3/18/21

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope you day was blessed with all good things from above. I had a good day on the beach sharing the Gospel, though not as long as yesterday. Two guys Joshua and Wrangler each prayed with me to receive Christ today. It was really windy and it took me a while to get the sand out of my eyes when I got home, my left eye is a bit messed up and tearing as I write this. At first they were hitting me like little pinpricks and when I spoke I got some in my mouth but as I got further from the pier it wasn’t bad. Had a hoodie on as it was a little cold but there wasn’t anything changing the tan lines on most. 18 People have now trusted in Christ with me on the beach since Sunday.

 Joshua was sitting with another black guy on some wooden reclining benches with green cushions. He had 4-5 inch braids pulled back in a headband. He said he’d do a survey but his buddy said he wasn’t interested and walked away. His mannerisms were a bit on the artsy side of the ledger as was his voice. When I asked him what he would say to God if he was hit by a bus, died and stood before him. He said, “The things I needed to learn while I was here I took to know… What I needed I learned. And my sins, I repented of them. He thought he had a 50/50 chance of getting into Heaven saying, “Everyone has a 50% chance.” As I went through the Gospel I asked him what God had done through Jesus to take away his sin and he knew Jesus had given himself as a sacrifice.  I explained Jesus had also earned the righteousness of God that could be to his credit. I went through the rest of the Gospel and asked him if he would want to be forgiven trusting in Jesus so He could live inside him or if he thought something else. “I would want to be forgiven,” he said. I explained then there was a prayer he could pray to be forgiven and walked him through it and asked if he’d like to pray quietly in his heart so only God would hear. He said, “Yes.” He then took the booklet and prayed to receive Christ. I explained living by the Spirit’s power. I said I had a book he might like and gave him a copy of Bible Promises for You. I wrote his name and mine in the front and “Just Ask” having explained everything God was asking him to do He would give him the power to do by the Spirit. I told him I’d pray for him, thanked him for taking with me and he said I was welcome and I headed down the beach.

 I passed a guy using a volley ball to play soccer with a girl under a volley ball net each taking turns kicking the ball past the other. I went down the beach and to the next set of chairs and then could not see anyone as far east as I could see down the beach so I decided to head back towards were I came in, there were not as many on the beach as yesterday. I passed the guy again but the girl who seemed to be his sister had walked off for some stuff. So I walked over to him and asked if he’d like to do a survey on what he thought about God. He said, “I haven’t really decided what I believe about that yet.” So I asked if he’d like to hear about Christianity and he agreed. Wrangler was about 17 I think. He had a mop of brown hair and a long sleeve white shirt on with a Nike logo on right chest, black shorts. When I asked him for 3 words to describe himself she was back on the other side of the net from us and said, “Cocky,” as she walked past. He said “I’m not cocky, I’m confident.” So I wrote that. He thought he had a 70% chance of going to Heaven. He was serious about what we were talking about so I adopted his demeanor. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “I’m a good soul. I’m sure I’ve made mistakes, I’ve tried to correct them over my time, things like that.” He listened to the Gospel and knew Jesus had died for our sins having been to church when he was younger with some friends but had fallen out of the habit. I explained everything to him and asked him if he would want to be forgiven for his sins or thought something else. He said he’d want to be forgiven. So I asked, “Do you believe Jesus is God, died for your sins and rose from the dead? Do you think that’s true?” He thought for a moment and came to faith and said, “I do yes.” I said, “Well if you’d like to place your trust in that to be sure you are going to Heaven there is a prayer you can pray and I walked him through it and said if he would like to pray that quietly in his heart God would hear and forgive him. He took the booklet and turn away a bit and I took two steps away from where we’d been standing and he prayed to receive Jesus. I told him he could keep the booklet and talked to him about walking in the Spirit. I gave him Bible Promises for You and The Case for Christianity Answer Booklet. I talked to him about Strobel and said he could look into some of his other stuff. I wrote his name in the front of both with mine and “Just Ask”. I said if there was anything he needed prayer for he could email me and I’d be on it. “I’m trying,” he said. I said that he shouldn’t try in his own strength but ask for God’s power and he’d give it. “Thank you,” he said and I said he was welcome and headed out. He was a great kid. His sister stayed away off a bit as we talked and as I walked past her on the way I out I said, “Thank you.” She smiled meekly and said, “Sure”.

 So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and evangelism today if you had a chance, in spite of the wind and weather God blessed.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed walking with Him. I had a good day on the beach and Will and Keyton each prayed with me to receive Christ. A girl, Adrianna that looked about 15 and from a Cuban descent said she would pray later after I went through the Gospel with her. She got up to swim with her friend just as a boy Hunter with red hair and freckles sat down and asked what we were talking about. She said we were doing a survey and I asked if he wanted to do it. “You should do it,” she said as she ran toward the water. After hearing the Gospel, Hunter said he might be willing to trust in Christ at some time later, but because his father had abused him and divorced his mom he was having a hard time trusting God right now. He was a sharp kid, very quick. I talked him through it and encouraged him, writing some Bible verses for him. He took the booklet and ran over to where his sister had congregated. I had a very long conversation with Tiffany who had a lot of fears and was worried about who to trust. She was also in high school.  I went through the Gospel with her and she was an Orthodox Christian. I answered Bible and social issue questions for her, one after another (for over 45 minutes I think) and gave her the booklet and the Bible Promises for You book having encouraged her to get into the Scripture more for answers to her questions. I got up to go and she said, “Keep doing this, this was awesome.”

