Post by bullhornbob on Oct 20, 2008 23:47:22 GMT -5
San Jose State University
Monday, September 8, 2008:
This week takes us to San Jose State, and sadly, this would be our last preach in the Bay Area. Our friend Kevin Farrer joined JK and I for what would prove to be a very interesting week.
The 30 minute drive to campus was tainted by the 1 hour it took to find parking. We grabbed our gear and headed to the Student Affairs office. They gave us a printout outlining the time, place and manner policy concerning free speech, and informed us that we needed to go to the university police to find out more information regarding the rules and regulations. Kevin thought it best to just go straight to our preaching spot.
We stopped outside the student cafeteria and JK began to preach at 12:20. After 30 minutes, a couple of campus officers showed up and told us that we were disturbing the peace, and that they had received three complaints. The officer said we needed to stop preaching and get a permit. They told us where to get a permit and where free speech is normally conducted at. It was a place called The Pit, a large amphitheatre which seated about 450 people on the corner of the Student Union.
Kevin called his attorney, and he advised us to get the permit and then go to the spot the police officers suggested. Kevin and JK then decided to go to the admin building in order get the permit. When they got there, they informed them that we didn’t actually need a permit, but gave them a piece of paper with some guidelines. It would seem that the police officers either had no clue as to what proper procedures were, or they just flat out lied.
We headed to The Pit and Kevin decided to go ahead and preach first, as was advised by his attorney. If he didn’t gather a crowd, we would then go back to the original spot where we preached earlier, near the cafeteria.
After faithfully plowing for about 45 minutes, Kevin drew in a crowd of about 75-100 students. He did a great job preaching Jesus Christ and the Bible. At one point, Kevin allowed a couple of students to testify of their Christian faith, as they continued saying that we were wrong for preaching to the students. One of them testified that even though he was a Christian, he still curses and looks with lust, but that Jesus forgives him. One of the students who was listening asked the professing Christian something to the fact as to “why would I need to be a Christian if you’re doing the same things I’m doing.” Meaning, if there’s no difference between the Christian and the sinner, why would he need to be a Christian? That was a very profound statement by the sinner, and he was right. If the Christian does the same as the sinner, why would the sinner need to change and turn to Christ? Unfortunately, we see this all across the campuses in America. Professing Christians oppose our preaching because they are living in sin and don’t agree with us confronting sin.
I preached next for about 40 minutes. I had crowds ranging from 50-125, and answered questions from the Bible. JK preached next, and finished out the final 90 minutes or so. JK also did a great job preaching repentance towards God and faith towards Christ.
We had a great time preaching today, refuting all of the lies and ungodly arguments. We left the campus at 4:00 pm, informing the students that we would return tomorrow, the Lord willing.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008:
We arrived on campus at 11:50 am and immediately Kevin lifted his banner and his voice. He preached to empty benches for about two hours. JK and I enjoyed the preaching though!
Eventually, he drew in a crowd of about 30 people, thanks to a very vulgar and foul-mouthed young lady who bragged about her promiscuous lifestyle. As she and Kevin exchanged words, the crowd blossomed to about 125. The perverts come out when girls talk dirty, I guess. Kevin all the while warned her to turn from her wickedness, and that Christ could set her free from her sin.
Kevin then handed the crowd over to JK, and it grew to about 300 students. JK preached for about an hour. The crowd seemed subdued for the most part and JK answered a lot of their questions. They were not as rowdy as they were yesterday.
One student did manage to get into JK’s face, but really didn’t do anything as another guy kept telling him to lay off. The cops showed up at that point (the same ones from yesterday) and this time with a female sergeant. The two cops spoke with Kevin and wanted his personal information, while the sergeant spoke with JK and wanted his information.
The sergeant told JK that we were disturbing the peace. Then she changed her story and said that someone called stating that we might be in danger. JK showed her the paper given to us by the admin stating that we were allowed to preach there. When she saw that, her entire countenance changed. She called in the faculty that gave us the piece of paper and discussed it with them.
Kevin continued to deal with the other officers and preached on and off while they took down his information. Kevin was adamant about not leaving the free speech area simply because the cops just didn’t want us out there. They eventually left as they realized that we had every right to be there and that we were abiding by the school’s policy.
As I took over, the crowd size seemed to dwindle. We had two groups of kids there holding signs: one group was Campus Crusade for Christ, and the other was a group of girls who hated God. It was this group of girls who told the crowd that if they agreed with them, that they should all just leave. So the crowd heeded their suggestion and most of them left.
I continued to calmly reason with some of the students who were still there. Then I began to lift up my voice again and drew in a crowd of about 75 students. I was vehemently being opposed by the Campus Crusade for Christ group as I preached. Another young man, who also claimed to be a Christian, opposed the preaching and stood up and invited the crowd to attend his bible study. I came against the things the young man was stating to the crowd, and I mentioned to the students not to go to his bible study, as they would merely coddle sin and not preach God’s truth of holiness and righteousness. I preached for about an hour.
