Post by messengermicah on Oct 28, 2008 15:22:31 GMT -5
Monday October 20, 2008-University of North Carolina at Charlotte-Charlotte, North Carolina: Sister Elizabeth and I arrived on campus around 11:40 AM. It was a beautiful clear sunny day. I was planning on standing in front of the Belk Tower to preach so the students could gather and sit along the Belk Tower.
When I arrived the front part of the Belk Tower had all kinds of posters for Hispanic Heritage lined up along the Belk Tower. I moved to the back of the Belk Tower and began preaching around 11:50 AM.
It took a little time but soon a small crowd began to form. As soon as a small group began to form I stood upon the Belk Tower and continued preaching. I preached to a group of about 30-75 for some time and then the crowd thinned down again to about 30-40.
I was having a pretty good time of answering questions when a girl stood next to me and began reading out loud from a science book. I moved away from her to continue to listen and answer questions but she followed me.
By this time I noticed the Hispanic Heritage group was finishing up and leaving the other side of the Belk Tower. I moved to the other side and the crowd followed.
The crowd gradually increased to about 150-175 and remained that way for some time. I noticed two policemen on hand watching but not interfering.
The gradually dropped back down to around 75-125 for some time but soon swelled again to around 200.
As the crowd began to drop off again from 200 I sat down and took a seat around 3:10 PM. A good sized crowd moved in around me but I could not see past the ones in front of me so I do not know exactly how large the crowd was.
I had a good number of muslim students around me. Some seemed to be open and sincere and others seemed to be just as worldly and selfish as most of the American students. It was interesting to watch the modest, sincere muslim students trying to defend the worldly muslim students.
I sat and answered questions until around 3:50 PM. As Sister Elizabeth and I left the area one student who was a professing Christian followed us and wanted to talk to me. His problem seemed to be with all the opposition the preaching brought forth.
I explained to him from the scriptures the world hated Jesus. He preached their works were evil (John 7:7) and if they hated Him and we represented Him and His message they would hate us also and get the same type of response (John 15:18-19, 1 John 3:12-13).
He seemed to be somewhat open and willing to examine the scriptures but unable to swallow everything at once. I continued reasoning with him from the scriptures until 4:30 PM and then headed for the vehicle.
Tuesday October 21, 2008-University of North Carolina at Charlotte-Charlotte, North Carolina: Sister Elizabeth and I arrived on campus around 11:30 AM. It was another clear, sunny day.
The Belk Tower was void of any activities. I began preaching on one side of the Belk Tower so the students could sit and gather on the Belk Tower.
I began preaching at 11:45 AM and after about 10 minutes an African American male student who had been sitting and listening intently most of the previous day approached me and asked me very seriously “How does a person get saved?”
He had to leave for class in about 10 minutes so I took the time to explain to him repentance, faith, salvation, etc. He listened intently and thanked me and went to class.
I continued preaching and gathered a crowd of about 30-70. For some time we had a calm civil time of answering questions. The crowd continued to grow and grow until eventually it swelled to around 300. Students gathered all over the Belk Tower and formed a circle going almost all the way around me.
As the crowd increased in size the calmness and civility of the crowd decreased. Earlier in the day several police officers were on hand but as the crowd size increased they were nowhere around.
At times the crowd became very heated and threatened me with violence several times but no one carried out the threats.
I preached until around 2:35 PM. By this time the crowd size had decreased down to around 150-175. A boisterous African American female student who had been listening most of the afternoon, asked some good questions, and listened pretty well wanted to testify to the crowd for a few minutes.
The majority of the crowd really wanted to hear her, so I consented. I did not believe this girl was a Christian because of her immodest attire, her opposition to repentance, holiness, and hell fire preaching, and her misconceptions about the Bible. The crowd knew I did not consider her to be a Christian.
She gave a good testimony about how the Lord healed from a deadly sickness and then supposedly dedicated her life to serving God. After that she gave the old “Jesus died to save you from your problems, He’s got your back, you can cry to Him, He’s there for you, etc.” self help, humanistic man centered message.
I gave her some hearty “Amen’s” when she testified how God healed her which the crowd did not seem to appreciate too much. I could not understand that because I was being sincere.
It took her about 4 minutes and then I made a few closing comments and announced to the crowd I would be returning tomorrow.
I then took a seat on a bench and had discussion, debate and answered questions of students who wanted to talk to me from about 2:45 PM to 4:00 PM. This group grew from a few to about 25-30. There were muslims, atheists, and hypocrites. Although the muslims and atheists would not consent to it, I believe the Lord gave me wisdom in refuting every argument they put forth and making them sound absolutely ridiculous to the point where the others standing around actually laughed out loud at their arguments.
Wednesday October 22, 2008-University of North Carolina at Charlotte-Charlotte, North Carolina: Sister Elizabeth and I arrived on campus today around 11:30 AM. It was slightly cooler than it had been yet still clear and sunny.
I began the open air meeting facing the side of the Belk Tower around 11:45 AM. The crowd gathered fairly quickly. To my surprise, I saw Bro. Cope walking up the sidewalk. Bro. Cope is a veteran campus preacher who began preaching back in the mid seventies. We greeted each other and I continued.
The crowd continued to grow until it was around 300. I continued preaching until around 12:45 PM and then turned the preaching over to Brother Cope with about 150-200 students still around.