 Will was a good looking black guy with multiple chin length braids coming down from under his white ball cap. He was wearing long brown skinny jeans with fashion torn knees and had a tool pouch on his belt of some kind on his right hip facing away from me. He was sitting flat on the sand and said he’d do a survey. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “My heart.” “You got a good heart?” I replied and he nodded. He was 100% sure he was going to Heaven. I began to go through the Gospel with him and asked him how God took away his sin. He wasn’t sure, but then as I turned to the page with the cross on it and talked about how Jesus lived a perfect life for him he said, “Oh Jesus,” remembering the Gospel a bit possibly. I kept explaining How Jesus perfect life was to his credit and the blood of Jesus had cleansed him from sin so God could live inside him. I read 1Corinthians 15:3-6 but must have read it too fast as he stopped me and asked what was that again. I was sure to clearly state the verses in a pace after that letting him take them in reading John 14:6: Romans 5:8; John 1:12 and Ephesians 2:8,9. He decided to pray to receive Christ after thinking about it and deciding he’d been trusting in his goodness and had not put the gospel together completely. I gave him Bible Promises for You and wrote his name and mine and “Just Ask” in the front. I told him I would pray for him each day for the next year. He told me to keep doing what I was doing and something affirming I forget as I was walking away and I thanked him.

 I asked a few more people after talking to Tiffany for so long with no takers. Went through the Gospel with another guy, Darrell, He was a Latino based on his accent, who professed to be a Christian and to have known the Gospel he had not seemed to know. But he took the booklet.

 I was starting to feel the sun and approached some guys, later joined by 3 attractive girls. Keyton was among them at the end of a wooden beach bench said he’d talk with me later if I was coming back but I said I thought I was headed out. He was thin and lanky, showing a Roman Number tattoo on his chest about as thick as a thumb. I asked him if he would answer the one big question. He agreed and I said, “You’re walking down the road and you get hit by a bus. So you’re dead, and you stand before God and He asks “Why should I let you into Heaven. What would you say? He thought for a while and said, “I don’t know.”  I said, “Well do you want to find out I can tell you how to get into Heaven real quick?” He agreed and his 2 male friends were not feeling it so I gave them some grief to make them laugh and they chilled and he listened they showed no interest. He knew John 3:16 and the Gospel began to come back to him a bit. He listened closely and had a cross tattoo and a long inked quote with God in it I did not get the angle to read. As I finished going through the verses and he felt like he was in agreement and would want to have God live inside him and be forgiven. I asked if he had been thinking he was good enough to go to Heaven or had been really trusting in Christ or his good works. I walked him through the prayer and he was reading it aloud a bit as I did. He said he had been trusting in Jesus and then to make his case said he went to a Christian camp and had been to church. So I pointed out that was just good things he had done. The girls had walked up by about 3/4^th’s of the way through. I asked if he’d want to pray to be sure he had told God he was trusting in Jesus and he agreed and prayed. I think he took the booklet then and put it with his stuff and I asked if anyone else would like a booklet. Abby a blonde girl asked for one. I told Keyton I would pray for him and he said I should pray for one Chase with a curly mop of hair and a Led Zeppelin shirt on and said I could pray for him. His friend Collin was unresponsive. I showed Abby where the prayer was since she had heard most of what I had to say and she thanked me and I headed out.

 I finished the day in another long half hour philosophical conversation that did not seem to get very far with a 5 by 5 black guy Marko. He had thinning hair on top and a chin beard sprinkled in with gray. He wore a black t-shirt and shorts and had gotten almost as dark as his shirt from the sun. He was sitting on a camp chair with a built in awning on the top shielding the very top of his head. He really enjoyed the talk he said, as I got up to go, saying I obviously had found my purpose, something he wanted to fulfill himself he’d said earlier. But I could not move him off his monism. I did leave him my card. He fired a lot of questions at me but he had landed on: everyone believes what they believe based on things they grew up with where they lived. Having been all over the world he felt that was true everywhere. I said in so many words that if that was true that was the only reason he believed what he believed and was not much of a truth claim. It was enjoyable and I liked him, I hope God changes his mind.

 So thanks for your prayers for the ministry today and evangelism if you had a chance God truly blessed.

 In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed today walking with Christ. I had a good day on the beach and 6 people prayed with me to receive Jesus. Thomas, and 5 girls sitting together, Julia, Celeste, Marguerite, Caro and Mary. I went through the Gospel with several others, also encouraging their faith, and gave a book to a guy who was searching.

