Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
I hope you had a blessed day.  God was with me today and I could sense He guided me by His Spirit.  Two guys prayed to receive Christ today, Teddy and Misael.

Teddy was sitting reading the mythic book series about the “Lightening Thief” if you have heard of that one.  He said he’d read it 7 times — so he didn’t mind being interrupted to do a survey.  He’s a black guy about 5’8″, black and brown Afro.  Cheerful, he runs track and seems to kind of keep to himself, good sense of humor though.  He was sitting on a couch by the student activities office on the ground floor of the SSC building beneath where we have Bible study.  He’d been baptized, but he hadn’t known what it meant, as he had never in as many words asked God to forgive him of his sins based on what Jesus had done for him on the Cross. And he wasn’t really sure why he’d go to Heaven or not.  Evidenced of what he had been relying on was in that, when I asked him how likely it was he would go to heaven when he died, he said 60% explaining he hadn’t been to church in a while.  He really tracked with the Gospel though and believed.  He wanted to be forgiven and prayed to receive Jesus.  He wasn’t much of a reader but I got his e-mail and gave him a Bible study.  He thought he might come to the study on Tuesdays this year, so that was great.

Misael is a Roman Catholic guy.  Dark, close-cropped hair, with a few moles here and there.  He seemed really serious when we went through the Gospel. He was a “math geek” and seemed like a nice guy.  He said he wasn’t, “a big sinner.”  And he went to church but he hadn’t really understood the Gospel.  When I asked him if he had ever asked God to forgive him of his sins based on what Jesus had done for him on the Cross he just shook his head “no”.  So I explained the prayer to him where he could receive God’s forgiveness and asked him if he’d like to pray it “like I wasn’t there” and he shook his head “yes”.  So I handed him the booklet and he prayed to receive Jesus.  I explained the Holy Spirit to him as I always do, and he said he wasn’t “much of a reader” when I offered him a book.  But I did give him a Bible Study on the Deity of Christ to read through, got his e-mail to send him a story, and said I would pray for him.  He asked me my name again and I told him and said I would pray for him and he said, “Thanks Bob.”

So hey pretty great day.  Only one other person I talked to wasn’t a Christian already.  I encouraged a couple of them in the faith and went through the Gospel with them anyway encouraging them to tell someone else..

We’d be grateful for your prayers for the Clubs and Activities day tomorrow to be sure we get a table to give out books and share the faith a bit and to help get the Bible study goin’.

Thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you got the chance.  God really blessed today and I’m truly grateful for your help.

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Hope ya had a great day walking in the Spirit!  I had a good day.  The first girl I had a conversation with came to Christ, Samantha. She was sitting at a table on second floor at the railing overlooking the science building lounge and lucky for me was really sick of her science homework.  Long brown hair, parted down the middle, tanned complexion.  She was playing a bit with her cell phone and hemmed and hawed when I asked her if she wanted to do a survey with me.  But the Lord led her and she asked, “How many questions? How long will it take?”  I told her 7 minutes, but we ended up talking longer.  I could tell from things she said she was from a Roman Catholic background.  I sat across from her and she listened carefully and tuned right in.  She had been through a lot of stuff, said she’d felt like she’d suffered, “Since I was young.” as a reason she should be let into Heaven. I think that might be one of the few times I have gotten something along those lines and the student was not bitter.  She’d lost her mom under some mysterious circumstances. “I’d like to find the truth out about my mom,” was all she’d really say about it.  But she said she wanted to be forgiven when I had finished going through the Gospel.  And she prayed with me.  I began to explain walking by the Holy Spirit to her and her friend walked up but quickly excused herself and went to the bathroom I believe.  I offered her The Case for a Creator but it turned out she didn’t like science.  But she took a Bible Study from me and the book Enjoying Your Walk with God. When her friend came back it turned out she was someone who had prayed to come to Christ in the spring 2012 and I had given her The Case for a Creator. So that was cool.  When I left Samantha said, “Thanks Bob,” and smiled so that was great.

