“If you’re a sinner, you’re going to hell,” was one of the many statements made by Matt Bourgault of an organization called Consuming Fire Campus Ministries, in Borchuck Plaza Tuesday afternoon. Students flooded into the area to see what all the commotion was about.
After being saved on a college campus in 1982, Bourgault and his family began the organization in 1999 in Florida and now travel across the country preaching.
The center of the plaza where Bourgault preached from was barricaded and patrolled by several police officers. Just like last year, he displayed his poster reading, “Heathens Beware.” This poster listed many sins for which he said students of ETSU would go to hell for committing.
One student, Wes Brooksheir, engaged in debates several times with the minister. Brooksheir shouted once that Bourgault was here “delivering a message of hate.”
“He’s forcing this down your throat,” Brooksheir said to the crowd. Students of a variety of religions, races, cultures, backgrounds, sexualities and genders littered the area listening, discussing and arguing Bourgault’s message.
“Tolerance and love are worlds apart,” said Bourgault when asked how he handled the students’ reaction to his message. ETSU is not the first or only college campus that this organization’s representatives have visited. The response can be physical: they have been pelted with tomatoes, hit with book bags and punched.
“We don’t retaliate,” he said. “We turn the other cheek. That’s love.”
The purpose his preaching is to spread God’s message and to warn students of consequences of their actions. “We preach the truth,” he said.
Most of the students who responded to Bourgault’s preaching were not so convinced. Many reacted strongly against the message he was sending.
While conversing with students, even those who were asking questions, if Bourgault seemed to grow uninterested or disagreed with what the person was saying, he put his hands up, turned and walked away.
Others complained and were very angered that he seemed to skim over certain people in the crowd.
“He’s completely ignoring gay people and black people,” said Chris Coffey.
Throughout the two hours of debating and preaching, many other students expressed this same opinion.
Some of the topics that sparked onlookers Tuesday were homosexuality, fornication, drinking and interracial romantic relationships.
“If you are married, stay married,” Bourgault said. “I would advise you to marry your own kind, though,” he said.
Though much of his talk fueled arguments and upset people in the crowd, there were a few students who were able to ask questions and have quieter conversations with the minister.
Within the larger group including students and Bourgault, there were smaller sections of students speaking directly to one another about their own beliefs and thoughts.
While on the larger scale it seemed that Bourgault’s demonstration stirred up people’s emotions and opinions, it also brought the topic of individuals’ beliefs to the forefront.
A couple of times students chanted “hypocrite” and quickly made their own posters to get their own message across.
There were people who even sang Christian songs that children learn in Sunday School to try and illustrate their point.
“I respect the guy for trying to express his views, but there needs to be a happy medium,” said Coffey.
Though the demonstration lasted more than two hours, Bourgault did not get much preaching done this year. Some students were familiar with him and his messages from his previous visit last spring. He spent much of his time debating with the crowd.
The rally ended without much notice. Bourgault quietly stepped down and packed away his items. He was then escorted by a police officer from Borchuck Plaza.
Students tried to keep him talking, asking why he was leaving when they were still asking questions.
“Because he doesn’t have answers,” said Coffey.
Bourgault said that he feels he must especially speak to college groups on campuses. Since he himself was saved on a college campus he feels that his preaching can help college students.
In light of recent events involving some students on college campuses taking extreme actions to thoughts and feelings, Bourgault said it can be crucial to get to people at this age and witness to them.
Citing the Virginia Tech shooting that left 33 people dead, Bourgault said, “The state of affairs is terrible. We don’t rejoice in this,” he said. “We want to see people born again, be made righteous.”
Additional information about the Consuming Fire Campus Ministry and footage of last spring’s demonstration can be found at www.cfirecm.com.

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