 Thomas is 16; he looks like a very young bill Maher with less nose. He was soaked and his blondish hair was dripping from the ocean when he and then his friend Joseph each said they would do the survey. Their friend Paxton, also 16, listened in and was a Christian, as was his 12 year old brother Porter who really seemed to be soaking everything in. Joseph turned out to be a Christian. When I asked Thomas why he should get into Heaven he said because he was about, “Being kind to others.” He had a good wit and I had fun talking to them as we stood on the edge of the water. I asked him what God had done to take away his sins and he said he was baptized. After hearing the Gospel he decided he hadn’t been trusting in what Jesus had done for him to be forgiven and decided he wanted to be forgiven trusting in Christ. I offered him the prayer and he prayed it silently and accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior. I explained the Christian life walking in the Spirit  I gave him the book Bible Promises for You and wrote his name and “Just Ask” in the front and also gave him The Case for Christianity Answer Booklet. I gave booklets to all the boys and it was fun to interact with them.  And I told Thomas I would pray for him until this time next year. “365 days?” he asked. “Yep,” I said. And told the other boys I would pray for them too

 Julia, Celeste, Marguerite, Caro and Mary were all sitting on towel in the sun facing one of the larger hotels on the water, with their heads toward some beach recliners with umbrellas about 30 yards from the water. I think they had been kept in town because a friend (Bella) had destroyed the tire on her car and was having a hard time getting a spare. Please pray she can find one or a substitute to get home on. They all were interested in doing a survey and had fun with it, describing the girl next to them in three words, but everyone put in their two cents. Julia had a French braid with blonde high lights and later asked if I would pray for Bella. She had a frank, pretty face.  Celeste was thin, kind of had a business woman look with mirrored sunglasses and straight blond hair. Marguerite looked Italian, long brown hair, looked like she tanned easy, also had sunglasses. Caro (short for Caroline) had light brown hair tucked behind her ears, frank squared attractive face. Mary had the Maryann from Gilligan’s Island look brown shoulder length hair. When I asked them what they would say to God to get into Heaven Julia said “I always had faith through hard times.” Celeste said she’d thought the same as Marguerite who said, “I tried my best to spread His word, did my best to be a good person.” Then Celeste added “I’ve kept Him at the center of my life.”  Caro said, “I don’t deserve it but if He thinks I should…” A couple of the other girls said that wasn’t a good answer at first but she said, “Well, it is up Him.” Mary said, “I know I’m not worthy but I need you.” They all listened to the Gospel as I presented it and liked the word pictures and such. When I finished I asked them to think in their hearts about whether they had been trusting in that Jesus was God, had died for them and rose from the dead, to be forgiven or if they had really hoped they were kind of working for it just trying to be good. I said I knew they probably had heard the story, but asked them to think about if they had placed their trust there or in their own efforts. I talked them through the prayer and then folding each booklet to the opening where the prayer was, I said they could pray it to know they were forgiven. I shut up and each of them prayed to receive Christ and I asked “Did anyone pray? Raise your hand if you prayed.” And they all did. So that was really great. Julia told me about Bella than and we all prayed together for a tire for her and I asked God to do this and show them all that He would provide for them. Mary said she had been sitting in her car last night asking God for a sign to her and she said, “Then you came along today.” She felt that was an answer to her prayer. I explained the Holy Spirit’s power in the booklet on the last page, telling them that the Christian life was “Just Ask” and God would give them the strength to do whatever He was asking them to do. And if they did not want to ask yet, they could just ask God to have someone pray for them. “Just step it back.” I gave them each books; Bible Promises for You and one by one wrote their names in the front and mine and then wrote, “Just Ask”.  “You’re cool Bob,” I think Mary said and they all chimed in and agreed and I thanked them and said, “I don’t know, this is about as cool as you get at my age.” Then they reassured me I was cool and I laughed and said thanks. So I got that going for me. I told them I would see them in Heaven and headed off.

 I’ve been along the front of where we were saying that is pretty tame. Tomorrow I plan to drive down to the more celebrated areas on the beach about 5 or 6 miles down and start from there going one way or the other.

 So thanks for your prayers for the ministry on the Beach this week if you’ve had a chance. God has truly blessed.

 In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and you had joy in serving Jesus in whatever He was asking you to do, even if it was just to live without fear. I had a good day on the beach and Jordon and Larry prayed to receive Jesus.  Liam* was close, and took a booklet to think about. He was a big thick-bearded guy, the “GI Joe with life-like hair” look. Taking a booklet to think was Jared.  He’s a young black guy, half a head shorter than me, with a curly top afro and perfect skin. He looked young, just out of high school. His Christian friend Carmen listened to the tail end of it and I said she’d pray for him and she agreed. I gave him The Case for Christianity Answer Booklet. He was very close, saying initially he wasn’t religious. He’d not understood the Gospel at all. But at the end when I asked, “Do you believe Jesus is God He died for your sins and Rose from the dead? Do you believe that’s true?” He pursed his lips and said, “Yeah.” I said “If you’d want to place your trust in that to be sure you were going to Heaven, there’s a prayer you could pray.” He was going to feel on it a while he said. So I said if he did decide to pray, there was my email and he could let me know he had and I would pray for him over the next year no strings attached. (I bumped into the 4 girls from yesterday when they waved at me and shouted me down and were really nice and happy to see me again. Turns out I got Kailey’s name spelled wrong from yesterday.) 5 people today were Christians who I went through the Gospel with, 2 more were friendly and took booklets to have, Bella, a Jewish girl and her girl friend Finn. I went through the Gospel with 7 guys, 2 doing a survey. Jacob and Mathew who were not interested. Then Liam took a booklet as I said and Justin, Seth, Adam and Blake said they believed already.

