I went to Washington square park to share the gospel. I left in an ambulance.

By Ben Schettler, The Center for Truth in Love

I want to tell you exactly what happened. Not a summary. Not a highlight reel. The full thing, both days, because I think you deserve to understand what is happening in the streets of America right now, and what it actually costs to stand in a public park and say the name of Jesus.

This is my account. I was there. What follows is the truth.

Tuesday: We Were Just Having Conversations

Our team set up at Washington Square Park in Manhattan. A park we have visited before, a place teeming with people, conversations, and the kind of honest searching that makes street outreach so alive. We came with a table, open Bibles, and a willingness to talk to anyone who wanted to engage. We always do.

Twenty-five feet from where we stood, a man was openly selling drugs. Right there. At a table. No interference from anyone. He was just doing “business” while the rest of the park moved around him like he was furniture.

That detail matters. Hold it in your mind.

Park Police eventually approached us, not him. They told us we needed to stop. No legal basis was given. No ordinance was cited. No permit requirement was explained. The message was simple and blunt: your conversations need to end. We were being told to be quiet in one of the most iconic public spaces in the most famous city in the world, while a drug deal operated freely at the next table over.

The drug dealer kept his table. We were told to stop. That is not a coincidence. That is viewpoint discrimination.

I will be honest with you…the frustration I felt in that moment was real. Not because I am unfamiliar with pushback. Not because I expected New York City to roll out a welcome mat for the Gospel. But because the injustice of it was full-frontal. The drug dealer kept his table. We were told to be quiet. That is not a coincidence. That is viewpoint discrimination.

We left. But we did not leave defeated.

The Decision to Go Back

That night, I consulted with an attorney. I wanted to know, plainly, whether we had the legal right to be in that park doing what we were doing. The answer was “yes!” Washington Square Park is a traditional public forum. The First Amendment protects expressive activity in spaces like that. We had done nothing wrong and we had the right to return.

So we decided to go back.

I want to be transparent about what that decision felt like, because I think a lot of Christians reading this will understand the weight of it. There is a moment where you know what the right thing to do is, and you also know it might cost you something. The attorney gave me legal clarity. But clarity is not the same as comfort. I knew we were walking back into a situation that had already shown us its hostility. I went anyway.

Wednesday: The Mob

We entered Washington Square Park on Wednesday. I remember what it felt like, the familiar sounds of the city, the open sky above the arch, the same streets we had walked dozens of times. It felt like reclaiming something. It felt like obedience.

Within moments of entering the park, a group of women began yelling at us. I do not know who they were. I do not know if it was coordinated. What I know is that the yelling drew men….and quickly, I was surrounded.

Eight to twelve of them. Maybe more. They closed in around me, and the things they were saying were not the kind of things you forget.

They called me a Nazi. They said they wanted to "Charlie Kirk" me. And they said clearly, loudly, and with no hesitation, that they wanted me to die.

I never saw the punch coming. The first thing I knew about it was the impact, from behind, without warning, without a word.

I never saw the punch coming. The first thing I knew about it was the impact — from behind, without warning, without a word. Someone sucker-punched me while I was surrounded. Then my phone was ripped out of my hands. When I tried to get it back, more people took swings at me. Someone grabbed me and others continued to hit me.

I need you to understand what that moment was like. Not for sympathy, but because I think there are people reading this who need to know what this actually looks like in the real world. This was not a heated argument. This was not a shoving match. This was a mob. Multiple people. Targeting one man because of what he believes.

I have a pre-existing traumatic brain injury. I have lived with it for years. Every person close to me knows that a serious blow to my head is not just a black eye situation, it carries risks that most people do not have to think about. Somewhere in the chaos of that moment, I was not just being attacked. My neurological health was being threatened.

Eventually, it stopped. Police arrived. My phone was recovered. I stood in that park— shaken, in pain, trying to process what had just happened…and the worst part…yes, worse than the attack, was the attitude in the air. The sense that somehow, I had brought this on myself. That going back was the problem. That the fault was mine.

I did not deserve what happened to me. And neither will the next person who stands in a public place and peacefully speaks the name of Jesus.

I want to say something directly to that narrative: it is wrong. I went back because my attorney told me I had every legal right to do so. I went back because the Gospel is worth going back for. I did not deserve what happened to me. And neither will the next person who stands in a public place and peacefully speaks the name of Jesus.

The Ambulance Ride

I was transported by ambulance to the emergency room. I was diagnosed with a concussion. Given my TBI history, the doctors were not casual about it. They should not have been. I am currently in treatment for extreme light sensitivity and head pain that does not quit.

I am writing this from recovery. It is not easy to look at a screen right now. But I needed to write it, and I think you needed to read it.

Why I'm Telling You This

I am not telling you this story to make you angry, though righteous anger at injustice is not a sin, I am not telling you this to play the victim, because the moment this story becomes about me, it loses its power…

I am telling you this because I believe something is happening in this country that the church needs to understand. The hostility toward the public expression of Christian faith is not theoretical anymore. It is not a culture-war talking point. It showed up in a park in New York City on a Wednesday and put a man in an ambulance.

Despite it all, the people in that park, the ones who were angry, the ones who were selling drugs and the ones who were just trying to enjoy the day, they all need the same thing. They need the Gospel. The ones who hit me need it most of all.

The cost of obedience is real. So is the call. And in my experience, the call is louder than the cost.

I want to speak directly to every Christian who has ever stood at the edge of a conversation about faith and pulled back because the room felt hostile. I understand that hesitation. I felt it Wednesday standing at the entrance to that park. The cost of obedience is real. So is the call. And in my experience, the call is louder than the cost.

We are going back.

What You Can Do Right Now

This story is spreading because people know something is wrong. If you have made it to the end of this post, I am asking you to do four things:

• Pray. Specifically for my recovery, for our team, and for the people in Washington Square Park who need the Gospel.

• Share this post. Every share puts this story in front of someone who needs to see it. The mainstream conversation will not cover this. You are the media.

• Follow our journey. We are documenting this tour and the outreach that comes next at thecenterfortruthinlove.org and across our social channels.

• Consider joining us. If you have ever wanted to do street outreach but did not know where to start, reach out. The door is open.

The truth is still worth speaking. The love is still worth giving. And the park is still full of people who need both.

— Ben Schettler

Co-Founder & President, The Center for Truth in Love

www.thecenterfortruthinlove.org