In 1965 Rev. Havens, the former minister of Hollister's First Christian Church, joined Cesar Chavez's National Farm Workers Association. Rev. Havens was the first of many arrested during the Grape Strike. His crime--reading Definition of a Strikebreaker.
In 1963 Rev. Havens left Hollister for the Central Valley, where he served in the California Migrant Ministry and learned the valuable lessons of community organizing.