Consuming Fire Ministries interact with students during an assembly held outside the Student Union. 
The Lion’s Roar / William Schmidt

Crowds yelling at one another, signs held high and discussions outside the Student Union led to some students becoming aware of a controversial assembly taking place.  

On Tuesday, September 22, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. the Consuming Fire Fellowship had members of the church come and speak on how they believe the university needs to turn from their evil ways and instead, turn to Jesus. 

“We are a church,” said Pastor of Consuming Fire Fellowship and resident of Centreville, Mississippi Britt Williams. “We don’t represent our church per se. We represent the Body of Jesus Christ, and we are to bring the Gospel to every creature. We are seeking to obey the Great Commission, and Southeastern is one of the campuses we preach to.”

While Williams believed his actions were well founded, some students thought the church was not acting within the boundaries of the law and saw this form of assembly as bullying. 

“What he was saying, it was wrong,” said junior sociology major Anthony Grant. “I was coming from a legal perspective. I went in with a calm head and said what I wanted to say, from a legal stand point. Personally, I’m also against this because it is bullying. I feel that there are better ways, if you believe, there are better ways to get across to people than, ‘Hey guys, guess what, you’re going to hell.’ That’s not the right way to do it.”

Others wished the assembly was held in more of a calm manner and like Grant, felt the assembly was hurting the student body.

“I am out here because they were out here last semester and upset me, and they upset a lot of people,” said junior communication major Lauren Maheu. “They made people cry last semester, and I just think they are going about this the wrong way. I think talking to people rationally and calmly is a better way to get your message across to anyone than screaming at them and telling us we are all monsters.”

One way in which Consuming Fire Fellowship worked at getting the crowd’s attention was by holding signs that expressed what they believed and wanted students to believe in as well. 

“The signs being held are merely scripture,” said Williams. “One side is the scripture and the other side is a parcel or a part of what the scripture is trying to say. If they are negative about the signs, then they are negative about the scripture. That should be a tell-tale sign of where their heart is. We are going to say, ‘Sin is going to damn you and the only remedy for your sin is Jesus.’ We are calling all of the campus of Southeastern to repentance and to follow Jesus.”

Students who did not agree with the signs being held were able to have a fellow student spray paint them signs to hold. The signs held by students contradicted what Consuming Fire Fellowship held. 

“I came to campus, and something made me go home,” said junior English education major Autumn Merath. “I was just going to paint today because I don’t have class, and a lot of my friends asked me to make them some signs.”

Along with students spray painting signs, protestors against Consuming Fire Fellowship were in the audience to show their belief in how the assembly was being done incorrectly.

“At first, I stumbled upon [the assembly] and then stayed,” said freshman theatre design major Emalee McKiddy. “What they are preaching, even if God is here or whatever, that is not how it is supposed to be done. Some protesting needs to go on and I felt I wasn’t doing my part if I wasn’t here.”

Though students opposed the assembly, Consuming Fire Fellowship followed university procedure in all actions of the day.

“Anyone who wants to use the facilities registers through a register of activities form,” said Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs Jim McHodgkins.  “The constitution says we can set time, place and manner. We can’t deny them access, but we can set time, place and manner. That means we have to give them a location that has people. We can’t stick them in a forest or at midnight with no one there. We have to give them access to those times. We have it set up where they can set up a date, like any other group, and spaces available. If they have requested it at least seven days in advance, then they are allowed to use the facility. They are allowed to use them for two hour time spans, and that is to do the speaking.”

For the campus, an assembly is when one speaker is talking to a large group for two hours. Though the assembly can only last for a maximum of two hours, this does not mean the organization has to leave campus within two hours.

“An assembly is usually when you have one person speaking and a lot of people listening,” said McHodgkins. “At the end, [Consuming Fire Fellowship] were standing around past the two hours and that was because it wasn’t an assembly. It was individuals talking. It wasn’t somebody projecting themselves to the crowd. It was individuals speaking, but crowds were listening. The courts say we have to allow that, but the two hours is the maximum where they can speak as an assembly.”

Though Consuming Fire Fellowship was following proper procedure, other students in the crowd who consider themselves Christians do not agree with the ways in which the assembly took place. 

“They are trying to scare people into Christ, and the reality is, Christ is love,” said junior general studies major Jasmine Webb. “By telling people that they are going to hell, they aren’t showing them any love whatsoever. They are basically contradicting what they are preaching. In my opinion, only he without sin can cast the first stone, and in reality, we are all sinners, Jesus Christ came down to save all of us. No one is above anyone else.”

Students of Christian organizations want the university to know that Consuming Fire Fellowship is only one Christian sect, that not all Christian groups want to frighten them into following Jesus.

“There is love out there and love is God who sent Jesus Christ down to save all of us,” said Webb. “The way [Consuming Fire Fellowship is] doing it is not love and they are trying to scare you into Jesus Christ. If you want to know more about Jesus Christ, there are other organizations, there is a BCM, there is a CSA, there are others who won’t talk at you and will actually talk to you, not look down on you and actually listen to you and give you informative information, and from that point on it’s your decision.”

Other students plan to inform the student body exactly what is allowed to happen on campus after seeing the events of the day unfold, as well as find a way for future assemblies to be less confrontational. 

“I plan to educate the student body as to what this group is and isn’t allowed to do in accordance with the law,” said sophomore sociology major Dereck Williams. “Police came to keep us from fighting one another. The more I look into this, the more complicated it all becomes. But I’m committed to finding a way to change and help the situation.”