Post by messengermicah on Jan 11, 2010 17:54:42 GMT -5
Thursday December 3, 2009-University of Florida-Gainesville, Florida: Sister Elizabeth and I arrived on campus around 1:30 PM. I reached the Turlington Plaza area and was going to begin preaching around 1:45 PM.
AVOIDING “HELLS BELLS”
As I have said in previous reports, I do not try to begin preaching on this campus until around 1:30 PM as it seems difficult to get the attention of the students earlier than this and from 12:30 PM to 1:00 PM there is a noisy, distracting symphony of bells that ring the entire time. I call these “Hells Bells”.
As I walked into the preaching area I noticed there was a group of students with some speakers set up. They began to play music and began “swing” dancing just as I was about to preach.
I asked one of the students how much longer they would be in the area. They told me they would be finished in 10 minutes so I decided to wait.
THE EVILS OF DANCING
As the group finished around 1:55 PM I began preaching on the evils of dancing as it promotes premarital contact which leads to sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 7:1). Of course I knew this would be somewhat controversial as well as humorous to many students.
My statement proved effective as I immediately began to get the attention of the students with comments, heckling and questions which led to the gathering of a small group of listeners.
GREAT TIME OF PREACHING
This small group of listeners gradually but consistently continued to grow throughout the afternoon until the crowd size was around or close to 200. The crowd was lively and playful but was overall attentive and civil. At times I was surprised by how well the fairly large crowd listened and remained quiet.
In spite of the overall civility of the crowd a student attempted unsuccessfully to steal my hat and my water jug was stolen.
I continued preaching to the fairly large receptive crowd until around 4:00 PM. At this point the crowd size began to gradually decrease. By 4:30 PM the crowd size was down to around 25-40.
At this point I stopped preaching and tried to answer in greater depth and clarity the sincere questions of many of the students who had been listening throughout the day.
AN INQUISITIVE APOSTOLIC STUDENT
One black male student had been listening throughout the afternoon and had asked several good questions. I learned later he leads a group of Apostolic (Jesus Only) students but he seemed to be open and sincere. I had some good discussion with him after I finished preaching but this was interrupted by a few insincere questioners who kept interrupting.
Sister Elizabeth and I left the campus with night falling around 5:30 PM for a dinner appointment.
Friday December 4, 2009: Rained out.
Sunday December 6, 2009: Preached twice in the local church where we were staying. In the morning service I preached for just over one hour from Numbers 28:1-10 on “The Meal Offering” and in the evening preached for just over one hour from Job 21:34 on “No Excuses for Sinning”.
Monday December 7, 2009-University of Florida-Gainesville, Florida: I was looking forward to returning to this campus. It seemed the Lord has been moving on this campus and among some of the students as some who used to oppose us no longer do and seem to see some value in our being on campus.
COOPERATION OF OTHER CHRISTIANS
Other students we have met over the years who seem to be genuinely saved cooperate with the preaching and witness to the students on the sidelines. I find that many of these students may disagree with us on certain topics but they seem to complement us in their approach and message as they have a different emphasis than we do. An example of this would be some of these students are more capable and knowledgeable in areas such as Jewish or classical apologetics than we are.
I began preaching around 1:45 PM and soon gathered a small crowd that continued to grow to from 100-150. The crowd formed a nice circle around me and they were somewhat rowdy but listening fairly well. A female student attempted to steal my water jug but I was too fast for her and she gave it back. Sadly but not surprisingly this student professed to be a Christian.
INTIMIDATION TACTICS
The crowd continued to grow to around 150-175 and then began to try to intimidate me and stop me by closing in all around me. I gave the crowd “the slip” and exited the circle. Many thought I was leaving but I jumped on top of a planter where I could elevate myself and voice above them, faced the crowd and continued preaching.
Some of the students who closed in on me seem to fear the truth of Biblical preaching and the influence of the message because they convinced most of the crowd to leave. I guess they believe the students are not capable of thinking for themselves (or maybe they realize they can think for themselves) and want to dictate to them what they need to think.
My crowd dwindled to around 25-30 for some time and I had some good dialogue and question and answer sessions but gradually the crowd size began to increase again.
FOOTBALL FLASHBACK
A black male student came up behind me, took my hat, jumped off the planter and ran through the crowd. I jumped off the planter and took off through the crowd after him. It reminded me of my high school days chasing a quarterback or ball carrier as I reached out, grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him towards me.
