RECENT OUTREACHES
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI
The University of Missouri in Columbia has my favorite free speech area on campus. It is this circle ampitheatre with stairs around it. The students gather and sit on the stairs and if you preach in the middle of the circle, your voice is amplified. And this free speech area gets a lot of foot traffic walking through it during class change. I wish that every campus was this accomodating to free speech.
I started my meeting as I normally do, by announcing loud and clear what I intend to do. “I came out here today to preach the Bible and to warn you students about the judgment and wrath of God!” I went on to preach against the popular sins of the campus like drunkeness, fornication, homosexuality, etc. It wasn’t long before I had gathered a relatively large and attentive crowd.
There were hecklers in the crowd, as usual, but the crowd as a whole seemed very tamed and inquisitive. The hecklers simply helped with the entertainment aspect, which is helpful in keeping the attention of the students for hours at a time. Hecklers are good because it helps capture the attention of others who want to see what is going on, who want to hear how you answer the heckler, etc.
In years past there was a local preacher who would heckle me as I preached. Our messages always seemed to clash as he would preach “just believe” and I would preach “repent and believe.” He would preach “you can’t be perfect” and I would preach “stop sinning!” He would preach, “You are covered by the imputed righteousness of Christ, so God doesn’t see your sin.” And I would preach, “God knows your works, be zealous therefore and repent.”
I saw him on campus when I arrived and anticipated that he would heckle me again as usual. However, after he heard me sharing my testimony and preaching the gospel, he started to defend me to the students. I am not sure if he remembered me, or if he wasn’t clear as to what my message was, if he had had a change of heart, or if he simply understood my message better this time. Either way, I was glad that he was defending my message to the students.
I felt it on my heart to preach a lot during this tour on the moral government of God and the atoning suffering and death of Christ. Of course, these are topics that I always preach on. I simply felt the need to emphasis them on this trip. Therefore, I expounded to the students on the good and sufficient reason God has for giving us His moral law. His commandments did not originate in His arbitrary will, but in His infinite mind. Out of His benevolence, He has given us the moral law which, if obeyed, would result in the highest well-being of all.
The problem is that all of us have chosen to go our own way. We have chosen to be selfish instead of benevolent as His law demands. This makes us guilty deserving of punishment. Punishment is a governmental measure to sustain the law, lest it falls into contempt. How can God forgive us, if penalty serves such a necessary purpose under His moral government? Forgiveness is the setting aside or remittance of penalty. The solution to the problem was the atonement. The suffering and death of Christ is a substitute for the penalty that we deserve, which fulfills the purpose of our penalty, thus rendering our penalty remissible. The atonement makes salvation automatic for no one, but available for everyone. So I urged the students to repent of their sins and believe the gospel, in order to receive the mercy and forgiveness of God through Jesus Christ.
NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY
Northern Illinois University was a new campus for me. There were numerous campuses on this tour which were a first for me. Praise God, by His grace I have now preached the gospel on 105 campuses! Since this was my first time on the campus it took me a while to find the free speech area. I started preaching a little bit later than usual, nevertheless I was able to draw a crowd which interacted with me for a few hours.
Another believer in the area heard that I was preaching on campus and wanted to come and join me. He has been involved in the pro-life movement. He brought with him some pro-life banners and signs. One woman came and talked with me and said, “Well, if I am not allowed to have an abortion, than I am going to drown the baby in the bathtub when it is born.” Hearing her say that really showed me how murderous these people are. It is not that they don’t think it’s a baby, but that they do not want a baby. As the heathen in the Old Testament would sacrifice their children to false gods, so the women of this generation will sacrifice their children to their gods of pleasure and irresponsibility. Ultimately, these women who want to have abortions want to have sex without responsibility, and will abort their children upon the alter of selfishness and convenience. At the very least they could give the child up for adoption, but instead they slaughter it. When society slaughters by the masses the most innocent and helpless of its citizens, we know that our society needs God. Hearing what that woman said to me just gave me all the more reason to preach the gospel on campus.
