Post by Messenger Micah on Sept 20, 2005 11:13:44 GMT -5
In February of this year, I ran across Brother Jed?s book ?Who Will Rise Up?? on the Internet. After devouring this book, my passion for preaching open air was greatly stirred and went to another level. (At this time I was already preaching open air on a weekly basis on the streets and local campuses of Miami). I was led of the Lord to contact Brother Jed via e-mail to see where he would be during my week of vacation in March. I did not have much hope in the natural of him being anywhere near, because he had already been to the Florida campuses and was preaching out west when I contacted him (according to the itinerary posted on his site). It always pays to obey God however, because I received an immediate response from Brother Jed saying he would be coming to the University of South Florida (Tampa) during that week. My wife and I went to meet and watch Brother Jed that week and it was there he told us he was going to have a school of evangelism during the Labor Day weekend. My wife and I determined to go.
For my wife and I the School of Evangelism were like ??days of heaven upon the earth.? (Deuteronomy 11:21). In my opinion, this is the way a conference should be conducted. We had several days of instruction, and then several days of on the job training. All of the classes were extremely beneficial, and applicable to what street preachers deal with on a regular basis. I always looked forward to all the sessions. The sessions always included a few songs, and then went right into the teaching. On Saturday (9/03), and Sunday (9/04), we had six sessions a day, two in the morning, two in the afternoon, and two in the evening.
Friday 9/02: My wife and I arrived in St. Louis with our friends, John and Onica and drove into Columbia. We found the hotel, but were not sure where the conference classes were going to be held. We then spotted Ruben in the parking lot, and followed him to the conference. We came in a few minutes late (about 7:15), and Brother Jed had everyone introduce themselves. He then preached from Psalm 94 on ?Who Will Rise Up?? which included his testimony along with many scriptural principles of Biblical Evangelism. Even though I had read the book, it was a great blessing to hear him preach about it. After the meeting, my wife and I, John and Onica, Ruben, and Jennifer had some food and fellowship at Cracker Barrel.
Saturday 9/03: At 9:30 AM, Ruben taught on ?Preaching Pearls? which was a lot of practical advice about preaching outdoors, at big events, hecklers, persecution, etc. Ruben is a great communicator and storyteller. I could have listened for hours. Jed mentioned before he introduced Ruben that some effective street preachers are not effective when speaking to God?s people, but that Ruben was and I agree with him. After Ruben, Sister Cindy taught on ?Book of Acts Evangelism, or How to Scare the Hell Out of People?. She took us through the Book of Acts and showed the methods and messages used by the early church, which are very different from most methods and messages used today.
Before we left the hotel, two nicely dressed African American men and one woman, came into the hotel lobby and preached to us we needed to repent, put our faith in Jesus, or else we would end up in hell. John and I came to the conclusion that they must be here for the conference. We later had the privilege of meeting them. They were a team of full time street preachers, Michael and his wife Tamika, and their associate Chris. This brother really takes the verse, ??preach the gospel to EVERY creature??(Mark 16:15) literally, because he preached to everything that had breath. Before we met him officially, we were calling him Mr. In season and out, because he was always in season. What a blessing and inspiration they were and we had great fellowship with them throughout the week.
After the morning sessions, I had the privilege of meeting brother Ken from Texas. I had read some of his reports from the Internet, and visited his site, when I first started open air preaching and was searching the net to learn more. I heard him talking about some things, and it brought to my remembrance the reports I had read, and I made the connection. I asked him if he was the preacher, who was inspired by David Wilkerson preaching to the gangs in New York, and did he preach at San Antonio and he said yes, he was the one.
At 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM, Brother Cope and Sister Cindy taught on the subjects, ?A Liberal is Logical?, and ?Practical Tips for Outdoor Preachers?, respectively. I had really looked forward to meeting and hearing Brother Cope because I always enjoyed reading his posts and articles on Jed?s site.
At 7:00 PM, Dave Coke taught on ?Confrontational Doctrine for Confrontational Evangelism?, and at 8:30 PM, Brother Jed preached on ?The Art and Science of Defending the Christian Faith?. I had met Brother Dave back in July in Chicago. He is a very gifted and thorough Bible teacher.
