Evangelist Jed Smock, or “Brother Jed” as many students know him, warned students to give up their sinful ways as he preached on central campus at Iowa State this week.

Smock, who practices an intensely confrontational evangelism, was hailed with passionate remarks and frequent contempt from a crowd of about 30 on Tuesday afternoon.

Jed Smock’s wife, Cindy, who frequently travels with her husband, also preached to students with their five children reciting verses from the Bible and wearing religious signs.

Students who disagreed with Smock’s ideas voiced their differences to the Smocks in an open debate.

Tom Chambers, a graduate student in chemistry, said he fully believes in the message of Jesus Christ but disagrees with the way Smock delivers it.

“I don’t think they need to call people names, and I don’t think they have to use foul language,” Chambers said.

Melinda Barton, a junior in computer science, agreed that the Smocks could tell their message without attacking people.

Daniel Menoni, a senior in journalism and English, said, “I have no idea why someone preaching love would attack students and their families, calling them drunkards and dysfunctional.”

Jed Smock, a former history professor at the University of Wisconsin, said he knows that many people have different views.

“I’m just trying to get people to think,” he said, “to provoke dialogue and debate,” even if they don’t agree they are still thinking.

Smock told students of his own past, of the time when he gave up teaching and became a hippy. He said he finally turned away from this life of drugs when he met a man carrying a cross and preaching about Jesus.

Smock, who is from Newark, Ohio, has preached on 700 campuses across the United States.