Post by messengermicah on Oct 31, 2009 21:03:16 GMT -5
Wild West Virginia University 9/20-9/24/09
Sunday September 20, 2009: Sister Elizabeth and I drove over to the Morgantown area the previous day (Saturday). We stayed in the home of the young pastor of a pioneer church just across the Pennsylvania border. We attended church services there on Sunday and preached in the Sunday evening service for about one hour from Luke 24:47-49.
GOING TO BIBLE COLLEGE
Monday September 21, 2009: It was forecast to rain today. When we woke up the weather was good. I had learned a very gifted Bible teacher who has become a friend of ours was teaching on the Pauline Epistles in a Bible college just over an hour from where we were staying. Since it was supposed to rain anyway, we drove out to the Bible school in Pennsylvania and sat in on some of the classes. Afterwards we went into town to eat and fellowship with the Bible Teacher.
We spent the rest of the day running errands on the way back from Pennsylvania as it rained.
Tuesday September 22, 2009-West Virginia University-Morgantown, West Virginia: Sister Elizabeth and I drove out over the many steep mountains to WVU and arrived around 11:40 AM. We had cash bills but not enough coins and the meters took only coins. I walked around some in the downtown area shops near the university trying to get change but to no avail. I could tell this campus was a cesspool of sin from the shops they had around the area, and the attitude and appearance of the students. I thought surely the Lord had sent us here.
We had to drive away from the campus to a gas station to get change and then come back and park.
WHERE TO PREACH?
I knew the preaching area was the Mountain Lair but I was not sure if I should preach in front of it or behind it. The front of the Mountain Lair had a street running by it. This could be noisy.
The back area looked like a great spot with much wide open space but there was hardly any foot traffic there. Also an employee was blowing off the dried leaves in the area with a noisy machine. I walked back to the front again and there was lots of foot traffic with plenty of students sitting around. My decision was made.
I began preaching in the front of the Mountain Lair with my back to the road around 12:40 PM. Within 10-15 minutes there was a crowd of about 300 students. For such a massive crowd they were keeping a good distance from me by forming a nice large circle around me, asking questions and listening fairly well. Several “sin all the time-I can’t stop sinning-I sin every day but love God with all my heart” professing “christian-ettes” kept trying to interrupt, preach over me and steal the crowd.
CROWD THIEF AND PSEUDO-cHRISTIAN
Finally, one hypocrite jumped up on a wall and began to preach his “God loves you” message. Just to spite me and see how I would respond the vast majority of the students went to where the student was. I walked across the brick area to the other side and stood on a wall and continued preaching.
WATER THIEF
After a few minutes, the crowd left the hypocrite and the student stopped preaching his one sided gospel and about 50-60 students came back to where I was preaching. I preached on the wall to this crowd of 50-60 for some time. One student kept demanding I give him a drink from my water jug. There are water fountains throughout the university and the student union has places to buy water, so why would anyone need my water. Finally I told the student I would pour the water into his mouth but I would not hand him my water jug and allow him to drink out of it.
He pulled the jug out of my hand and flung it against the wall and the water jug busted. I was able to salvage a little water from the jug. The police were on hand but did not see this incident. I informed the student he had just stolen my property and could be charged but most of the students replied they did not see anything. The student who stole the water gallon got nervous and left.
CROWD GROWS TO OVER 400
I continued preaching and the crowd seemed to get more rowdy. The crowd of 50-60 gradually grew to at least 400. The wheelchair ramp next to where I was preaching was full of students and the brick area all the way to the back was full of students.
I could see someone taking pictures and someone else asking other students questions. Several of the “sinning all the time but love Jesus with all my heart” christianettes would jump on the wall next to me and try to preach over me, refute me, and steal the attention of the crowd.
HELL IS FULL OF PEOPLE JESUS LOVED
Their message is always the same. “God Loves You”. Yes, God loves the people in hell. Jesus died for the sins of the people in hell (Matthew 23:33, 25:30, 25:41, 7:23) but they went to hell anyway because they did not love God (John 14:15, John 15:10, 1 John 5:3). They did not repent (Luke 13:3, 5, Mark 1:15, Acts 3:19, Acts 26:20) and forsake their sins so they were not forgiven (Proverbs 28:13).