That evening we had great food and fellowship at a local Dairy Queen with Dave Coke, Michael, Tamika, Chris, Ruben, Brother Cope, Justina, Rebecca, John and Onica.
Sunday 9/04: At 9:30 AM, Ruben gave a great teaching on ?Working with Authority?, and at 11:15 AM, Brother Jed preached a great message on ?The Law and the Cross?. Dave Coke said it was the best message he ever heard on the atonement.
For lunch we all met at a Chinese buffet. We had great fellowship with Ruben, Ken, Michael, Tamika, and Chris. I got Ruben to tell us some of his war stories he told me when I was in Los Angeles.
At 2:30 PM, Sister Cindy gave a great teaching on ?The Open View of God and Evangelism?, and at 3:30 PM Brother Dave taught on ?Identifying the Potholes on the Highway of Holiness?. One of the recurring themes in much of the teaching was the constant emphasis on Holiness unto the Lord, and ??holiness without which no man shall see the Lord? (Hebrews 12:14). Amen!!!!
At 7 PM, Brother Cope taught a very eye opening message from Matthew 10 called ?What?s Going On Here?? that shows the division, separation, and demarcation that preaching SHOULD bring. At 8:30 PM, Jed preached on ?Suffering for Gospel?s Sake?.
Afterwards we all went to Cold Stone for ice cream (my first time at this place), and we had a great time watching Michael stir things up preaching to every creature, and then fellowshipping with him, Tamika, Chris, and Ken.
Monday 9/05 (Labor Day): The Smocks invited every one over for a day of teaching, fellowship, food, and fun. At 11 AM, Brother Cope taught on how to deal with Christians who don?t understand Biblical Evangelism called, ?Your Doing This All Wrong, Brother?. We then watched Ruben?s video of preaching at the recent krishna parade. After the video, I ate some great hamburgers, (I won?t say how many) and then checked out some of Jed?s library.
At 7 PM, Dave Coke taught on ?Evangelism?s Quest-Salvation for What and From What?? At 8:30 PM, we had a ask the panel discussion where we could ask the panel of Brothers Jed, Ruben, Dave, Cope, and Sister Cindy any questions we had on doctrine, preaching, situations, etc. We then had a brief discussion of our battle plan for the next day and closed in prayer.
It was very hospitable of the Smock?s to host everyone (the University students were also invited) at their house.
Tuesday 9/06: Unfortunately, my friend John who came with me became very ill the night before and was unable to attend the campus preaching. We met at the Speaker?s Circle at 10:30 AM, and set up about 8 banners and kept them raised all day until 5 PM. We had large crowds of over 100 for much of the day, and many great one on one conversation by members of the team. Brothers Jed, Cope, Mitch, Ruben, and Sister Cindy preached and drew many listeners, and many members of the team got chances to preach throughout the day.
At 7 PM, we had preaching reports, and testimonies from the day. We then had some music. We only had a few songs in most of the meetings, but the singing and worship was always very anointed and a great blessing. The Smock girls and their friends did a great job. Brother Jed talked about being a soldier in the army of the Lord, and Ruben gave an excellent teaching on ?Passing the Baton?.
Afterwards Elizabeth and I attempted to go to Cracker Barrel with Ruben, Jennifer, and Benjamin, but found it was closed. We instead went to Steak and Shake. It was Benjamin?s birthday and we had a great time listening to Benjamin, (raised in Communist Russia) tell stories about how much he appreciated America for its freedom (most of the students during the day constantly bash America, Bush, capitalism, etc.). We also experienced Benjamin?s great sense of humor.
Wednesday 9/07: We again met at Speaker?s Circle around 10:30 AM, but found it occupied by a group students called the Antler?s. Jed decided to try to preach at another location. After preaching there about 30 minutes, a security officer told us we had to preach in the Speaker?s Circle. We went back and again we had crowds of 100 to 200 for much of the day. Brothers Jed, Cope, Mitch, Ruben, and Sister Cindy would draw many listeners and many of the team members got chances to preach. We had about 8 banners flying all day until we wrapped up around 5 PM. Brother Cope continued preaching until after 5 PM as there were still listeners gathered. A certain local preacher kept showing up and trying to oppose us, but was ineffective. I felt so sorry for the poor guy, because he really seemed to think he was doing the right thing.
