Post by messengermicah on Oct 10, 2008 20:31:08 GMT -5
Monday September 29, 2008: When we were getting ready to leave today we discovered we had a flat tire. It did not take much time to have it repaired, but it did delay our departure. We spent most of the day driving from Northern Virginia to middle North Carolina.
Tuesday September 30, 2008-University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill-Chapel Hill, North Carolina: As Sister Elizabeth and I were leaving for the campus today it was raining. I decided to stop by North Carolina State University and reserve the Brickyard area for two days of preaching the following week. North Carolina State University requires advanced notice.
By the time we left North Carolina State University it was after 12:00 PM. It seemed to have stopped raining but was still overcast.
I was deciding on whether to head to Chapel Hill and preach or to just wait until tomorrow. As I was about to get on the Interstate, suddenly the sun began to shine. I decided to head to Chapel Hill.
Sister Elizabeth and I arrived on campus just before 1:30 PM. The free speech area called “The Pit” was totally vacant. “The Pit” is a sunken rectangular area about the size of a football field with several large trees for shade inside of it. It also has several stairs going down into “The Pit” for the students to sit on. It is a great spot for preaching because of the shade and the stairs for the students to sit on.
I began preaching at 1:30 PM and quickly began to gather a large crowd. I had a great a time preaching here last year. The crowds were always very large, civil, listened well and asked good questions.
The crowd attendance ranged from 200-300. A student stole my water jug and ran away with it to the delight of the crowd. Other than that the students sat, stood around, and listened well for a large crowd and asked good questions.
About an hour into the sermon, a student who continually spewed his venom and hatred for God and the Bible came down into “The Pit” stood in front of me, and shoved both fists into my chest twice. The first time he moved me back slightly but the second time I was prepared and he did not budge me.
The student then reared back and whacked me across the face. I do not remember whether or not it was open handed or closed fist. The crowd seemed shocked but I just stood still and did not flinch. The crowd became very silent after I was hit. The student must have been embarrassed because he did not seem to hurt me, nor did I flinch, nor did I back down, and did not strike back (Phillipians 1:28). He then went back into the crowd.
Soon several police officers were on hand watching everything. The crowd remained in the 200-300 range for the remainder of the afternoon.
I stopped preaching around 3:30 PM and moved closer to the crowd to answer questions. The crowd and the police closed in around me and remained in the hundreds. I continued answering questions and refuting arguments until 4:00 PM and then tried to leave.
As I was getting ready to leave the police officers stopped me and asked about the student who assaulted me. They wanted to write a report. I informed them I would not press any charges but would assist in the report. They were very helpful and polite. After I finished talking to the police officers I tried to leave again.
A student from the University newspaper wanted to do a story on the assault. She asked me several questions.
Several students came around me and kept asking questions. I gave my testimony to a small group of students surrounding me. I continued talking to and answering questions from the small group of students surrounding me until 5:30 PM.
Wednesday October 1, 2008-University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill-Chapel Hill, North Carolina: I figured it would be better to arrive on campus a little later so “The Pit” area would be available. Yesterday, we arrived late and still had a good meeting and a large crowd.
Sister Elizabeth and I arrived on campus just before 1:00 PM. There were a many tables in “The Pit” but they were all on one side. I talked to several of the police officers from yesterday and they were friendly and mentioned they were going to be around today.
The story of my being assaulted made the front page of the University newspaper.
In addition to the tables on one side of “The Pit” there were a few students holding signs promoting the university clubs and making noise in the middle of “The Pit” so I started preaching in the corner of “The Pit”.
I began preaching around 1:05 PM. A small crowd began to form immediately and soon grew to 50-60. The crowd continued to grow throughout the afternoon until it reached over 200. It was a great afternoon of preaching and answering questions as the crowd was large, civil, listened well and asked good questions.
The police officer was on hand all day watching.
Around 3:30 PM, I stopped preaching and moved in closer to the crowd and began to answer questions. The crowd was not as large by this time (around 75-100) and moved in around me.
For the next hour and half I gave my testimony and answered questions of the students. It seemed we could have stayed all night as the students remained hanging around, challenging me, asking questions and listening.
Around 5:00 PM, we left the campus.
Thursday October 2, 2008-University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill-Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Sister Elizabeth and I again arrived on campus around 1:00 PM. There were two different sets of tables inside “The Pit”. One was on one side and one on the other.
There was plenty of room in the middle for me to preach, but if one of these groups chose to complain they could have me removed from “The Pit”. A new policy is in force this year that only allows two groups at once inside “The Pit”. I figured there would be less activity inside “The Pit” by these groups at 1:00 PM than at noon.
One of the groups was just two tables. I asked the smaller group if preaching in the middle would interfere with them. They said that would be no problem and they would not complain.
As soon as I stood to take my position to preach around 1:10 PM there were already several students sitting and waiting for me. They began to ask me questions and so I just began by talking to them and answering their questions.
For some time the crowd was not as large as the last two days (around 50-60) but eventually grew to about 150-175. It was another great day even though I did mostly answering questions from the Bible and not so much preaching.
The students were close around me and the police were on hand again watching everything. I continued to preach and answer questions to the civil, listening crowd until 3:40 PM.
Several of the students informed me Brother Gary Birdsong was also preaching in another location on the campus. Sister Elizabeth and I used the library for a few minutes and saw Brother Gary preaching as we went in. When we came out he had already left.
Sister Elizabeth and I left the campus around 4:30 PM.
Sunday October 5, 2008: Sister Elizabeth and I attended local church services where we were staying and I preached in the Sunday evening service on “Advancing the Kingdom of God” from Matthew 6:10, 9:37-38, 11:12, and 28:19-20.
Wednesday October 8, 2008-University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill-Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Last Tuesday the day I began preaching at Chapel Hill, towards the end of the day it seemed I slightly pulled something in my lower abdomen. For this reason I did not preach on Friday, Monday and Tuesday. I really received a touch from the Lord and felt much better by late Tuesday.
My permit for North Carolina State University began on Tuesday but I did not go so I could rest and heal. I still had the permit for Wednesday but I decided it would be more profitable to continue preaching at Chapel Hill than to just preach at NC State for one day.
I returned to Chapel Hill and arrived on campus around 1:00 PM. My strategy of showing up later had worked well as “The Pit” was more available and was still able to draw good sized crowds.
There was a table for tickets to GLBT Drag show and another table which promoted abortion/sexual promiscuity on both sides of “The Pit” but the middle area was wide open. I was grateful to herald the Word of God in the midst of “The Pit” darkness around 1:10 PM and soon gathered crowd of 50-60.
I preached until 3:30 PM to crowds of 60-130. The crowds were civil, asked good questions and listened well.
At 3:30 PM I turned the preaching over to Sister Elizabeth. She preached to a crowd of 80-130 until 4:30 PM and did an excellent job.
During Sister Elizabeth’s preaching, I had some good conversations with a few students who seemed to be sincerely seeking God’s truth.
We left the campus and drove to a local church.
I preached from Matthew 6:21-24 on “A Single Eye” and we had a very good time of prayer after the message.
Thursday October 9, 2008-University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill-Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Today when Sister Elizabeth and I arrived on campus there were no activities in “The Pit” but there were tables surrounding the outside on one side.
I began preaching in “The Pit” and soon gathered a crowd of around 200. After some time the crowd came down to around 50-120. Later it went back up again to around 200 and then came back down to around 50-120 again.
I turned the preaching over to Sister Elizabeth around 3:45 PM and she continued preaching to a crowd of about 60-120 until 4:15 PM. She stopped as rain began to drizzle.