Thankfully he had a pleasant disposition as he dropped the hat and did not get upset that I grabbed his shirt to get my hat back.
My agility, quickness and boldness seemed to surprise the crowd and earn some respect from them. I am fairly sure my recent 40 lb. weight loss (225 to 185) had something to do with the quickness and agility. I continued preaching on the planter.
THE BATTLES RAGES PAST SUNSET
As the time passed 5:00 PM and it began to grow dark the battle continued to rage as the crowd size had grown to around 200. I preached as fast, hard and loud as I could. I had many loud hecklers loudly denouncing, judging and rebuking me as a false prophet for preaching loud, judging sin and rebuking students for their sin.
By 5:30 PM it was almost dark and I had preached fairly hard for almost four hours. I stepped down from the planter surrounded by a lively crowd of 75-100.
I walked to where Sister Elizabeth was talking to several students one of which was the sincere black male who was Apostolic. We seemed to be making a lot of progress with some of these students.
ANOTHER PREACHER
Around 6:00 PM I had noticed a crowd of around 25-30 students who had been listening to me preach were gathered around another person who seemed to be preaching.
I had noticed this earlier but I figured it was the typical hypocrite who usually likes to come up and tell everyone something like “Don’t listen to him. We are all sinners and it is impossible to stop no matter what and who cares anyway because God loves you no matter what!”
TURNING PEOPLE OFF TO GOD
Even though we are often accused of “turning people off to God or the gospel” even though hundreds of students stay for hours and days listening and asking questions I think these hypocrite preachers are the ones who “turn everyone off to God and gospel” because usually the crowd disperses in a matter of seconds when they start preaching.
FELLOW LABORER
Well since the crowd had been gathered around this preacher for about 30 minutes I realized he must be preaching a message worth listening to. I went to listen for some time and thoroughly enjoyed his preaching, content, crowd control, knowledge, etc.
I asked him for contact information and he thanked me for asking him. He called me “Brother”, told me “God bless you” and he never tried to interrupt, oppose me or speak negatively of me to the other students.
BLESSED BY A REBUKE AND STILL CRITICAL
Sister Elizabeth and I began to leave the campus around 7:00 PM but I had gotten into a conversation with a student who approached me. He indicated he agreed with me doctrinally and even openly admitted that in the past when I had publicly rebuked him for living in sin and professing to be a Christian this began a great work of God in His life. Yet he still seemed to be somewhat critical.
I spent much time talking to him and answering his questions. We left the campus around 8:30 PM.
Tuesday December 8, 2009-University of Florida-Gainesville, Florida: Sister Elizabeth and I arrived on campus around 1:30 PM and I began preaching around 1:50 PM. I immediately began to gather a small crowd that continued to grow gradually into a fairly civil, somewhat receptive crowd of 50-75.
MESSIANIC SUPPORT FOR PREACHING
They formed a nice circle around me and the preaching, questions and answers were going very well. A Jewish student who is a follower of the Jewish Messiah Jesus Christ kept showing up in the crowds. I had met this student before on a previous day to this campus as several times during the preaching he would ask me to quote or read a certain passage of scripture.
SETTING THE CROWD UP
At the time he did this I was already preparing to quote the passage he was referring to. The crowd would think this Jewish believer was opposing me and getting me to quote or read something that would contradict what I had been preaching but as the crowd grew quiet to try to listen for the contradiction the passage would reinforce, strengthen and drive the point further home and into the hearts of the students with conviction. I recognized this student was a genuine follower of Jesus Christ and was a student of the scriptures.
FIELDING QUESTIONS
Around 3:15 PM while I was preaching he began to defend my preaching and doctrine to the students claiming I was preaching the truth of the Bible. Some of the students began to ask him questions and he asked for my permission to field the question. I gave him permission and he did a good job and ended up giving some of his testimony of how God set him free from sin. Praise the Lord!
RAIN
Shortly after this around 3:30 PM it began to rain fairly hard and the crowd dispersed. Sister Elizabeth and I headed for cover under the library and continued discussion in small groups with the students. Some were sincere and others were not.
After around 30 minutes it stopped raining and I thought about returning to the preaching area and keep the meeting going but I decided to remain by the library and continue in small group discussions.