At 7 PM Sister Cindy preached on ?The Return of Christ?. When Sister Cindy would quote 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9, (which she did several times) the Fear of God would come all over me. I could imagine how that would sound to an unrepentant sinner. At 8:30 PM, Mitch gave a teaching on YWAM, and leadership. I really enjoyed watching Mitch preach and learned a lot from him.
Thursday 9/08: We again met at Speaker?s Circle around 10:30 AM. All during the week we had hecklers, mockers, and opposition. It was amazing to watch how adamant the students were in defending and excusing their sin, and how much they opposed the message of repentance and holiness. We again kept about 8 banners raised all day until we concluded at around 4:30 PM. We concluded a little early this day because we were going to preach and witness at the Twilight Festival in downtown Columbia from around 6 to 9 PM.
We found a good spot on the sidewalk of the Twilight Festival and occupied it with our banners. Throughout the 3 hours we were there we reproved, rebuked, and exhorted that the sinners needed to repent or perish, repent, turn to God and do works meet for repentance (2 Timothy 4:2, Luke 13:3,5, Acts 26:20). Much of the time members of our group were surrounded by angry, opposing, and inquiring sinners and hypocrites. Ruben toured the area and said our corner had the most action and the most people of all the other spots of the festival. Glory Be to God!
This day I was much blessed by my conversations with Brother Cope. Up to this time I had not really conversed with him much. He gave me a lot of wisdom and pointers. Jed also gave me some wisdom. I really learned a lot from watching both of them. Brother Cope is a very kind, humble, and easygoing man.
Friday 9/09: We arrived again around 10:30 AM, with a smaller team as several had returned home already (Ruben, Michael, Tamika, Chris, and Ken). When I was in college I almost never had any classes on Fridays, so I expected it to be kind of dead. However when we arrived, there was a group of students having some type of discussion/debate on situations like the energy crisis. They admittedly were holding this debate to keep us from occupying the free speech area. We set up about 4 banners and Brother Jed got them all stirred up by starting to preach. They had been holding cardboard/poster board signs to protest us for several days which read, ?Stop the Hate Preaching?, ?Embrace Intolerance?, etc. Today they had about 10 of these signs. They would crowd Jed and box him in. We kept taking turns preaching until we had taken over the speech area and driven them out. There were a few instances when it looked like a riot could break out. A few students got in a shoving match during the preaching, but it was quickly broken up. The police watched on. As we would preach and they would block us, the students would sometimes forcibly slam into us.
All this commotion drew probably the largest and most angry crowds of the week. To me it all boiled down to how much the students loved, excused, and defended their sin and absolutely hated for anyone to tell them they were wrong, and must depart from their sin or go to hell. They hated the truth, hated the light, and hated God (John 3:19-20, 7:7, 15:25, Romans 8:7, James 4:4).
It is always amazing to see how the issue of sin and holiness brings so much opposition and division. Throughout the week I had many great conversations with professing Christians who were defending sin, and others who did not understand what we were doing. Most of these conversations ended with the professing Christians agreeing with me, and questioning if they were really saved. Other Christians we spoke to were already engaged in evangelism and may have been inspired to preach open air themselves. Still others left defending their right to sin.
We wrapped up around 4:30 PM again this day as the crowds slowly dwindled. While holding banners on the sidelines I had some great fellowship with Brother Fernando from the Philippines.
That evening we all met at Jed?s around 6 PM for a pizza party. We had another great time of fellowship, and I had some more good conversation with Brother Cope. Brother Jed read us one of General Macarthur?s speeches. We then had a great discussion about the week, and asked Jed and Brother Cope some questions on doctrine and theology. I could have sat there all night. It was very difficult to leave and say goodbye to everyone.
I am always impressed by Brother Jed?s consistency of doing this over all these years. He is such a quiet and humble man when he is not preaching. I was able to watch him a lot more this time than when I was in Tampa and sure gleaned a lot.
This was one of the greatest experiences of my life. It was by far the best conference I have ever been to in my Christian life. I look forward to going again next year or whenever they have it again. In the meantime, I will keep my hand to the gospel plow and put into practice the things I learned.