Post by bullhornbob on Nov 1, 2008 21:20:03 GMT -5
California State University - Fresno
We left Fremont, CA on Sunday afternoon and drove to Fresno, CA. A friend of ours had given us some contact information in Fresno, a pastor that resided in that area, who preached at this particular university on a regular basis. Our friend thought it would be a good idea to contact this pastor.
JK decided to do so, however, the phone number was disconnected. JK then Googled the pastor’s name and found the name of his church on the internet and decided that we would maybe stop by his church once me made it to Fresno.
Fremont was a few hours from Fresno, and we made a couple of stops along the way, so we didn’t think we would have a chance to meet the pastor or go to his church that night. We thought that the idea of meeting the pastor would probably not happen at all.
We arrived at the Wal-Mart parking lot around 9:00 pm. We decided to get a few items that we needed for the week. As soon as we entered the Wal-Mart, we made our way straight to the grocery section. I spotted a couple with their son in the aisle in front of the grocery section. I mentioned to JK that they probably attended church, seeing how the lady was dressed in a skirt and the gentleman was also dressed up. I also mentioned that they probably attended the pastor’s church, seeing how the church wasn’t that far from Wal-Mart.
So JK took a bold step by approaching the couple and asking them what church they attended. They mentioned the name of the church and JK proceeded to ask them whether they were affiliated with this particular pastor. As soon as JK mentioned the name, the wife motioned with her hand that this was the pastor who was right in front of us. We all looked with amazement at each other. The chances of meeting this pastor and his family in Wal-Mart so late was truly shocking to all of us. We came to the conclusion that it was the Lord who wanted us to connect with him. They also acknowledged the hand of God in this situation.
One more thing I should mention was that this family was already heading home for the evening, but turned back because the wife had forgotten she needed to purchase something from the store. This precious family invited us to park our RV at their church for our entire stay in Fresno. We also had an opportunity to meet the pastor’s relatives. They are wonderful people, and this family has truly been a blessing to us.
Monday, September 15, 2008:
We arrived at Cal State Fresno at approximately 11:30 am and made our way to the Student Union to get our permit, as was explained to us by the pastor. That took some time.
We made our way to the free speech area around noon. JK began to preach. Instantly, kids began to come up, listen and ask questions. JK did a great job preaching against sin and for Christ Jesus. There seemed to be about 75-100 kids there. He preached until 2:00 pm and handed to crowd over to me.
The crowd dwindled a bit, but I had a good, attentive, small crowd. I began to lower my voice and simply tried to reason with them. It seemed I was making a bit of a headway with them. One particular young man became very convicted over his sin of lying. He professed to be a Christian, but when I confronted him regarding his sin, he made a few excuses for his sin, but later seemed to be at a total loss for words to the point where he wanted to talk to me after I was done preaching. I had told him while I preached that God could give him victory over sin and that he needed to repent. I felt it better for him to talk to JK instead of myself after I was done preaching, which JK did. I believe he went away broken over his sin.
The pastor made his way to where we were standing and began to preach at 2:40 pm. Apparently, he had been there listening for a while. He actually wanted to listen to us preach first before he came up to us. Apparently, the pastor was in agreement in the manner we preached and felt confident enough to take over. The pastor preached until 3:20 pm. He, too, did a great job preaching against sin and preached repentance and faith in Christ and also answered questions.
JK began to preach again and did so until 4:00 pm. He also answered questions the kids had before we left the campus.
Unfortunately, there were the professing christians again who still lived in sin and were defending their sin. This seems to be a recurrent theme in all of the campuses we have preached at.
As we left the campus, the pastor had mentioned that there was an anointing when I preached, where he noticed that the crowd was dead-silent and the students were attentively listening. The pastor also stated that JK was indeed a very compassionate campus preacher. Praise the Lord for His goodness!
One thing I should mention is that we had a professional heckler out there most of the time we were out there. The pastor told us later that this fellow has heckled him for years. This fellow distracted the preaching by playing his flute very loudly at times. The pastor was also telling us that he noticed that some of the students became very annoyed with this guy as they were trying to listen to the preaching.
There was also another heckler who held a sign right next to us as we were preaching. He, too, was there most of the time we were out there. He would ride his bike and make comments while we preached and opposed us vehemently throughout the week.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008:
We arrived at the free speech area a little after 11:00 am, however, we forgot something in the truck so JK decided to head back to the truck. I held our banner as he retrieved the items we forgot.