Jordon had shoulder length hair, the thin kind, kept in place with a tie around his head. He had an oval face, said he was athletic but had his shirt off and didn’t have any definition. He seemed very laid back.  He was sitting at the end of a group on a towel near a very good-looking black guy K.C. He was cut, and had a well done rose tattoo on his left wrist and Roman numbers inked on his side and turned out to be a believer. They had 4 young women with them that were among the prettiest you’d see on the beach who probably, to the men’s disappointment, did not seem interested in either of them. K.C. was open first and then I asked Jordon if he was interested as I began and he was.  K.C.’s answers showed he knew the Gospel well and was 100% sure he’d go to Heaven. When I asked Jordon what he would say to God to get in he said, “I don’t judge others, the way people judge people.” He seemed to feel that was what God wanted out of him. He thought he had a 70/30% chance of going to Heaven.  He listened closely to the Gospel and the righteousness and blood of Christ to save him.  I asked if he believed Jesus was God, had died for his sins and rose from the dead. He said he did. I asked if he would like to trust in that to be forgiven and have God live inside him to give him strength to live, and he said yes. So I said there was a prayer he could pray and walked him through it and said he could pray it silently. He took the booklet, asking which paragraph it was (I had been about a towel length away when talking, holding the book open). And then he prayed to receive Jesus. I explained a life in the Spirit’s power to him and gave him The Case for Christianity Answer Booklet and also Bible Promises for You, writing his name in the front and “Just Ask.” He was happy for the books. I complimented the girls on being so pretty, which they all enjoyed and I headed off.

Larry was a middle-aged black father keeping his eye on a cute little girl in long, numerous braids, playing near us in the shallow waves. He looked a bit like Redd Foxx. He had a salt and pepper jaw line beard and a fisherman’s hat on, white T-shirt and print bathing suit. A bit shorter than me so I went toward the water to look up at him. I asked him if he would want to do a survey about God and he said he was very positive about God. I began to go into the Gospel with him asking the question, “Say you are walking down the road and get hit by a bus and you stand before God and He says, ‘Why should I let you into Heaven?’ What would you say?” He said he would say he was righteous and tried to do good. He said he had had a brain aneurysm and showed me the scar down the back of his neck, about 6 inches worth.. It had changed his life and he was now serious about God. It seemed he had gone to church before but now was trying to please God. As I went through the Gospel with him he did not know what Jesus had done to take away his sins. I explained that Christianity was like a blood transfusion where God wanted to transfuse his life into you but first had to make you His type by taking away your sins. I explained the Cross and perfect life of Jesus we could not live. I asked if he would want to trust in Jesus and His righteousness to be forgiven, believing He was God, had died for his sins and rose from the dead. Larry said he did, so I said there was a prayer he could pray to know he was forgiven and began to read it through and explain it. Finishing, I explained he could pray it silently. “I just did, as you read it.” “Ok” I said enthusiastically, “Amen?” “Amen,” he replied with a smile. He asked to keep the booklet and I explained a life walking by the Spirit and wrote “Just ask” beneath the last paragraph, saying God would give him the power by the Spirit to do anything he needed to do. Last paragraph is: “Your walk with Christ depends on what you allow Him to do in and through you empowered by the Holy Spirit, not what you do for Him through self effort.”

Thanks for your prayers and help. God blessed the work today.

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed today walking with the Lord. I had a great day on the beach and 6 people trusted in Christ as their Savior. Elizabeth, Madison, Lexi, Kayley, Cameron and Georgia. I had asked 30 people before someone would talk to me.

Elizabeth was a middle-aged black woman watching two of her grandbabies as I walked up, one in her arms and one at her feet. She said she’d do a survey and put one down, and periodically decided to try to put down the other and I just rolled with it. She had shoulder-length, loose curly hair, and wore black shorts and a top standing beside a stroller in the sand, solidly built. She was kind and said she wanted to see all her family members saved. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she said, “I’ve done Your will the best that I could.” But when I asked her how God took away her sin she said, “God did it”, not understanding the specifics of the Gospel. She followed what I had to say to her presenting the gospel and she decided to pray to trust in Jesus for her forgiveness. She did that as two other adults, who seemed to be the parents of the children, said they were going to pack up and go. I explained the Spirit’s power and gave her the book Bible Promises for You.

