Walking through the courtyard behind Wells Hall on Monday, Christian evangelist Michael Venyah focused on a passing student and yelled out.
"Christ judges you through the Bible," he said. "There will be no make-ups, there will be no retakes, no grading on curves. Only giving your life over to Jesus Christ will save you.
"One sin causes you to fail."
Michael Venyah, 37, unabashedly attacks drinking, smoking, sex outside of marriage, homosexuality, partying, open-mindedness and religions other than Christianity to any passing student, staff member or professor.
It's the same message he has been shouting for almost two months worth of cold winter weekdays. It's also the same approach that has caused growing frustration among some students who feel the nondenominational preacher is hateful and unnecessarily confrontational.
"Don't come to a free country and attack people for having their own beliefs," said physics sophomore Jennifer Tucker. "After a while, it gets annoying. Don't tell people that they're sinners when you're judging them."
Michael Venyah and his wife, Tamika, 30, both travel throughout the country and internationally to evangelize.
It's nothing new for ministers, protesters, student organizations and even advertisers to find their audiences in the crossing sidewalks near Wells Hall between the Red Cedar River and the International Center.
Most pass by and ignore the religious group. Others laugh or yell angry comments.
Still others stop to debate, to discuss, or argue the point.
The famous — or infamous — preachers have started a conversation on campus. It's one they believe has eternal consequences, but to others, it's a headache, and sometimes offensive. Either way, it's a debate Venyah isn't planning to give up soon.
A mission, a frustration
For the Venyahs, home is where God leads them.
For now, that means MSU and Lansing.
"For sinners, the law must be preached, the law is the knowledge of sin," Michael Venyah said. "Most people live in an environment of moral vagueness, grayness.
"Many students don't know what sin is anymore."
Michael Venyah and his wife both attended MSU in the late 1990s and Tamika Venyah graduated in 1998 with a degree in mechanical engineering. In 2004, the couple founded Soulwinners Ministries to preach Christianity. That year, Michael Venyah retired from his job as a minister in the Lansing area and Tamika Venyah followed suit, quitting her job as a teacher in 2005 to travel. They street preach, minister in churches and teach others how to speak about the Gospel. The couple now has a house in Meridian, Miss., but their belongings are in storage.
Without steady incomes, the couple relies on family, friends and people who seek out their ministry and provide shelter, transportation and food for them. Michael and Tamika Venyah are expecting their first child, a boy, in the coming week and are staying with friends and family while in the Lansing area.
"We don't have earthly employment," Michael Venyah said.
Michael Venyah said his mission is to convince MSU students and staff members to "repent and follow Christ."
"There is no such thing as a good person apart from God," Venyah shouted last Thursday. "No such thing as a good homosexual. No such thing as a good whore. Christ said if you love him, you'll hate these people. You won't tolerate it."
The MSU alumni have been sworn at and criticized for their approach. Officers with the Department of Police and Public Safety have responded to several complaints, said Venyah, adding that this is common when people don't agree with his message.
Family and community service junior Ryan Webster said the preachers' message isn't free speech — it's hate speech. Webster is a member of the Alliance of Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, Transgender and Straight Ally Students group.
"Evangelizing to the public about Christ's love while doing the exact opposite is sad," Webster said.
The preachers are well within their freedoms of expression, said Deb Hammacher, a spokeswoman for the university.
"It's a public campus. It's a public property. Speakers are entitled to be there," Hammacher said. "If they're not disrupting the normal academic functions of the university, they are entitled to be there."
If students feel they are being personally attacked, they can complain to DPPS, she said.
"No student should have to feel harassed by a speaker," Hammacher said.
Conviction
But Michael Venyah said he has nothing to apologize for.
"We're confronting people with the truth," he said. "In a politically correct society, people hate that. We tell them God's law and the penalty for not obeying that law is hell."
If needed, Michael Venyah has dozens of passages from the Bible memorized and ready for reference. Hundreds of passages in the text he held were marked with highlighter and pen as he flipped through it.