A professing christian approached me and began to ask me the same questions regarding sin as most of them do when we visit the campuses. Fortunately, JK arrived and began to converse with this young man, and gave him our contact information.
Another young man approached JK and asked him questions regarding the Catholics who were out there handing out brochures. Apparently, the young man thought that we were with the Catholics. The Catholics were actually out there handing out material opposing same sex marriages. Praise the Lord!
Not too much longer after that, a band, who was scheduled to play from 12:00-1:00 began to play very loudly in the area just below us. JK took the opportunity to hand out some bible tracts and continued to hold the banner as kids walked to and fro from class. He also interjected with some preaching here and there while the band played. There was also construction going on at one point, which made it a bit difficult to preach.
At 1:00 pm, JK began to lift up his voice in a shady area, and gathered a large crowd. He preached until 3:20 pm.
JK soon made his way to the stage area so as to not strain his voice and compete with the construction. So a small group of the kids left the outskirts of the preaching and drew in closer to where he was in order to listen to the preaching. There was one black kid who had questions and JK began to explain the Bible to him. He eventually admitted that he fully understood what was said by the preaching.
As JK continued to reason with the kids, a professing christian girl told this small group of kids not to listen to the preaching and wanted them to listen to her instead. She managed to pull some of the kids away from the preaching. This, indeed, saddened our hearts as it usually does. She began to witness to this one particular young man of what it meant to be a Christian. However, as I listened to her talk to the young man, she mentioned nothing regarding repentance. From what I noticed, I believe, she asked the young man for his personal information and the young man left.
JK continued to preach and reason with the students, as the crowds got larger and larger once again to what seemed to be 150. The pastor showed up at 3:20 and he began to preach, while JK and I dealt with other students who had questions.
We left campus today at 4:20 pm.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008:
We arrived at the free speech area a little after 11:00 am and heard loud music playing, including a D.J. I approached the D.J. and asked him what event it was and the time they would shut down. He said it was an information event displaying all of the campus groups. We waited for a few minutes and JK told me to start preaching. So I began preaching at 11:30 am and did so for 30 minutes, as it was difficult to compete with the music.
The D.J. guy told me that they would shut down at 1:00 pm, so we thought it best just to wait it out and resume our preaching at 1:00 pm instead. However, every now and then, JK would interlude with a message.
So 1:00 pm came around and they still continued playing their loud music. They finally shut down the music 1:30 pm. So I began preaching again from 1:30 until 2:00 pm and drew in a few listeners.
JK really began preaching hard at 2:00 pm and did so until 4:00 pm. There seemed to be around 50 or so kids who listened. JK made his way to the stage area sometime during his preach and students began to draw near in order to listen. JK lowered his voice at this point, as the kids drew near. Some had questions, which JK was able to answer according to the Bible. There was one particular young man who approached JK during the preach to ask how he could repent and what it meant. JK answered all of his questions, and also mentioned the death, burial and resurrection of Christ and living a life consecrated to God. JK also mentioned part of his testimony with the young man of how he was broken over his sin and asked Christ to take over his life. JK even offered the young man his bible. The young man refused the bible as he claimed he already had one at his house. After conversing with JK, the young man walked away confident of what he needed to do to get right with God.
There was also another young man who actually approached me, who was in the army, who came to apologize to us for mocking us the day before. He said that he was a Christian, but didn’t necessarily agree with our approach. I told him that Christ offended a lot of people and that he needed to read the bible without his denominational filters. That made him think as he became very quiet. At that point, he really had nothing to say, and eventually he just walked away.
We left campus around 4:00 pm, and had the opportunity to attend the evening service at our host church. The pastor preached a powerful message, and the worship and prayer times were anointed. They were very gracious to give us an offering, and we had a great time of dinner and fellowship at the pastor’s home afterwards.
Thursday, September 18, 2008:
We arrived on campus a little after 11:00 am and made our way to the stage area.
JK held his banner, as he’s done every day we’ve been out there. A black, young man approached us and began asking us sincere questions. He said that he was a Christian, but through his conversation with JK, it would seem that he was actually very confused of his beliefs. He stated that his girlfriend was a Catholic, that his grandmother was a Jehova’s Witness, and that his mom was a Charismatic Christian. He also mentioned that he thought that they all contained false doctrines in one form or another. JK answered all of his questions and gave him a Bible tract. The young man seemed very satisfied in all of the answers given to him.