Next week Wednesday we have a clubs and activities day table and due to construction a lot more peeps will be rolling past our table so hopefully some of the kids will stop by as 4 have come to Christ this year.

Thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism if you had a moment today, God truly blessed.

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
I hope you had a blessed day . I had a good day on campus.  Met for lunch and to chat with one of our peeps, Michelle, who is a real sweetheart, and two students came to Christ.

Christine was sitting on the floor in the science building. Blonde straight hair, maybe 5’5”, no makeup. Quiet hard working kind of girl, very reserved, though I got her to laugh a couple times. She had come once to a Bible study a year ago though I was hard pressed to remember her.  But she remembered me and did a student survey with me.  She thought she would go to Heaven because she was “An all around good person and had never maliciously hurt anyone.” So good works basically.  She went to Calvary, a large church out on Rt. 59 west of our house.  The Gospel seemed novel to her, however, as I went through it .When I asked her if she had ever asked to be forgiven based on what Jesus had done she said she hadn’t.  I read through the prayer with her and read the little line, “Is this the desire of your heart?”  She said it was and she said she would like to pray later.  So I asked her, “do you trust in what Jesus has done for you on the cross to make you right with God?”  She said, “Yes.” And I said, “Well, that is all that matters then right?” and she got a big smile on her face.  So hopefully she will come to Bible study again.

Sae was sitting in a lounge bench on the hall on the first floor beneath where Starbucks is on the second floor.  She’s African American, really matter of fact.  Large loosely curled hair and a long face with kind of straight features.  I had a hard time getting her to react much or crack a smile.  She had described herself in three words (one of the survey questions) as shy sweet and resentful.  She did seem a bit glum.  She had no assurance of Salvation but she went to church.  She knew some bible facts and interjected them here and there and I was a bit surprised, as Christianized as she seemed, that when I asked her if she had ever asked to be forgiven based on what Jesus had done for her she just flatly said, “No.”  So I walked her through the prayer and asked her if she would like to be forgiven and she said she would and I said something like, “Well, you could pray right now and ask for forgiveness, like I am not even here, quietly in your mind.  God is like a girl, He likes to be asked.”  She agreed to pray and I looked down as she did and when she was done she said, “Ok.” And she seemed to brighten.  She said she actually had all the books I was offering her but she took a Bible study and I said we’d have a book table up next week on Wed and she could look and see if I had any books she might want.  She smiled at that and I could tell she was different.  So hopefully we’ll connect again, I told her I would be praying for her.

So thanks so much for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism if you had a chance today.  The Lord was with me and guided me.

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Well, I had a good day of sharing the faith today with several nominal Christians and a couple believers and a few of the lost.  I went through the Gospel with 11 students in all, and bumped into a couple kids who had come to Christ the previous year and told them I was praying for them.

Mid-day, Michelle believed on Christ.  She was sitting on the floor around a short hallway on the second floor of the BIC building.  She said she’d do a student survey with me and we chatted.  Cute kid, tall brown shoulder length hair.  She had been raised catholic and described herself as a faithful believer who believed God had a plan for her life.  She went to a small bible church every Sunday with her mom.  But when I asked her if she had ever asked God to forgive her for her sins based on what Jesus had done she said she had gone to confession once as a child and asked for forgiveness.  I explained what the priest offered her was based on what Jesus had done and having explained the Gospel encouraged her to pray for forgiveness trusting in the work of Christ, going through the prayer with her.  She said she would and prayed to receive Jesus.  So that was great.  I gave her a Bible study and the Student Edition of The Case For Faith.  I invited her to a Bible study and explained the Holy Spirit to her. So I will keep her in my prayers.

Thanks so much for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism if you had a chance today. I had some good conversations and encouraged some peeps a bit closer to faith, I hope, who were lost. I know God was leading me today.

