The Campus: Jesus Awareness Week

Report on Open-Air Campus Preaching, Oct. 3-5, UMD and WSU

*Watch this cool video collage: http://vimeo.com/30530684
View flickr photo sets on : http://www.flickr.com/photos/anchorcherry/sets/
Raw Video 1: http://vimeo.com/30441547 Raw Video 2: http://vimeo.com/30441359  
*Vimeo PASSWORD: anchor123

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your prayers for Jesus Awareness Week. We did open-air preaching and contact evangelism at UM Dearborn and Wayne State University, and we were especially fishing for Muslim students. Pastor Mohammed Yamout (above center + videos) from Tyre Baptist Church in Lebanon was with us, as were a number of other local Christians. The first two days of ministry took place at the University of Michigan in Dearborn outside the University Center building. Day 3 was at Wayne State University in Detroit. *I've been impressed with how often UMD students have asked me whether I am a student there, to which I am very glad to say "yes". (See the last paragraph below under Art 104).

Monday, 10/3

On Monday, it was a great pleasure to have Pastor Johnny Aho from Dearborn Covenant Church come out for his first try at open-air preaching; partly because he is a super nice guy, but also because he's a local pastor who was moved to give it a try. He said that if he expects the people of his congregation to do evangelism then he has to model it and prove that it's important to him first. Good point, Johnny! And thanks for being part of the mix that day. =) Thanks also to my friend Aldo who works nearby and came during his lunch hour to do personal evangelism.

After the three of us prayed together, I went first to break the ice, and then Pastor Johnny. Although we did not preach for long, it was enough to catch the attention of Hassan, a friendly Muslim student. He did not stop on his first passby, but he did come back. He walked right up to Mohammed, who was sitting on a bench, and wanted to know what we were doing and why we were doing it. That turned into a 2-hour conversation between the two of them in which Mohammed explained the gospel to Hassan in depth. (At that moment Pastor Johnny and I were talking to the sergeant of the campus police who was called to see what we were doing, and if there was any reason to be concerned. When he saw that there wasn't he simply told us to carry on as long as we liked. He was rather pleasant.) Note: Hassan said he didn't approach us because he approved of what we were doing, but because he didn't. He thought there were better ways to communicate a religious message. But we couldn't help pointing out to him that, in fact, he was the only student that approached us to discuss our message.) Later, a Christian woman stopped to encourage us and thank us for having the boldness to preach the gospel in public.

Tuesday, 10/4

To keep this short, let me just give you some highlights. Tuesday the weather was even nicer—it was gorgeous! And all of the team preaching team showed up: Pastor Mohammed, Sam and Bethany, and Samuel Rodriguez. We had Brother Aldo again to engage the passers-by, and observers Blaine and Lisa and Stan Koster from Ward Pres. On this day we weren't ready to go until about 12:30, but when we did go we got an immediate audience. Sam started with an illustrated sermon, which you can see by clicking on video link #4 link above followed by Samuel Rodriguez. The whole time we were preaching Pastor Mo and Aldo were approaching people with tracts, which resulted in several long gospel conversations. Pastor Mo got involved with two Muslim students, Bilal and Firas, with whom he asserted the truths of the gospel; and Aldo talked to who-knows-how-many students during this time. Finally he called me into a conversation with Ali, a Pakistani Muslim student who knew the Bible fairly well. At that moment Ali wanted to know, "Where in the Bible did Jesus ever say, "I am God"? I asserted that this statement is not the only way for a divine person to express his divinity, and I began to show him Bible passages to illustrate this point (John 5, 6, 8, 10, and Mark 2 if I recall). Suffice it to say that I talked with him for about another 50 minutes and got his number so I could follow up with him. (Since then we've been having a text dialogue about Genesis 1 and the 6 days of creation; he says he's too busy to meet up for awhile.) Several more Christian students stopped by to tell us "Good job" and "Keep up the good work"; and to ask questions about who we were. Some Cristian students were visibly uncomfortable with this approach, but some were clearly encourged by it (reminding me of what Paul wrote in Phil. 1:14: http://www.esvbible.org/search/phil+1%3A14/). We were very thankful for the ways that the Holy Spirit was present in power to testify to the Son of God.

Wednesday, 10/5

On the third day we moved over to Wayne State University and started at 11:00 a.m. We had all the same speakers but different observers. *Take a few minutes to look at the videos and pics in our vimeo and flickr accounts. In short, the Spirit of Jesus was present to help us proclaim his message in power and love, and there were several dozen students who received a bilingual tract from Pastor Mo. The very first person whom he approached was a Lebanese-American girl who read the whole tract immediately; who can tell what God will do in her heart now? When it was time to preach our line-up was similar and good numbers of students gathered to listen. After he preached, on our way to the airport, Pastor Mo and I were reflecting on how much easier it was to attract an audience at WSU than at UMD, a fact that I had observed before. Please view video #2 above to hear Pastor Mo's poignant comments on this approach to ministry.

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Art 104: Art History of the Middle East

As I said in my last email I am now an official student at UM Dearborn. Part of my reason for taking the class above was to gain a more legitimate presence on campus. My logic was that becoming a student would give me a stronger position of ministry, and I believe the Lord was asking me to do it. The "stretch of faith" was that the course was $1700, money that I don't have and not in the Anchor budget. If you feel moved to help defray the cost of this course, we would be grateful to the Lord and to you.

For the Glory of His Son,

Scott

General or designated gifts can be sent to Anchor Ministries: 6142 McGuire, Taylor, MI, 48180. Thank you for undergirding this ministry in prayer and learning more about God's heart to save Muslim people. Yours in Christ, Scott, JoEllen and the Anchor Team: Bill, Elizabeth, Elaine, Cindy, and Janie.