A man slight in stature stands on the edge of the stage in the center of Georgia State’s courtyard. Dressed in a heavy tweed jacket and matching bucket hat, his wrinkled olive skin and kind green eyes you may lead you to write him off as a sweet old man. That is until he starts describing sexual organs like “walnut shaped testicles” and giving students detailed descriptions of the reproductive process.
“’Sex Ed with Brother Jed’ came from my own creative mind. I wanted to give the basic facts of life in a satirical humorous way so they [students] would remember it,” explained Brother Jed , the 70-year-old founder and president of the Campus Ministry USA.
Campus Ministry USA is a group dedicated spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ to the college and university students. George Edward Smock Jr., or Bother Jed as he is commonly referred to as, is the face of the organization and has been working on campuses around the United States for the last 40 years.
“We want to get them thinking and hopefully reading the Bible and eventually committing their life to Christ,” said Brother Jed.
Brother Jed chose the topic of sex to clarify misconceptions about sex and its relation to marriage.
“A lot of the students are very confused today about their sexuality. They don’t understand what marriage is or appreciate that sex is the act of marriage because it’s principally (not solely) for procreation,” said Smock.
Brother Jed’s slapstick routine on sexual education from the Christian prospective covered the arrangement of male and female genitals, to the benefits of increased breast size during pregnancy and every detail in-between.
His crash course in sexual ed did not go unnoticed by students who gathered around the stage to challenge his speech.
Katie Mills, junior psychology major, was the one of the more vocal students who eventually took to the stage a few times to contest Brother Jed’s speech.
“This is the second time they’ve been here; they want attention and the best thing to do is to be as non-serious as possible to make them uncomfortable,” Mills said.
Mills, like other students on campus, seems to be annoyed with the ability of religious groups and protestors to come on Georgia States campus and bombard students with religious messages.
“I don’t think that they should be allowed to come on our campus and spread hate in the name or religion,” Mills said. “I’ve studied religion and I feel like Jesus was a great guy, and he preached tolerance and love and not to judge anyone. If they were they preaching that message I wouldn’t have a problem with them.”
Campus Ministry’s goal is to get students’ attention, according to Brother Jed.
