are closest to the killing are most responsible for trying to stop it. It also shares the story about the German Church -- 'Sing a Little Louder.'"
Why did Ferguson target Evergreen Baptist? The church, he said, stands only 166 feet from Allred's clinic. To date, said Ferguson, neither the pastor nor his congregation have done anything while week after week -- even Sunday after Sunday -- the unborn are being slaughtered.
This was not the first contact Ferguson has had with Evergreen. Ferguson and Jim Costigan, who have been members of the San Gabriel Valley Core Group of Operation Rescue, have for ten years been trying to convince Evergreen Baptist to bring the witness for life to Family Planning Associates. Costigan spoke with the pastor in 1992, and then in 1994. Ferguson said he went to Evergreen four years ago, and then about two or three months ago. The last time he went, he spoke to the outreach minister, Pastor Jonathan Wu, who told him that Evergreen is pro-life and donates to a pro-life care center. "I told him, 'well, that's good and dandy -- a lot of churches do that and we praise God they get funding,' said Ferguson. "'But that doesn't absolve us from the fact that you're only 166 feet away from an abortuary, and that more is required of you than of a Church that's over in Temple City that is not near an abortion clinic.' He said he understood that, but that his plate is really full. I told him, 'I know pastors can't do it all; you can't really oversee this, probably. You got to have a lay person who is interested in this and maybe they can organize people coming over and praying. Man, when you're this close, you're this close for a reason.'"
At the Palm Sunday demonstration, Ferguson said he was approached by Evergreen's outreach minister (Pastor Wu) and a youth minister. "I told them, 'you're pro-life, I'm pro-life. We're on the same page,'" said Ferguson. "'Our only contention or disagreement is in tactics. You don't like the fact that I've brought the big signs over across the street to your church and you want me to leave, and I don't like the fact that you guys have been fairly silent with the abortion clinic being so close to you folks, and I'm just asking you to do more.' Pastor Wu said, 'you should have come to us in private.' I said, 'I've done everything the Bible told me to. I went to you in private. I brought extra people. A pastor met with you. I' ve done what the Bible tells me to do before exposing you; so, now, instead of being across the street, I've come over to your side of the street.'"
Ferguson said that he was not asking Evergreen do what he does. "We were asking them to do something on their own. They can come and pray, if that's what they want to do -- that's the most powerful thing we have. If that's the calling they have, they can have straight prayer over there."
Ferguson said Pastor Wu seemed open to doing something, but to date no one from Evergreen has shown up at the Sunday demonstrations at Family Planning Associates.
I called Evergreen Baptist and left messages both for Jonathan Wu and the pastor, the Reverend Ken Uyeda Fong. Neither returned my calls. Curious as to why Evergreen was not involved in an outreach to the victims of Allred's abortuary, I accessed the web site for the American Baptist Convention, to which Evergreen belongs. In the convention's "Resolution Concerning Abortion and Ministry in the Local Church," I found my answer: "As American Baptists. we affirm that God is the Creator of all life, that human beings are created in the image of God, and Christ is Lord of life. Recognizing this gift of life, we find ourselves struggling with the painful and difficult issue of abortion. Genuine diversity of opinion threatens the unity of our fellowship. As American Baptists we oppose abortion, as a means of avoiding responsibility for conception, as a primary means of birth control, without regard for the far-reaching consequences of the act. We denounce irresponsible sexual behavior and acts of violence that contribute to the large number of abortions each year.
"We grieve with all who struggle with the difficult circumstances that lead them to consider abortion. Recognizing that each person is ultimately responsible to God, we encourage men and women in these circumstances to seek spiritual counsel as they prayerfully and conscientiously consider their decision.
"We condemn violence and harassment directed against abortion clinics, their staff and clients, as well as sanctions and discrimination against medical professionals whose consciences prevent them from being involved in abortions.
"We also recognize that we are divided as to the proper witness of the church to the state regarding abortion. Many of our membership seek legal safeguards to protect unborn life. Many others advocate for and support family planning legislation, including legalized abortion as in the best interest of women in particular and society in general. Again, we have many points of view between these two positions. Consequently, we acknowledge the freedom of each individual to advocate for a public policy on abortion that reflects his or her beliefs."
