South
Dakota - Montana -Wyoming We spent the first week of the Head West Campus Tour in the state of South Dakota where the historic referendum to outlaw abortion looms. The Lord, in His providence, directed us to go there long before the referendum became an issue. Our first day of the Tour, Monday, September 18th, we went to the University of South Dakota in Vermillion and put out thousands upon thousands of pieces of literature which expose the atrocities of Planned Parenthood. This was important as Planned Parenthood runs the lone abortuary in the whole state. Our literature exposes the brutal crimes committed against the preborn, and presents the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. One of the websites our literature directs people to is http://www.needgod.com which is run by Ray Comfort out of California. We had a lot of good interaction with the students even though it was chilly (thanks be to God the rain held off!). One professor even brought her class out to interact with some of our people! The busy intersection was no small stir as many did not want to be exposed to the truth of baby-murder (desiring rather to comfort their consciences with political platitudes). Counter protestors showed up both on the campus and at the busy intersection.
In God's providence (we had planned to go to Brookings the first day, but the weather forced us south to Vermillion), there was a homosexual marriage symposium at the university in the evening. Not only is South Dakota voting on outlawing abortion, but they also have a referendum wherein they will vote to outlaw same-sex marriage in November. We were able to have a dozen from our group go to this large gathering (which turned out to be nothing more than a rally for the homosexual lobby) and raise a standard, having opportunity to speak at the microphone and declare God's perspective regarding this matter. There were only two other Christians there and they were fearful to speak, so it was good that our people were there! As we have noted in the past, while we are encouraged that this present generation of young people are overwhelmingly pro-life and are throwing off the lie of abortion, at the same time, they are taking the homosexual lie hook, line, and sinker. Therefore, it is important for us to speak of this matter too! On the second day of our Tour, we split the group. We left a small detachment of 8 people back at the university in Vermillion to preach God's Word on campus regarding homosexuality. They had banners addressing the matter and gospel tracts we have written directed towards homosexuals. The rest of us went to South Dakota State University in Brookings where we had much interaction with students.
On the third day of the Tour, we split the group into three separate teams and covered a lot of geographical territory. One team stayed in Sioux Falls and ministered outside the lone killing center in South Dakota run by Planned Parenthood (PP). PP was in a tizzy and there was much police contact. The team was there most the day and then lit dropped the high school which was right across the street from the killing-center.
Another team went back to South Dakota State University in Brookings and did a set up on behalf of the preborn for one class break (we were there the entire day before speaking up for the preborn). The team then left and went to Dakota State University in Madison where they set up and passed out literature for the rest of the day there. After the second team left Brookings, another team arrived and set up to preach regarding homosexuality. The pro-aborts had organized and came around the corner with their signs to find - not pro-life demonstrators - but people speaking out against homosexuality! They were confused and red with embarrassment. A crowd had already begun to gather. For the next four hours, a crowd of about 200 students interacted with our team! Jason Storms led this team and he and the others did a great job answering the students questions and declaring the truth of God's Word. Many students on campus also joined them in defending the truth of God's Word to their fellow students and in witnessing to them about Christ! It was an awesome time of ministry! When they left, scores of students were still standing in the square talking and debating with one another.
On day four of the Tour, we went to the western end of the state. We went to three different universities in Rapid City and to Black Hills State University in Spearfish!
Afterwards, we did a busy intersection in Rapid City. Traffic was packed out. Mark Gabriel was arrested for passing out lit to the cars. An officer was watching him do it for over an hour with no problems. He was relieved by another officer, and that officer arrested Mark without warning! One pro-abortion woman was also arrested when she hit a woman in our group in the face with her camera! The next day, we were the headline story in the local paper with a large full-color photograph of an 8 week old preborn child in the womb!
On the second week of the Tour, we started out on Monday at the Montana State University in Bozeman. Pastor Matt stood on a short wall with our "What's Worse?" sign and began to preach. A crowd of well over 200 students quickly grew and were there for hours! There was no small stir on that campus. Everyone in our group talked with many and we all viewed it as a profitable day of ministry. Even the local CBS affiliate came out to the campus to interview us because they heard of all the hub-bub on campus (we never contact the press for campus tours). The story aired in Billings where we went the next day, and the local Planned Parenthood where they kill the preborn was so freaked out that they hired a private security detail because we were in the vicinity!
\ All along the Tour we saw God's hand at work. The following day at the Montana State University in Billings, one brother with our group was practicing a song he was writing on his guitar during a lull between classes. The song was directed towards Mormons. Two Mormon students happened to be walking by and immediately came over to talk to him while he was sitting alone practicing! He was able to share the Gospel with them at length and contend with them for the true faith! Talk about divine appointments! Other examples: The day before a student from Hungary was on campus. One elderly man with our group was born and raised in Hungary! He was able to talk to this young man for quite awhile. On Thursday, a student at the University of Wyoming in Laramie was mocking a young man with our group named Serj. Serj asked the student if he was Armenian. The student was shocked and embarrassed because he was Armenian as was Serj! Serj was able to have a great discussion with him and give him a copy of the book "The Case for Christ!" We saw divine appointments throughout the Tour.
The last two days of the Tour we spent at the University of Wyoming in Laramie. The President of the university actually wrote a letter that took up the entire back page of the student newspaper exhorting the students to ignore us. The letter was designed to marginalize and demonize us to the students. Pro-abortion students even made copies of the letter and passed it out to make sure word got out everywhere before we arrived. Many of the students were very liberal and hard-hearted. Many seemed indifferent and snubbed us, yet, everywhere you walked on the campus the students were talking about abortion! Same with the faculty and administration people!. A crowd of about 50 students gathered around the preachers, and many in our group had one-on-one and small group discussions. Who knows what all the Lord is doing in the hearts of men.
Before we arrived in Laramie, the police contacted us and were threatening to arrest us if we showed up at a busy intersection after we were done at the campus. The city was threatening to arrest us if we didn't get a permit from them and also permission from every business we would be in front of while speaking up for the preborn on public property! The City even went into court to have the bond amount raised for the statutes they planned to arrest us under!! American Family Association - Center for Law and Policy intervened to represent us. The City Attorney told our attorney that they would make a concession and allow us to protest at Planned Parenthood if we get their permission to stand out there! (No kidding!!!) After two hours of legal sparring with the city attorneys from Laramie, the city backed down and let us exercise our first amendment rights unmolested! The babies needed to be spoken up for in this city!! Don Wildmon's American Family Association - Center for Law and Policy (AFA-CLP) has helped us many times now to be able to speak up for these little babies when municipalities have tried to shut us down. PLEASE TAKE TIME to write and thank them for intervening so we can minister out on the streets of our nation! You can write them at clp@afa.net The next day we went back to the University of Wyoming and ministered there once again. This time we split the group so that one team was speaking up for the preborn on one part of campus and the other team preached regarding homosexuality on another part of campus. A small group of Christians on the campus joined us. The Lord had been dealing with their hearts for the past year to minister on the campus and our being there gave them an opportunity to do so! When we left, there was a crowd of students who had gathered and we were able to entrust them to their care! Please pray the Lord strengthens and uses these young students, as the University of Wyoming is one of the three worst campuses we have been on in the last five years (of the 69 we have now gone to)! We definitely were plowing up some fallow ground!
We cannot thank you enough for remembering our efforts in your prayers! We all returned upbeat about the Tour and the impact it had on many students’ lives and perhaps our nation! The Lord strengthened us throughout this taxing effort (we traveled over 3000 miles) and many lives were affected for Christ and His kingdom!
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