November 1996

 

 

Dear Saints,

 

Great news, Carol, the student from Purdue University that we featured last year has gotten saved.  We were informed of the event through the mail a couple of months ago.  This is the girl who Sister Bonnie requested prayer for in just about every church we preached in over the past year.  Thank the Lord!!

 

This past semester the Lord helped me pioneer four brand new campi.  For example, at Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Virginia I began preaching and within thirty minutes I was stopped by a campus security officer and told that I could not preach without some type of approval from some administrator.  I went where the officer instructed me to go, knocked on the door and the administrator answered inquiring as to my need.  I informed him that a campus security officer had sent me to him and explained why.  He brushed me off and sent me to a subordinate.  The subordinate was not in his office so I went to his immediate supervisor who also was not in.  I went to the office of his immediate supervisor who also was not in.  I ended up at the President’s office that happened to be in the hospital due to an aneurysm.  At this time the Chief of Campus Security meets me in the President’s office asking if I had a problem, as if I wanted to be talking to administrators in the first place instead of outside preaching the Gospel.  He escorts me out of the office leaving me in the hallway.  He turns and walks back into the office to talk to the acting President.  Before he left my side I handed him a copy of my Virginia Tech lawsuit.  The Chief comes out of the office fifteen minutes later and informs me that I can preach.  I walk to the assigned spot and continued preaching.  Two hours was wasted in this legal run around.

 

Within an hour, the police, due to some complaints that they had received, stop me again.  I denied the complaints and asked him if he wanted to hear my tape recording of that days preaching.  The police performed some quick investigations and discovered that their complaint sources were unsubstantiated.  They again allowed me to preach.

 

I return the following day and meet a security officer who is standing in the free speech area while holding a tape recorder.  The officer informs me that I have to move to a larger location due to the fact that that the crowd’s size the day before was larger than they had anticipated.  This officer stands four feet from me the entire day while taping my preaching.  I return the third day and another police officer is assigned to me, this time there is no tape recorder in his hand.  I preach the entire day without hindrance. 

 

I leave Mary Washington College after three days of preaching feeling confident that the administration and the security had plenty of time to get acquainted with me and that they have conceded my right to preach there.

 

We thank you for your love and prayers.

 

Brother Jim - Sister Bonnie - Aaron - Gabrielle