A group of Christians who have been a fixture on the FGCU campus for years received a decidedly uninterested reception from students Monday as they tried to spread their view of religion and the Bible.
Lead by self-styled, born-again orator Adam LaCroix, the group of about 20 men and women spoke, wore t-shirts and waved signs promoting Jesus, being saved, urging people to repent and abstain from sex, alcohol and sexual relations.
"When there's a large group like this, there's usually a stirring," LaCroix said. "And you know, knowing that there needs to be a stirred the Bible talks about this kind of stuff happened when they preached that there was a stir, but it's kind of like people's hearts being stirred up. You know, and what I usually found is, the crowd will come all day and kind of flush out a lot of emotions. But then by the end of the day, usually some big questions and stuff start coming to start to minister more one-on-one with the students ... it usually happens after the day kind of winds down."
A Nov. 2017 article in the FGCU Eagle chronicled LaCroix and the group, calling them a fixture on campus.
The group usually appears on campus when the feeling hits but this time LaCroix said it was connected to a local meeting.
"I'm a born again, Christian follower of Jesus, also a street evangelist. And we're here today, we were having a conference in Fort Myers, at a church here," LaCroix said.
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A religious group protested on the campus of FGCU Monday afternoon. The group preached and asked to pray with students. Many students were put off by the group and protested back.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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A religious group protested on the campus of FGCU Monday afternoon. The group preached and asked to pray with students. Many students were put off by the group and protested back.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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A religious group protested on the campus of FGCU Monday afternoon. The group preached and asked to pray with students. Many students were put off by the group and protested back.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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A religious group protested on the campus of FGCU Monday afternoon. The group preached and asked to pray with students. Many students were put off by the group and protested back.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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A religious group protested on the campus of FGCU Monday afternoon. The group preached and asked to pray with students. Many students were put off by the group and protested back.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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A religious group protested on the campus of FGCU Monday afternoon. The group preached and asked to pray with students. Many students were put off by the group and protested back.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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A religious group protested on the campus of FGCU Monday afternoon. The group preached and asked to pray with students. Many students were put off by the group and protested back.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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A religious group protested on the campus of FGCU Monday afternoon. The group preached and asked to pray with students. Many students were put off by the group and protested back.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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A religious group protested on the campus of FGCU Monday afternoon. The group preached and asked to pray with students. Many students were put off by the group and protested back.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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A religious group protested on the campus of FGCU Monday afternoon. The group preached and asked to pray with students. Many students were put off by the group and protested back.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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A religious group protested on the campus of FGCU Monday afternoon. The group preached and asked to pray with students. Many students were put off by the group and protested back.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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A religious group protested on the campus of FGCU Monday afternoon. The group preached and asked to pray with students. Many students were put off by the group and protested back.
Michael Braun / WGCU
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A religious group protested on the campus of FGCU Monday afternoon. The group preached and asked to pray with students. Many students were put off by the group and protested back.
Michael Braun / WGCU
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A religious group protested on the campus of FGCU Monday afternoon. The group preached and asked to pray with students. Many students were put off by the group and protested back.
Michael Braun / WGCU
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A religious group protested on the campus of FGCU Monday afternoon. The group preached and asked to pray with students. Many students were put off by the group and protested back.
Michael Braun / WGCU
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A religious group protested on the campus of FGCU Monday afternoon. The group preached and asked to pray with students. Many students were put off by the group and protested back.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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A religious group protested on the campus of FGCU Monday afternoon. The group preached and asked to pray with students. Many students were put off by the group and protested back.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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A religious group protested on the campus of FGCU Monday afternoon. The group preached and asked to pray with students. Many students were put off by the group and protested back.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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A religious group protested on the campus of FGCU Monday afternoon. The group preached and asked to pray with students. Many students were put off by the group and protested back.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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A religious group protested on the campus of FGCU Monday afternoon. The group preached and asked to pray with students. Many students were put off by the group and protested back.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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Lead by self-styled, born-again orator Adam LaCroix, the group of about 20 men and women spoke, wore t-shirts and waved signs promoting Jesus, being saved, urging people to repent and abstain from sex, alcohol and sexual relations. A religious group protested on the campus of FGCU Monday afternoon. The group preached and asked to pray with students. Many students were put off by the group and protested back.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
FGCU students who gathered to watch the group at the center of campus were not much for listening to LaCroix's message. A large contingent mocked the group, yelling at them, using loud noise-makers and horns and generally scoffing at the message.
"It's absolutely crazy that our campus would allow like all these people to come here and spread hate," Niko Miller, said. "We have a lot of LGBT students here and students. I just don't want to deal with this, you know, going to classes. So I think it's great that everyone's coming here and showing them that we don't want them on our campus."
But FGCU Regulation 9.004 defines public expression and assembly on campus and pretty much covers situations such as this: "The freedom of speech and assembly guaranteed by the Constitutions of the United States and the State of Florida shall be enjoyed by all members of the University community. It is the intent of the University to encourage a free discourse of ideas while ensuring the safe and normal operations of campus life and education."
FGCU students create a "stir" as Christians bring religious protest to campus
With campus security watching, the Christian followers tried to spread their word and the students mainly watched and commented.
And it will be repeated on Tuesday.
"We don't have to get permission. We have the First Amendment and this is a public campus," LaCroix said. "We have to abide by the campus rules with amplification ... but we are here today and tomorrow. And so that's the plan."
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