Episode II- Attack of the McGlone: Part 1- When It Rains...

"Every time you come it rains!" yelled a hooded girl from the audience.

This just about summed up the atmosphere of the mass crowd who came to see the returning controversial preacher at the Knoll on the campus of MTSU, John McGlone from Pinpoint Ministries. Yes, that John McGlone where last semester Michaela Morales was charged with assaulting him while spreading the "gospel".

[Photo taken from my cell phone]

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The sad reality is that the hooded student was right, every time he came it rained. Let's face it, it's just as likely to rain when clouds approach as a preacher like McGlone is going to piss off a few people. Scattered throughout the teasing and name calling in the crowd were a few responses to McGlone's message which made my head turn.

"Read Mark 2:17, you douche!"

I had to stop and think, which was difficult in a sea of screaming college students, about what the gentleman meant. Was he trying to fight self-righteousness with self-righteousness? Does dropping down to the preacher's level really help? In fact McGlone reveled in it, he drew strength from it, and with every "fuck you" and "go to hell" that was flung at him, they were digging themselves deeper and deeper, effectively proving his case. A part of me wanted to join the crowd and yell back, and lose myself in the mass hysteria. Yet there is nothing much you can do when either party plugs their ears. Any opposition will only make the situation worse. A Christian campus ministry group passed out cards with scriptural answers to Pinpoint Methodology and Beliefs. This might inform a few people but it doesn't dissolve the crowds. There was a Facebook group of silent protesters, but there really was no way to tell the peaceful protesters from the rest of the crowd.

So what can you do in this situation? The same thing you do when it rains: use an umbrella and take cover or embrace the rain and let it wash over you. McGlone's words sound extreme because he is saying them out loud and in public. Yet within the safety of our tribal groups or even within our heads we say, think, and believe in concepts just as radical and hateful as McGlone's. We're no better than him because we keep our hateful thoughts to ourselves, in fact we're probably worse! McGlone's evangelism is a necessary evil because it makes us face the bigotry and hatred within society and within ourselves. I would like to clarify that I don't agree nor condone McGlone's style of confrontational evangelism. It makes me sick to see this happen, and worse that it happened on my campus! What we should be doing is not fighting radicals like McGlone but to stop and think about the hatred within ourselves. This sounds impractical and pointless but if we don't acknowledge our inner demons how can we stop them from manifesting in our every day lives.

There are two good things that happen when it rains: it waters and cleanses the earth, and it doesn't rain forever.

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Click here for part 2: ____ is my Truth, Suck it!