In Him,
Bob Bollow

“He says, It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant; 

To raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel;  

I will also make You a light of the nations, 

So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”  Is. 49:6

 Hey Friends,

How is your  summer going?   We have been plugging along.   I’ve had a bit of painting work, a rare thing in this economy, and we had a BBQ this past weekend.  About half the kids that came were College of DuPage students I have gotten to know over the past year.   Some of the peeps are not Christians, so it is good to strengthen our relationship with them and give them some food, love on them a bit and plug into their lives and relationships.    The kids that came were from the Philippines, Assyria and India, and it made me think of the verse above speaking of Jesus who is “a light to the nations” and then living in us we become “the light of the world” [Matt. 5:14].   I can’t bring Jesus to these places, but there were wayward students from these places in our backyard on Memorial Day, eating and playing bags.   God’s salvation is reaching the ends of the earth.   A Coptic girl from Egypt, Youstina, received Christ this year as did two Serbian Orthodox students: Jennifer and  Zdravko.  A Greek Orthodox girl, Dijana, prayed to receive Christ this spring.   Danni came to Christ this year.  She’s from the Philippines and is in an evangelical Church.   Rosette, who prayed to receive Jesus, is an African American student from France.  Jose’, from Spain, also came to Christ this year.   9 others were Latino.  55 were African American.   Most of these peeps are Americans, or hoping to become Americans, and from the perspective of Isaiah whom God is speaking through above, America itself is the “ends of the earth”.   By the end of the school year, 99 students prayed with me to receive Christ, and 4 committed to Christ, saying they would pray later.    I pray for others each night who I hope were close.  Matt was a typical suburban white kid, the first conversation I had last fall.   He believed in God and had grown up Lutheran, but was struggling with the claims of Christ.   I talked to him awhile and gave him The Case for Christ to read.   Later in the Fall I saw him and he came over to tell me faith was “Percolating” in him and he was beginning to believe.   I don’t know if he came to Christ, but I am prayerful God will bring him to Himself.  Facebook keeps me in touch with some of the students and also e-mail.

We gave away well over 100 books & bibles to new believers, Atheists and Muslims who showed enough interest to take a book from me.  We also discipled a few peeps at school.   We’ll hang out with some of the kids through the summer when we can, and get a bit of rest.   It is our hope and prayer that these students will more deeply be led by the Holy Spirit into an evangelical faith and find a community of faith they can connect with regularly .  Sometimes the next part of their sanctification will occur slowly, but several of the students who received Christ with whom I was able to hook up with later said they had found a church.   Most are attending a church when God leads me to them and were trying to be good people.  They just did not know Jesus died for their sins or they had not as yet trusted in Him.   Some of them are going to a Catholic Church, but I take heart that some of these churches are led by priests who have discarded the most destructive of Roman Catholic Doctrines and teach that faith alone saves us.   Two stories I often tell led me to think this.   Two years ago, after going through the Gospel with a Roman Catholic student, he said, “Yeah, I know all those verses.  You sound just like my priest.”   “Your priest has used these verses?” I asked.  He said yes and that he and 7 of his friends were in a bible study with his priest, who as far as I could tell was an evangelical Christian.   Then a couple years back I heard Presbyterian Theologian RC Sproul say he has received offers to debate Roman Catholic priests on the Biblical Doctrine of Salvation by Faith alone.   It has proved difficult, however, to find a Roman Catholic priest who takes the Historical Roman Catholic position, wherein the priest believed religious works contributed to the saving faith of the believer.  In one debate, the priest apologized to Sproul at the intermission, saying he believed as Sproul did, that faith in Christ alone saved us.  But if he said that at the debate his Bishop would find out and he’d be in trouble.

So in doing Evangelism we are abiding in the hope that truth-faith comes by an act of God as someone hears His word [Rom. 10:17].  Then the Holy Spirit enters the believer and begins to produce Sanctification (which is by the Spirit, 2 Thessalonians 2:13) drawing them into a closer walk with Christ.

