When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him in public, because he was clearly wrong. –Galatians 2:11 (GNT)

This indicates that not everything the apostles did was infallible and deserving of our imitation as Christians. Willingly running headlong into situations to develop a rap sheet or a criminal record for the sake of the Gospel is not prudent, especially if there’s other more legal ways to evangelize. Employability in the business world will be greatly hindered for husbands and children who follow in the footsteps of their dads’ unlicensed and misdemeanor-laden street preaching. Its normal for employers or hiring managers to do criminal background checks on people applying for jobs to try and get interviews. Having a super-long rap sheet of disorderly conduct violations is not going to make you a very attractive person to a human resources manager. I say, unless you’re absolutely “clean” with the cops to preach in some place, then don’t preach anywhere. Its not worth it. Paul once said, “I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge” (Romans 10:2). Paul got a rap sheet for all his street preaching, but he had none of the responsibilities of a family man, and he was celibate. If unrestrained street preaching means tons of jail time, then you can count me out of it.

I will have to do evangelism another way. You don’t hear about Billy Graham, David Wilkerson, or even Leonard Ravenhill doing street preaching to the point of getting arrested all the time for “disturbing the peace” and “disorderly conduct.” So, going forward, my approach to evangelism will still center around the state university, but always in cooperation with the Student Activities Center, scheduling an event slot on the student activities calendar, and preaching either to 1. Do a presentation in the Student Center, or 2. Do actual street preaching on the campus with the full permission of the Student Activities Center; and a printed out permit slip that I can wear on my person to avoid arrest by troublemakers. The best thing in the Bible akin to this would be Acts 17:22: “Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: ‘People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.’” –J. B.