The University of Minnesota Twin Cities Campus has a big grassy area bordered by hedges south of Northrop Auditorium and North of Coffman Memorial Union and it is known as Northrop Mall, or simply The Mall.
Northrop Mall – University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN – Photo by Barrett Doherty, 2021, from the Cultural Landscape Foundation website www.tclf.org/northrop-mall-university-minnesota
When I, Publius Jr, was a student in the late 90’s there I would pop out of Walter Library on the way to Akerman Hall where the vast majority of my Aerospace Engineering classes were at. On the way to Akerman, or toward Walter Library to study, I would sometimes see what became known as Mall Preachers. Often they would be made fun of by passing students yet most of the time they would gather a handful of students who would sit on the grass and listen to their testimonies for Jesus Christ.
Photo by Barrett Doherty, 2021, looking from Northrop Auditorium towards Walter Library. From the www.tclf.org/northrop-mall-university-minnesota website. The Mall Preachers would give their Christian Testimonies here.
When I would dither along the walkway across The Mall while listening to whomever was preaching there I thought it was madness to even be addressing others without some motivator. It took some real guts to stand up and talk about some belief one holds dearly only to be laughed at by ignorant people who pretend to be tolerant and having great wisdom.
Fast Forward to now while I’m writing articles about politics, events and such, I usually have something on in the background to listen to. Sometimes it’s an audiobook, sometimes it is Christian Rock, a podcast of Shawn Ryan Show, David Paulides, or Steve Isdahl, and lately it is Joe Kirby of Off the Kirb Ministries on YouTube.
What is Off the Kirb Ministries?
Saturdays at 8:30 Central Time a new video of Joe Kirby comes out and he usually has a “hook,” that pulls one in, then there is an explanation, then a Gospel Message. He never asks for money and mostly he just asks like all the other channel content creators to like & subscribe. I believe he also does not monetize his videos either. Very thought provoking videos like the one below.
Joe Kirby mentions the pyramid video in the video above. I know you’re curious about it so here it is.
You might be asking why I led with the Mall Preachers trip down memory lane. Well it’s because Joe Kirby’s best videos I think that shows the strength and courage is in his Street Preaching videos on the streets of Lancashire England. When I see videos like the one below I think of the Mall Preachers at the University of Minnesota.
Then there are some people who try all sorts of addictions that find no rest or peace in them. Then a man in the following video says his life was turned around by Jesus Christ…not the first guy dressed as Jesus on Halloween.
Speaking of Addictions…
Joe Kirby admits he had a pornography addiction. At least he was honest. He has some videos that addresses this addiction. He also has a specially written devotional that helps to wean people off this addiction plus others.
He says that addictions like pornography release dopamine in your brain and what this does is makes you feel good. When your brain gets used to this it needs more of it, so the addiction gets rooted. His devotional is called, “100 Pure Thoughts.” Each day you read the Pure Thought of the day. Eventually you wean yourself off of the addiction and replace it with a feel good message and a hit of dopamine centered upon truths from the Bible.
I actually bought it. I have a few addictions that are unhealthy. One is research. I love to research things so I tend to stay up too late because of it and don’t get enough sleep. Another is social media, I have several X accounts, 2 FB accounts, a couple Truth Social Accounts, 4 GETTR accounts though most are not mine, I just admin them for either the websites I do content for, or organizations I’m the guy who is the second person on them.
You can check it out here and purchase it (I don’t get compensated) “100 Pure Thoughts,” by Joe Kirby.
Here’s a good closing video of his that sums up his messages pretty well.
Joe Kirby’s ministry is based in Lancashire, England and is a full time Evangelist. He says on his “About” section of his YT Channel, his evangelistic outreach consists of open air preaching, church outreach events, pulpit preaching, youth ministry and of Christian YouTube videos.
As of this writing on Christmas 2024, Joe has 2.51 million subscribers on Youtube and he doesn’t monetize his videos.
If Joe, is reading this I hope you can come to the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis some time when the Mall Preachers come out in the spring and do some Mall Preaching there. I might reluctantly join you. ~~ Publius Jr. University of Minnesota Institute of Technology alumni, Class of 2000.