HARRISBURG, Pa.  Four ministers arrested while evangelizing outside a homosexual pride celebration in Pennsylvania's capital city are set to stand trial Jan. 8.
The men were taken into custody while evangelizing outside South Riverfront Park, where the annual PrideFest event was taking place July 26, 2003. According to a Repent America release, the four were not permitted inside the public park and remained just outside the main entrance.
Charged with disorderly conduct and defiant trespass were: Jim Lymon, a New York-based evangelist; Jim Grove, pastor of Heritage Baptist Church in Loganville, Pa.; Stephen Garisto, an inner-city minister from Harrisburg; and Michael Marcavage, a field preacher of the Philadelphia-based Repent America.
Grove, Garisto and Marcavage were jailed for several hours, until the PrideFest event was over. Lymon, the first to be arrested, was cited and released.
"What a nation we've become where Christians ministering in public are being arrested, jailed, and brought before judges, while those who openly celebrate breaking God's law are free to do so in public places," Marcavage said.
