I first heard of the end times and the coming eternal damnation on a sunny Wednesday afternoon outside the Ralph Brown Draughton Library.
A man in a plain blue polo shirt, round glasses and khaki pants stood outside the front steps handing pamphlets to people passing by.
The small black print on those narrow slips of paper labeled wars, rampant homosexuality, religious apostasy and AIDS as signs of a looming "Day of the Lord."
"You need to think about where you're going to spend eternity," said Brad Caldwell, member of Sand Hill Church.
Caldwell hails from Sand Hill Bible Church, just past Chewacla State Park in an unassuming one-story building at 4505 Sandhill Road.
Wednesday services take place in a small room with wood paneling and plush red chairs.
Forty six people sat in the room, scattered across the chairs. They prayed alone for the first 30 minutes.
A low buzz of speech filled the room, but most of the adults spoke in a language only they and God could allegedly understand.
They weren't crazy. They were praying.
Sand Hill members believe those who have been saved twice, (once as Christians and once by the Holy Spirit), can pray in tongues, similar to the apostles in the Bible.
Pastor Robert Freeman Jr., 58, related his first experience with the phenomenon when he was a young man.
"I was praying there at a big oak table and I prayed and asked the Lord to baptize me with the Holy Spirit and he did," Freeman said. "I began to speak in another language I've never learned before in my life. I have since then, any time I've wanted to, prayed in that language."
Eventually, Freeman stood behind a wooden podium on a small stage before the assembly.
In a room full of incandescent yellow can lights, a single pale fluorescent panel above the lectern made Freeman's white hair, beard and shirt glow.
He gripped the sides of the podium, leaned forward and emphasized God's love was like fire.
Freeman comes from what he called "the old school of preaching."
Conversations with Freeman reveal his encyclopedic knowledge of the Bible. He quotes chapter and verse from memory, even citing the original Greek and Hebrew words.
After the service, a half dozen members stayed behind to greet each other.
The people of Sand Hill Bible Church were welcoming and friendly. They looked me in the eye when they shook my hand.
Although Freeman describes the church as nondenominational Christian, the easiest comparison is the Amish with electricity.
Sand Hill Christians forgo sports, television and other activities they see as "unChristlike" in order to focus on "wholesome alternatives."
"My husband and I got rid of our television when our first child was a year old," said Judy Freeman, Robert's wife.
They also prefer to keep themselves separate from the world which they find immoral.
"We cannot wed the world and win Christ at the same time," reads another pamphlet.
Freeman knows the church's views stand against the world.
"Every person who becomes a disciple of Jesus Christ is going to encounter opposition from the world... that's inevitable," Freeman said.
Scott Roney, member of Sand Hill Church, brings the message to Auburn's campus.
Every Wednesday, he stands outside the library and preaches.
Roney exhorts students in a loud, gravelly voice to repent and serve Jesus.
I stood by Roney and watched the students pass.
Most ignored him.
A few stopped to talk to James Hartford, 54, Roney's companion. Hartford provided pamphlets and conversation to anyone interested in the church.
Freshmen Rachel Solorio stopped to talk to Hartford and left holding one of the church's tracts.
"I love that people are sharing who they believe Christ is," Solorio said. "I don't know if the yelling is the best possible way to go about that, you know?"
Roney said other Christians often disagree with his methods.
"We live in a lukewarm Christian culture," Roney said. "All I'm saying is with a loud voice that Jesus is coming."
The students treated the visitors from Sand Hill hesitantly.
"I do plan to read it," said Caitlin Thorn, a graduate student studying aerospace engineering, who held another pamphlet.
Solorio said she planned to come back to talk to the Sand Hill visitors once she understood more of their religious doctrine.
"The fact that people are willing to go out and proclaim the name of Jesus, that's cool to me," Solorio said.
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