The GOSPEL TRUTH
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WHO WILL RISE UP?

by JED SMOCK

 Copyright by Jed Smock 1985

Used by Permission

Confrontational Evangelism on Campus

 

Chaper 16

SAINTS OF VALOR

"Mama, you've got to come down on campus and hear this man preach; the students can handle anything but the truth."

Mrs. Pat Noordewier listened skeptically as her son Tommy described my ministry and the student response at the University of Wisconsin. Then he handed her a copy of my testimony tract "From Death to Life." When Mrs. Noordewier saw the top picture of me as a hippie freak she decided to go to campus and make sure I was not a guru. She insisted her husband Mick take off work early and they both hurried to the scene.

Witnessing The Campus Ministry first hand, Mrs. Noordewier exclaimed, "This must be the way Jesus did it." That evening the Noordewiers took me to dinner and I was able to explain my purpose and methods. They asked if there was anything they could do to help. I told them that Sister Cindy and a companion would be coming through town in a few weeks and if they could give them lodging it would be a big help. They agreed.

The Noordewiers soon became our best supporters. Mrs. Noordewier started making most of Sister Cindy's clothes. When any of the campus preachers came to town they were welcomed at the Noordewiers! They often helped with our car expenses and gave us love offerings to send us to the next city. This, coupled with their friendship, was a great blessing. But we did not realize that God had an even greater purpose in introducing us to the Noordewiers; He was going to raise up another campus preacher.

Sister Pat

From the beginning Mrs. Noordewier would join us on campus and pray for the students as we preached to them. We recognized that she had a great zeal for the lost but we were ignorant of her burning desire to preach the Gospel.

In the fall of 1981 Sister Cindy and Mrs. Noordewier journeyed to her alma mater, the University of Arkansas. Sister Cindy had been preaching to a huge crowd for several hours and she needed a break. She told the crowd that she was going inside for a few minutes but if they had any questions Mrs. Noordewier would answer them.

To their surprise the whole crowd surrounded her and began asking questions. She spent two hours giving a reason for the faith that is within her.

This was the beginning of "Sister Pat" and her ministry to college students. The following spring she joined Sister Cindy on college campuses in Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Colorado.

Sister Pat returned to Madison with a burden to preach at the University of Wisconsin. Mick gave his blessing and she started preaching there regularly--and immediately gained attention on campus. Not only is Sister Pat anointed of God to preach but she has a natural talent for silencing the hecklers and answering trick questions.

One day as Cindy preached, the crowd grew exceptionally rowdy. She retreated inside and answered questions. When she returned Sister Pat had the crowd calmed and listening.

Sister Cindy later asked her how she did it.

She responded, "I'm experienced, I raised three children of my own."

Some might suggest that college students could not relate to a grandmother, but Sister Pat's age gives her more credibility and demands respect. The students look at her as a mother image. In this generation of rebellious women the youth need such a godly example.

 

Although Pat always led a conservative and outwardly moral life, she was not always a godly example. The Noordewiers were the typical affluent American family. Mick worked his way to a top administrative position in the U.S. Forest Service. He was a good husband and father. Pat was a capable wife and mother, a good companion to her husband and instructor to her children. For years the Noordewiers were Presbyterians. Mick was a deacon in the church and Pat was a Sunday school teacher. Nevertheless, they were selfish, lost and hell-bound.

 

In 1972 Sister Pat went with her sister to a Pentecostal Church meeting in Little Rock, Arkansas. That night Pat was wonderfully saved and filled with the Holy Spirit. She rushed home and told her husband the exciting news. Mick began to seek God more and was converted. Pat immediately had two great desires: one, thoroughly study the Scriptures; two, win the whole world to Christ. Each day after Mick went to the office she quickly did the house work and then spent hours studying and reading the Bible. God was preparing her for The Campus Ministry.

For years Sister Pat was a regular fixture in the free speech mall at the University of Wisconsin until after Mick retired they moved from Madison to Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. They purchased a motor home and still tour universities and colleges with Jim Gilles or Sister Cindy and me. Mick witnesses while the rest of us preach.

bobby Bible and the CHRISTIAN BROTHERS

When I started preaching on campus Holy Hubert Lindsey was the only person I knew who ministered in our way. Later, I met bobby BIBLE and PAUL mitchell who started a preaching ministry on campuses in 1968.

bobby BIBLE is a Holy Ghost Southern California original. The best way to convey his story is in his own unedited words (except for unintentional typos) and unique writing style:

 

 

DEAR BROTHER JED THE EVANGELIST

AMERICA'S #1 campus/univ. PREACHER july 9, 1993 A.D.

resume

1) testimony/born los angeles 1939 to hollywood movie musician with stewart hamlin and the "SONS OF THE PIONEERS" roy rogers movies etc....schooled so. calif. introduced to JESUS CHRIST via campus crusade 4 CHRIST univ. calif. long beach...BORN AGAIN may 5 1962 3am after party balboa island while in U.S. army...JOHN 3:16-21...NEW NAME BOBBY bible II Cor. 5:17.

