Post by messengermicah on Nov 23, 2009 16:47:11 GMT -5
Wednesday November 11, 2009-Clemson University-Clemson, South Carolina: The evening we finished preaching at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte we left Charlotte and began heading towards Clemson, South Carolina. We spent the night at a Truck Stop and left early to arrive at Clemson earlier.
CLEMSON’S POLICY
I could not remember how many days advance notice Clemson University’s free speech policy required. My goal was to arrive on the Clemson campus on Friday morning and get a permit to preach the following week. I did not want to show up on Friday afternoon and be told everyone had already gone home for the weekend and I would have to wait until Monday to apply.
The last time I had preached on this campus was back in April and since no one I knew of had preached here in several years it made quite a stir. I was somewhat concerned about the administration trying to prevent me from preaching.
I arrived on the Clemson campus Friday November 6, 2009 around noon. The policy was three days advance notice so the earliest I could preach was Wednesday November 11, 2009. I applied for Wednesday November 11 through Friday November 13 from 12 noon to 5 PM.
Friday afternoon I received notice I could have Wednesday only from 12 noon to 2 PM but Thursday and Friday were available from 12 noon to 5 PM.
It rained all day Tuesday, all night Tuesday, and was still raining Wednesday morning. The forecast was calling for rain all day. Around 9:00 AM Wednesday the rain stopped and Sister Elizabeth and I prepared to head towards campus to preach.
The last time I preached here the police set up an area for me to preach with barricades to keep the crowd from moving too close to me. I was pleased when I arrived in the free speech area to see the area had again been set up for me to preach within barricades.
“YOU HAVE ALREADY HAD YOUR TIME HERE”
The weather was very overcast, in the mid 50’s and windy. I began preaching around 11:50 AM. When I first began preaching there was not many people around. One student walked by and said “You have already had your time here” as if to mean my first visit last semester had large crowds but this time no one was going to pay me any attention.
Soon I gathered a few listeners and the crowd soon grew to about 50-60. The crowd formed a nice semi circle around the barricade and kept a distance of about 10 yards away from the barricades. The crowd listened well and asked good questions. They did not make much noise as I would preach and answer questions but just listened.
GREAT CROWD AND GREAT DAY OF PREACHING
The crowd size gradually grew to over 100 and eventually reached around 150. As the size of the crowd increased they continued to remain in a nice semi circle, keep their distance, listen well and ask good questions.
For about 20 minutes the rain drizzled but it seemed to make no difference at all as the crowd size remained the same and the students continued listening.
A police officer was on hand and I understood my permit was only until 2:00 PM so I stopped preaching at 2:00 PM to the crowd of over 100. The police officer was very professional and escorted us to our vehicle.
That evening I preached in a church for about one hour from Judges 2:10-11 on “A Gospel of Power”.
Thursday November 12, 2009-Clemson University-Clemson, South Carolina: The weather was calling for a mostly cloudy day with a high of 58 degrees. In the morning the sky cleared up and the sun came out. The forecast was now calling for a high of 65 degrees.
GOOD PREACHING WEATHER
A clear sunny sky with a high of 65 degrees is much better preaching weather than mostly cloudy skies with a high of 58. Praise the Lord!
I began preaching around 11:50 AM. I soon gathered a small crowd that continued to grow. Throughout the afternoon the crowd fluctuated from around 60-70 to around 200-220. The crowd was not nearly as civil as the day before but for a long time they kept a distance from the barricades.
Several of the students moved in close to the barricades and began trying to blow cigarette smoke in my face from where they were standing. They were not close enough to directly blow the smoke in my face but they did blow it in my direction and it began to pollute the air around me.
At this point I moved from the ground onto the planter behind my back. This helped me to elevate my voice above the crowd of 150-200 and helped me avoid some of the cigarette and cigar smoke.
I continued preaching until 3:00 PM and then sat down and took a seat. I tried to move from a preaching mode to a discussion and question/answer mode. This took some time to settle the crowd down and weed out the hecklers but eventually around 3:30 PM they settled down some.
LORD OF THE BREAKTHROUGH
The crowd thinned down to around 50-60 and I was able to have some good discussion and question and answer sessions with many of the students. Many of the students who had opposed me strongly earlier in the day began to open up some and ask good questions and listen well.
