KUTZTOWN, Feb. 17—Repent America (RA), an evangelical open-air preaching group, is hoping to start a local chapter in the Lehigh Valley area, according to Steve Armbruster. Armbruster, a Kutztown Public Safety officer who agreed to be interviewed outside his official capacity with the university, said he is in the process of gathering a group of people in the Lehigh Valley and Pocono areas with the eventual goal of starting a RA chapter.
Armbruster has been affiliated with RA for four years. He has been to several college campuses with the group, and organized events, such as a demonstration outside the Lehigh Valley courthouse last Friday. According to Armbruster, he has “about 7 people and over the next year the eventual goal is to establish a chapter, but we’re not there yet”
Michael Marcavadge, founder of RA, denies plans to start any chapters, and says his website, www.repentamerica.com, will be updated if that changes. He claims that RA is a volunteer-based group with no membership and says “those who volunteer with the ministry are encouraged to spread the Word of God and the Gospel message where they are at, which are independent witnessing activities outside of Repent America.”
According to Marcavadge and Armbruster, the group demonstrating at Kutztown University on Friday was one such independent witnessing activity. Ken Stockton, Robert Parker, and Greg Jacobs demonstrated from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Friday, attracting about 20 students. Most ignored them, but some such as senior Theater major Richard Swensky had extended and excited conversations with them.
Armbruster, who organized a demonstration at the Lehigh Valley courthouse earlier that morning, said that “Greg didn’t want to go home, so he asked if anyone wanted to go to Kutztown. He just really wanted to go to Kutztown, so the other guys said okay, and went along.” According to Armbruster, in order to have a RA affiliated event, there are certain rules the demonstrators would need to follow. As of press time, the list was unavailable.
Parker and Jacobs had taken the day off from work to demonstrate, and have both been doing demonstrations for several years. Stockton has been unemployed since early January, and preaches part-time. All three demonstrators claimed to be affiliated with RA.
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