These are the students who have prayed to receive Christ this 2012-2013 school year (an * means they committed but did not pray with me)

Matt*, John, Mary, Antuan, Carson, Chris, Kevin, Kenya, Alex, Jorge, Alex, Jen,

 Araina, Tival, Tatiana, Derrick, Devontae, Mike, Ledonte, Jose, Jesse, Bijan,

 Tywan, Jerv, Amber, Kim, Thalia, Roy, Julian, Justice, Anthony, Bianca, Jake, Allie,

 Grace, Romeo, Martha, Shaq, Leron, Kameron, Youstina, Jennifer, Cendy, Zdravko,

 Nate, Mayra, Tanisha, Rosette, Shay, Nana, Desire, Delet, Mesha, Randy, George*,

 Dionne, Tomika, Anthony, Jonathan, Danni, Calvin, Damian, Wade, Marquis, Viviana,

 Austin, Mike, Mark, Markus, Josh, Melissa*,Ewelina, Quincy, Parish, Mike, Alex,

 Marco, Shonika, Tim, Manny, Jose, Nick, Diamon, Monsi, Elvis, Brian, Taylor,

 Briesha, Jaylan, Kaitlynn, Ryan, Torrance, Ambrosia, David, Kalli, Tessa, Lateisha,

 Trinity*, Chris, Daniela, Dijana, Eddie and Calvin

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and financial support.  We would not be able to bring the Gospel and reach into the lives of these students without it.  We are blessed by your partnership with us.  God responds to the prayers of His people.

In Him,  Bob & Ellen

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Well, I hope if you are in Chicago you enjoyed the California like weather we’re gettin’ and feeling blessed — if you are in California, well hey you aren’t missing much.  So I had a great day today sharing the faith and 2 guys came to Christ, Eddie and Calvin.

Eddie was sitting at a table where a bunch of the peeps I bounce off of hang out.  They had migrated 25 feet into the lounge with the couches, which they do on occasion, and after chatting some of them up I walked out past Eddie sitting at the table alone.  He looked a lot like Jim Morrison who used to sing for the Doors if you can picture him–no other similarities thankfully, however.  Same mop haircut and very similar features.  He had some time to kill before class so we talked.  He was raised in Catholic School and had been reading through Genesis.  He asked me what God did not want man to find out in Genesis 10 and with the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  I explained that God was just trying to keep a group of people at Babel from organizing into greater acts of evil and defiance and destroying the world.  With the Tree, that God, being omnipotent, could know the difference between Good and Evil but humans being only good and finite only knew Good until they became Evil.  And God was keeping them from becoming evil in His forbidding them the eating of the tree.  I went through the Gospel with him and he believed and prayed to receive Christ.  I showed him all the books I had and he picked The Case for Faith to read.  We had a pretty long conversation and I got his e-mail to send him some stuff too and explained the Holy Spirit’s work in the Christian life.  He thanked me and said, “It was really great talking to you.”

Calvin was sitting eating at the counter in the cafeteria.  He’s the second black guy named Calvin to receive Christ this year.  He has very short hair, full features (looked a lot like Shannon Sharpe) and runs track and plays football.  He was a nice guy, and when I asked him why God should let him into Heaven he struggled for awhile, trying to make a list of good things he had done.  He said, “I am honest.  I try to keep others in mind when I can and I give to the poor.”  When that seemed inadequate, having said it he said, “Please.” He was a good guy, went to a Baptist Church, but though he knew the story of Jesus .  He knew he was supposed to “have faith” but was hard pressed to say what it had been for him and did not think he had been trusting in what Christ had done to forgive him after I explained the Gospel to him.  He wanted to pray to receive Jesus and he did, so that was great.  I explained to him, as I have to a lot of peeps, that Christians are not people who are good at being good, but people who are trusting in the power of God to live the Christian life by His Spirit.  I said that it is not our righteousness that makes us fit for Heaven but the righteousness of Jesus that is to our credit (imputation).  I said, “It is like if you were in a class with ten guys and you all were failing except one guy, Jim.  Jim was the teacher’s pet because he had done 2000 points of extra credit and loved the class.  One day your teacher comes in and says, ‘I have very sad news, Jim has died.  But I don’t want all his hard work to go for nothing, so I am going to give all his extra credit to you all.’  So she does that and then you all get A’s for the class.  The righteousness of Jesus is like that.  It is given to us who were failing and now we are made perfect.”  Calvin took More than a Carpenter to read and I got his e-mail too to send him some stuff.  He was grateful and shook my hand and I told him I would be praying for him.