Sister Elizabeth and I ended up staying until around 7:00 PM having discussion with several students who seemed to be very sincere in seeking the truth. One was the Jewish believer in Jesus Christ, the black male apostolic student from the previous day, a male student who is always supportive of our preaching and another male student named Peter.
Wednesday December 9, 2009-University of Florida-Gainesville, Florida: Sister Elizabeth and I arrived on campus around 1:30 PM and I began preaching around 1:45 PM.
HECKLED AND HARASSED BY A HARE KRISHNA
I immediately gathered a small crowd of listeners and it continued to increase. I was being heckled and harassed by the Hare Krishna man who is always hanging around trying to sell his books to the students. I made it clear to the students I would not sell them a Bible but give them a free one if they were interested. The cult follower helped to build up the crowd.
EFFECTIVE TIME OF PREACHING
The crowd gradually grew throughout the afternoon to around 150-200 at times but at other times was around 50-100. It was a great day of preaching and answering questions. At times the crowd was very civil and attentive and other times were more disruptive and rowdy.
I was blessed and encouraged by several students in the crowd who stayed most of the day and at times asked very good and sincere questions indicating they had been listening and understanding exactly what I had been saying. I also had hecklers who tried to dominate all my time by trying to show the crowd how intelligent they were by asking questions they thought would end up trapping me and making the Bible seem to contradict itself.
As it began to grow dark around 5:00 PM to 5:15 PM I stopped preaching and began to have a discussion with the remaining 15-25 students. Some were very sincere and others kept trying to distract and interrupt.
NIGHT SHIFT SHOWS UP
Around 5:30 PM I noticed the other preacher from Monday I had enjoyed listening to so much showed up and sat among the remaining listeners. I had been preaching almost four hours at this point and was somewhat tired.
I answered questions for about 10 more minutes and then turned the listeners over to him around 5:40 PM.
Sister Elizabeth and I stayed around and listened to him preach until around 6:30 PM. We thoroughly enjoyed his preaching, knowledge, wit, crowd control, etc. I was also pleased he spoke very positively of me and my preaching to the students. I learned he had preached until around 1:30 AM on Monday.
Sister Elizabeth and I were very encouraged by the way it seems God is moving on this campus and we give God the glory.
AVOIDING “HELLS BELLS”
As I have said in previous reports, I do not try to begin preaching on this campus until around 1:30 PM as it seems difficult to get the attention of the students earlier than this and from 12:30 PM to 1:00 PM there is a noisy, distracting symphony of bells that ring the entire time. I call these “Hells Bells”.
As I walked into the preaching area I noticed there was a group of students with some speakers set up. They began to play music and began “swing” dancing just as I was about to preach.
I asked one of the students how much longer they would be in the area. They told me they would be finished in 10 minutes so I decided to wait.
THE EVILS OF DANCING
As the group finished around 1:55 PM I began preaching on the evils of dancing as it promotes premarital contact which leads to sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 7:1). Of course I knew this would be somewhat controversial as well as humorous to many students.
My statement proved effective as I immediately began to get the attention of the students with comments, heckling and questions which led to the gathering of a small group of listeners.
GREAT TIME OF PREACHING
This small group of listeners gradually but consistently continued to grow throughout the afternoon until the crowd size was around or close to 200. The crowd was lively and playful but was overall attentive and civil. At times I was surprised by how well the fairly large crowd listened and remained quiet.
In spite of the overall civility of the crowd a student attempted unsuccessfully to steal my hat and my water jug was stolen.
I continued preaching to the fairly large receptive crowd until around 4:00 PM. At this point the crowd size began to gradually decrease. By 4:30 PM the crowd size was down to around 25-40.
At this point I stopped preaching and tried to answer in greater depth and clarity the sincere questions of many of the students who had been listening throughout the day.
AN INQUISITIVE APOSTOLIC STUDENT
One black male student had been listening throughout the afternoon and had asked several good questions. I learned later he leads a group of Apostolic (Jesus Only) students but he seemed to be open and sincere. I had some good discussion with him after I finished preaching but this was interrupted by a few insincere questioners who kept interrupting.
Sister Elizabeth and I left the campus with night falling around 5:30 PM for a dinner appointment.
Friday December 4, 2009: Rained out.