During Bro Cope’s session, I had a very good conversation with a student who had recently converted to Christianity and had some questions about holiness.
After he left, I had a very productive discussion with another student who professed to be a Christian but had been one of my most adamant hecklers last year. After talking to him for quite some time he seemed to have more respect for me than the year before.
Bro. Cope was still preaching to a crowd of around 100-125. He continued preaching for some time and the crowd built up to around 150-170. Bro. Cope seemed to have them all eating out of his hand as the whole crowd was just sitting quietly and listening.
He turned the crowd over to me around 1:45 PM. The crowd became more rowdy and increased to around 220-230. They tried to close in around me, so I moved out of the crowd and continued preaching in another spot as the crowd followed. The muslims were out again in full force and some were just as worldly and sinful as the American students.
The crowd tried to close in around me again but one of the students made everyone keep their distance. One muslim became angry and ran in my face because I rebuked the vile, worldly muslim students for their hypocrisy.
The crowd closed in on me again. I then moved to another location and continued preaching as the crowd followed. The police showed up and ordered the crowd to stay back and not crowd in around me. At around 2:50 PM, I turned the crowd over to Bro Cope.
He did an excellent job preaching for the next hour to a crowd of 250-275. I sat on the sidelines with a small group around me and answered questions.
Bro. Cope turned the crowd back over to me around 3:45 PM. I went out and tried to begin preaching but the crowd was so rowdy that I was unable to do any preaching. Every time I tried to say anything everyone would talk, ask questions, and make comments all at the same time.
After trying to answer a few questions of the large, noisy crowd for a few minutes I decided they had had enough truth for the day and to let it work on them overnight. I walked back out of the crowd and asked Bro. Cope if he wanted to continue preaching to them because I was finished for the day.
Most of the crowd had dispersed but small groups gathered around both of us. I was having a few good conversations with some of the students but then several hypocrites came around and began to adamantly defend their sinful and disobedient lifestyles no matter how many scriptures I gave them.
Sister Elizabeth, Bro. Cope, and I left the campus around 4:15 PM.
Thursday October 23, 2008-University of North Carolina at Charlotte-Charlotte, North Carolina: It was another clear sunny day although it was much cooler than it had been the previous days and there was also some wind.
Joe Biden was supposed to be speaking at University of North Carolina Charlotte today and as I walked to the free speech area I noticed all the muslims lined up to hear Joe Biden and support Obama.
Sister Elizabeth and I arrived on campus around 11:30 AM. I reached the free speech area around 11:40 AM. There was a bench set up at the front of the Belk Tower for abused women. I took my usual position on the side of the Belk Tower. Several students were waiting for me to ask questions.
At around 11:45 AM, I began answering their questions. They seemed to be very sincere Christians seeking the truth of the Bible. They were respectful, attentive, and thankful. As I answered them a small crowd quickly gathered.
The crowd began to grow rapidly and several police officers were on hand watching. The table from the abused women group came over and told me I was disturbing their event and asked me to move. I told them I was over here and they were over there and I was not disturbing them.
They began to try to interfere with the meeting by holding signs in front of me while I preached and have male students hold signs and walk by in red high heel shoes.
The crowd reached 250-300 and then a police car came driving up behind me and the crowds cheered “take him away” and thought I would be arrested. I continued preaching as the group from the abused women went to talk to them.
After a few minutes the officer called me over to talk to him. He liked me because I had talked to him the day before but obviously the abused women group had complained to him about me. He told me not to harass the men walking by me in high heeled women’s shoes. I told him I had recorded everything I had said and was not harassing them. He knew that but I knew he had to respond to the call and take some kind of action. I cooperated and went to return to preaching.
For some reason when I returned about two thirds of the crowd had left. Nevertheless, I had a great time of answering questions and preaching until about 1:15 PM. I turned the crowd of about 100 over to Brother Cope.
Brother Cope did an outstanding job of answering questions and preaching from 1:15 PM to about 3:00 PM. He built the crowd up to about 150-175.
I had some great small group discussions on the sidelines with groups of 5-10 students. Some seemed to be solid Christians who appreciated our preaching and presence on the campus. Others seemed to have really benefited and came away with a much better Biblical understanding after our discussion time.
One young man said how much of a shock it had been for him to leave his small town in North Carolina and come to such a liberal environment as a college campus. He was very sorry this was our last day.
Many of these students thanked me profusely before leaving.
Brother Cope turned the crowd over to me around 3:00 PM with about 125-150 students. I preached until 3:40 PM and the crowd size remained the same. I then turned the crowd over to Sister Elizabeth.
Sister Elizabeth did a good job of preaching to the crowd for the next hour. Some were very rude and vulgar with her. One male student exposed his upper body despite the cold wind. She maintained the crowd size for most of the time but by 4:40 PM the crowd size was around 75-100.
I asked Brother Cope if he wanted to preach again but he was involved in a profitable discussion with Mark, one of the students who had been listening to us all week and somewhat opposing us and the student’s pastor. He told me to take over.
I preached from 4:40 PM to 5:05 PM to the rowdy crowd of about 75-100 with several police officers on hand. It was difficult to do much solid preaching as after several hours of hearing the uncompromised Word of God they were very convicted and trying to soothe their conscience by creating an atmosphere of hilarity and run from sobriety and conviction.
Brother Cope said he had a great discussion with the student’s pastor.
We all left the campus around 5:15 PM.