Each spring, students at Mississippi State University crowd around a controversial visitor who sparks a variety of reactions from his audience.
Michael Venyah, 44, is an evangelist who travels with his wife Tamika Venyah and their four children to college campuses nationally and internationally to share his unique perspective on religion.
Tamika Venyah, who founded the evangelistic organization Soulwinners in 2004, said they travel around the country to share their beliefs about Jesus, God and Christianity.
“Our message is the Gospel of Jesus Christ: repent, believe and be saved so that your sins can be blotted out and you can have a personal relationship with God through His Son,” she said.
Students are drawn to watching and debating with Michael Venyah because of his unique ways of encouraging repentance.
It is common for students to hear Venyah pinpointing ways their lives need to change if they do not want to go to hell.
He openly condemns many of the same actions as other religious organizations, such as substance abuse, premarital sex and homosexuality. Many students said he has told them that to truly follow God, they must remove themselves from worldly conventions, like higher education and mass media.
Tamika Venyah said the idea of leaving university education stems from what they consider false teaching causing students to change their beliefs.
“There’s so much secular humanism, false science and teaching of evolution that can make those who came start to doubt, and then as their faith is decreased, they turn away,” she said.
Michael Venyah said he does not expect people to understand his preaching immediately and he has had violent reactions from some audiences.
“While preaching the Gospel, I’ve been stoned in Germany, and I’ve been choked twice,” he said. “I’ve had knives pulled on me for preaching. I’ve had my life threatened many times.”
The Venyahs, who have approximately 20 members in their home fellowship in East Lansing, Mich., often travel with colleagues Chris LeMieux, Doris Metz and Dave Metz, but chose to divide the preaching this year to reach more people.
Even though they consider East Lansing home, Michael Venyah said the family does not own a home, after leaving it to travel year round.
“Years ago, when I was pastoring a church, I gave up my salary. We live by faith and trust that the Lord will provide for us and our four children. We gave up our house in 2005 to live solely by faith,” he said.
Tamika Venyah said living by faith has led their family to preach on college campuses to students who are exposed to new secular ideas and beliefs.
“We want to encourage those who profess to be believers, to continue in the path of truth and righteousness in Jesus Christ, not to give way to the devil and his lies and the world system,” she said.
Tamika Venyah said they will continue to preach as long as they can because God guarantees their work is not in vain, even if they don’t see immediate results.