Madison was down the beach a bit more, sitting alone with a bunch of towels around her that seemed to belong to absent friends. She had natural blonde stick-straight hair and in swimsuit. She looked pretty young, was cute and nice. The boys who eventually came back to their towels were drinking beers; she appeared to be the only girl. They might not have been far out of high school. She seemed a bit hesitant as they returned and then walked back off a bit, so I kept going. She wanted to get married and have kids. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she said, “Because I’ve lived my life through Him.” As I went through the Gospel, I asked what the big thing was Jesus had done to take away her sin and she said she didn’t know. So I explained the Gospel to her and offered her the prayer, saying she could pray it silently trusting in Jesus; that He was God, had died for her sins and rose from the dead. I asked if she wanted to pray and said she could pray it silently so no-one would hear and she nodded and said ok and prayed to receive Jesus. I asked her if she wanted a book on answers to questions (Case for Christianity Answer Booklet) or a Bible Promise book, “The second one,” she replied and I gave it to her and showed her the different verses. I told her I would pray for her. Getting up to go, one of the guys, my height with a light brown curly head of hair, holding a metal Bud bottle shook my hand and said, “Appreciate what you are doing out here man.” I thanked him and said, “God bless you man.” As shy as Madison was I did not want to engage him and stomp on anything.

Five girls were laying out on their towels sunning themselves and 2 of them mostly spoke.  Lexi was the most verbal. She and Kayley were gamers to do a survey, Cameron and Georgia said they would just listen along. Lexi had straight dye-blonde hair to my left, with some roots showing. Kayley to my right was larger, not fat at all though tall and dishwater-blonde highlighted hair. Cameron looked Latina. She was sitting beside Lexi with dark curly hair, she was thin. Georgia had light brown hair. They were all cute kids. Lexi said she’d worked at a religious pre-school. When I asked her what she would say to God, Kayley said, “I know I’ve sinned but I could help up here,” kidding a bit, but then agreed with Lexi’s statement. Lexi said, “I’m so sorry for all the sins I’ve made, please forgive me for all the sins I’ve done.” Lexi thought she had a 50/50 chance of going to Heaven and Kayley thought she would go, saying she had seen Jesus and Lexi said she had too. As I went through the Gospel they tuned right in, their friends all listening, with the exception of Gabby at the end of the row who’d had some shocks in life it turned out. When I had finished what Jesus had done, neither being sure what took away their sins, I explained that some people thought their good stuff would fix their bad stuff. Lexi covered her mouth with some elaborately painted nails and nodding said “That’s me.” Kayley said, “Me too”. I asked them if they would like to pray, placing their trust in that Jesus was God, had died for their sins and rose from the dead. Kayley asked, “Right now?” I said, “Yeah no one would hear but God.” She agreed she wanted to pray and Lexi did too. I offered booklets to Cameron and Georgia and they took them both also praying, Georgia getting up and walking apart a bit. Gabby said, “No way.” Each prayed to receive Jesus. Kayley finished first. Lexi took The Case for Christianity Answer Booklet saying, “I’ll take that for Gabby she needs it.” She told me a story about a boulder crushing Gabby’s car when she was a child on a mountain road after asking Gabby if she could tell some of her story and she agreed. The fear of the event made Gabby think God was not caring for her at the age of 11. I gave them all Bible Promises for You and told them I would pray for them the next year. “I gotta give you props going around in the hot sun doing this,” Lexi said. That made me feel good. They thanked me and I headed off. I walked back and asked Gabby if I could pray for her. “You can sir,” she replied formally. I headed out of the sun,  picking up Ellen where she was on the beach praying for me.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance. God truly blessed and helped.

In Him,

Bob

Third Watch Ministries, NFP                                                Bob & Ellen Bollow

P.O. Box 1283                                                                         December 9, 2020

Wheaton, IL 60187-1283  

Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there?

Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

Jeremiah 8:22

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope you have been hanging in there with the ups and downs of the assessment of health concerns by the Government and the back and forth of election results, if these kinds of things affect you where you are. These affect us inasmuch as the rigors of evangelism have been denied me. The school is closed up tight; even students must leave immediately after if they have a class that meets half time.  One student who works in security at the doors said they would certainly kick you off campus if you hung around outside the building to talk to students. So I’ve been forced into recovery mode. The best part of the year is teaching the students who come to our house for the Bible Study each week and keeping up with them through an occasional text or question about the Bible or life.

One of the young women who comes to Bible Study, Dorcas, has been a real encouragement to us. She is African American, her parents came here from Africa as immigrants and she was born here. Little by bit she woke up to the lies in social media, hanging around with us and listening to a growing list of Black social conservatives. (Some who would claim to be Christians, others who would not.) She began to see the Black Lives Matter movement for the lie that it was and rejected its Marxism. Sadly, she had lost friendships in her life of people – some even at church (hers is quite large). Her friends, except the ones in our Bible Study, use Twitter as their news feed and reject the teaching of the Scriptures on homosexuality, among other things. She began replying to the statements of others that were a regurgitation of leftist propaganda. Ironically, she was occasionally told she was racist. She would lose some friends over this but others would thank her privately for having the courage to point out what they believed but could not bring themselves to say. It was great to see her be willing to stand up for what she believed as it slowly crystallized for her. But even better to see her grow in the Lord. She told us the lockdown guided her to read the Bible more, pray more and even into some fasting.

