Public Preaching on Campus Training

Below is a summary manuscript of a recent spontaneous
training we had with our CCN associates from different
campuses on the calling to PUBLIC PREACHING on
university campuses. We had pastor Steve J who
preached outdoors on campus at Ohio State University in the 70's
share his wisdom, experiences and strategies with students
from UCLA, Stanford, UC Davis, UCSD, SFSU, SJSU, Ivy's,
OSU, Colorado U, on the call....may the Lord raise up
Day of the Lord apostolic preachers from coast to coast
across every university in North America!!!!

read & study the notes: pray on it and preach it!
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CONFERENCE CALL (4.19.05)
Apostolic Preaching & Prophetic Worship

Outdoor worship & Outdoor preaching (Pastor Steve)
How often do you hear the phrase: “I don’t want to preach at you” à cultural subtext that says we need to be ashamed of that… but it should be unapologetic and aggressive!

If you feel you don’t know anything or don’t really know what you’re doing, that’s a good sign à the Holy Spirit is our teacher!

I had that Holy Spirit dissatisfaction of not seeing the fruit I’ve wanted à and that fruit was in the part of winning souls. And though winning souls isn’t the only fruit, it IS a part of our fruit—winning people to the Lord. If you can endure the humiliation, fear, intimidation, personal agony of dragging yourself out à it will revolutionize YOU... whether you change your campus or not

I heard the Lord say, “I will not dishonor those who put themselves out there for my name”

I also felt him say to me, “Go read John Wesley’s journal” à Methodist church was literally born out of street preaching à not necessarily the streets, but public places… open air... non-church oriented places

How many of you have seen that man standing on the street corners saying, “Repent or you’re going to hell!” We have to remember that we first of all are ministers of reconciliation… that’s what we’re called to do. You’re actually not very good at what you do when you start doing it. First of all, examine your motives. Why are you doing it? Is it because Jaeson’s encouraging it? If so, you’re going to BURN out because of that. I never woke up and said, “Oh boy! I’m going to get persecuted today!” You’re not doing this for you! You’re not doing this to grow your ministry. You’re doing this because you love the Lord! You have to be convinced that this is a biblical model. How many one-on-one (excluding disciples) encounters did Jesus have? There’s only 3 à Nicodemus, woman at the well, and Zaccheus (in a crowd, but singled him out) à But it’s always in a crowd where Jesus has been preaching! They ALWAYS went to the open air where there are lots of people milling about. Jesus himself preached to the principalities and powers. A season he went through was intercession, but one of the things God showed him was that street preaching was one of the most POWERFUL forms of spiritual warfare... I felt the Lord say as I was preaching, “I want you to start prophesying to the territorial spirits that you are declaring victory over the land!”

How many converts did Ezekiel have? Jonah was the briefest preacher (like a lot of us... he really didn’t wanna be there) and how many converts did he have? You’re not gonna become one unless you do it everyday! Unless you put yourself out there. I would get mildly angry people because of what I said. The prophets didn’t talk about love too much à they preached a lot of repentance (to the Gentiles and the religious) Jesus NEVER denigrated other human beings. He called sin ‘sin’ but was unflinching. You have to deal with your own heart à When you say, “Love the sinner, hate the sin” do you really mean it? Do you really love them? You have to love them. Jesus never denigrated others.

You HAVE to know the word of God and have it in your heart... because your words aren’t going to make an impact. Speak the truth to them. And give the credit where it’s due. Put the footnote. “The Bible says” “the Word says” “It is written in the Bible” à Remember, those who are most engaged with you (particularly through persecution or debates).. At first, you’ll get a dry throat and you may get reaaally scared. But let me tell you something—USE IT. It means something’s happening. They may be demonic, they may not become impacted by the Holy Spirit, but they may be the ones who create the crowd… The ones sitting to the side and seeing my reaction and thinking, “Maybe he’s unto something” that would become impacted.

Acts 17 describes Paul’s approach to preaching à “He disputed in the market daily” à interesting choice of word. You’re dealing with the Good News but they can’t know that until there’s bad news.

BE BRIEF.
When you see preaching in the NT, you don’t see that happening in the house churches. We don’t want to preach to the pep rally—what we REALLY want is to get in the game! Not standing on the side. And the Game is TOUGH. You have to be willing to have a huge crowd cheering for you. I’m really proud of you women… there were times when I’ve gotten spat on. And there were times when I’ve really wanted to hit people.