The inaction of those who claim to follow Christ in the face of abortion is incomprehensible to Ferguson. He himself has invested much in the fight against it. A Protestant, Ferguson attends Hosea Ministries in Bell Gardens, which, he said, is "similar to Teen Challenge where there is a drug and alcohol rehab, as well as a rehab from the streets. Most of our congregation," he said, "are ex-felons and druggies, and most everybody in our church has aborted." (Though a Protestant, Ferguson says his friends "call me their almost Catholic," because of his belief in the real presence. "I'll probably convert one of these days," he said, "because I really long for the Host. I just think the idea of having Him live in me and helping me not to sin -- that's just an outrageous thing."
Though Ferguson owns his own business -- he does ceramic tile -- he spends much of his time doing pro-life work. "I have a nephew that works for me now. I go out to the job in the morning and get him going. He's a real perfectionist, so I really don't have to overlook his job or anything. I go in late morning or early afternoon, then go to the abortion clinics or wherever I'm going to go. I don't just do the abortion clinics; I do porno shops and topless joints. I'm getting one of those deals, like a stake bed truck. I am going to make different signs -- one for pornography, one for an abortion clinic -- and I'm just going to change the signs depending on where I am that day. I might make one for the tile business, but probably not."
Ferguson became involved in pro-life work back in the 70s. Unlike today, he was not involved with demonstrating at clinics. "I always thought that people who went to clinics were terrorists -- bombers and burners," said Ferguson. "When Operation Rescue came in the late '80s to California, I went to observe. I said, 'I believe in prayer, so I can go and pray. I'll just stand across the street and pray and just observe, because they're telling me they're not violent people, but prayerful, peaceful, passive people.' So I went and observed. And of course I didn't know that prayer support meant I stood in front of the door. They placed us right in front of Leo Kenneally's door on Figueroa and that was where prayer support was until it came time for arrests. Then they said, 'whoever is not risking arrest, go and leave.' I thought, 'you know, this isn't violent. I can risk arrest. Jail doesn't scare me.' We weren't arrested anyway." Since then, though, Ferguson said he has been arrested "a few times."
His zeal has spurred Ferguson to challenge not only Evergreen Baptist, but other churches in the vicinity of Allred's Rosemead clinic. Only 369 feet away from the clinic, said Ferguson, is Don Bosco Tech (a Catholic high school and junior college) as well as St. Joseph's Salesian Youth Renewal Center. Ferguson went to the latter and spoke "with the lady who was at the desk to see if I could get a meeting with the pastor. She explained that it was more of a youth outreach thing. I said, 'do you guys do anything with pro-life stuff?' She said, no, but that mostly the outreach dealt with more general things. [The right to life] might be part of Catholic teaching, she said, but it's not a specific teaching that they would have for a retreat. I said, 'I was just thinking, being so close [to Allred's clinic] you guys might want to come across the street over here.' She did not offer to allow me to talk with anyone, and I couldn't get past her." (The retreat director at St. Joseph's said that the center does not plan retreats, but only offers facilities for parishes or other groups who want to put on retreats.)
Ferguson said his experience with Rudy Herrera, the outreach minister for Don Bosco Tech, was less amicable. "I talked to him about organizing some prayer vigil with the students, but he said, 'we don't know who you are, we don't want to do anything with you.' I said, 'I'm not asking you to do anything with me; I'm saying maybe you guys can do something on your own. Maybe this is something that the students would be interested in doing in because the Catholic Church is really a pro-life Church." But Herrera, Ferguson said, hung up on him.
Herrera did not return my phone calls.
Ferguson said he does not see his challenges of churches as offensive attacks, but as an outreach. "It could really be perceived by them as an attack, depending upon whether or not they are repentant," he said. "If people tell me where my sins are, sometimes I take that as attacking, if I don't want to repent. At the same time, I'm almost hesitant to say anything about the church like this; but if I don't, then the guilt goes from them onto me also. This way, I'm relieved of my responsibility.
"I just really pray that they start coming out to the clinic, because they can make a big difference."