Our History

The Southeast Open Air Preachers Association held its first meeting in 2004. This gathering began as a an outgrowth of similar meetings held by Pastor Brit Williams of Consuming Fire Ministries in Woodville, MS. Pastor Brit combined daily trips from Woodville to Baton Rouge where for several hours each day during the conference, attendees had an opportunity to preach to the students on campus at LSU. late in the evening the men attending the conference would venture out to reprove and rebuke the patrons and operators of various local strip joints and bars, this work went on till 2 am in some instances. During the morning and early evening sessions attendees would hear from a variety of speakers on a host of different subjects addressed from a Biblical perspective. Since then we have made an effort to bring together likeminded men in the Southeast, men after God's own heart, men who have been culled from the heard of feel-good Christianity in order to encourage and edify each other in the Biblical faith and ministry that we have been entrusted with. SOAPA meetings have subsequently been held in Virginia Beach, VA and Miami, FL. We are planning on our first gathering in Los Angles in 2011 and God Willing, in Brazil in 2012.

Our Mission

Our Mission is simple...2 Tim 4:2 " Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine."

We endeavor to fulfill our duty to "preach the Word" on campus as well as various events such as concerts, football games, the Super Bowl, Mardi Gras, parades, races, festivals and any other venue where people gather for any reason.

 

Additional information

SOAPA is an acronym for the Southeast Open Air Preacher’s Association.

The primary purpose of SOAPA is educational.

One of the primary features of a SOAPA conference is the practical application of basic open air preaching principles and team work.  Attendees have the opportunity to fellowship with and work alongside each other during the daily plenary sessions and outreach segments.

During the daily public preaching segments newcomers are encouraged to work alongside their team leaders, these are men who are seasoned veterans of the open air preaching ministry. Newcomers are encouraged to use their time on the campus or public sidewalk to observe,  study, listen and work in concert with their team leader as they prayerfully support the overall effort to publically proclaim the Word of God.   The public proclamation of the Word of God in this setting is a comprehensive task involving prayer, confrontational evangelism, personal evangelism, tract distribution, apologetics, discernment, boldness and the power of the Holy Ghost.

SOAPA is not affiliated with any one particular Protestant denomination. Conference attendees, participants and speakers come together from a variety of denominational backgrounds within Protestantism. This means that a SOAPA conference will be attended by men of God that share the dual burden to win lost souls and to publically proclaim the Word of God. This is a Holy Ghost directed conference and as such it is likely that there will be elements of the conference that some may find to be out of sync with their tradition or doctrinal predisposition and presuppositions…

SOAPA does not collect “membership dues”

• SOAPA conferences are free of charge

• SOAPA conferences are structured in such a way so as to provide attendees with opportunities to hear from a wide variety of guest speakers on a wide variety of topics and issues ranging from theological topics to 1st Amendment legal issues.  Some of the previous SOAPA conferences have covered topics having to do with: The Wrath of Almighty God, Judgment, Conviction, Sin, Holiness and The Love of God in addition to covering some highly debatable theological topics.

• Conference plenary sessions are conducted in a lecture style that is augmented by fiery preaching from time to time depending on the speaker.

• Speaker lineups include personal testimonies from the podium or pulpit by young men or new believers some of whom have never actually done any public preaching before…1Tim 4:12 “Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”

• The ultimate goal of a SOAPA conference is the strengthening and building up of the brethren, the fellowship of the Holy Ghost and the salvation of lost souls in addition to the public proclamation of the Word of God…all in the name of JESUS our Lord.

• The Association held its first meeting in 2004. The conference was hosted by The Open Bible Tabernacle in Marietta, Georgia. Sr. Pastor Eugene Holder gave a message titled “Into the Highways and Hedges” taken from Luke 14:23 “And the Lord said unto his servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.” Attorney Nate Kellum with the Alliance Defense Fund brought the men at this first conference a message on “Your 1st Amendment Rights” and we have endeavored to address this topic at each subsequent meeting.

• The phrase “Open Air Preaching” is descriptive of the focus of a SOAPA conference. This phase is also known as “The Public Proclamation of the Gospel” and many who are employed in such work are referred to as “street preachers”…

• Confrontational Evangelism is also incorporated into the scope of “Open Air Preaching” but does not necessarily involve the use of large banners or sandwich board signs.

DISCLAIMER #1: If you have a difficult time having fellowship with those who do not line up with your particular doctrinal beliefs then you should prayerfully consider attending a SOAPA conference. You will find that it is actually possible for Arminians and Calvinist to co-exist in the same room without the situation turning into a brawl. If you love the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word, and believe that He is God in the flesh who dwelt among us, and if you love the KJV Bible and sowing that Word through public PREACHING then you should feel most welcome at a SOAPA conference.
DISCLAIMER #2:  Some of the brethren that attend the SOAPA conference actually wear T-shirts and shorts when they preach and some of them go so far as to cut the sleeves off of the shirts and may actually resemble this fictional photo of John The Baptist…If you are prone to equate the attire and facial hair characteristic of the Amish with holiness and authority then you will be challenged to set aside those stereotypes at a SOAPA conference…consider yourself warned in advance…