Sunday December 6, 2009: Preached twice in the local church where we were staying. In the morning service I preached for just over one hour from Numbers 28:1-10 on “The Meal Offering” and in the evening preached for just over one hour from Job 21:34 on “No Excuses for Sinning”.
Monday December 7, 2009-University of Florida-Gainesville, Florida: I was looking forward to returning to this campus. It seemed the Lord has been moving on this campus and among some of the students as some who used to oppose us no longer do and seem to see some value in our being on campus.
COOPERATION OF OTHER CHRISTIANS
Other students we have met over the years who seem to be genuinely saved cooperate with the preaching and witness to the students on the sidelines. I find that many of these students may disagree with us on certain topics but they seem to complement us in their approach and message as they have a different emphasis than we do. An example of this would be some of these students are more capable and knowledgeable in areas such as Jewish or classical apologetics than we are.
I began preaching around 1:45 PM and soon gathered a small crowd that continued to grow to from 100-150. The crowd formed a nice circle around me and they were somewhat rowdy but listening fairly well. A female student attempted to steal my water jug but I was too fast for her and she gave it back. Sadly but not surprisingly this student professed to be a Christian.
INTIMIDATION TACTICS
The crowd continued to grow to around 150-175 and then began to try to intimidate me and stop me by closing in all around me. I gave the crowd “the slip” and exited the circle. Many thought I was leaving but I jumped on top of a planter where I could elevate myself and voice above them, faced the crowd and continued preaching.
Some of the students who closed in on me seem to fear the truth of Biblical preaching and the influence of the message because they convinced most of the crowd to leave. I guess they believe the students are not capable of thinking for themselves (or maybe they realize they can think for themselves) and want to dictate to them what they need to think.
My crowd dwindled to around 25-30 for some time and I had some good dialogue and question and answer sessions but gradually the crowd size began to increase again.
FOOTBALL FLASHBACK
A black male student came up behind me, took my hat, jumped off the planter and ran through the crowd. I jumped off the planter and took off through the crowd after him. It reminded me of my high school days chasing a quarterback or ball carrier as I reached out, grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him towards me.
Thankfully he had a pleasant disposition as he dropped the hat and did not get upset that I grabbed his shirt to get my hat back.
My agility, quickness and boldness seemed to surprise the crowd and earn some respect from them. I am fairly sure my recent 40 lb. weight loss (225 to 185) had something to do with the quickness and agility. I continued preaching on the planter.
THE BATTLES RAGES PAST SUNSET
As the time passed 5:00 PM and it began to grow dark the battle continued to rage as the crowd size had grown to around 200. I preached as fast, hard and loud as I could. I had many loud hecklers loudly denouncing, judging and rebuking me as a false prophet for preaching loud, judging sin and rebuking students for their sin.
By 5:30 PM it was almost dark and I had preached fairly hard for almost four hours. I stepped down from the planter surrounded by a lively crowd of 75-100.
I walked to where Sister Elizabeth was talking to several students one of which was the sincere black male who was Apostolic. We seemed to be making a lot of progress with some of these students.
ANOTHER PREACHER
Around 6:00 PM I had noticed a crowd of around 25-30 students who had been listening to me preach were gathered around another person who seemed to be preaching.
I had noticed this earlier but I figured it was the typical hypocrite who usually likes to come up and tell everyone something like “Don’t listen to him. We are all sinners and it is impossible to stop no matter what and who cares anyway because God loves you no matter what!”
TURNING PEOPLE OFF TO GOD
Even though we are often accused of “turning people off to God or the gospel” even though hundreds of students stay for hours and days listening and asking questions I think these hypocrite preachers are the ones who “turn everyone off to God and gospel” because usually the crowd disperses in a matter of seconds when they start preaching.
FELLOW LABORER
Well since the crowd had been gathered around this preacher for about 30 minutes I realized he must be preaching a message worth listening to. I went to listen for some time and thoroughly enjoyed his preaching, content, crowd control, knowledge, etc.
I asked him for contact information and he thanked me for asking him. He called me “Brother”, told me “God bless you” and he never tried to interrupt, oppose me or speak negatively of me to the other students.