DENALI’S PIZZA, ROCKFORD IL
During my time in Illinois I was hosted by the Coke’s. Pastor Dave Coke was generous enough to let me speak to his church on Sunday morning. I spoke on the vicarious and governmental atonement of Christ. I explained what the purpose of law and penalty was, what the problem of pardon was, and how the atonement fulfilled the purpose of penalty and overcame the problems of forgiveness. That message is on YouTube. Click Here
Then on Sunday evening I was able to speak again, only this time Pastor Dave Coke held church at his local pizza shop – Denali’s Pizza. I again spoke on the atonement only this time I emphasised the moral influence aspect of the atonement, whereas earlier in the day I spoke on the governmental necessity of the atonement. I taught that when we look at the cross and see what Jesus Christ has done for us, it ought to break and subdue our hearts and we ought to fall in love with God. In light of the atonement we should love and consequently obey God. I also taught on the medical cause of the death of Christ – a broken heart. The agony of mind that Jesus Christ endured, which started in the Garden, literally ruptured his heart. This is evidenced by the blood and the water that John recorded.
The atonement has been the greatest study of my life. I am in the process now of writing a book called, “The Vicarious Atonement of Christ” which will be available soon.
In addition to having the privilege to speak to the church, I was also blessed to be able to eat Denali’s pizza! “If God Ate Pizza!” If you are ever in Rockford Ill, or are driving through, definiately stop at Denali’s Pizza. I highly recommend eating one of their Calzones!
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
Michigan State is a campus that has heard many preachers over the years. They have some local brethren that will preach on the campus often. It can be difficult to draw a crowd and to capture their attention, since preaching is common place. So I made sure that I brought a big banner out to campus to help get attention. The banner said, “God Hates Sin” on one side and had a list of unrighteous people who will not inherit the kingdom of God on the other. Lifting my banner high and raising my voice loud enough for all to hear, I eventually was able to draw a small crowd.
It is important for open air preachers not to be boring. You will never draw a crowd or capture attention if you are boring. You need to be passionate, fiery, controversial, and even use some humor if you can. You cannot expect crowds to gather around you and listen for hours at a time otherwise. And most of the students are really not interested in listening to you preach a sermon. That is why when I preach on campus, I want it to be an open forum. I want to engage the crowd in dialog. I want to ask them questions and allow them to ask me questions. I have seen it time and time again on campus when I am preaching and nobody cares to listen, until one person stops to ask a question. Then suddenly a crowd gathers to watch this interaction. In my ten years of open air preaching, using many methods to draw a crowd, controversial dialog and interaction is the best way.
This was a particularly hot day so I noticed that many people would gather and sit under the trees on the grass. It is always good to keep the sun in mind when you choose a location to preach. If it is a hot day, find a shady spot for yourself and the crowd. If it is a cold day, find a sunny spot.
One great advantage to preaching on a college campus is that you will have international students on campus. In this way, your ministry can be an international ministry without even leaving the country. On this campus I was able to speak to a muslim student from Saudi Arabia! On other campuses I have spoken to muslims from Egypt and other countries. In many of these countries you cannot preach Jesus Christ without persecution. But on these universities and college campuses you can reach them with the good news of Jesus Christ!
My message was a very simple one: there is a heaven and there is a hell. There is a God and there is a devil. God has wrath and God has mercy. The choices you make now will affect your eternity. The devil is trying to destroy your soul through sin, but God wants what is good and best for you. We have all chosen to sin and to be selfish and therefore we all deserve to be punished. God commands that you repent of your sins, believe the gospel, and sin no more. If you do not repent, you will receive God’s wrath. If you do repent, you will receive God’s mercy. Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, did many miracles, cast out demons, was crucified for our sins, rose from the dead on the third day, and then ascendent to the right hand of the father. Salvation is now being offered to all of the world, but only those who are converted receive it. While I do preach on apologetics and theology, whenever necessary, I always make sure that I preach a simple and clear gospel message.
