HO-NO-MO Tour: Sister Cindy Swims To The Swamp

By DEBRA GARCIA AND CARTER TODD

GAINESVILLE, FL — Students gather around for buttons, pins and custom Bibles. Observers gawk and record on their cell phones. Participants receive decorated buttons and are offered the chance to win and purchase merchandise.

"When you die, you'll go to the big condom in the sky," a short, petite lady wearing a long ankle-length dress exclaims to a crowd of young adults.

This is not an athletic event or a theatrical performance. This is the Sister Cindy experience.

Cindy Smock, 64, a traveling evangelical street preacher and self-professing Christian, has traveled from campus to campus looking to spread her message to students all around the country for her “HO-NO-MO Tour.”

Her goal with the "HO-NO-MO Tour" is to spread her interpretation of the Christian message to students on college campuses around the nation. On this tour, Smock looks to encourage students to abstain from indulging in premarital sex, alcohol and drugs.

“I’m all about loving and serving the Lord Jesus,” Smock said on her TikTok account.

In the last month alone, Smock has visited Florida State University, the University of Central Florida, the University of Tampa, the University of South Florida, Flagler College and now, the University of Florida.

Smock has gained notoriety for her views on TikTok and the way that she interacts with students. Her message when she speaks on campus focuses on strict abstinence from sexual activity until marriage. To cement this message, she uses the slogan “HO-NO-MO.”

Smock’s journey started back in 1979. She was a journalism student here at the University of Florida where she met her future husband, George Edward Smock, who was also known as “Brother Jed.” According to her now-deceased husband, Smock partied a lot in college but repented for her sins shortly after meeting him.

"I used to be a bad girl at the University of Florida," Smock said.

“Cindy brought her friends out regularly to listen to Brother Max and me preach the Gospel. They claimed no intention of wanting salvation. To them, it was good entertainment. I never imagined that six years later this girl would become my wife,” Brother Jed said.

Despite that rough start, Smock soon converted to evangelism, dropped out of school and started working for The Campus Ministry. Smock and Brother Jed got married, had five children, traveled to colleges all over the nation and preached their worldview to college students.

Before Smock became the infamous “Sister Cindy,” who traveled from college to college, preaching to young women to "HO-NO-MO," she gained her fame as the “crazy tampon lady.”

According to Brother Jed’s website, “BroJed.org,” Smock would travel to colleges, carry a tampon tree and preach that “sin is like a chocolate-covered bloody tampon.”

This way of teaching is inspired by Isaiah 30:22, which says “you will defile your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths and call them filth.”

“Sin is a chocolate-covered bloody tampon! It may look good, smell good, taste good or make you feel good…at first. Once you bite into it you will be so sorry; you will gag, choke, throw up and maybe even commit suicide,” said Smock.

While she was first known as the “crazy tampon lady,” Smock recently gained popularity on TikTok, a popular app used by Gen Z. College students would post videos of her preaching on campuses, as they found her methods of preaching quite amusing. She now has over 400,000 followers on TikTok and 17,000 followers on Instagram.

Smock is not the normal campus preacher. She uses the fact that college students make fun of her to her advantage. Smock uses vulgar language, yells, describes sex in detail and slut shames women who do not wait until marriage by calling them ‘witches.’ When she preaches, Smock has no filter.

"If you like the big boobies, you are prone to get titty whipped," she said while preaching at Texas A&M University.

“It is the sister Cindy slut-shaming show. They were interested in sex. And if I talk about that, I can get their attention and give them the word of God,” Smock said.

As a way to preach her message, Smock gives out “HO-NO-MO” buttons and bibles with the “HO-NO-MO” slogan on the cover to those who can answer the "Ten Commandments" or "Apostles’ Creed." There is also a special button, called the "NEVER-A-HO" button. She only gives these buttons to students who can prove that they are, in fact, virgins. How can they prove this? By taking the "NEVER-A-HO” quiz.

"I am here to do some good old-fashioned slut-shaming," Smock said.

The quiz is different depending on whether the participant is a man or a woman. The men only must answer one question, which is if they are a virgin because they “can’t get any or don’t want any.” On the other hand, women must answer five extremely specific and private questions about their sex lives.