2) age 54 never married 3rd class eunuch Matt. 19:12c...never lived with woman...however to my shame not a virgin like STEVEN THE BRAIN...no kids born raised lived so. calif. & started church 1968...CHRISTIAN BROTHERS.

3) "CALLED INTO MINISTRY' by HOLY GHOST at betheny baptist church missionary conf. went forward to be WITNESS/MISSIONARY TO SO. CALIF. to PRAISE PREACH GOD AND LIFT UP THE LORD JESUS CHRIST TO HEATHEN SO. CALIF. began BIBLE STUDY TEACHING BATTLE JESUS CHRIST HAD WITH PHARISEES his so called brethren in GOD...JER. 23, EZEK. 34 & MATT 23...REV. 3:15.

4) "INFLUENCE BY"...PROPHETS, JESUS, billy graham, holy hubert at univ. cal berkeley...campus crusade for christ called all ministries to berkeley feb. 67...hal lindsey taught, billy graham came to speak...dennis agajanian & i observed holy hubert and preached also...

5) jed smock "who will rise up?" EDIFIED OUR MINISTRY IN THE BOOK AND greatly encourage us to CONTINUE TO RISE UP...WITH JED as a NEW EXAMPLE OF what holy hubert and campus crusade for CHRIST are about...

6) began preaching on campuses 68...to contend with black panthers and SDS students for democratic society on campuses...+preach against the anti-vietnam war protestors...mainly hit campuses so. calif...STEVEN being most faithful so. calif...BRO PAUL also since the beginning 68 + PAUL travels some also...PAUL hosts friends of jed so. calif.

7) immediate future continue to PREACH TO MAJOR HEATHEN EVENTS SO. CALIF. and CONTINUE TO SOUND ALERT TO SLEEPING CHURCH REBUKING THEM AS GOD'S PROPHETS REBUKED ISRAEL IN OT...PAUL plans to hit pope denver aug. and i leave shortly to help op. rescue san jose, calif.

8) am founder and pastor of CHRISTIAN BROTHERS CHURCH who allows single men to be in authority...small home BIBLE STUDY...had as many as 13-15 at height of JESUS PEOPLE MOVEMENT IN late 60's early 70s have dropped to 9-11 now our all time low & need REVIVAL AND CHURCH GROWTH.

9) bob BIBLE pres. christian defense league, STEVEN THE BRAIN CBC minister of education and founder of virgin pride newsletter a must for single men. STEVEN ALSO FOUNDER OF CHRISTIAN ANTI DEFAMATION LEAGUE...

10)future plans...PREACH REVIVAL II Chron. 7:14 and offering ourselves as candidates for pres. of U.S.A. KING KEY-lor=STEVEN THE BRAIN AND his PROPHET bobby BIBLE V-P year 2,000 A.D. an ACT OF FAITH IN GOD AS PER HEBREWS 11...BY FAITH...GOD MUST BE IN IT AND DO IT FOR IT TO HAPPEN our unincorporated status allows us to run as working tax paying citizens via the CHRISTIAN PATRIOTIC PARTY OF GOD...orange county calif."

 

The following letter is one of bobby BIBLE'S notable church alerts:

 

ATTENTION: BELIEVERS IN JESUS CHRIST

amen for your faith, prayers, good works, & preaching the GOSPEL

-BUT-

REPENT FOR YOUR LUKEWARMNESS (Revelation 3:15-16)