TECHNIQUES à I’ve tried being real loud and screaming and I’ve found out generally that I didn’t have to be that loud. I did have to project through. It’s generally inexpensive, very effective, and just TRUST on the Holy Spirit... and he WILL come through. Just develop a set of text. If you can, get people to come and pray for you as you’re preaching. The people that would join would be the converts he won through preaching.

The NT is FULL of street preaching. The American church is mostly about giving talks to one another while the world dies. I think there is a reluctance out there in the body of Christ. I’ve learned to recognize the power of the HS à words of knowledge (There are times I totally change what I’m talking about because someone walked by and God wanted me to talk to him).

If you go overseas, you hear voices of young preachers preaching in the villages in third world countries. We don’t see that in America. When you’re out there by yourself, all you have is the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. If He doesn’t show up, you’re going to flop! TOTAL reliance on the Holy Spirit. Some of you guys may naturally have the gift of humor. USE THAT! Mike was able to create a cult following of antagonists, but people that loved his jokes. He had such an incredible gift of telling jokes. I’ve developed a sense of humor since doing this for a long time. I understood that I wasn’t always going to be on my game. And one of the advantages I had was that I was a southerner in a Yankee campus, and I used that card a lot. Getting people’s attention is not going to be easy. You have to address issues. You have to. I don’t know how you do this preaching without that.

Q raised: Did you plan on saying the same things everyday?
A: I’d go out from 2-4 everyday and to do that, you have to have new material. I learned how to preach and communicate through this. If I can get and keep an unbeliever’s attention for 5 minutes, I knew I had good stuff. I read voraciously. I became a reader. I had broken down Evidence that Demands a Verdict and read that book. I would talk about the demonic. Became an expert on abortion. Became an expert on spiritual forces. I didn’t even have an opinion on, but I became an expert on stuff like this. Someone else would know more about it and say, “Well what about this???” and I’d be speechless… but that’s sometimes the Lord teaching you. Humbling you.

There’s always the debating part where you’re challenging others’ belief systems. They’re believing a lie! They believe it’s ok to hate people because others have been horrible to them. They believe in unforgiveness. So what I always try to do is to get into “well what is it you believe about yourself that makes you act that way?” try to delve into a person’s belief system and try to get the truth out about it.

My heart is overseas. This kind of preaching is SO effective overseas. I’ve literally seen a whole village come to the Lord with one sermon (saying to my translators, “I think you have to say this again because I don’t think they know what I’m saying”) and hundreds of more people would get saved. I’ve NEVER had that kind of response in America. It’s pathetically discouraging. In America, it seems it’s more like it’s hammering into a rock. And SOMEBODY’s part of seeing the fruit. I’m excited about you guys. About this generation…and I’d love if my ceiling would be your floor.

Be prepared to give an answer for the hope you believe.
Revelation means you have a spiritual cognizant and there will be a process to profess the hope in which you believe. It will drive you to the point where you will be able to answer it. “I’ve sent that guy to teach you” you need to develop an apologetic (a defense of the faith) EVERYONE READ CS LEWIS MERE CHRISTIANITY, THE GREAT DIVORCE BY CS LEWIS, EVIDENCE THAT DEMANDS A VERDICT. You guys HAVE to prepare yourself for the greatest debate. Daniel and his other brothers had the Spirit of Excellence upon them. They were experts in the Kingdom of God as well as the King’s. The Word is about words! Words of power. The word is a hammer. If you don’t know how to handle the word of God in your mouth, that’s no excuse. THEN GO STUDY THE WORD. These debates you get into, the mockers, the skeptics (skeptics are good.. they have Qs). USE the mockers. I’ve made every mistake. Called people “you idiot” and I’ve literally had to repent in front of the crowd. Let those points drive you to maturity. Other times, I was unflappable in my approach. Jesus very often ignored the Q and said what he wanted to say. And often he would answer the Q with a Q. Jesus was a storyteller. Use the Matrix and the Gladiator. Become an EXPERT at telling the story of THE MATRIX! Hollywood’s getting better at telling stories than Christians are at telling biblical stories! Learn to communicate in the language of today’s culture. If I were out there preaching today, I would use SNL, Bud Light commercials, etc. Language and literature that’s out there today. I want to be culturally relevant, but NOT getting into the disrespect and denigration of the culture. YOU NEVER WANT TO GET INTO THAT TRAP. You never want to WIN arguments—you want to bring CONVICTION. You’re not a leader of the debate team; you’re a preacher of the Gospel. It’s hard to separate flesh, soul, and body when you’re out there, but keep trying and learning.