So thanks so much for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance. The Lord blessed today by His Spirit and brought some peeps to Himself.

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
How was your day? It is purported to be the last cold day in Chicago.  So hey now if Jesus will come back I imagine Heaven is like California right?  And then I have seen my last winter.

I had a good day sharing, and two girls came to Christ.  Daniela, a Latino Catholic girl from West Chicago and Dijana (dianna) who is Eastern Orthodox.  Dijana said they speak “Mediterranean” at her church, that is an older tongue she often cannot understand (Greek maybe) but she said this as she got up to leave so I could not clarify.  She was a friend of my friend, Robie, who isn’t at school this year as he manages a store.  She’d seen me hanging out with him, so she was willing to talk as she waited for class to start on a bench seat on the edge of a lounge in the BIC.  Pretty girl, brown hair, shredded jeans and boots.  She did not think it was very likely she would go to Heaven, and when I went through the Gospel with her it was new to her.  Easter is coming up for them.  She said she would like to be forgiven and pray for Jesus to live inside her with His Holy Spirit, but wanted to make sure she was not committing to a different religion.  I explained to her Christianity was based on the forgiveness of sins by the blood of Christ, just as I had said, and the Orthodox church was too.  I explained the Eucharist based on the Gospel and she accepted this.  I don’t think she had been able to follow much of what had been going on at church.  But she received Christ and I gave her a Bible study and a booklet and More than a Carpenter to read.  So I hope she will grow in her faith at church and that through the Holy Spirit she will understand more what is being expressed.

Daniela is a shy girl but seemed happy, a nursing student.  She had brown hair and a pretty mole on her left cheek, smart.  She was happy.  She had an accent so she may have come to the US when she was older.  She was just sitting and snacking on what looked like salsa and chips at about 2:30 on a couch, just a bit down the hall from the bookstore.  She wanted to have a family and seemed really nice, like the person you would hope to get as a nurse if you were sick.  As I went through the Gospel with her, I asked her what God had done to forgive her sins and take away the sins of the world.  She could not think of anything and I said, “Well, it is by Jesus.” But that did not seem to register more, so I explained his death and resurrection and the imputation of his perfect life, as I had for Dijana b4 who hadn’t understood any more than Daniela had.  She said she would like to be forgiven and have God live inside her by His Holy Spirit and she prayed to do so.  I gave her a Bible as she did not have her own to read and she was interested in Science being a nursing student so I gave her More Than a Carpenter and a bible study on some of the Claims of Jesus to be God in the Bible.  I got her e-mail to send her stuff and invite her to Bible Study next year.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry on campus and for evangelism today if you got a chance. God really blessed.

In Him,

Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Hope you were led by the Spirit today and blessed.  I had a good day of sharing with some peeps . Two black kids, a girl Lateisha prayed to receive Christ today and a guy Trinity professed faith.