It is very common now for students to take out their phones and start filming the preaching. I am always encouraged when I see the doing this because you never know who they will share it with. They may take it back to their dorm and show their classmates or take it home and show their parents. Sometimes they will upload it to the internet and show the whole world. With digital media we have a much bigger audience than we did before. One person in the crowd with a camera can turn your audience from fifty people to five hundred people easily!
One of my local friends, Joey, came out to campus with me. He is young and committed himself to the Lord not too long ago. It is good for Christians to get out into the world to share their faith, because this will cause them to seriously think and study. It helps them to learn what they believe and why they believe it. There is no better way to strengthen your faith than to have your faith tested and challenged.
Throughout the day crowds came and went. There were a few times that I had to start preaching from the beginning again to draw another crowd because the previous one left. Nevertheless, we had crowds that gathered all day. There were many hecklers but there were more listeners than hecklers, as usual.
The topics of discussion varied as usual on this campus. I preached about the typical sins of fornication, drunkeness, homosexuality, and the wrath of God against these sins, together with the message of atonement, repentance, salvation, etc. There were some professing Christians on the campus who didn’t like what I was doing. I always find it baffling these these professing Christians will take the time to tell preachers how they are doing it wrong, but won’t take the time to do it the right way themselves. There were plenty of lost people for them to witness to out there, but instead they wasted their time talking to me instead. Instead of talking to preachers about how they could do it better, they should be sharing the gospel themselves instead.
GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY
There is a bell tower on the Grand Valley campus that quotes Psalms 100:1, “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.” That was exactly what we intended to do on this campus! The preaching of the gospel is no doubt a pleasing noise to the Lord. And it is our joy to make such a noise! There have been many times over the years as I have been preaching in the open air that I have felt the Lord watching in interest and taking notice of what was going on. Of course, the eyes of the Lord are in every place, but I am talking about the feeling that God is taking a special interest in what is occuring. I believe that heaven takes notice when a man stands up to preach the gospel, to stand against sin, and to defend the Lord.
There were other friends of mine, the Smocks, who were coming to campus to preach as well. I started off the meeting and was able to draw a small crowd. When I first arrived on campus I asked a random student where the free speech area was. He told me where it was and then asked why I asked. I told him that we would be preaching the Bible there. After I had been preaching for about five minutes, that same random student showed up with a bunch of his friends and signs of protest!
It is a good thing when students like these show up with their signs of protest, not only because they are our target audiance, but also because they help to get attention and draw a crowd. They help to make more of a scene. Whenever students come out with signs, I will read them to see if they give me anything good to talk about. One of the signs said, “We believe in evolution, science, and reason.” I argued that we cannot account for human intelligence apart from God, as there is no other adequate first cause of it. God is the necessary starting point for any worldview or system of thought, without which there is no adequate foundation for intelligibility. The atheistic worldview provides no basis or source for human reason, and yet they presuppose it and use it. I argued that the only reason that we have reason and intelligence is because we were made in the image of a reasonable and intelligent God. Intelligence cannot come from the unintelligent, or else you have an effect greater than the cause.
Jed and Cindy Smock arrived on campus and I turned it over to them. They were able to draw a relatively large crowd and kept their attention all day. I always enjoy the opportunity to listen to other campus preachers so that I can learn and grow and add more material to my presentation. Jed Smock has been preaching the campuses for forty years and has led many people to the Lord so it is always a great opportunity to hear him speak.
One student came out dressed like a prostitute and holding a “Judge Not” sign. She was wearing high heals, fishnet stockings, a mini skirt, a low cut shirt, etc. There are only a few verses that sinners seem to know on campus, and “Judge not” is one of them. But obviously she doesn’t believe the Bible, nor does she want it to be obeyed, or else she would have dressed modestly as the Bible commands. She wants Christians to “Judge not” so that she can keep living however she wants without anyone confronting or correcting her.