Since my water jug had been taken and busted I did not have my usual water supply. I ran out of water around 2:15 PM and continued preaching to the massive rowdy crowd of 400 plus. Since, I could not keep my throat lubricated my voice began to give out some. I stopped preaching around 2:30 PM surrounded by over 400 students.
I attempted to stand around in the area and try to answer questions. The students were still very rowdy and this made answering questions difficult. I would start to answer a good question and then several students would interrupt and ask more questions. In spite of this I was able to answer a few questions.
GOOD JOB BY POLICE
The university police did an excellent job of keeping an eye on things and only interfering when necessary without trying to censure me. One student made a threat to me and the police immediately walked over to him and gave him a stern warning. I answered questions until 3:00 PM and then walked with Sister Elizabeth to our vehicle.
NEWSPAPER INTERVIEW
As we began to depart, a female student who had been asking some of the other students questions in the crowd introduced herself as a writer for the university newspaper and wanted to do an interview. I asked the writer for her contact information and called her later that afternoon.
MEETING A PASTOR
On the way to our vehicle a man came up and asked me several questions. He then introduced himself as the pastor of a local church that fellowships with some of the other churches we associate with in the area. We talked on the way to our vehicle.
That evening, I called the reporter and did the interview via phone. She seemed to be an honest reporter and was very appreciative of the interview.
Wednesday September 23, 2009-West Virginia University-Morgantown, West Virginia: With a crowd of over 400 the previous day and an article coming out in the university newspaper I was expecting very large crowds today. The weather was somewhat overcast as we drove to the campus but I did not think it would rain.
VOICE
I had been having problems with my voice since I had awakened that morning and was somewhat concerned about it. I have had times where my voice seemed bad but then had no problem preaching and other times where my voice seemed strong and then gave out when I began preaching.
FRONT PAGE NEWS
The sun began to come out as I neared the Mountain Lair free speech area. The article and pictures on the front page of the school newspaper were very good and the article was unbiased.
VOICE DIFFICULTIES
I began preaching around 12 noon and had a crowd of 300 within 10-15 minutes. Unfortunately, I was having problems with my voice right from the beginning. My voice would crack and squeak and it took much effort for me to preach. None of the students seemed to notice or say anything but I knew it. I felt so helpless.
After around 30-40 minutes of struggling with almost no voice it seemed to improve some. I had been motioning for Sister Elizabeth to please pray for me.
The entire brick area in the Mountain Lair was packed with students. The campus police came over and said I must move up by the planters so the crowd would follow me and not block the area to the student union stairs. I moved.
TOUGH DAY
The crowd was massive and rowdy. With the combination of exerting so much effort to preach with no voice, the size and noise of the crowd, all the cigarette smoke that was being blown in my face at close quarters, and the Mountain elevation I felt very tired around 1:05 PM and sat down and tried to answer questions.
The crowd remained massive and just swarmed all around me. Cigarette smoke kept being blown in my face and students were sticking posters in front of me to keep me from communicating. I changed locations several times to move away from all the hecklers, smokers, and those blocking me with hand made poster board signs. Several times I stood up and preached some and tried to answer questions. It was a very difficult day, mainly because of my voice not being up to par. The crowd was so large and rowdy it was difficult to answer many questions without everyone else interrupting.
PASTOR APPRECIATES MINISTRY
I left the area around 2:30 PM and the campus police drove us in their police car to our vehicle. That evening we attended the church of the local pastor we met on campus the day before. He gave me an opportunity to share about our open air ministry on the college campuses and gave his own first hand account of the experience.
Thursday September 24, 2009-West Virginia University-Morgantown, West Virginia: I was somewhat disappointed by the previous days experience on campus. I felt I had a tremendous opportunity to make a huge impact on the campus with the huge crowds and the newspaper coverage and when the crowds showed up I could not be as effective as I needed to be because of my voice troubles.