Latetisha was sitting in the lunch room and did a survey with me.  She was tall 5’10” and nice looking with straight hair, kind.  She understood the Gospel but did not think she was going to Heaven as she did not want to trust in Christ as her Savior because she was still sinful.  I said everyone was, but it seemed she did not think she would have the strength to keep from sinning.  I suggested that if it was stuff she did dating that God could give her the strength to resist by the fruit of His Holy Spirit, and that without God’s help no one could live the Christian life.  We talked about it more and she said “Ok. I’m going to do it” and she prayer to give her life to Christ. She took The Case for Christ but then reconsidered, thinking about how much was on her plate and took the Student Edition of the book instead.  I gave her a Bible Study and got her e-mail to send her a story to read.  Please pray for God to give her spiritual strength to live for Christ.  She was waiting to be good enough, something I explained she would never be.  I know God can keep her and I promised her I would be praying for her.  Right afterwards, an older woman bureaucrat (she had a name tag on) started to give me grief about talking to people, but I just politely answered her leading question as if it was all I had time for and slipped away before she could lecture me about things that were not true anyway.  She had been eavesdropping on my conversation with Lateisha.  So please pray I could stay out of the grasp of people trying to get me in trouble at school, I just would rather not have to deal with them or have to be looking over my shoulder for some busybody or the cop they called.

I found Trinity, a guy on the track team (high jump triple jump long jump and 200 M) in the Science building. He was a nice looking guy, really short hair wearing a COD track hooded windbreaker, seemed suburban.  He had been raised in church somewhat, had not gone in a while, but more recently had returned to a private expression of faith, praying before meets and in the morning and asking for God’s help.  He felt he had seen God answering his prayers.  He hadn’t been focused on Christ or the Cross at all in his prayers though he had asked for forgiveness.  I helped him see the Gospel more and he seemed a bit unsure if that had been part of his mindset.  Christ hadn’t been in any of the responses to my questions and I showed him a prayer of commitment he could pray if he thought he had not really expressed thankfulness to God for the work of Christ on the Cross, or trusted in Him for the forgiveness of his sins.  He said, “Yeah, I think, I’ll do that.”  And we talked more about the Holy Sprit’s power to live the Christian life.  I gave him Enjoying Your Walk with God to read and a bible study.  Before I let him I asked, “Do you trust in the death of Christ on the Cross to forgive your sins and make you right with God?”  He said, “Yes I do,” and I shook his hand and said, “Well, the Bible says if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead you will be saved.  So you can count on that.  I’ll be praying for you.”  He thanked me and I was off.

Later I was answering some questions a Christian girl had about Jesus and the Bible.  Kathleen was a cute little button of a kid, had on a big poofed drivers cap, brown straight hair, a little quirky.  She went to a Roman Catholic Church but had given her life to Christ in faith.  Chris, a black athlete who I had talked to on Monday, slid about 3 spaces away onto the couch where Kathleen was sitting with her feet up on, caught my eye saying, “I read that booklet through all the way.”  I said, “Great did you pray?”  “I pray every day,” he replied.  “Yes,” I said, “but did you pray the prayer in the booklet?”  I had explained the Gospel to him but he had to run to class and seemed unfocused (almost ADD) so I gave Him the booklet, encouraging him to read it which he’d just said he had prayed and I said, “Great,” again.  And he stood up pulled up his pants and walked away before I really could say much more as I was tied up with Kathleen.  So I’ll keep him in prayer.  Also on Monday, a girl I had gone through the Gospel with last semester said she had prayed to receive Christ as well.  Allie, a cute African American girl.  She’d promised to pray later, as she had attracted a boy at the end of our conversation.  I’ve been praying for her some, but I did not know.  So that was good too.

So I will be praying for Lateisha and Trinity, Chris and Allie in the Hopes that God will keep them and draw them closer to Himself.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry if you have had some time and for evangelism if you had a moment today. God blessed.