Whenever someone says, “Judge not” I know that they have sin in their life that they are trying to defend and protect. The only people who don’t want sin to be judged are sinners. But those who love righteousness will want sin to be publicly confronted and condemned. Of course, she was taking Matthew 7:1 out of context. In context, it is about hypocritcal judgment. It is not a universal admonition. It specifically forbids hypocrites from judging, until they get the log out of their own eye first. Once they get the log out of their eye, than they can judge because they can see clearly. Jesus actually commanded us in John 7:24 to judge with righteous judgment.
At the end of the day Brother Jed turned the crowd back over to me. I decided to share my testimony with them, which is always a good way to end an open air meeting. I told them about how heavily I was involved with drugs and alcohol, how I was getting arrested, had my neck slit in a knife fight, etc. I told them how I heard a preacher when I was locked up one time and how he told us that because of our sins we deserved to go to hell. That was the first time that I realized that I was a hell deserving sinner and I came under the fear of God. It was shortly after that I started to read the Bible and the Lord radically changed my life. I’ve been a Christian now for twelve years and have been traveling all over the world to tell people about Jesus Christ and to testify of His goodness!
WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY
Western Michigan University is a campus that I attempted to preach on about a year ago but was shut down by the Police. They told me that I needed to get a permit from the administration. Since I had already preached a few hours that day I decided to leave. A few months later I went to the administration buildings looking for the permit, but nobody seemed to know what it was. I ended up going to five different buildings on campus, each one directing me to another one, until finally someone told me to fill out a grounds reservation permit online. I did that, but never heard back from anyone.
On this fall tour I was coming through the area again so I decided to give it another chance. I went right back to where I preached last time and started up again. After a little while the Police arrived and said that I needed a permit. I said, “All I am doing is having a conversation with these students. Why do I need a permit?” He said, “The campus policy says that you need a permit to do this.” I asked, “If I need a permit to talk with people, how can I talk to you right now?” The Officer was unable to answer this. I looked around and saw that a lot of people were having conversations on campus. Two people were sitting down talking and I pointed to them and said, “Hey! No talking! Where is your permit?” They expressed their agreement with me that I have the right to freedom of speech. The Officer gave me the name and office of whom I needed to speak to about getting a permit. I asked, “Now, if I need to go get a permit from her to be able to talk, how can I talk to her without a permit?” The Officer said that I could talk to her about getting a permit, without a permit. I saw this as a contradiction…
Nevertheless, I went to the office and requested a permit. It was the same office that told me to fill out the reservation online. I said, “The last time that I did that, I never heard back from anyone. I think it might be broken. Can I simply file out the request here in the office?” The administrator reluctantly agreed. I filled it out with her. She said that she is the one who reviews and approves them. Normally there is a waiting period, but I asked if I could be approved for today if nobody else is in the free speech area. She agreed and within a short time I went back out and started preaching more!
The location of the free speech area was different from where I was preaching before, though this location was nice. It was a flag pole area with lots of students walking around during class change. There looked like there even might have been a type of ampitheatre, except a business with tents had set up there already. I began preaching and it wasn’t long before many students gathered around to listen, ask questions, and heckle.
After I had been preaching for only thirty minutes, the Police and the administrator showed up. The administrator approached me and said, “That’s it. You’re done. You’re out of here.” I said, “What’s the problem? I thought I had a permit?” She said, “You can’t call girls B****** as they walk by!” I knew right away that somebody obviously lied to her in a complaint. I said, “I never called anyone that! That’s not even in my vocabulary!” I turned to my friend who came out with me to see if he had my video camera going, so I could say, “We have it all on video” but he didn’t have the camera running! Without thinking I turned to the crowd and said, “Hey, did you guys here me use the B word?” As much as the crowd had opposed me earlier, they said, “No, he didn’t say that!” The administrator seemed shocked and frustrated. She asked the crowd, “Are you guys having a good time out here?” She was expecting the students to complain about me but instead they cheered and said, “Yes!” She stormed off, seemingly frustrated, and I was able to keep preaching for a few more hours!