JK began to lift up his voice at 11:30, however he had to stop at noon as they had a band playing until 1:00 pm once again. As usually the case, JK interluded with a message every now and then during the music.
The pastor had arrived at 11:30 and would preach intermittently as well when JK wasn’t. The pastor also held a sign against homosexuality and had multiple biblical signs displayed on the stage area. The pastor had actually brought some of his kids to campus this day and some of his congregation. That was truly a blessing. One of the pastor’s son also held our banner.
One of the parishioners, who is also a student/preacher, began to preach and did a good job. He answered questions the students had in a manner similar to the Ray Comfort style of evangelism.
I began preaching at 1:00 and did so until 2:00 pm. A crowd of about 75 kids formed as I preached on repentance, holiness, Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. There was also a young man on his bike (who I mentioned earlier) who’s been mocking us all week stating to us that we weren’t preaching right and that we weren’t telling him the right things and that we didn’t really listen to his heart, etc, etc. He finally mentioned to me while I preached that he did attend church. So I began to question him to the fact as to why he’s still choosing to sin. If his church was in the right and we were in the wrong, why did he still choose the wrong? He confessed that his church has been telling him the same things we’ve been telling him all week.. So I told him that the mere fact that he still hasn’t changed, even after going to a church that preached on similar topics we preach on campus, proved that he wasn’t sincere and that he really didn’t want to change.
I handed the crowd over to JK, and preached from 2:00 until 4:00 pm. At one point during the preach, a young man approached the stage area and headed towards JK with a very large cup of water. Fortunately, the young man delayed in throwing the water, which allowed JK to move quickly, and as he threw the water, it missed JK but it hit a couple of the guys who were behind JK. The water hit a couple of students behind him, including the student/preacher, who quickly went over to the guy who threw the water and tried to make peace with him. Apparently he knew the kid from one of his classes. Towards the end of JK’s preach, he answered questions some of the kids had regarding Catholicism and Hinduism.
One young lady who listened to this Q&A session at this point, mentioned to me that she’s passed by during the week and had listened to us preach. She stated that we were doing a good job preaching to the students.
We left at 4:00 pm. However, the pastor decided to stay as he was still in the middle of talking to a couple of the students.
PLEASE PRAY FOR US AS WE PREACH THE GOSPEL PUBLICLY ON CAMPUSES AND STREETCORNERS EVERYWHERE!
We left Fremont, CA on Sunday afternoon and drove to Fresno, CA. A friend of ours had given us some contact information in Fresno, a pastor that resided in that area, who preached at this particular university on a regular basis. Our friend thought it would be a good idea to contact this pastor.
JK decided to do so, however, the phone number was disconnected. JK then Googled the pastor’s name and found the name of his church on the internet and decided that we would maybe stop by his church once me made it to Fresno.
Fremont was a few hours from Fresno, and we made a couple of stops along the way, so we didn’t think we would have a chance to meet the pastor or go to his church that night. We thought that the idea of meeting the pastor would probably not happen at all.
We arrived at the Wal-Mart parking lot around 9:00 pm. We decided to get a few items that we needed for the week. As soon as we entered the Wal-Mart, we made our way straight to the grocery section. I spotted a couple with their son in the aisle in front of the grocery section. I mentioned to JK that they probably attended church, seeing how the lady was dressed in a skirt and the gentleman was also dressed up. I also mentioned that they probably attended the pastor’s church, seeing how the church wasn’t that far from Wal-Mart.
So JK took a bold step by approaching the couple and asking them what church they attended. They mentioned the name of the church and JK proceeded to ask them whether they were affiliated with this particular pastor. As soon as JK mentioned the name, the wife motioned with her hand that this was the pastor who was right in front of us. We all looked with amazement at each other. The chances of meeting this pastor and his family in Wal-Mart so late was truly shocking to all of us. We came to the conclusion that it was the Lord who wanted us to connect with him. They also acknowledged the hand of God in this situation.
One more thing I should mention was that this family was already heading home for the evening, but turned back because the wife had forgotten she needed to purchase something from the store. This precious family invited us to park our RV at their church for our entire stay in Fresno. We also had an opportunity to meet the pastor’s relatives. They are wonderful people, and this family has truly been a blessing to us.
Monday, September 15, 2008:
We arrived at Cal State Fresno at approximately 11:30 am and made our way to the Student Union to get our permit, as was explained to us by the pastor. That took some time.
We made our way to the free speech area around noon. JK began to preach. Instantly, kids began to come up, listen and ask questions. JK did a great job preaching against sin and for Christ Jesus. There seemed to be about 75-100 kids there. He preached until 2:00 pm and handed to crowd over to me.