She texted us encouragement and we were blessed to see one of our people (the Christians) not be destroyed by the lies, but turn to the Scriptures and her relationship with the Lord for strength.

“Hey guys!  Just wanted to say thank you for letting us stay til 2am.  Sorry bc I know you guys pray a long list of prayers before bed, sorry to keep you up late but just wanted to say I’m so thankful God put you guys in my life. You guys are such great parents honestly everyone appreciates your love so much, I very much so. At church rn, have a great day y’all cya soon.”

It is hard to be a black person in our society especially when your acquaintances, even at church, are attacking Christian values. There are a lot of attacks on you politically and spiritually, demons of seduction and deceit. If you are holding out to be a virgin until marriage, good luck finding a guy who did and wants the same. This is becoming true across society as a whole of course, for students of any race. Our hearts go out to the students we mentor and disciple because of the words of the Psalmist being so true right now in 11:3 “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Dorcas has asked me to baptize her in the spring and then is off to Southern Illinois to study film next fall. We’ll keep praying for her each day and we’re grateful to God that He is completing the good work He began in her.

“Happy thanksgiving Pastor Bob & Ellen! Thankful for you guys in my life!” she also recently texted. “Thanks Dorcas,” I texted back. “Having you in our lives has been one of the bright spots of the cancel culture and…covid. The world seems full of lies like never before in my lifetime. It might just be more of the iceberg has surfaced out of the water that was always there. But hanging out with people who love the truth is like a ‘Balm in Gilead” (Jeremiah 8:22) You often give me hope for your generation, that the daughter of my people can be restored.”

We’ll keep praying for you too, and we want to thank you for helping us do ministry with the students we can lay our hands on. In 2020, at the beginning of the semester before Covid was known, 57 students prayed with me to receive Jesus.

Diana, Sean, Veronia, Yesannia, Erik, Ian, Noah, Jeo, Amber, Geet, Tatiana, David, Ashley James Priscilla, Joe, Michael, Seth, Jana, Marco, Brenda, Bethany, Elisa, Magaly, Tyler, Josiah, Luke, Val, Ron, Dave, Jose, Razy, Olivia, Michael, Jack, Erica, Sam, Dan, Mel, Erin, Christian, Lucas, Robert, Alex, Alex, Jackie, Gabby, Brendan, Syed, Ian, Nia, George, Tabitha, Kemonie, Jonathon, Liam and Matt

Six others have believed on Christ as their Savior instead of their good works, after hearing the Gospel from me this year, including my neighbor Jason across the street.

Matt, before his wedding. Faith & Mason before standing up in their mom’s wedding to Matt

Jeff, a range officer at the range where I got some training

Phillip, a high school guy who hangs out at the biker Bible Study I often attend.

I’m praying for these all these each night, along with 105 students that prayed with me in the fall of 2019.

Please pray a door for the Word is opened to us next semester, and that we can bless the students who come to Bible Study and a holiday party yet this year.

Thanks for your love and support.

In Him,

Bob & Ellen

For this reason it says,

“Awake, sleeper,

And arise from the dead,

And Christ will shine on you.” Eph. 5:14

Hey Brothers and sisters in Christ,

I hope your fall has been blessed so far and you have plans for Thanksgiving to see friends or relatives and thank the Lord for all He has done and is yet to do. We’ve been here and there and looking for places to share the Gospel. We have the Bible study at our house each Thursday night and have been discipling the students who come, as many as 8 or as few, some nights, as 3 depending on changing schedules. This week one student received Christ in a roundabout way after a different Bible study. His name was Phillip. 

I have also taken up to hang around a bit with some Christian bikers in their motorcycle club. They have a bible study on Wednesday nights that frankly I was too exhausted to add to our lives last fall. But this week we took it in again. It is primarily adults. Ellen came with, and the guy teaching this week, JR, is the Treasurer of the club. He’s a friend who has helped me with questions about the workings of my bike and helped me fix up my last one to sell as he has a repair shop. Toward the end of the bible study the only young guy in the room, Phillip, was singled out by JR to respond to the bible study after a few adults had spoken. JR kept pressing him to respond a bit to the teaching and then was looking at me, two seats over from Phillip. Phillip said he was excited to get baptized this Sunday but didn’t really seem to interact with anything that had been said. At first I thought JR was kind of unfairly leaning on him. But listening to his responses and that he was going to be baptized it sounded like he was excited to kind of join the club of Christianity. (I later realized JR was signaling me to talk to Phillip.)  I’d been putting in my two cents here and there and so soon after when we prayed and broke up, I found Phillip in the kitchen of the house where we were gathered. He knew I was a college pastor from the brief introductions around the room to begin the study. Phillip is a big dude, about as tall as me and wider. He has a full mop of dark hair trimmed really short at the side.