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
The University of Michigan is a great campus to preach on because it has a lot of students and there are no restrictions. We are free to walk on campus and just start preaching. That is the way that I wish every public campus was.
I went to campus with my friends the Smocks and the McKenzies. It was an interesting outreach because Jed Smock preached and has been preaching for 40 years, and certain members of the McKenzie family preached on campus for the very first time! Praise God!
One of the things that I enjoy the most about preaching up in the North is that the crowd consists primarily of unbelievers. In the South I have to deal with a lot of church goers who will argue with me about the method, justify and defend with scriptures having sin in their lives, etc. But in the North I deal with more atheists, agnostics, homosexuals, witches, etc. I do not recall a single “Christian” on this campus confronting me about how, “This isn’t the right way to do this.” Instead, I was talking primarily to atheists about things like the existence of God, the reliability and accuracy of the Bible, etc.
As I do on almost every campus, I shared my own person testimony. “I have not always been a Christian. I used to be a sinner. I used to smoke marijuanna every day and get drunk every night.” When I talk about the types of sins that I used to be involved in, the students almost always pay attention. That is the sort of thing that they are interested in themselves. But then I get to the part when I realized I was a hell deserving sinner who needed a Savior. They are no doubt entertained by my testimony, but more importantly they get to hear the gospel and what it means to be born again.
 
During our time on the University of Michigan, we had plenty of people to preach the gospel to. Given the accessibility of many campuses and how interested college students are when there is an open air preacher, I am amazed that there are not more Christians and more churches doing this ministry! Certainly it is not glamorous and there will be many people who oppose you and criticize you, but many people will get to hear the gospel! If the churches were not doing ministry for themselves, but for the glory of God and the salvation of man, there would no doubt be many more open air preachers on college and university campuses.
EEM CONFERENCE, SHIPSEWANNA IN
I was honored with the opportunity to speak at the “EEM Conference” in Indiana. Last year was my first time speaking at this conference and I was very happy to be back. This conference has been going on since the 80’s, when men like Harry Conn used to lecture there. The common thread amongst all of the speakers is “Moral Government Theology.”
I spoke on the importance of free will doctrine to soul winning. I argued that conviction is a necessary prerequisite for conversion, and apart from the presupposition of the power of contrary choice there can be no conviction. A true convert is one who will regret all of his past sins, but regret assumes the power of free will or that those particular sins could have been avoided instead of chosen. Therefore, the conscious or unconscious belief in free will is absolutely essential to true conversion to Christ.
The video of this sermon has been uploaded to my “BibleTheology” YouTube account. It is called, “Is Free Will Doctrine Important For Soul Winning?” Click Here
TENNESSEE TECH
Tennessee Tech is a campus that just recently went through a free speech lawsuit. In years past, my friend John McGlone was told that he had to preach on a certain patio where there were no students and no foot traffic, and that he had to request this an outrageous amount of days in advance. With the help of the Christian attorneys with The Alliance Defense Fund, a lawsuit shortened the number of days in advance for their permit scheme, as well as changed the free speech area to a more populated area.
I had never preached on this campus before and was very excited about it. I had seen some videos of my friend preaching in their free speech area and it looked like a great place to preach. Sure enough, the first day that I preached on campus I had a great outreach. There were lots of attentive students who had gathered around. Certainly, there were hecklers and people who opposed the message. Nevertheless, the campus heard loud and clear the biblical truth about sin, judgment, hell, atonement, repentance, etc.
The second day of preaching went very well. The students sat around on a wall listening to the preaching. One “Christian” girl opposed me and said, “You can’t stop sinning!” I asked her, “What sin can’t you stop doing?” She said, “Small things, like you can’t stop lying. We all lie every day.” I warned that the Bible says “all liars will have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimestone.” Throughout the day she tried to preach “the true gospel” to the students, but when she would try to preach I would interrupt and say, “Watch out students, she might be lying to you. She said herself, she can’t stop lying and she lies every day.”