1) JESUS CHRIST SAID: "WHAT I TELL YOU IN DARKNESS, THAT SPEAK YE IN LIGHT; AND WHAT YE HEAR IN THE EAR, THAT PREACH YE UPON THE HOUSETOPS" (Matthew 10:27)...street preaching....Jesus Christ (John 7:28), John the Baptist (Matthew 3:1-3), the apostles (Acts 2:14; 17:16-17), + the prophets (Jeremiah 7:2; 11:6; 26:2) were STREET PREACHERS....taking the word of GOD to STREET CORNERS, MARKETS, wherever people gather together, and get up unannounced, uninvited, and PREACH OUT LOUD TO MULTITUDES. MOST CHURCHES TODAY HAVE DROPPED THE MINISTRY OF OPEN-AIR STYLE PREACHING, and replaced it with Gospel concerts, Gospel puppet shows, Gospel prizes, social programs, 'friendship evangelism,' etc., etc....all very expensive and bureaucratic: OPEN AIR PREACHING IS THE LEAST EXPENSIVE, LEAST BUREAUCRATIC, MOST EFFECTIVE WAY TO GET THE GOSPEL TO LARGE NUMBERS OF PEOPLE WHO NEED IT THE MOST. you spend million$ on Gospel tv to reach people who turn on Gospel tv=mostly believers; STREET PREACHERS REACH CROWDS THAT ARE 90% UNSAVED AT NO COST TO ANYBODY. REPENT, O CHURCH OF GOD, AND GET BACK TEACHING, TRAINING, ENCOURAGING, PROMOTING, SUPPORTING YOUNG MEN AS OPEN AIR PREACHERS

on the streets, beaches, parks rock concerts, sports events, etc....SPURGEON SAID: "no sort of defence is needed for preaching out of doors, but it would need very potent arguments to prove that a man had done his duty who has never preached beyond the walls of his meeting-house." + "REVIVALS of religion have usually been accompanied, if not caused, by a considerable amount of preaching out of doors, or in unusual places." FAMOUS STREET PREACHERS THROUGHOUT CHURCH HISTORY WHO STARTED GREAT REVIVALS: Peter waldo & the waldenses (12th cent. france), John wycliffe & the lollards (14th cent. england), george wishart & John knox (16th cent. scotland), howell harris america, the great awakening), spurgeon (19th, 20th cent. america) + billy sunday and billy graham started that way....many of you think street preaching is for beginners, until they 'move on' to 'something better' which is usually some big buck$ bureaucratic ministry not in the BIBLE.

2) every year in our large cities there are MAJOR EVENTS of an ungodly nature: MILITANT HOMOSEXUALS MARCHING IN THE STREETS, COMMUNIST RALLIES, CULT & OCCULT ACTIVITIES, EASTERN RELIGIONS, PORNOGRAPHIC EVENTS involving many thousands of people who need JESUS CHRIST, and God standing with the word of God to warn these people (Ezekiel 3:15-21; 33:7-9) and stand against their ungodliness. DRUGS, CRIME, VD, ABORTION, FORNICATION, SEX PERVERSION, SMUT, HERESY, APOSTASY, COMMUNISM and other anti-Christian forces are gaining round in this country BECAUSE THE SLEEPING, SLOTHFUL, LAZY BODY OF CHRIST STANDS BY AND DOES ALMOST NOTHING. MILITANT HOMOSEXUALS HAVE MADE GREAT GAINS IN THE LAST 20 YEARS BECAUSE THEY MARCH IN THE STREETS AND CAN SAY NO ONE OUT THERE IS OPPOSED (except a group in new york from St. patrick's catholic church, and bobby BIBLE and his group on the west coast). WAKE UP, LUKEWARM CHURCHES, AND TAKE A SIGN AND A BIBLE AND SOME TRACTS AND SHOW UP AT THESE UNGODLY MARCHES, PARADES, EVENTS, ACTIVITIES AND STAND UP FOR GOD AND JESUS CHRIST AND THE BIBLE (Ephesians 5:11).

3) JESUS SAID: THERE BE EUNUCHS WHICH HAVE MADE THEMSELVES EUNUCHS FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN'S SAKE" (MATTHEW 19:12)...PAUL SAID, HE THAT IS UNMARRIED CARETH FOR THE THINGS OF THE LORD, HOW HE MAY PLEASE THE LORD: BUT HE THAT IS MARRIED CARETH FOR THE THINGS OF THE WORLD, HOW HE MAY PLEASE HIS WIFE" (1 Cor. 7:32-33). REPENT CHURCHES, FOR FAILING TO TEACH, SUPPORT, ENCOURAGE YOUNG MEN TO CONSIDER (not 1 Tim. 4:3) STAYING SINGLE (Jer. 16:1-4; Rev. 14:4).

 

Bro Cope

In the fall of 1977 Max Lynch and I were making a tour of the eastern campuses and stopped at Penn State University. At the end of the day Bro Cope, a man in his late twenties, introduced himself to us. He had been a radical in the sixties who had graduated from Penn State several years earlier. After his conversion Bro returned to his alma mater having said to God, "Lord, I'll do anything you want me to do but don't make me preach." But by Easter 1977 Bro was preaching to crowds of several hundred in front of Willard Hall.

