God-smack

In her cover story, "Prophets Without Honor," Isthmus contributing writer Kristin Visser reports that street preacher Brother Jed Smock, 43, was adrift and aimless until finding God 14 years ago. As the principal of Campus Ministries, he tours colleges and universities including UW-Madison, where his sermons on Library Mall reliably attract hecklers who pepper him with verbal abuse. He says people "need to get back to primitive Christianity, to the way Jesus and the prophets did it.... We know we're right.... When I'm mocked, it confirms the Scriptures that show prophets being mocked." Now based in Columbia, Mo., Smock remains the central figure in the Campus Ministry U.S.A. and continues to tour colleges and universities.