By 4:00 PM I was fairly tired so I left the barricaded area. Several students invited us out to dinner and continue the discussion. Throughout the afternoon, Sister Elizabeth had small groups of students around her. I explained of the students’ invitation for dinner and she said a Presbyterian student also wanted to join us. We agreed to eat with them.
We walked to a nearby restaurant. Strangely the students who invited us to eat did not offer to pay but one of the other students kindly paid for us.
For about one hour we sat with about 7-8 students and discussed the Bible and Christianity. After about one hour the workers came and told us they needed us to leave because it was dinner rush and they needed the tables and chairs.
Friday November 13, 2009-Clemson University-Clemson, South Carolina: It was a beautiful day for preaching with clear sunny skies and temperatures in the high 60’s to low 70’s.
When I arrived in the free speech spot I noticed all types of graffiti done with chalk on the cement in the preaching spot dealing with the content of the preaching.
There was a photo with a caption of myself preaching on the front page of the university newspaper. Some students were already waiting for me when I began preaching around 11:45 AM.
POLICE INTERFERENCE
The crowd built up fairly quickly to around 40-60. The police were on hand as usual but it was a different officer. The officer did not try to censure me at all but when students would cuss at me or oppose me strongly he would not allow them to do this.
I believe the officer was trying to help and do his job but I think he was censuring the students and in some ways I think it hindered the crowd development. The students became very cautious and were not sure what was acceptable and what was not.
After some time the officer seemed to loosen up some and the crowd grew to around 150. For the remainder of the afternoon the crowd fluctuated from 50-60 to around 150.
A black man who seemed to work at the school brought me a cup of ice and a bottle full of water. Later, I noticed a brand new gallon of water next to me which read: To Brother Micah from Clemson University.
One student came out dressed like the pope. Another student came out with a hand made poster board condemning me with no shirt on and body paint and writing all over him.
THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD
The crowd was more rowdy than the previous two days but later on in the afternoon it seemed the Lord anointed me strongly to preach loud, hard and strong. During these times the crowd would just stand silent and listen.
Other times the crowd would break into school chants and songs to drown out the preaching.
I preached on until around 3:00 PM. At this point I had several asking good questions I was trying to answer but there were still many in the crowd heckling and hindering the sincere seekers of truth from receiving answers.
GIVING MY TESTIMONY
After some time many of the hecklers left and the remaining crowd began to settle down. Some time after 4:00 PM several of the professing “Christian” students who had been challenging me on many things wanted to hear my testimony.
As I gave my testimony the majority of the crowd listened attentively and it seemed to make an impact. Unfortunately, some of the so called “Christians” who were so interested in hearing my testimony did not pay much attention (or at least gave that appearance).
From 4:30 PM to around 5:00 PM I had some very good discussion with several students on Christian doctrine who were being influenced by Calvinism.
FROM HECKLER TO TOTAL RESPECT
Around 5:00 PM as we prepared to leave the barricade preaching spot a black male student had been clowning and heckling earlier in the day was now showing me the utmost respect and admiration.
After apologizing to me for heckling me he told me and the other students “When I first heard you I thought you were a joke but as the day went on I continued listening to you and realized everything you were saying was the truth!”
I do not think this student would say he was living in the truth but apparently he had been exposed to Bible truth in his life.
Several students came up and sincerely thanked us for coming and seemed to be supportive of the preaching.
Sister Elizabeth and I went to the library to do some business and as we were leaving two male students apparently had been waiting for us. They asked to pray for me and I allowed them to pray for me.
GOD’S FAVOR
During the three days of preaching it seemed the Lord really gave us favor on this campus as he has done on other campuses (such as University of Central Florida) as so many of the students begin to open up to us and begin to genuinely appreciate our presence on campus.
BREAKING A CAMPUS
Campus preaching is always effective but it takes on much greater effectiveness after you endure and take all the abuse the students can hurl at you and at the end of the day you are still preaching the same message to them. It earns their respect and they begin to take you much more seriously. This causes them to open up to you more.
We praise the Lord for this and give God all the glory. Please continue to pray for us!