A man in a white T-shirt with the words “JESUS TALK” printed on it sits in Free Speech Alley with an empty chair across from him without saying or handing out anything.Most University students know him as the Jesus Talk Guy.”The idea is to be available as an older grandfather type person who can respond to different questions in a more anonymous way,” said Ivan Imes, the Jesus Talk Guy.Imes, 67, said this idea came to him in April 2000, and it germinated for a while before he took action a little more than two years ago.He remains quiet in Free Speech Alley because “obviously, Jesus is on my shirt, so if someone approaches me, they are seeking someone who represents, or is at least holding up the name of, Jesus,” he said.Depending on the weather, Imes is usually available to University students three days a week for about two-and-a-half hours each day.He said the type of students who approach him varies. Imes said two-thirds of the students who approach him are believers who have questions while one-third of them are non-believers who are   curious or want to better understand a spiritual perspective.Imes said he has probably been asked hundreds of questions, but no one approaches him simply to argue with him. He said he thought it had to do with the way he sits peacefully.”I can discuss spiritual issues, which is my primary desire, but personal issues in a spiritual context as well,” Imes said.How long Imes and the student talk depends on how major and complex the problem is and how deeply they want to get into it.”For someone who had a life crisis and really needed counseling, I would talk to them for half an hour, maybe 45 minutes,” Imes said.Imes said he had a born-again experience at the age of 52.”It was a culmination of several life crises that made me seek the Lord. He responded, and it turned my life around completely,” Imes said.When referring to his own religion, he calls himself a Christian. He said that is the proper answer for people who have been born again.”It says nothing about their particular denomination or non-denominational church we go to because all of us are united in the Holy Spirit,” Imes said. “We are scripturally the mystical body of Christ.”Imes said he has a good cross section of denominations that he has had significant experience with. “Part of the reason for that,” Imes said, “is that I think the Lord wanted me to converse with people in a vocabulary that they are used to.”Imes does not devote all of his time to being the Jesus Talk Guy on campus. He owned his own engineering company, Imes Engineering, Inc., which he sold.He said as a result, he was in a position where he could semi-retire. “I use the available time to do the things that bring me joy and pleasure, a large one of which is to be available on Free Speech Alley,” he said.But not everything about Free Speech Alley is enjoyable for him, particularly the Consuming Fire group.The Consuming Fire Fellowship, based in Woodville, Miss., frequents the University wearing sandwich boards, condemning people to Hell if they don’t convert.They don’t allow any grey areas in the interpretation of religious law, according to their Web site, “It is our prayer … that God would give us a fire-bathed message that will utterly offend everything outside of Christ. Let everything be driven in or driven out … No middle ground,” the Web site states.Imes feels what they do is wrong.”I believe they are a cult,” he said. “What they say and their approach is not the way Jesus handled his business when he was ministering and alive.”Imes said people should, in as many ways as possible, model the way Jesus lived, and those with the Consuming Fire Fellowship don’t do that.”They violate that in many, many ways, in many obvious ways,” Imes said. “I do not respect what they do.”Imes said people from the Consuming Fire Fellowship approached him while having a private conversation with a student, and he had to pressure them to leave him alone.”To the extent that I can, I never speak to them or have any contact with them,” Imes said.Many students on campus feel it’s a nice change to see the Jesus Talk Guy sitting in Free Speech Alley peacefully, rather than forcing leaflets or yelling at them.”It’s nice to have someone truly care about my spiritual well-being instead of just calling me a sinner for wearing flip flops,” said Greg Keller, marketing sophomore.Imes said while it appears to be a great sacrifice of time to be out there, it really is not. “If the Lord asks you to do something, and he definitely asked me to do this, and you are obedient, the joy and blessings far out way the sacrifice,” he said.—-Contact Catie Vogels at [email protected]