God directed him not to get a job so that he could devote himself to working full-time on the campus to promote revival. The first year he had to live in his car through a cold Pennsylvania winter. Miraculously the Lord provided food for him. On one winter day Bro walked by a restaurant and found a hot meat loaf sandwich wrapped on the window sill. No one was in sight on the street. Even though he only had an income of $880 his first year, all his needs were supplied without taking government relief or asking anyone for money or any other help.

Bro and his associate, Steve Michaels, had worked hard to break up the fallow ground and prepare the students' hearts for our message. On several return visits to Penn State I worked and fellowshipped closely with these brethren. Each year I would encourage Bro to travel the southern states with me in the winter. Finally, in February of 1982, God released Bro to accompany me for six weeks. He returned to Penn State with a renewed vision. Bro wanted to be on the road more in 1982-83 but he did not have suitable transportation. Therefore, he prayed that God would give him a good car. In order to answer his prayer the Lord motivated the Fortress Church in Lawrenceville, Georgia, to give me a generous downpayment on a new Chrysler New Yorker. Then the Lord led me to give my Chrysler Cordoba to Bro.

Early in 1983 Bro and I were ministering at UCLA. Bro was preaching to the Jews. "You are stiff-necked and hard-hearted, and are always resisting the Holy Spirit."

Suddenly two Jews ran up to the podium to attack him but Bro faced them down as he plunged in the sword even deeper, cutting to the quick.

One of them threatened, "If you didn't have glasses on I would punch you in the mouth."

Bro obliged him by removing his glasses and thrusting out his chin to make an easier target and the man backed down.

The next day Bro waxed bolder and repeatedly commanded the crowd, "Repent now, in the name of Jesus. Fall to your knees on the grass and repent." He kept this up for several minutes.

A young man approached Bro. "What do you want?" Bro asked, assuming him to be another mocker.

"I want to get saved," he replied. He knelt in front of 120 people and repented.

Bro turned the crowd over to me and he began to minister to the new convert. Meanwhile, a girl approached Bro and confessed that she had been a Christian but had turned to fornication, partying and drunkenness. When the young man had knelt down, she was so convicted that she also repented.

Later, when Bro was preaching again, one of the Jews who had tried to attack him the previous day came up to me to talk. I asked him if he wanted to get saved. He said, "Yes." Right after he prayed, he came forward to testify to the crowd of his conversion. Since there were so many Jewish infidels in the crowd, he was immediately besieged by these zealots. He continued to testify of how he felt changed.

In the Spring of 1984 Bro preached at Texas Tech University in Lubbock where he encountered extreme difficulty with wimpy religionists. One fellow stood most of the day listening intently and observing the furor surrounding the preaching of the Gospel. Towards the end of the day he asked to address the crowd. He chided them saying, "You have been trying to discredit this evangelist all day but have been unable. He has completely destroyed every objection you people have raised."

Naturally, Bro thought the man to be a Christian. Finally, as Bro was preparing to leave, he asked, "Are there any more questions?"

Bro's defender quickly said, "Yes, where do we go from here?"

"Are you a Christian?" Bro asked.

"No."

"Would you like to be?"

"Yes."

Bro began to tell him of the extreme cost of following Jesus in terms of total commitment, holy living and persecution. Try as he did, Bro was not able to dissuade him from getting saved. Bro turned him over to a pastor--a man he was working with--for more ministry. The pastor spent several hours telling him of the cost. He could not dissuade him from salvation (not that they did not want him to be saved but that they wanted an informed convert).

Finally, the young man said, "Look, if Jesus tells me tomorrow to go to Africa, I am ready to obey Him." They thought he was surely ready. He lit up like a Roman candle as soon as he prayed for salvation. Today he is going strong in the faith in Lubbock.

Bro went off the road to concentrate on his ministry at Penn State. So many young men followed Bro's example at Penn State that for a time there was somewhat of a problem as to who would speak when. Several that Bro trained are in preaching ministries across the country. Bro contended zealously for the perfection of the saints and suffered much for the cause of Christ, but never received much financial backing.

Because of family needs, Bro had to leave the preaching ministry. Bro had studied computer science as an undergraduate at Penn State University. Despite having been away from the field for a decade, he quickly became a highly paid computer consultant for major corporations. Today Bro teaches the Bible to a congregation he founded at Penn State. Although he is rarely able to preach on campus, he supports the ministry of one of his disciples Gary Cantrel who preaches three day a week at Penn State. Bro is also one of my most faithful financial supporters.

 

Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. I Corinthians 1:11

 

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