INTRODUCTION: Today was a great day of outreach at UNC-Chapel Hill. We were in "The Pit", which is the usual stomping grounds for many "shock-and-awe" preachers, but as usual, we came with a different tact. It was hard to get a crowd going at first because there were many Satanic distractions with people singing loudly and dancing in the Pit a la "flash mob" style. In almost predictable fashion, these distractions started as soon as we huddled up in a group and prayed before the preaching and witnessing. All of this was just what you'd expect on a typical run-of-the-mill secular campus.
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| It was very difficult to get anyone to pay attention at first due to the distractions. |
Once the loud music, singing, and flash-mob dancing stopped, we got some interested listeners.
A little crowd formed after answering questions and reasoning with people from the Scriptures.
Then the crowd really started growing:
Then the crowd got large, ranging at times between 80-100 students. At one point there were so many students standing and listening that it seemed to cause some foot traffic congestion.
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| At one point there were actually more students than this standing around listening. |
IN CONCLUSION, what I love about doing outreaches like this is that when get decent-sized crowds, we get them for the "right" reasons; i.e., we are fielding questions, grappling with the various theological, philosophical, and scientific issues and objections that the students raise and we strive to answer their questions with Scripture and reason while being mindful to finish with the gospel. In other words, the crowds are drawn with the
truth, and not flashy showmanship, shock-and-awe condemnatory preaching, or any other kooky antics. Our desire is to expose them to the embodiment of the truth, namely, Christ Jesus Himself. We never cut corners when it comes to discussing God's justice, wrath, and the sinfulness of sin, but we exalt Christ and seek to make much of Him while making little of ourselves. Our desire is to make Jesus famous for the great Savior that He is and the response we get from students is often very encouraging. As has happened many times before, both believing and unbelieving students came up and thanked us for our approach, our genteel spirit and disposition, and our desire to lovingly proclaim Christ's glorious gospel message in a spiritually dark environment. May we thank our Majestic Triune God for the opportunity to have a small part in the great work of harvesting souls.
