 "Photo: Ayelet Daniel")
 "Photo: File photo")
Most students in front of Kirkbride Hall will occasionally look up or offer angry looks, but rarely stop to listen to the preacher in front of Kirkbride.
“I don’t think people really listen to him, it’s ridiculous some of the stuff he says,” senior Sam Michel said.
Mark Johnson has been preaching for the past 13 years. And not just at the University of Delaware.
Johnson also preaches at the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, University of Maryland, Baltimore County and Towson University.
Throughout the year, students can see Johnson with his arms in the air, gesturing pronouncedly as he shouts his messages, ranging from marriage, the church, fornication and politics.
“I met Jesus when I was a college student many years ago, and it’s the Lord’s command to preach the gospel to the lost,” Johnson said.
Although Johnson has been preaching here for more than a decade, a job he says does not follow societal norms, he never envisioned himself here.
Prior to his current role as a preacher, Johnson worked at a ballistics lab, but realized he had a new path, and began to preach full-time.
“The Lord has a way, and when you surrender to the Lord you give up your will to his will, and he actually makes what you want to do desirable to you,” he said. “So I would never have thought I would be doing this.”
Johnson says he preaches at universities because college students are at an age at which they are going to make most of their life choices and get locked into their view of the world.
He said he chose Kirkbride Hall because there are always students sitting in the courtyard.
Over the years, Johnson has made friends through his work, like fellow preacher Joe Toy, who also works outside of Kirkbride Hall to gain the attention of students. It is Toy who creates many of the drawings used by both preachers.
Johnson’s messages are felt rather than planned and the drawings that he keeps on his easel are often done by himself or by friends. Johnson said he tries to write messages on the board in large print so that even students who do not want to stop will see what he is talking about.
“It comes out of personal time with the Lord. I am staying fresh my relationship with him and it comes out of that,” he said. “If you try to put a message together, it’s unnatural.”
Preaching is his only job, and his income comes from the churches and religious individuals in the surrounding area who support him financially. Johnson said it is every Christian’s job to preach, but in his case, it is also his livelihood.
Although many of the messages he preaches are Evangelical-based and are different than those of some students at the university, he said he has had very few fights or altercations with students.Johnson said sometimes students will come up to him and speak with him about messages they disagree with.
“I wouldn’t be doing my job if no students got angry,” he said. “For a kid to get belligerent, he has to have issues going on in his life. I’m just representing God, and people can’t fight with God.”
Originally, Johnson said he preached in the courtyard in front of Kirkbride, but when he found out the school is a private institution, he was asked to stand on the other side of the wall on public property.
At other schools, he said this is not a problem and he is able to stand on school property or call ahead and let schools know he will be there.
“The sidewalk is city property, not school property,” Scott Mason, associate director of student centers, said. “He’s been here for God knows how long.”
Marilyn Prime, director of student centers, said if he was to preach on campus, it would have to be through a student organization or activity.
Lt. Brian Henry of the Newark Police Department said Johnson is not breaking any laws by preaching on city property.
“There’s no permit needed for protected speech. So as long as he isn’t causing some type of problem like a disturbance, he can stay,” Henry said.
He said he had not heard of any problems or formal complaints with Johnson.
Junior Kate Welsh echoed this attitude insisting that most students probably do not pay attention to what he is saying.
“You kind of tune him out,” Welsh said. “I couldn’t tell you one thing he’s said. I think he’s completely aware that no one cares about what he says.”
Despite these student reactions, Johnson said he has had life-changing conversations with students and has even come to know some students who visit often enough.
He has also spoken on campus to religious groups throughout the years including Campus Crusade for Christ.
“I direct Christian students, the ones that are hungry for the Lord, to Intervarsity, Campus Crusades or Warriors for Christ,” Johnson said.
He said he plans on continuing to come to the university to preach in the years to come, preaching his main message, that Jesus is the truth and the life, and that no one can enter heaven, except through Jesus.
“Believing in the gospel is not like an invitation where you can come or not come,” he said, “it’s more the only hope.”
It is controversial messages like these that lead students like Michel or Welsh to either not listen or shrug off many of his comments. Despite some unfavorable student opinions, Johnson plans on continuing his preaching for years to come.
“Reaching people of other religions, that is my goal, to convert the whole school, including you,” Johnson said.
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