I HIGHLY recommend a teammate. You should probably always do that. Go out with someone. There is an element of personality to this à but you’ve got to have the determination to do this whether you have a partner or not. I did it out of love of the Lord. People who don’t have a pretty tough personality, it’s even harder for them. My whole life I’ve kind of been wired this way. I’ve always been kind of tough and risky. Most street preachers who endure do it by themselves. You’re going to get most discouraged by Christians. More people are going to encourage you by non-believers. They’re the ones who come up afterwards and ask you questions. After I preach, I’d go up to someone and say, “So what do you think. You think I’m crazy?” After a few minutes of talking some might say, “Woah. You’re actually pretty normal. So what made you do that up there?” and then I’d share my testimony and THAT’s what would do it. There were rare times in the bible in which huge crowds of ppl got saved à the Isaiahs, the Ezekiels, etc. they didn’t see that kind of fruit. And yet we think preaching’s always going to bear the kind of fruit like Peter. That’s not the norm.

Expect difficulties. The fruit of open air preaching is PERSECUTION. How do you like that?

That’s part of the fruit of publicly declaring the word. I’d get famous like that: “There goes the preacher!” and I’d later go talk to them and they’d find out I’m pretty normal

YWAM has some of the best stuff. SKITS. DRAMA. Think of drama as a way of communicating the story. And if you can get 1 or 2 ppl, play off of each other. The Holy Spirit’s SO creative!!! Or one of you can be praying (for support, for courage). Being nice is NOT a Bible virtue. It’s a huge virtue in post-modern era, but not in the Bible. Being COURAGEOUS IS.

It doesn’t mean you don’t feel the fear when you’re out there. It means you still persevere on. DON’T PRAY AGAINST THE SPIRIT OF FEAR—PRAY FOR THE SPIRIT OF COURAGE TO COME UPON YOU. This is REALLY lacking in the church. And we NEED it!

I’ll just end with one thing very near on my heart—When I’m hearing you guys willing to do, it makes my heart weep. Because there were no people doing this... at least no young people when I was your age. Do it and you WILL see an incredible harvest. It may not be directly from this, but it is directly related to it.

Jaeson:
This is going to be a prophetic act for God to invade with power—signs, wonders, and miracles!
If you’re looking for encouragement to do this, you’re not going to find it. You just gotta know you’re called to do it. The sheer fact that you’re doing this, God will be faithful to do the good work He’s started.
Be obedient to what the HS has called us to do.
1. If we can’t find a team, we gotta trust the Lord by going out on our own.
2. What we’ve been doing at San Jose State U., have prophetic worshippers out there… Somehow that dynamic brings in the presence of the Lord. Have someone interceding while preaching. Others out there worshipping. If you’re blessed to have that kind of a team, USE it. If you don’t, just be faithful! DO IT. God will show up.

The goal is to preach it! Share your testimony and speak it!

Steve:
I know what it’s been like to backslide.
When you go into street preaching, you’re taking on the enemy and he will HATE you. But JESUS will LOVE you. I KNOW how difficult it is. My greatest hurts and disappointments have been not through unbelievers, but through believers. It’s an adventure and it’s a good way to get healed.

I’m the only Steve Jellicorse in the Raleigh, NC phonebook. If you need to call, if you just want to talk, call me. If you need a Papa, call me. Take advantage of this offer.

One last story of encouragement that almost always produces a rod of steel in my backbone.

John Wesley had almost no mockers when he was preaching in open spaces and the conviction of the HS came upon him. He started crying and praying out loud, “O Lord, what have I done that I am not provoking the enemy!! He was crying and beseeching the Lord. A drunk man was walking by, heard Wesley’s cries, threw a rock at him and said, “Would you shut up!!”

Wesley immediately began praising the Lord & saying, THANK YOU! That’s the mentality our forerunners had. They weren’t scared. They gave thanks for this persecution. America lacks this today, but let’s bring this back!

posted by Jaeson Ma @ 4/21/2005 11:39:00 PM