Consuming Fire Fellowship vs. Students of Southeastern

Consuming Fire Fellowship comes to higher education institutions, such as Southeastern Louisiana University, and preaches about their beliefs. They stand on the sidewalks and courtyards of the universities and shout to students about how their souls need to be saved. Some students at these universities ignore the shouts of this organization, but most stop and watch or even yell back.

“I was walking across campus when I started hearing shouting from the courtyard and I immediately thought to myself, ‘Oh god, it’s the Jesus people with the burn in hell signs,’” said Rachel Stuckey, a student at Southeastern.

The Consuming Fire Fellowship is known around campus as the “burn in hell sign people” or just the “sign people” and students feel dread when they hear the shouts of them coming from the courtyard.

The Consuming Fire Fellowship started preaching at Southeastern’s campus in 2000 and has been there ever since. The reputation they have left with the students is a negative one. Is the feeling mutual?

It seems that this organization’s main goal is to get a rise out of students on these campuses. When students pass by, the organization shouts at them, calling them fornicators and drunks. They tell students they are going to burn in hell if they do not change their ways.

“I have seen many students stopping to yell back at the sign people,” said Abigail Street, a student at Southeastern. “Even though I know it won’t make a difference, I don’t blame them. Imagine how you would feel if someone was calling you a whore for no reason,” she added.

Victoria Rocquin, a student at Southeastern felt a similar way. “They make me feel so uncomfortable. Every time I see them, I worry that they are going to verbally harass me, and it makes me feel unsafe on a campus that I truly love,” she said. “I believe in free speech, but I also believe women should be able to walk to the union or class without someone yelling that they’re a whore,” she added. “On the other hand, I know some students look at it as a unifying force on campus. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re from, everyone hates when the ‘Sign People’ come to campus.”

When Williams was asked about calling students “whores” he had a lot to say. “This is a typical accusation, like much of the slander and lies that swirl around campus regarding our ministry. I’ve been preaching on University campuses for over 30 years and never recall calling anyone a ‘whore’, yet I’ve been accused of using this term thousands of times,” said Williams. “Granted, we do use Biblical terms like survivor, God-hater, fornicator, pervert, sodomite, etc. We do strongly denounce sin and use Biblical terminology to do so, but simply calling someone a whore for merely being immodest is something I’ve never heard or seen anyone at Consuming Fire Fellowship do,” he continued. “Granted, modesty is a New Testament command and very few women today dress modestly. Especially college-age students,” Williams added.

When the majority of students on Southeastern’s campus are offended by the way the organization preaches to them, changing it to something less offensive would be a better route to take.

For Consuming Fire Fellowship, offending someone is the last thing they care about. They believe that God thinks very lowly of these students, therefore these students have to hear their teachings so they can be saved.

The reasoning behind the way the Consuming Fire Fellowship organization preaches is confusing to students, but makes perfect sense to the members of the group. Students feel that the reason behind them screaming hateful words at them is to try to offend them and get a reaction.

“We are genuinely and truly preaching what we believe,” said Britt Williams, the founding pastor of Consuming Fire. “We are not merely seeking a reaction. We know many will misunderstand and in these dangerous last days, where iniquity abounds, we realize many will violently oppose God’s Word,” Williams continued. “So again, we’re not surprised or shocked, but we truly grieve that so many today mock God’s law, rejoice in evil, and brazenly spurn God’s mercy expressed in Jesus Christ,” he added.

Freedom of Speech is what allows the Consuming Fire Fellowship to come to campus and preach their beliefs. Even though students and professors are disturbed by the organization, there is not much the university can do to stop them from coming back without going against the First Amendment.

It seems the best option for student and administration is to ignore the people that belong to Consuming Fire Fellowship.

The feelings seem to be mutual between the students and Consuming Fire Fellowship. “We’ve been visiting Southeastern for over 15 years and have no intention to stop visiting,” said Williams. “Our decision on preaching at Southeastern, or any campus, is not based on the reactions of the students, but on the command of Scripture,” he added. “To be frank, we preach at numerous college campuses. Obviously, we’re not popular anywhere, however, the students at many other universities tend to be far more reasonable. Many respond with far more maturity,” Williams continued. “If nothing else, it would seem that other campuses seem to better understand the implications of the First Amendment, while Southeastern students tend to be blindly enamored with lawless censorship.”

There have been rumors that the Consuming Fire Fellowship takes video recordings of students when they argue back. “I have heard that they take videos of students and go back to their church to show how ‘corrupt’ we are,” said Street. “The people they show the videos to give them money to go back to the school because they think the students need some more saving,” she added.

The rumors are not true, according to Williams. “We usually record video for our own safety as we are constantly being accused of saying or doing things both unlawful and/or sinful,” he said. “We have many times been exonerated by the video evidence we can provide. In times past, we have made a few teaching videos encouraging evangelism, but we have never monetarily profited from these videos. We never charge any money for anything.”

The people at Consuming Fire Fellowship say that the students are the ones that are violent, not them. “It is typical at Southeastern to be constantly threatened with physical violence,” said Williams. “The students apparently try to intimidate and bully us into leaving campus or refraining from sharing our message. Frankly, many we engage with at Southeastern are utterly irrational, emotionally driven and generally unable to think critically or hold a balanced, sensible conversation,” he added. “Sadly, these students are so dumbed-down and emotionally inept, they simply cannot tolerate anyone disagreeing with their opinions. It’s very, very sad,” he concluded.

It seems that the students at Southeastern Louisiana University and the members of the Consuming Fire Fellowship will never see eye to eye. They have both been hurt by the other and can no longer have a civil conversation.

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