HELL FIRE PREACHERS NEEDED
Life goes on however and souls by the tens of thousands are headed to hell on the college campuses with no one to warn them with perhaps the exception of the campus preacher.
I was scheduled to preach in a church about 4 hours away from the campus that evening on our way back to Virginia but I was going to try and preach for about one hour on campus before we headed out.
HOUR OF POWER
Once again on the way to campus the weather was overcast but cleared up nicely as we arrived on campus. I began preaching in the Mountain Lair area around noon and my voice was clear and strong. The crowds gathered and my time was limited so I came out swinging and unloading both Bible barrels.
Soon a large crowd of around 300 gathered and for some time they kept their distance and listened as I preached and answered an occasional objection to my preaching. The “sinning all the time but loving Jesus with all my heart” group of hypocrites showed up with their literature, hand made poster boards and attempted crowd stealing tactics but all to no avail.
NO EXCUSES FOR SINNING
I quickly destroyed all their excuses for sinning with the Hammer of the Word of God and Sword of the Spirit. The hecklers and hypocrites moved in then the crowd began to do the same and it was becoming somewhat disorderly, so I walked over to a cement ledge, faced the crowd and continued preaching.
SPIRIT OF THE LORD AT WORK
My moving to this cement ledge around 12:40 PM seemed to bring some order to the crowd. They moved in to listen and ask questions but thankfully they kept a 5-10 yard distance from me. In spite of my voice difficulties the previous day, I could tell the Spirit of the Lord was using the preaching to bring about conviction as the students were much more sober acting and civil than the previous days even though the crowd was still in the 200-300 range.
I answered questions and preached from 12:40 PM to around 1:05 PM to the large but more civil crowd. I noticed a man from the city newspaper taking pictures, asking students questions and writing down quotes as I was preaching. Around 1:05 PM an officer came up to me and asked me to move to where I was the previous day because the crowd size was so large people could not walk through the Mountain Lair.
I told the officer I was going to call it a day. I told the crowd how much I had enjoyed being there and I would try to return next semester. The police once again escorted Elizabeth and me to our vehicle in a police car.
That evening I preached in a church for about one hour on “A Gospel of Power”.
Sunday September 20, 2009: Sister Elizabeth and I drove over to the Morgantown area the previous day (Saturday). We stayed in the home of the young pastor of a pioneer church just across the Pennsylvania border. We attended church services there on Sunday and preached in the Sunday evening service for about one hour from Luke 24:47-49.
GOING TO BIBLE COLLEGE
Monday September 21, 2009: It was forecast to rain today. When we woke up the weather was good. I had learned a very gifted Bible teacher who has become a friend of ours was teaching on the Pauline Epistles in a Bible college just over an hour from where we were staying. Since it was supposed to rain anyway, we drove out to the Bible school in Pennsylvania and sat in on some of the classes. Afterwards we went into town to eat and fellowship with the Bible Teacher.
We spent the rest of the day running errands on the way back from Pennsylvania as it rained.
Tuesday September 22, 2009-West Virginia University-Morgantown, West Virginia: Sister Elizabeth and I drove out over the many steep mountains to WVU and arrived around 11:40 AM. We had cash bills but not enough coins and the meters took only coins. I walked around some in the downtown area shops near the university trying to get change but to no avail. I could tell this campus was a cesspool of sin from the shops they had around the area, and the attitude and appearance of the students. I thought surely the Lord had sent us here.
We had to drive away from the campus to a gas station to get change and then come back and park.
WHERE TO PREACH?
I knew the preaching area was the Mountain Lair but I was not sure if I should preach in front of it or behind it. The front of the Mountain Lair had a street running by it. This could be noisy.
The back area looked like a great spot with much wide open space but there was hardly any foot traffic there. Also an employee was blowing off the dried leaves in the area with a noisy machine. I walked back to the front again and there was lots of foot traffic with plenty of students sitting around. My decision was made.
I began preaching in the front of the Mountain Lair with my back to the road around 12:40 PM. Within 10-15 minutes there was a crowd of about 300 students. For such a massive crowd they were keeping a good distance from me by forming a nice large circle around me, asking questions and listening fairly well. Several “sin all the time-I can’t stop sinning-I sin every day but love God with all my heart” professing “christian-ettes” kept trying to interrupt, preach over me and steal the crowd.