BLESSED BY A REBUKE AND STILL CRITICAL
Sister Elizabeth and I began to leave the campus around 7:00 PM but I had gotten into a conversation with a student who approached me. He indicated he agreed with me doctrinally and even openly admitted that in the past when I had publicly rebuked him for living in sin and professing to be a Christian this began a great work of God in His life. Yet he still seemed to be somewhat critical.
I spent much time talking to him and answering his questions. We left the campus around 8:30 PM.
Tuesday December 8, 2009-University of Florida-Gainesville, Florida: Sister Elizabeth and I arrived on campus around 1:30 PM and I began preaching around 1:50 PM. I immediately began to gather a small crowd that continued to grow gradually into a fairly civil, somewhat receptive crowd of 50-75.
MESSIANIC SUPPORT FOR PREACHING
They formed a nice circle around me and the preaching, questions and answers were going very well. A Jewish student who is a follower of the Jewish Messiah Jesus Christ kept showing up in the crowds. I had met this student before on a previous day to this campus as several times during the preaching he would ask me to quote or read a certain passage of scripture.
SETTING THE CROWD UP
At the time he did this I was already preparing to quote the passage he was referring to. The crowd would think this Jewish believer was opposing me and getting me to quote or read something that would contradict what I had been preaching but as the crowd grew quiet to try to listen for the contradiction the passage would reinforce, strengthen and drive the point further home and into the hearts of the students with conviction. I recognized this student was a genuine follower of Jesus Christ and was a student of the scriptures.
FIELDING QUESTIONS
Around 3:15 PM while I was preaching he began to defend my preaching and doctrine to the students claiming I was preaching the truth of the Bible. Some of the students began to ask him questions and he asked for my permission to field the question. I gave him permission and he did a good job and ended up giving some of his testimony of how God set him free from sin. Praise the Lord!
RAIN
Shortly after this around 3:30 PM it began to rain fairly hard and the crowd dispersed. Sister Elizabeth and I headed for cover under the library and continued discussion in small groups with the students. Some were sincere and others were not.
After around 30 minutes it stopped raining and I thought about returning to the preaching area and keep the meeting going but I decided to remain by the library and continue in small group discussions.
Sister Elizabeth and I ended up staying until around 7:00 PM having discussion with several students who seemed to be very sincere in seeking the truth. One was the Jewish believer in Jesus Christ, the black male apostolic student from the previous day, a male student who is always supportive of our preaching and another male student named Peter.
Wednesday December 9, 2009-University of Florida-Gainesville, Florida: Sister Elizabeth and I arrived on campus around 1:30 PM and I began preaching around 1:45 PM.
HECKLED AND HARASSED BY A HARE KRISHNA
I immediately gathered a small crowd of listeners and it continued to increase. I was being heckled and harassed by the Hare Krishna man who is always hanging around trying to sell his books to the students. I made it clear to the students I would not sell them a Bible but give them a free one if they were interested. The cult follower helped to build up the crowd.
EFFECTIVE TIME OF PREACHING
The crowd gradually grew throughout the afternoon to around 150-200 at times but at other times was around 50-100. It was a great day of preaching and answering questions. At times the crowd was very civil and attentive and other times were more disruptive and rowdy.
I was blessed and encouraged by several students in the crowd who stayed most of the day and at times asked very good and sincere questions indicating they had been listening and understanding exactly what I had been saying. I also had hecklers who tried to dominate all my time by trying to show the crowd how intelligent they were by asking questions they thought would end up trapping me and making the Bible seem to contradict itself.
As it began to grow dark around 5:00 PM to 5:15 PM I stopped preaching and began to have a discussion with the remaining 15-25 students. Some were very sincere and others kept trying to distract and interrupt.
NIGHT SHIFT SHOWS UP
Around 5:30 PM I noticed the other preacher from Monday I had enjoyed listening to so much showed up and sat among the remaining listeners. I had been preaching almost four hours at this point and was somewhat tired.
I answered questions for about 10 more minutes and then turned the listeners over to him around 5:40 PM.
Sister Elizabeth and I stayed around and listened to him preach until around 6:30 PM. We thoroughly enjoyed his preaching, knowledge, wit, crowd control, etc. I was also pleased he spoke very positively of me and my preaching to the students. I learned he had preached until around 1:30 AM on Monday.
Sister Elizabeth and I were very encouraged by the way it seems God is moving on this campus and we give God the glory.