The kitchen was full of others from the study but I got Phillips ear and asked him if he’d like to answer the question I ask students on campus. He is 15. He said, “Sure.” I asked him, as I have thousands of times to other kids, “So say you are walking down the road, you get hit by a bus and you stand before God and He asks, ‘Why should I let you into Heaven?’ What would you say?” Phillip got stuck on being hit by a bus for a minute, so I shrank the question down to “You’re dead, what do you say?” He finally said he was following God and Jesus. I said something like, “That’s what you’re doing but I want to know more what God has done.” I began to go through the Gospel with him then to explain it, taking a booklet out to help a bit from a zipper pocket in my biker boots. I borrowed a pen from David one of the other officers of the club standing nearby. I talked about how God wanted to live inside him but had to take away his sins. He was not sure how God had done that, so I explained how Jesus’ sacrifice cleansed us of sin. His perfect life was to our credit I explained, like extra credit in a class. Phillip said he’d done all the extra credit in his math class and had finished with 110%. I said there was no credit we could do being good that would get us into Heaven, even trying our best on our own to follow God. We had to live a perfect life. I told him the answer to the question what you say to God is that you believe Jesus is God, died for your sins and rose from the dead. I wrote that on the front of the booklet and he repeated it to me. I finished the Gospel saying he needed to place his trust in what Jesus had done and asked if he had understood that or was just trying to be good and follow God that way. He said he’d just been trying to be good. So I said he could pray a prayer receiving God’s forgiveness based on what Jesus had done, taking away his sin so He could live inside him. I walked him through the prayer and said he could pray it right now and he took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. I gave him a high five then. He was grinning then, understanding the gift of salvation for the first time. When you get baptized that is what you want to say, ‘I believe Jesus is God, He died for my sins and rose from the dead.'” He repeated that then again. I explained the Christian life was trusting in God’s power by the Spirit and everything in the Christian life really was “Just ask” and God would give him the strength living inside him. He thought that was great. “Just ask,” he repeated. Phillip then said he was holding back on the high five because he often hurt his friend’s hands. “See look,” he said laying his hand palm up on the counter Island beside us for me to lay my hand on top of, his was about 3/4 of an inch wider than mine with thicker fingers. “Wow huge hands,” I said. And he grinned. We talked a bit more and I gave him the booklet. “Do you got those tucked away everywhere?” he asked. “No, only in my boot,” I said.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry, and for evangelism this semester. The opportunities have been few and I’ve been shot down a couple times with disinterest. But Phillip came in and we are hopeful for better things as time goes on with the lock down. We are praying for you.

In Him,

Bob

Third Watch Ministries, NFP                                                            Bob & Ellen Bollow

P.O. Box 1283                                                                                          October 3, 2020

Wheaton, IL 60187-1283  

^“With all prayer and petition – pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”

Ephesians 6:18-20

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Hope you are doing well and being blessed, and the political fervor that has gripped places in the country has not got ya down. We know the Lord is in control and I feel the need, being provoked to prayer, that He will bring health and well being to all the saints and to the Churches both physically and spiritually and to the nation. Thinking of Paul sitting in chains in these verses, I’m reminded we still have some freedom. 5 people I have found to talk to this fall have trusted Christ as their Savior, three as a function of ministry in officiating a wedding (the bride’s now husband, Matt, and her two children, Faith & Mason.) And also Jeff, on the gun range in NV where I went for training with one of my board members (who basically created the opportunity and gets me to go with him each year.) And finally my new neighbor across the street, Jason. Paul preached to whomever he could, even in chains, saying to the Brothers in Philippi in 1:13 “…so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else.” We are locked out of our typical ministry by and large, not locked into our house (so far). The bible study at our house each Thursday is growing by inches; we had 6 kids this week. I taught the students on Jesus’ descent into Hell. I was, in part, correcting the idea that He suffered after the Cross in Hell.  I was teaching from the Scripture that He went down to the resting portion of the Old Covenant after-life (called Sheol), preached His victory, and brought the Old Covenant Saints up with Him at His resurrection. Matthew 27:52& 53 teaches, “The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.” What exciting times!

So we are chipping away at our piece of the lockdown on campus that Satan seems to have thrown at the teaching and proclamation of the Good News there, by teaching about cool things in the New Testament and Old at our house. We are looking for ways to express the Gospel. Not always successfully, as I went through the Gospel with two more of the range officers in NV (Jim & Frank, the closest I will get to a praetorian guard in this life, in all probability) and they did not receive it. Though they asked some questions and were interested to know the NT teaching on things like defending your own peeps. Another neighbor turned down my foray into things related to dependence on God this week, asserting a can-do attitude of good character and industry. A couple others have been more receptive. Thanks for your prayers as we try to share the truth on Facebook and other places where I’ve spent more time this semester. We are grateful for your kind help while we wait for things to open and get some needed rest. We are grateful that 60 students received the Gospel already on campus in 2020 before the lockdown. May the Lord open a larger door for the Word to go out for us and the Churches as time goes on.

Blessings in Christ.