CROWD THIEF AND PSEUDO-cHRISTIAN
Finally, one hypocrite jumped up on a wall and began to preach his “God loves you” message. Just to spite me and see how I would respond the vast majority of the students went to where the student was. I walked across the brick area to the other side and stood on a wall and continued preaching.
WATER THIEF
After a few minutes, the crowd left the hypocrite and the student stopped preaching his one sided gospel and about 50-60 students came back to where I was preaching. I preached on the wall to this crowd of 50-60 for some time. One student kept demanding I give him a drink from my water jug. There are water fountains throughout the university and the student union has places to buy water, so why would anyone need my water. Finally I told the student I would pour the water into his mouth but I would not hand him my water jug and allow him to drink out of it.
He pulled the jug out of my hand and flung it against the wall and the water jug busted. I was able to salvage a little water from the jug. The police were on hand but did not see this incident. I informed the student he had just stolen my property and could be charged but most of the students replied they did not see anything. The student who stole the water gallon got nervous and left.
CROWD GROWS TO OVER 400
I continued preaching and the crowd seemed to get more rowdy. The crowd of 50-60 gradually grew to at least 400. The wheelchair ramp next to where I was preaching was full of students and the brick area all the way to the back was full of students.
I could see someone taking pictures and someone else asking other students questions. Several of the “sinning all the time but love Jesus with all my heart” christianettes would jump on the wall next to me and try to preach over me, refute me, and steal the attention of the crowd.
HELL IS FULL OF PEOPLE JESUS LOVED
Their message is always the same. “God Loves You”. Yes, God loves the people in hell. Jesus died for the sins of the people in hell (Matthew 23:33, 25:30, 25:41, 7:23) but they went to hell anyway because they did not love God (John 14:15, John 15:10, 1 John 5:3). They did not repent (Luke 13:3, 5, Mark 1:15, Acts 3:19, Acts 26:20) and forsake their sins so they were not forgiven (Proverbs 28:13).
Since my water jug had been taken and busted I did not have my usual water supply. I ran out of water around 2:15 PM and continued preaching to the massive rowdy crowd of 400 plus. Since, I could not keep my throat lubricated my voice began to give out some. I stopped preaching around 2:30 PM surrounded by over 400 students.
I attempted to stand around in the area and try to answer questions. The students were still very rowdy and this made answering questions difficult. I would start to answer a good question and then several students would interrupt and ask more questions. In spite of this I was able to answer a few questions.
GOOD JOB BY POLICE
The university police did an excellent job of keeping an eye on things and only interfering when necessary without trying to censure me. One student made a threat to me and the police immediately walked over to him and gave him a stern warning. I answered questions until 3:00 PM and then walked with Sister Elizabeth to our vehicle.
NEWSPAPER INTERVIEW
As we began to depart, a female student who had been asking some of the other students questions in the crowd introduced herself as a writer for the university newspaper and wanted to do an interview. I asked the writer for her contact information and called her later that afternoon.
MEETING A PASTOR
On the way to our vehicle a man came up and asked me several questions. He then introduced himself as the pastor of a local church that fellowships with some of the other churches we associate with in the area. We talked on the way to our vehicle.
That evening, I called the reporter and did the interview via phone. She seemed to be an honest reporter and was very appreciative of the interview.
Wednesday September 23, 2009-West Virginia University-Morgantown, West Virginia: With a crowd of over 400 the previous day and an article coming out in the university newspaper I was expecting very large crowds today. The weather was somewhat overcast as we drove to the campus but I did not think it would rain.
VOICE
I had been having problems with my voice since I had awakened that morning and was somewhat concerned about it. I have had times where my voice seemed bad but then had no problem preaching and other times where my voice seemed strong and then gave out when I began preaching.
FRONT PAGE NEWS
The sun began to come out as I neared the Mountain Lair free speech area. The article and pictures on the front page of the school newspaper were very good and the article was unbiased.