I spoke to one pastor afterwards who said that he came to campus because he heard that I was preaching. He said, “I came out here with my Bible and was ready to interupt and correct you if you said anything unbiblical, but I heard you preaching for hours and never heard you say anything that was unbiblical.”
I uploaded video footage from this campus to my “OpenAirOutreach” YouTube account. Click Here
MOREHEAD STATE UNIVERSITY, KY
Morehead State University was a new campus for me. The free speech area is not on the busiest sidewalk, but it is not bad. There is something like a stage area that you can preach from. What is nice is a wall on which the students can sit and listen. Having a place for the students to sit always helps in keeping the crowd back and keeping them in a tame mood. Nevertheless, the crowd still swarmed around us and were relatively hostile.
My message was, “Turn from sin and turn to Jesus.” I named their sin, warned them about God’s condemnation of their sin, told them that Jesus Christ died for their sin, and called them to repent of their sin. And I often point my finger, to make sure that they know whom I am talking to.
Throughout the day many students had gathered around and were asking various questions. I found that this particular campus did not seem to ask very sincere or very intelligent questions. Most of the people who wanted to say something had something very silly to say, as a type of mockery. There were some serious questions, of course, but a lot of mockery as well. It is sad to think how many people take eternity so lightly and will mock the gospel which is the only means of their salvation.
As you can see, we had no shortage of students to witness and preach the gospel to. We had a relatively large crowd all day long and even at the end of our outreach when we had to leave campus to go back home, we had to leave a large crowd that was still hanging out there! And what was the crowd gathered for? Not for magic tricks and money give aways, as is the method of some street preachers, but for the bold preaching of the gospel!
REFINING FIRE FELLOWSHIP, KY
I was very blessed by Pastor Kerrigan Skelly allowing me to speak to his congregation, “Refining Fire Fellowship.” Since I am writing a book on “The Vicarious Atonement of Christ,” the atonement was on my heart to talk about. I preached on “The Medical Cause of Christ’s Death.” The evidence given to us in the Scriptures is that Christ did not die of crucifixion, but of a broken heart. The agony of his mind literally ruptured his heart, as is evidenced by the blood and water the Apostle John recorded. This message is now on my “BibleTheology” YouTube account. Click Here
VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY, TN
Vanderbilt University is a private campus, so we looked for a good city sidewalk to preach from. There was one crosswalk that got a lot of foot traffic but it was next to a loud street and we were unsuccessful in getting anybody to stop. I found another spot that seemed good. It was at the end of a bridge that a lot of students walk on. At first we preached at a spot where we could look down the bridge, but the Police came and moved us because they said we were on campus property. The sidewalk of where they moved us to had a wall blocking us from the sidewalk the students were on. Another local friend of ours came out and I asked him to bring a step stool with him. After that, we had no problems drawing a crowd and preaching the gospel for them to hear!
There was a high school right across from the street from the campus. Some of the students of the high school watched us from the window and some even came outside to hear the preaching.
One man who worked at the University came up to me and said that he has watched my videos on YouTube! It seems more and more common place for random people to come up to me, as I travel the country, and tell me that they have seen me on YouTube. It always encourages me because it shows how far of an impact we are having for the gospel! I thought it was really great that, even though I had never preached at this University before, I had already reached at least one of the faculty members!
BELMONT UNIVERSITY, TN
Belmont University is a private university and so we preached from the city sidewalk. The administration and the Police were not very happy that we were there, but they did something which I had never seen before in all of my ten years of open air preaching – they gave out citations to students who would stop and listen, ask questions, or heckle us!
The girl that you see above with the pink notice was given a citation by the campus police because she stopped and asked us questions like who we were and what we believed. We have a very civil and calm conversation with her until the Police gave her a citation! The Police even told her that she could be expelled from school!
Furthermore, there was a student who started mocking and heckling us. He was standing on the city sidewalk behind us and they still gave him a citation! Apparently, if you enroll at Belmont University you can kiss your freedom and rights good bye!
