A week (so far) of Campus Ministry

It has been a busy Summer and Fall.

I have had the privilege of spreading the Gospel at Lifelight

Reading from and Preaching 1 Timothy at Lifelight

They really didn’t want me there, because I had not been through the evangelists training. I can understand that, obviously they desire for the message to be the true Gospel. There is hopes of an open air campground where preachers can preach that is right on site next year.

I have also had the privilege of reading scripture and preaching in the open air at several different locations; most recently outside Christianity?21 where I read and preached through the first three chapters of Romans, 2 Timothy, and John 3. We have also done this Project Ezra outside of the college fair in Minneapolis, and on the local street corner of Main and College.

This week, I have had the distinct honor and privilege of joining up with my good brother Shawn (the Baptist) Holes and his family. The week for us began in Mankato

Shawn preaching his guts out in Mankato

Mankato is a small University in Southern Minnesota, but the crowds were very large. We had a very vocal Muslim student leader heckling, who drew a very large crowd. Also, he called security to have us thrown off campus. He was very discouraged when he found out they could not do that, and, in fact, the security was there to protect our rights! One young man was ticketed for smashing snow and dirt on Shawn’s head. Later, there was a group of homosexuals who showed up while I was preaching, and they also drew a large crowd for people to hear the Gospel. God orchestrated groups of counter-protestors that continually drew more crowds to hear the Gospel. We did not know it, but there were several people in the crowd praying for us. Shawn also ministered to several young people who were broken by the Spirit of God and the preaching of the Word. Praise God!

On Tuesday, we had a public forum scheduled called the Big Question at our local University. Of course, we wanted to preach there. Big Mike, the security head at the school, had in the past given me the rules concerning preaching in the open air, and explained that we were welcome there. Now SMSU is much smaller than Mankato, and is mostly contained inside. There is one courtyard where students gather to smoke or to pass through, kind of a short cut. Shawn and I set up shop there. Early on, there was a young lady who asked if Jews were going to Hell. Shawn responded by saying that we all deserve to go to hell, a statement he repeated several times. She responded by running inside and reporting us to somebody that we were offensive and downplaying her faith by telling her she was going to Hell. This one complaint magically morphed into several, and this eventually brought my friend Mike out. Mike moved us out of the area to a less conspicuous spot where fewer people were likely to be offended (and less likely to hear) Knowing we had a presentation later, I did not want to fight with Mike. We continued, and our little crowd followed, including Matt- our friendly Athiest. Matt is a big guy, and commands a presence around the campus. He and I have had several conversations, but this one centered on a little athiest tract he had printed. Funny, the contents sounded like Rob Bells latest ‘The Gospel according To” video. As it was getting bitterly cold outside, and we were losing our little crowd, I invited Mike and all of his friends to THE BIG QUESTION later on that evening. They agreed to come, and, as I found out later, they invited friends!

At THE BIG QUESTION, we only had a turnout of about 30 people, but it was a very vocal group with a lot of questions and comments. Shawn and I tag teamed in a public forum feel. Every answer to every question ended in the Gospel. I introduced this evening in that explaining that we all have worldviews, and that mine is shaped by the Bible, which I believe to be the Word of God, and authoritative. As we had invited philosophy majors, I explained that I believed that there was absolute truth, and that it was founded in God and manifested in Christ.

THE BIG QUESTION at SMSU

Following my introductions, the questions came fast and varied around religion, wars, politics, philosophy, and science. Every answer was founded in Christ. By the end of the evening Matt, who had refused my offer several times for a Bible, came up and asked for one. Then two more young people asked for one, one of whom follows Eckankar, and asked if I would help her in the study of the Bible. Praise the Lord.

To finish this fast and furious week, I got to travel to Minneapolis with Shawn and his family to the University of Minnesota. We set up shop in Northrup Mall, an excellent open air forum with great acoustics. We had several waves of class changes where hundreds of students stopped. We also had a small group of about 20 that pretty much hung around the entire day.

Preaching at the University of Minnesota

This was a funny day, because in between the large groups, Shawn and I would have these small groups hanging around us that wanted to discuss what had been said before. There was some genuine curiosity out of them! It was a beautiful thing to have one to one conversations with others standing around to hear the responses.

My family picked me up for a planned retreat up north to the family cabin, and Shawn travelled on to St. Cloud. However, we met up again at the University of Minnesota on Friday, and our good brother John joined us. The funny thing is, Friday was also his wedding day. He preached for about an hour, and had to leave. I know who he loves! I was a wreck on my wedding day, but he was out sharing the love of Christ on His. I pray that his marriage will also speak volumes about the love of Christ! If his single life is any indication, I have a feeling it will.

Next week, we will spend time in South Dakota where Shawn was arrested last year. Pray for us!

~ by pastorboy on October 18, 2009.