Post by messengermicah on Feb 18, 2008 13:19:46 GMT -5
Monday February 11, 2008-University of North Florida-Jacksonville, Florida: I was planning on spending a few extra days at the University of South Florida since I was only able to preach there two days. Another preacher (Michael Venyah) and his group were coming to the area and I had planned to preach with them a few days.
They were planning to arrive on Saturday but did not make it in until Sunday morning. In prayer Saturday night I sensed a strong leading of the Lord to move on as soon as possible.
I had been sick the second week of the semester and this had put me about a week behind where I wanted to be. Staying around University of South Florida for another few days would put me even further behind schedule.
I also learned there would probably be more preachers on campus than just Michael Venyah and his group (3 preachers). There would possibly be 8-9 preachers on that campus.
I have a strong conviction about making the most of my time. I do not believe the most effective way to spend my time is to be on campus with a large group of preachers. Fellowship is important and necessary, but it is not my number one priority.
The most effective way to spend my time and make use of the ability God gave me is to pray, study and preach as much as possible. I try to preach as much as my physical body can stand while staying prayed up and full of the Word of God.
After a very late night Sunday, we pulled out and headed to the Jacksonville area just after 8:00 AM. We had to make a few stops along the way.
Getting close to Jacksonville, we ran into bumper to bumper traffic. It was getting close to noon so we decided to eat lunch and see if the traffic would get moving again.
We arrived where we would be staying just before 2:00 PM. I quickly unhooked the trailer, changed clothes and headed for the University of North Florida.
I began preaching with the sandwich board sign around 3:30 PM. There were many students sitting in the grass in the free speech green.
The students would make comments to me and ask questions. Slowly a small group of listeners began to gather around. An African American male student came and stood in front of me and began asking me about the Bible and science.
I would answer his questions and walk away from him and he would follow. This helped to gather a small group of about 30-40. Most were sitting calmly in the grass and a few were standing listening.
Several began to ask good questions and I was able to answer them while moving away from the African American “science” guy who wanted to dominate all the time.
I believe it was an effective day of preaching, teaching and answering good questions.
I stopped preaching around 5:45 PM.
Tuesday February 12, 2008-University of North Florida-Jacksonville, Florida: I began preaching around 11:50 AM. A small group seemed to be there waiting for me. Gradually the crowd built up to about 50-60.
A police officer showed up and watched from a distance for a while but eventually left. At first the crowd was silly, but eventually sobered up and became more serious. Overall I was able to effectively preach, teach and answer questions until 2:00 PM.
I then called upon Sister Elizabeth so I could use the restroom. Sister Elizabeth preached for about 20 minutes and did an excellent job as usual. She then turned the crowd back over to me around 2:20 PM.
One thing I noticed was the number of listeners sitting quietly in the grass behind the preacher listening intently for hours. When I took over there was about 30-40 listeners, most of whom were sitting in the grass.
As I began to preach, teach and answer questions the crowd began to build up some. Suddenly, a student came walking out dressed just like me with hat, backpack, water jug, suspenders, and a great big poetry book.
I would preach some and then he would imitate me, mock me and say things to make the students laugh. This caused the crowd to grow to over 200. It was the largest crowd I remember having on this campus.
I was able to preach, teach, and answer questions effectively for some time. Soon, the “Micah impersonator” left. The crowd had dwindled down to about 60-70 and I continued to preach, teach and answer questions until 4:10 PM. Some rain drops began to fall and most of the crowd left.
Wednesday February 13, 2008-University of North Florida-Jacksonville, Florida: When Sister Elizabeth and I arrived around noon it was slightly raining. I had heard there was supposed to be an event today on the free speech green so I did not know if we would be able to preach there.
There was a large tent set up on the free speech green with two new cars it seemed they were going to raffle off. There was a blood drive with free food there also, but not much activity.
Since it was raining, Sister Elizabeth and I went and sat down with my sandwich board sign. We had some conversation with several students. I then ran into the young man who had heard us preach here during October 2006, realized he was a false convert and got saved. I called on him to preach when we preached here last November (2007).
The rain cleared up and it seemed there was a class break. I put on my raincoat and sandwich board and began preaching on the free speech green a good distance from the tent. I immediately gathered a few listeners and after a short time the crowd quickly grew to 50-60 and continued growing to about 100-120 and formed a small circle all the way around me.
This crowd was not at all like the last two days. They were not calmly sitting and asking questions, but were standing, heckling, and fairly rowdy. This may have had something to do with the rain as they could not sit in the wet grass.
I preached as hard, fast and loud as God enabled me, plowing through their excuses and objections, preaching over all the hecklers. I saw many sincere listeners in the crowd.
After about an hour, the size of the crowd slowly dropped to about 60-70, and they calmed down a little. Just then, a female who apparently worked there told me she had no problem with my preaching, but she was teaching a class inside the nearby building and the noise was too loud to teach. She asked me if I could move a little out into the green away from the building.
I was preaching right next to the sidewalk, and I had no problem with her request to move back some. I complied and moved with the crowd ten yards. Only about one third of the crowd followed me (20 people). I preached, taught and answered questions until about 2:30 PM and then it started to rain again. All but a few dispersed and after a few minutes those of us who remained went for cover under a building.
I talked to the 2-3 students who remained who were skeptics and atheists for another hour (3:30 PM) and then we headed home.
Thursday February 14, 2008-University of North Florida-Jacksonville, Florida: Today was a great day of preaching. Sister Elizabeth and I arrived on campus just before noon and I began preaching on the green at 12:10 PM.
I gathered a small group of listeners that gradually grew to 50-60. It was a very effective time of preaching, teaching and answering questions. I turned the crowd over to Sister Elizabeth at 1:40 PM.
Sister Elizabeth did an excellent job of preaching and handling the crowd. Two female students began to take turns reading aloud portions of the “Communist Manifesto” to drown out Sister Elizabeth’s preaching.
She turned the crowd back over to me around 2:30 PM. The two females continued taking turns reading the “Communist Manifesto” while I preached. No one heard a word they said but they were just trying to distract from the preaching. They brought each other water and persevered for a while but eventually gave up.
At first I preached as loud, hard and fast as I was able to because I had to preach over the two communists (one a communist catholic?). The crowd grew to about 80-90 and for the next two hours I had a very effective time of preaching, teaching and answering questions.
After the first hour I did not preach as much because the crowd really calmed down, asked good questions and listened attentively. The crowd fluctuated from 40-70.
I stopped preaching at 4:30 PM with about 50-60 students standing, sitting, and listening attentively.
I am so thankful for the work God is doing on this campus. Sister Elizabeth and I have really grown to love this campus and the students there.
Friday February 15, 2008-University of North Florida-Jacksonville, Florida: I began preaching at noon and preached, taught, and answered questions for the next two hours to groups of 5-25. I turned the preaching over to Sister Elizabeth at 2:00 PM.
From 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM, Sister Elizabeth preached, taught and answered questions to the group of 15-25.
While Sister Elizabeth was preaching I had an excellent conversation with an open, receptive Jewish student who came to ask me questions about things she heard me preach throughout the week. It also turned out she knew and went to high school with the two Jewish students from the University of Central Florida who I did the radio show with a few weeks ago.
After 3:00 PM we talked to the students gathered there for about 15 minutes and then left the campus.