The crowd dwindled a bit, but I had a good, attentive, small crowd. I began to lower my voice and simply tried to reason with them. It seemed I was making a bit of a headway with them. One particular young man became very convicted over his sin of lying. He professed to be a Christian, but when I confronted him regarding his sin, he made a few excuses for his sin, but later seemed to be at a total loss for words to the point where he wanted to talk to me after I was done preaching. I had told him while I preached that God could give him victory over sin and that he needed to repent. I felt it better for him to talk to JK instead of myself after I was done preaching, which JK did. I believe he went away broken over his sin.
The pastor made his way to where we were standing and began to preach at 2:40 pm. Apparently, he had been there listening for a while. He actually wanted to listen to us preach first before he came up to us. Apparently, the pastor was in agreement in the manner we preached and felt confident enough to take over. The pastor preached until 3:20 pm. He, too, did a great job preaching against sin and preached repentance and faith in Christ and also answered questions.
JK began to preach again and did so until 4:00 pm. He also answered questions the kids had before we left the campus.
Unfortunately, there were the professing christians again who still lived in sin and were defending their sin. This seems to be a recurrent theme in all of the campuses we have preached at.
As we left the campus, the pastor had mentioned that there was an anointing when I preached, where he noticed that the crowd was dead-silent and the students were attentively listening. The pastor also stated that JK was indeed a very compassionate campus preacher. Praise the Lord for His goodness!
One thing I should mention is that we had a professional heckler out there most of the time we were out there. The pastor told us later that this fellow has heckled him for years. This fellow distracted the preaching by playing his flute very loudly at times. The pastor was also telling us that he noticed that some of the students became very annoyed with this guy as they were trying to listen to the preaching.
There was also another heckler who held a sign right next to us as we were preaching. He, too, was there most of the time we were out there. He would ride his bike and make comments while we preached and opposed us vehemently throughout the week.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008:
We arrived at the free speech area a little after 11:00 am, however, we forgot something in the truck so JK decided to head back to the truck. I held our banner as he retrieved the items we forgot.
A professing christian approached me and began to ask me the same questions regarding sin as most of them do when we visit the campuses. Fortunately, JK arrived and began to converse with this young man, and gave him our contact information.
Another young man approached JK and asked him questions regarding the Catholics who were out there handing out brochures. Apparently, the young man thought that we were with the Catholics. The Catholics were actually out there handing out material opposing same sex marriages. Praise the Lord!
Not too much longer after that, a band, who was scheduled to play from 12:00-1:00 began to play very loudly in the area just below us. JK took the opportunity to hand out some bible tracts and continued to hold the banner as kids walked to and fro from class. He also interjected with some preaching here and there while the band played. There was also construction going on at one point, which made it a bit difficult to preach.
At 1:00 pm, JK began to lift up his voice in a shady area, and gathered a large crowd. He preached until 3:20 pm.
JK soon made his way to the stage area so as to not strain his voice and compete with the construction. So a small group of the kids left the outskirts of the preaching and drew in closer to where he was in order to listen to the preaching. There was one black kid who had questions and JK began to explain the Bible to him. He eventually admitted that he fully understood what was said by the preaching.
As JK continued to reason with the kids, a professing christian girl told this small group of kids not to listen to the preaching and wanted them to listen to her instead. She managed to pull some of the kids away from the preaching. This, indeed, saddened our hearts as it usually does. She began to witness to this one particular young man of what it meant to be a Christian. However, as I listened to her talk to the young man, she mentioned nothing regarding repentance. From what I noticed, I believe, she asked the young man for his personal information and the young man left.
JK continued to preach and reason with the students, as the crowds got larger and larger once again to what seemed to be 150. The pastor showed up at 3:20 and he began to preach, while JK and I dealt with other students who had questions.
We left campus today at 4:20 pm.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008:
We arrived at the free speech area a little after 11:00 am and heard loud music playing, including a D.J. I approached the D.J. and asked him what event it was and the time they would shut down. He said it was an information event displaying all of the campus groups. We waited for a few minutes and JK told me to start preaching. So I began preaching at 11:30 am and did so for 30 minutes, as it was difficult to compete with the music.
The D.J. guy told me that they would shut down at 1:00 pm, so we thought it best just to wait it out and resume our preaching at 1:00 pm instead. However, every now and then, JK would interlude with a message.