This Bible wasn't his — he'd given away his copy that morning as he was preaching.
When Michael Venyah was a student at MSU, he said he'd wake up early to study his Bible before listening to scripture on his Walkman on the way to class. He'd always arrive before the other students, he said, so he could minister to them. After class, he'd preach to his professors.
Chris Lemieux, 30, of East Lansing is almost always with the Venyahs, preaching or holding the large printed banners marked scripture verses or lists of their beliefs. It's common to have violent reactions to such a strong message, he said.
"After a while, it's something you get used to," Lemieux said. "Sometimes they'll say they're Christian, and they'll curse and it gives them a chance go see they're not living right."
When the area is more congested in between classes, at least one of the evangelists will shout to the crowds passing or may target individuals as they pass. The most common subjects include sex, masturbation, drinking, cheating, homosexuality or believing in other gods.
"Don't go off and have sex with that girl, young man!" Venyah yelled after a young man and woman who walked past.
"This is my sister!" the man yelled back.
At another, Michael Venyah yells, "Allah won't save you! Buddha won't save you!"
Lemieux repeats to those walking nearby, "Repent your sins and live your life for Christ."
One woman became inflamed as she walked by Friday afternoon when the preachers began talking to her.
"I don't care," the woman yelled repeatedly as they continued to preach to her as she walked away. "Fuck you!"
In response, Michael Venyah quickly flipped to another verse that tells Christians to expect to be cursed for preaching.
The Christian way
When business freshman Ryan Kiernicki stopped to chat with Michael Venyah after leaving class on Friday, he was asked if he was living his life free of sin.
Kiernicki responded that he tried, and Venyah made a suggestion.
"'No Bible, no food.' Not a bad idea to live by," said Kiernicki, who commended the group members for their dedication to spreading Christian values.
But many Christians say they disagree with Venyah's confrontational approach, even though they agree with his mission.
Matthew Borton, an electrical engineering sophomore, said he wasn't planning to stop and to talk to the evangelists until he heard them demand that a woman not have sex outside of marriage or listen to rap music. She denied doing either.
"It's rude and it's not exemplary of Christians and Christ's character," Borton said, pointing to the passage that Venyah uses to defend his confrontational approach. "Nowhere in the shouting and being loud does it say to condemn people or be disrespectful."
Borton said the preachers' version of street evangelism is wrong.
"They are trying to get people with the shock effect, which doesn't work," Borton said. "The best way is to get to know someone, form a relationship and then talk about that stuff."
At Borton's church, South Church in Lansing, there are plans to create a Web site that would address the "Wells Hall preachers," he said.
"Basically, it's to appeal to the people who have been annoyed or frustrated by the preachers outside of Wells," Borton said. "To give information about the preachers and say what about the preachers' message is right and tell more about what they seem to be missing which is the good news and salvation."
Many people argue the Venyahs' message is offensive, but Tamika Venyah said they feel that way because of guilt.
"The truth hurts," she said. "That always comes to my mind. When people don't want to hear the truth, it hurts."
Tamika Venyah said she doesn't mind the negative reactions she and her husband receive.
"If that bothered me I would have quit doing this a long time ago," she said. "As I look to Christ's example and I see how they did him, I choose not to expect anything else. That's the sign of a true believer."
But not all believers agree.
On Thursday, environmental biology-zoology junior Dana Galbreath wore a pair of red and black rubber wings and fake horns impersonating the devil and a sign taped to her chest reading, "I am an MSU student. Therefore I am Evil Incarnate," as she walked past them.
Galbreath said she'd walked by the preachers almost every day this semester.
"I happen to be a Christian, I happen to believe what they do and I happen to not do the things they yell about, but they've made me so angry that I did this," she said.
To Michael and Tamika Venyah, their job is far from done.
Tina Reed can be reached at reedtina@msu.edu.
