On Feb. 18 and 19, Cindy Smock, better known as Sister Cindy on Instagram and TikTok, made her way down to Florida Atlantic University’s Boca Raton campus, bringing her “HoNoMo Revolution” to spread her message of the importance of repenting from sexual impurities and the dangers of worldly influences to students. 

Smock is a self-proclaimed preacher who has been traveling around various college campuses for her tour: The HoNoMo Revolution also coined the ‘Official Sl*t Shaming Show.’ Smock rebukes sexual immorality on college campuses and preaches the value of repentance and returning to a pure life after witnessing the influence of lust, alcohol and drugs during her college years at the University of Florida. 

Known for her outlandish preaching style and catchphrase, HoNoMo, Smock attracted crowds of about 50-70 students to hear her sermon. During her two-day visit, 38 students came forward to pray and share their religious journey with her. 

“Living the ho life is like a gold studded diamond in a pig’s nose,” shouted Smock to the crowds of Florida Atlantic students, as she handed out branded buttons and mini scripture books to those who participated. 

Due to her theatrical way of preaching and modern tie-ins to her message, Sister Cindy has amassed over 600,000 followers across all social media platforms. The viral TikTok sensation preached for four hours each day to students who stopped by; some to learn, some to be entertained and others who debated her style of teaching.

Jordan Allen, a senior health science major, decided to check out Sister Cindy when she saw many students gathering around her. Allen knew little about Smock but loved her message and what she stood for. 

“I saw Sister Cindy. I felt led to go over here, I feel like it’s really beautiful, I’m really happy to see that there are people preaching the gospel — there’s like a revival at school. It’s really amazing,” said Allen.

Before Smock’s arrival on campus, Allen has been going through her own journey of getting more connected to God. “I had a dream, and I saw somebody coming to campus and grabbing students and telling them, ‘Do you want to be led to Jesus?’ I saw many students coming towards that person, so I feel it’s really powerful that she’s here,” said Allen.

Allen views Smock’s gospel at campus as an answer to her prayers and thinks FAU students could learn a lot from her preachings. Allen sees the Sister being here as a positive thing for people, especially those with different interests.

“To me, I find it hard to relate to people because I’ve never dated, I’ve never gone to clubs or parties. I’ve been struggling in my relationship with God. It’s been very hard for me, so seeing Sister Cindy is like a sign from God, to try harder, think of his relationship as marriage, he never forsakes us, so I should try hard to seek him,” said Allen

Allen feels more people like Smock should be able to come to campus more often. 

“I will come to campus every day if Sister Cindy was on campus every day,” said Allen. 

She even wants Pastor Cliffe Knecthle, a pastor at Grace Community Church in New Canaan, Connecticut, who spends time at university campuses answering questions from faculty and students about Christ, to come to Florida Atlantic’s campus and preach one day. 

Like Allen, students stopped by to see Smock, while they don’t agree with her message, they agree with the sentiment. 

Cats L, a first semester theatre student, first learned about Smock through Instagram reels. Coming from a Chistian background, they spent most of their adolescent time at a private Christian school. 

“Do I necessarily believe in God? No. But do I believe the good teachings of coming as you are. She spits facts sometimes, but I don’t believe it to her extent,” Cats said. 

Another student who had a different reaction to Smock’s presence was Maddy Mills.

Maddy Mills, a junior psychology and criminal justice major, wasn’t familiar with Smock. However, she quickly heard of her presence on campus after seeing her friends’ excitement.

Coming from a Catholic background, Mills’ first issue with Smock was the distortion of bible verses to match her message of female students covering up and not showing as much skin. 

Mills’ favorite biblical story is from Matthew 5:28-29. In the scriptures, a man complains that the way women dress is distracting him from his duties, but instead of telling the women to cover up, Jesus shifts the responsibility back onto the man.

“That’s my favorite story of Jesus. Jesus is like, you’re looking at the woman, take out your eyes. His whole point is, you are the person having inappropriate thoughts, so why is it up to somebody else to make sure you don’t have them?” said Mills when asked about Smock’s preaching.

Mills also thinks that Smock adds to the discomfort students already experience with other religious figures coming to the campus. 

“It doesn’t make a lot of minorities feel safe. I’ve had LGBTQ+ friends, and they’re like, if I see them [religious figures], I go a longer way to class because they don’t feel safe with it. I know a lot of Christians, Catholics and Muslim individuals that don’t really feel safe. It’s mainly the ones who tried to get argumentative with students,” said Mills. 

Overall, Mills feels sad that Smock is very passionate about her tagline of HoNoMo, especially because she believes many students see it as entertainment rather than a serious religious message.

“I feel a bit sad that she’s [Smock] very passionate about this, and then people are kind of seeing it as comedic. I see that and feel bad, but at the same time, she’s saying stuff that is like it’s the 21st century,” said Mills. “You can’t tell someone to cover up.” 

Just like Mills, Marcello Munoz disagreed with Smock’s message, just seeing it as a spectacle of entertainment. Munoz is a sophomore business administration major, he visited Smock both days for an hour each. 

Munoz didn’t take Smock seriously, viewing her sermons as a way to gain more influence and attention on social media. He felt her presence was more about stirring up students than educating. 

Munoz stated that a student of a different religion started asking Smock questions about different religions. “I think the student was Buddhist or Hindu, he asked about what the Bible said about not being able to control your religious background. Sister Liz told the student there was only one God and it’s Jesus,” said Munoz. 

The sister proceeded to talk to antagonize the crowd about not following the correct God. “It’s like a big insult to different religions and I don’t agree with that.” 

Florida Atlantic isn’t the final stop as Sister Cindy continues her 2025 Spring Tour. From accidentally calling students ‘hos’ to signing branded buttons, Smock continues to bring her sermons and viral presence to college campuses nationwide. 

Kaii Thompson is the business manager for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email her at kaiiliburdthompson@gmail.com.