So 1:00 pm came around and they still continued playing their loud music. They finally shut down the music 1:30 pm. So I began preaching again from 1:30 until 2:00 pm and drew in a few listeners.
JK really began preaching hard at 2:00 pm and did so until 4:00 pm. There seemed to be around 50 or so kids who listened. JK made his way to the stage area sometime during his preach and students began to draw near in order to listen. JK lowered his voice at this point, as the kids drew near. Some had questions, which JK was able to answer according to the Bible. There was one particular young man who approached JK during the preach to ask how he could repent and what it meant. JK answered all of his questions, and also mentioned the death, burial and resurrection of Christ and living a life consecrated to God. JK also mentioned part of his testimony with the young man of how he was broken over his sin and asked Christ to take over his life. JK even offered the young man his bible. The young man refused the bible as he claimed he already had one at his house. After conversing with JK, the young man walked away confident of what he needed to do to get right with God.
There was also another young man who actually approached me, who was in the army, who came to apologize to us for mocking us the day before. He said that he was a Christian, but didn’t necessarily agree with our approach. I told him that Christ offended a lot of people and that he needed to read the bible without his denominational filters. That made him think as he became very quiet. At that point, he really had nothing to say, and eventually he just walked away.
We left campus around 4:00 pm, and had the opportunity to attend the evening service at our host church. The pastor preached a powerful message, and the worship and prayer times were anointed. They were very gracious to give us an offering, and we had a great time of dinner and fellowship at the pastor’s home afterwards.
Thursday, September 18, 2008:
We arrived on campus a little after 11:00 am and made our way to the stage area.
JK held his banner, as he’s done every day we’ve been out there. A black, young man approached us and began asking us sincere questions. He said that he was a Christian, but through his conversation with JK, it would seem that he was actually very confused of his beliefs. He stated that his girlfriend was a Catholic, that his grandmother was a Jehova’s Witness, and that his mom was a Charismatic Christian. He also mentioned that he thought that they all contained false doctrines in one form or another. JK answered all of his questions and gave him a Bible tract. The young man seemed very satisfied in all of the answers given to him.
JK began to lift up his voice at 11:30, however he had to stop at noon as they had a band playing until 1:00 pm once again. As usually the case, JK interluded with a message every now and then during the music.
The pastor had arrived at 11:30 and would preach intermittently as well when JK wasn’t. The pastor also held a sign against homosexuality and had multiple biblical signs displayed on the stage area. The pastor had actually brought some of his kids to campus this day and some of his congregation. That was truly a blessing. One of the pastor’s son also held our banner.
One of the parishioners, who is also a student/preacher, began to preach and did a good job. He answered questions the students had in a manner similar to the Ray Comfort style of evangelism.
I began preaching at 1:00 and did so until 2:00 pm. A crowd of about 75 kids formed as I preached on repentance, holiness, Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. There was also a young man on his bike (who I mentioned earlier) who’s been mocking us all week stating to us that we weren’t preaching right and that we weren’t telling him the right things and that we didn’t really listen to his heart, etc, etc. He finally mentioned to me while I preached that he did attend church. So I began to question him to the fact as to why he’s still choosing to sin. If his church was in the right and we were in the wrong, why did he still choose the wrong? He confessed that his church has been telling him the same things we’ve been telling him all week.. So I told him that the mere fact that he still hasn’t changed, even after going to a church that preached on similar topics we preach on campus, proved that he wasn’t sincere and that he really didn’t want to change.
I handed the crowd over to JK, and preached from 2:00 until 4:00 pm. At one point during the preach, a young man approached the stage area and headed towards JK with a very large cup of water. Fortunately, the young man delayed in throwing the water, which allowed JK to move quickly, and as he threw the water, it missed JK but it hit a couple of the guys who were behind JK. The water hit a couple of students behind him, including the student/preacher, who quickly went over to the guy who threw the water and tried to make peace with him. Apparently he knew the kid from one of his classes. Towards the end of JK’s preach, he answered questions some of the kids had regarding Catholicism and Hinduism.
One young lady who listened to this Q&A session at this point, mentioned to me that she’s passed by during the week and had listened to us preach. She stated that we were doing a good job preaching to the students.
We left at 4:00 pm. However, the pastor decided to stay as he was still in the middle of talking to a couple of the students.
PLEASE PRAY FOR US AS WE PREACH THE GOSPEL PUBLICLY ON CAMPUSES AND STREETCORNERS EVERYWHERE!