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Getting a bit-o sun by you I hope. It sprinkled here and then came out, and our cat is sucking it in in the doorway.  I had a good day today by the end of it.  I had discussions on Bombings, of course, and racism, religion and war all over.  Near 3 PM I was about ready to crash and the halls had emptied out, but then I came across Tessa sitting in the second floor hallway (waiting on her bf Richard, it turned out).  Tessa had very light brown, nearly blonde, long hair, pretty, smart.  She had a hooded sweatshirt on and the baggy print pants that look like PJ’s.  We talked for 20 minutes or so.  She thought of herself as “artsy” and she was a really nice kid.  Her parents had divorced and she went to what she described as a “Pentecostal church my aunt and uncle owned,” as a kid.  Then family issues ended that period.  For a while they went to Calvary over on rt. 59.  She did not go to church at present.  Asking her how God took away her sins and prompting her with something Jesus did, she didn’t have an answer.  So I explained the Gospel to her and it was novel.  At the end she said she wanted to have God live inside her and to be forgiven.  I showed her how she could pray to have that and she did.  I explained the Christian life to her, living by the Holy Spirit and offered her a book.  She wanted to read about science so I gave her The Case for a Creator to read and a Bible study on the Deity of Christ.  Her boyfriend walked up and I got his name and told them both I would pray for them.  I told her I would send her some info on epigenetics and got her email to send her stuff.

So that was a great way to end the day.  I talked to a Muslim friend and gave him a Bible today, so i hope he’ll be tempted to read it beyond the part I showed him.

Thanks for your prayers for the ministry today and for evangelism if you got a chance.  God blessed.

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Hope you were blessed today. I had a good day on campus where David, a Roman Catholic, and Kalli came to pray to receive Christ.  David was sitting in a hallway on the first floor and was interested in doing a survey before class.  Good lookin guy with short brown hair.  He was from a Roman Catholic background.  He seemed like a nice guy and said he “liked to help people” as a reason he’d go to Heaven.  He understood that Jesus had died to forgive sin and thought he had a better than average chance of going to Heaven, but in talking through the Gospel he had not  been trusting in Jesus’ work on the cross to forgive him.  He decided he wanted to be in a relationship with Christ and prayed to do so. I gave him a Bible and More than a Carpenter to read and a Bible study on the Deity of Christ and quickly explained the Holy Spirits work.  The idea of receiving Christ was novel to him so I am hopeful my prayers for him will bring him closer to God by the Holy Spirit.  And that the book, and especially the Bible, will draw him in to the Father.  I take heart sometimes in Isaiah 55:11 “So shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”  This is one of those times, but I should take heart in it always.

Kalli was sitting on a bench upstairs and down the hall from where I had left David in the BIC building.  Nice kid, young looking, with braces and glasses and brown shoulder-length hair.  Her mom went to a Greek Orthodox church and her dad to one she described as “christian”.  She said she got to celebrate 2 Easters. (Ha, I think I would rather have 2 Christmases, but hey.)  A bit into going through the Gospel with her, after doing a survey, her friends walked up who had met me before at a book table.  Emily and Matt were Christians who I had bounced a few questions off of to see if they believed (a few months back when I met them).  They sat in on the rest of the Gospel and I made sure I had a brief overlap so they would hear it all.  Kalli hadn’t been able to remember how Jesus took away her sins and said, “I helped the needy” when I asked her why she’d go to Heaven, but a lot seemed to come back to her as I talked her through it.  I asked her if she thought she had been trusting in the work of Christ to forgive her sins and she wasn’t very sure, but then didn’t think she had directly asked.  And frankly, from interacting with her she had not been trusting in Christ.  So she decided she wanted to pray to receive Jesus and she did which was cool.  Then I offered her a book, and Emily and Matt each took one as well.  Kalli took the Student edition of The Case for Christ and Emily liked science and really liked to read so she took The Case for a Creator chiding the other two for being not much for reading as Matt took the Student edition of The Case for Faith.  I gave them all Bible studies and got their e-mails to send them stuff.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you got a moment.  God really blessed.
Bob Bollow