JK mentioned something to me later on regarding this same young man, who earlier on mentioned that he sinned all the time, yet when he made his announcement that he would teach on the freedom from sin. This was an obvious contradiction on his part. Such deception indeed!
JK had some great conversations with a couple of students during the day. One was an atheist, who listened to the preaching, and came over to personally speak to him after his preaching. JK gave him great biblical truths and logically reasoned with him, which the young man couldn’t refute. Another one was an Asian young man, who claimed to be a Christian, and mentioned to JK that what we were preaching was the Bible. He seemed very encouraged by the preaching.
We were also interviewed by the campus paper, and we decided to stop preaching at about 4:00 pm and head home. Overall, it was another productive day for the Kingdom of God.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008:
We arrived on campus at noon and JK began to preach. There were already a few students there waiting for us. JK preached for an hour and drew in a crowd of about 100-150 students.
He had a heckler who mentioned that there were many contradictions in the Old Testament, and JK refuted all of his allegations from the scriptures. However, the young man was adamant to the fact that there were indeed contradictions in the Bible. It seemed that the young man tried to find every means to stay in his sin and not turn to Christ. Also, while JK preached, he had a older female who kept “amen-ing” his sermon. She was truly encouraged by the preaching. At one point, JK was being opposed by a young man, and the woman sharply rebuked him. She really let the student have it, which was a great encouragement to us.
Kevin preached next and did so for an hour and a half. A student threw a soda on Kevin and ran off. Kevin continued preaching until he gave the crowd over to me. By this time, the crowd size had grown to about 300.
I preached for 30 minutes and it started to get really pushy and rowdy, so JK decided to step in. JK had a male heckler, who said he was studying how to become a film producer. He mocked and opposed JK the entire time he was preaching. At one point, he covered himself with two black garbage bags and kept wanting others to take pictures of him with the garbage bags on. At times, he would lay on the ground and would ask his friend to take pictures of him laying on the ground next to where we were standing. Other times, he would just ask his friend to take pictures of him with his garbage bags over his entire body with other students. He was indeed a very strange young man.
Then a few other students decided to throw a huge water balloon on us. It landed on JK and Kevin and soaked our personal belongings. Even though we were mostly opposed by the Christian groups, one young man did seem slightly open as JK explained to him how to overcome sin from Romans and 1 JK 3.
We decided to leave today at 4:00. As we arrived at the parking garage elevator, one of the young man from Campus Crusade for Christ, who opposed us the entire time we were out there, followed us to the garage. He then followed us to our vehicle and took a picture of Kevin’s tag. He eventually left as Kevin pretended to be on the phone with the cops.
The student paper also ran a front page article concerning the weeklong preaching.
Thursday, September 11, 2008:
This was our last day at San Jose State University. Kevin’s Pastor, Joe Jacowicz, also followed us to the university today, along with another bother from his church.
Kevin started us off at noon and preached until 12:40 to some students who were already there. Pastor Joe decided to give his testimony how he came to the Lord and preached Christ to the students. Kevin then spoke for a few minutes after Pastor Joe was finished.
JK began preaching at 1:35 until 2:45 and did a great job. There were probably more than 350 students there. JK preached repentance and faith in Christ. There was an older man who listened to the preaching this week, and was appalled at the young man from Campus Crusade for Christ (the same who followed us to our vehicle) because the young man continued opposing and mocking the preaching. The man made statements to the fact that the young man from Campus Crusade for Christ didn’t know his Bible and that we were preaching the right doctrines of Christ. The young man was silenced!
Kevin then preached again from 2:45 until 3:45, and had great interaction and dialogue with the students. Our friend, Bill H. also showed up and he preached as well towards the end of the afternoon. Bill is a great man of God who has given of himself to the cause of street preaching and open air ministry, preaching 4-5 times a week in all types of different environments, while still working a full-time job. He is a great example of sacrifice and commitment.
A young man approached JK towards the end of the day and was very encouraged by the preaching. He mentioned to JK that we really had a tough job and was saddened by the students’ reactions towards the Bible preaching. We left at about 4:30 pm as Bill continued to preach to the students.
Kevin did mention to us later that three students came up to him and apologized for their behavior during the week. One was a young man who continuously mocked us with filthy language. The other was a young man named Michael, who was a professing Christian, who had been giving us a hard time all week as well.
When we left the free speech area and were making our way out, a young man with the Campus Crusade for Christ, who had testified earlier on how he was saved, yet still living in known sin, approached us and said how we stirred up the Christians on his campus and that he has been there for five years and he’s never seen the Christians this motivated before. He shook Kevin’s hand and we departed after a few words by JK to the young man.
Our friend Bill contacted us later and mentioned that he preached until 5:30 pm. But, when he was about to leave, a Muslim student approached him and began to scream at him and stating something to the fact that “the Muslims are waiting for the right time and they’re going to commit genocide and kill all the Christians.”
Why am I not surprised at this?
PLEASE PRAY FOR US AS WE PREACH THE GOSPEL PUBLICLY ON CAMPUSES AND STREETCORNERS EVERYWHERE!