The Police did make it hard for us to draw a crowd, because as soon as a crowd would gather the Police would tell them to leave and threaten them with expulsion. I began preaching about this. I would say things like, “Here comes the thought Police. You guys better leave. What were you thinking? This is no place to ask questions! This is a university!” And I would say, “Apparently Belmont University is trying to brainwash you. They don’t want to expose you to outside views and opinions. They want a monopoly on your minds. This is not an academic atmosphere where you are allowed to think and ask questions!”
Surprisingly the second day, the Belmont Police were no longer threatening the crowds with being expelled and were no longer giving out citations to people who asked questions. I wondered what had happened that changed their minds. Maybe students were complaining? Maybe parents were complaining? Maybe they were threatened with a lawsuit? I don’t know, but I do know that the second day we were able to preach and draw a crowd without anymore hinderances from the Belmont Police Department. Praise God!
STREET CORNER PREACHING, TN
Not every town or city has a campus or a busy public square where you can preach. Sometimes, the only place that you can preach and reach a lot of people is a street corner with a busy intersection. In Tennessee I went out with one of my local friends, Jeremy, to his regular preaching spot. It was a very busy intersection with thousands of people driving by every hour. At the red light, many people would roll down their windows and listen to the preaching. You just never know what God can do when we open our mouths and preach His Word.
COUNTRY MUSIC CONCERT, TN
There was a Country Music Concert in Nashville TN that had thousands and thousands of people going to see it. So we took our signs, t-shirts, amplifiers, and Bible’s to the surrounding sidewalks and preached to thousands of people as they walked by. There was no way that anybody could miss us and consequently, miss the gospel. It was loud and clear for all to hear!
We preached all the way until the sun went down. At night time it got a little rougher, as more people were drunk. There was one women who came up to me who was obviously drunk. She was very emotional and upset and defended her sin and said she was a Christian. Eventually one of the women in the group came and took her aside to talk with her. But one man got really mad at me for rebuking the way this women was dressed. He got in my face, in my friend’s face, and even tossed his camera across the street! Praise God, nobody was hurt, not even the camera!
ROCK MUSIC CONCERT, TN
During my visit to Tennessee, there was also a Rock Concert in town. This was another golden opportunity to preach the gospel to thousands of people. So once again we took our signs, t-shirts, amplifiers, and Bibles to the streets to spread the good news of Jesus Christ!
I was very blessed to have a supportive church, with an evangelism team, in Tennessee to go on these outreaches with. Very often I go out to preach alone, or if I do go out with others it is usually just one or two people. It is rare to find a church that has a good team that goes out to the streets to preach the gospel!
Right next to where we were preaching, there was a vendor selling beer. He would raise the beers up high for all to see and would even yell out things like, “Get your beer!” Apparently he thought that this was a good and effective way to do this. I wonder then, why do so many people think that we shouldn’t put Jesus on banners and lift it high? And why do so many in the church think that we should not raise our voices and say things like, “Repent and believe the gospel!” If you have something to give to the general public, this is how you do it!
There is a barricade around the concert area and in the past the street preachers would stand outside on the sidewalks. But after doing some research, it was discovered that the sidewalks inside of the barricade were public property as well! Now the street preachers will go right up to the main entry doors and preach to the lines of people waiting to get in! As a result, the events started placing stages and bands outside on the sidewalk, with loud speakers to drown out the preaching of the gospel. Nevertheless, we were able to effectively reach thousands of people with the gospel, with the help of our own amplifiers.
OTHER CAMPUSES THIS FALL
I have preached on other campuses this Fall semester, but because this newsletter is already so long, I will have to save the reports from those other campuses until my next newsletter.
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The Natural Ability of Man: A Study On Free Will & Human Nature by Jesse Morrell is an exhaustive theological volume that defends the Christian doctrine of man’s free will against the false Gnostic/Calvinist doctrine of man’s natural inability.
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