“I think just asking the guys the one question, then you know what is in their heart. With the girls, I ask more questions because a lot of people will do sexual acts, but they say it is not sex if they don't do full intercourse. So, I just make the point, yes, it is sex,” Smock said.

"Ladies! Semen is not on the food pyramid," she said.

While Smock believes that her methods are a sound way to draw attention and preach her message, others would disagree. Eddie Gilley, a pastor at the Baptist College Ministry, thinks that her methods can be extreme.

“Why is it necessary to offend everyone?” Gilley asked.

“The gospel message is offensive because it's exclusive and says that we have messed up and need someone to save us, but you do not have to be offensive in delivering that message,” he said.

“I think anytime that you're dealing with people's sexual expression, whatever that is, that's an area to tread very lightly, right, because it is so tied to who we are,” he said.

Gilley deems using a kinder approach is more effective for sharing the message of salvation.

“You do speak the truth, but you do it in love. If I love someone, I don't want to let them get hurt. And if I believe the gospel is true, which I do, it would be very unloving of me to say eternity doesn’t matter,” Gilley said.

Even the students she preaches her message for believe her ways can be excessive. Kaleb Lowe, a Baptist student at USF, saw her preach last spring at the USF campus. Lowe, 20, had mixed feelings about Smock.

“I thoroughly believe that she’s an entire act and truly doesn’t believe anything she says. However, no one can tell, so they just watch and speculate, which is good for her and her publicity,” Lowe said.

While some students visit her events out of genuine curiosity, others watch her because they see her as a source of entertainment.

“I find her kind of funny,because I believe she doesn’t actually believe in what she’s saying. She either believes in what she’s saying and basically butchers the Bible, or she doesn’t truly believe, and she’s using my faith for her own personal gain,” he said.

Smock recently visited UF as a part of her “HO-NO-MO Tour.” She preached at Plaza of the Americas during the afternoons from Feb.14 to Feb.16. Hundreds of students gathered under the shady trees to hear her speak on those three afternoons, taking in the free entertainment.

Sofia Areas,18, is a UF student who went to see Smock in the flesh. Although Areas was raised as a Catholic, she does not practice any religion. Despite this, she went to see Smock on campus, as she considers Smock’s preaching as a comedy show, made to make her and her fellow students laugh.

“The best way that I can describe it is college-exclusive SNL. The way that she talks and enunciates things makes her arguments seem satirical. College students treat her like a spectacle,” Areas said.

While students like Areas treat Smock and her preaching as funny entertainment, other students are offended by Smock’s messages. Heiry Garcia, 24, saw Smock in action and was disgusted by her statements. She was especially appalled when Smock said multiple times that women deserve sexual violence based on the clothes they choose to wear.

“Once I heard that statement,I left because why would I spend my time listening and supporting someone who is spreading that kind of message? No one is deserving of that experience,” Garcia said.

“As a woman, we should be supporting other women in a positive and uplifting way, not in a manner that degrades them,” she said.

While it is understandable why women are offended by Smock’s messages, male students are also alarmed by the extreme, she goes to spread her points. Jacob Bethin, 23, is an atheist UF student who saw Smock during her visit. While he could not relate to the feeling of being slut-shamed, he understands that it can be seen as offensive.

“I think her slut-shaming is repulsive and extremely hypocritical of her own beliefs. God’s teachings are all about love and forgiveness. Her teachings are shaming those and trying to guilt college students, people barely out of adolescence, that their lives are sinful and they are going to hell,” Bethin said.

Lowe is also disgusted by how Smock interprets and teaches the words of the Bible.

“It sucks because people associate Christianity with crazy ladies screaming about vampire women seducing guys and random bald middle-aged men telling teenagers they’re going to hell for dyeing their hair or getting their ears pierced. Students don’t get to see Christianity for God’s love and the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus made for us,” he said.

Sister Cindy’s presence on college campuses around the country had made clear and profound effects on those who have experienced her message. Despite her leaving UF Feb. 16, her impact on students, whether positive or negative, will never be forgotten. Well, until her next visit.