VOICE DIFFICULTIES
I began preaching around 12 noon and had a crowd of 300 within 10-15 minutes. Unfortunately, I was having problems with my voice right from the beginning. My voice would crack and squeak and it took much effort for me to preach. None of the students seemed to notice or say anything but I knew it. I felt so helpless.
After around 30-40 minutes of struggling with almost no voice it seemed to improve some. I had been motioning for Sister Elizabeth to please pray for me.
The entire brick area in the Mountain Lair was packed with students. The campus police came over and said I must move up by the planters so the crowd would follow me and not block the area to the student union stairs. I moved.
TOUGH DAY
The crowd was massive and rowdy. With the combination of exerting so much effort to preach with no voice, the size and noise of the crowd, all the cigarette smoke that was being blown in my face at close quarters, and the Mountain elevation I felt very tired around 1:05 PM and sat down and tried to answer questions.
The crowd remained massive and just swarmed all around me. Cigarette smoke kept being blown in my face and students were sticking posters in front of me to keep me from communicating. I changed locations several times to move away from all the hecklers, smokers, and those blocking me with hand made poster board signs. Several times I stood up and preached some and tried to answer questions. It was a very difficult day, mainly because of my voice not being up to par. The crowd was so large and rowdy it was difficult to answer many questions without everyone else interrupting.
PASTOR APPRECIATES MINISTRY
I left the area around 2:30 PM and the campus police drove us in their police car to our vehicle. That evening we attended the church of the local pastor we met on campus the day before. He gave me an opportunity to share about our open air ministry on the college campuses and gave his own first hand account of the experience.
Thursday September 24, 2009-West Virginia University-Morgantown, West Virginia: I was somewhat disappointed by the previous days experience on campus. I felt I had a tremendous opportunity to make a huge impact on the campus with the huge crowds and the newspaper coverage and when the crowds showed up I could not be as effective as I needed to be because of my voice troubles.
HELL FIRE PREACHERS NEEDED
Life goes on however and souls by the tens of thousands are headed to hell on the college campuses with no one to warn them with perhaps the exception of the campus preacher.
I was scheduled to preach in a church about 4 hours away from the campus that evening on our way back to Virginia but I was going to try and preach for about one hour on campus before we headed out.
HOUR OF POWER
Once again on the way to campus the weather was overcast but cleared up nicely as we arrived on campus. I began preaching in the Mountain Lair area around noon and my voice was clear and strong. The crowds gathered and my time was limited so I came out swinging and unloading both Bible barrels.
Soon a large crowd of around 300 gathered and for some time they kept their distance and listened as I preached and answered an occasional objection to my preaching. The “sinning all the time but loving Jesus with all my heart” group of hypocrites showed up with their literature, hand made poster boards and attempted crowd stealing tactics but all to no avail.
NO EXCUSES FOR SINNING
I quickly destroyed all their excuses for sinning with the Hammer of the Word of God and Sword of the Spirit. The hecklers and hypocrites moved in then the crowd began to do the same and it was becoming somewhat disorderly, so I walked over to a cement ledge, faced the crowd and continued preaching.
SPIRIT OF THE LORD AT WORK
My moving to this cement ledge around 12:40 PM seemed to bring some order to the crowd. They moved in to listen and ask questions but thankfully they kept a 5-10 yard distance from me. In spite of my voice difficulties the previous day, I could tell the Spirit of the Lord was using the preaching to bring about conviction as the students were much more sober acting and civil than the previous days even though the crowd was still in the 200-300 range.
I answered questions and preached from 12:40 PM to around 1:05 PM to the large but more civil crowd. I noticed a man from the city newspaper taking pictures, asking students questions and writing down quotes as I was preaching. Around 1:05 PM an officer came up to me and asked me to move to where I was the previous day because the crowd size was so large people could not walk through the Mountain Lair.
I told the officer I was going to call it a day. I told the crowd how much I had enjoyed being there and I would try to return next semester. The police once again escorted Elizabeth and me to our vehicle in a police car.
That evening I preached in a church for about one hour on “A Gospel of Power”.