In Him,

Bob & Ellen                                                                                                                                                                           bob.thirdwatch@sbcglobal.net                                                                                           www.thethirdwatch.org

Third Watch Ministries, NFP                                                Bob & Ellen Bollow

P.O. Box 1283                                                                                     July 3, 2020

Wheaton, IL 60187-1283  

“His works were finished from the foundation of the world.” Hebrews 4:3

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

How’s the life over by you? Maybe you, like Ellen and I, are gradually coming out of quarantine, trying to remain productive. Or you are in a free state, missing baseball.  In 1907 in the New York Evening World, Allen Sangree wrote about Baseball, “As a tonic, an exercise, a safety valve, baseball is second only to death as a leveler. So long as it remains our national game America will abide no monarchy and anarchy will be slow.” So basically you can blame the lack of the baseball season for all the problems we are having with much ballyhooed actors. Fortunately then, Baseball is starting up for a truncated season in July. But many people might be tempted to blame God, who, being in control of everything seems not to be doling out enough “Common Grace” to go around.

When I was a kid someone I knew used to wear a button that read, PBPGINFWMY. I was told then it stood for Please Be Patient God Is Not Finished With Me Yet. I’ve often thought this is true from my perspective about all of God’s enterprises, myself included. God isn’t finished. And in the midst of our disappointment and pain and fears, we are often looking at an unfinished product. I still do a bit of painting, though I have to give myself treatments on my neck afterwards these days with a voltage machine and magnets. In the past, I have had some rather long jobs and some might have taken a few days. Possibly stripping wallpaper in a couple big rooms, then repairing the damage, sanding it, priming and painting it. In the middle of that week someone might have asked you (were I at your house) how the job looked. After a day you could have honestly said, “Well, all my furniture is covered and I can’t see my floor. All the walls in the room he is in are pretty torn up. In fact, Bob has not painted anything yet.” In the middle of the job, though I’d do my best to create some measure of order in leaving that night, it might not have looked like much. In fact there were possibly some unknowns. When people would offer to pay me up front I would always turn it down and say, “You can wait until I am finished and when you are happy you can pay me. The materials are on my credit card and I’m not hurting for them.” Suggesting they needn’t worry during the process then, because as yet they’d paid me nothing. I had a plan and I wanted them to trust me for it. I always got paid, so I guess it worked out. Though I have heard a few horror stories of bad contractors who did not deserve the trust afforded them. Some have worked at my house.

But God is not a bad contractor; He is a good and loving one. In the midst of social unrest and pandemic we know God too has a plan for us and for the church. I guess the question is: What part of the work schedule are we in? Until He wraps up this world, making a New Heaven and a New Earth, things are going to look unfinished. I was at an estate sale a couple weeks ago, and the man who’d lived there had been an amateur astronomer. There was a book I almost bought that was about 60 years old, written by a physicist that seemed to outline many things that might at any moment change the earth. The book jacket threw me off; though I now wish I’d bought it just to have around (I own too many books already). It claimed that a distant star some 50 light years away could explode in a super nova and we would not see it, the light not having gotten to us yet. But 50 years later it could damage the earth with radiation. I thought after reading that much that time might be better used reading elsewhere than disasters that might never happen in distant space. I had enough troubling things to think and pray about concerning events in the present near to home. My guess is nothing that the astrophysicist wrote in that book has come true. Could it be that many of our fears about the outcomes of our present times will not present themselves either? I’ve decided to pray for that end for those we know and love. It was the Obama administration’s Rahm Emanuel who quoted Winston Churchill saying, “Never let a good crisis go to waste”. I know God does this for good, unlike the presumed social engineers of History. They say they want to dramatically reduce the population of the planet, but it is up 3 billion since the Georgia Guide Stone let us know their plan. Our Salvation was a plan (the real plan for everything) not just initiated in a small town in the Holy Land just over 2000 years ago, but from “eternity past” as one pastor of my teen years used to say.

From our perspective things may not be going as well as we might hope. God has the “long game” in mind however—though His game is no con. It’s said, “The mills of God grind slowly, but ever fine.” So Ellen and I wait for a clearer picture of how to proceed with college ministry in the fall. Since it has recently been made public that the College of DuPage is doing only online distance learning this fall, with the campus closed for all but small labs. So we will have the bible study at our house fall semester. If you know any students stuck in Illinois who’d like some fellowship, I’d be happy to invite them (or if their Illinois campus is closed). We are having a weekend get together soon with current and former COD students to get going. I will be looking to do some road trips to other places where on-campus work is possible. If you know of a church with a college ministry near an open campus, here or a state or two away, please let me know. The jury is out on a couple I’ve checked into. Possibly I could contact them and offer to show them the ropes, or simply direct saved kids to their church. I did not plan to spend so much of my time focused on campus evangelism when I began working in college ministry, having started Third Watch with Ellen 15 years ago or so. We trust He has a plan to continue the good work He has begun in us and will bring great fruit in our area second semester. I am getting a clear full face shield (the CDC has sanctioned them) so students can see my mug while I talk to them. Thanks for sticking with us as we wait on the Lord.

May the Lord bless your summer with health and peace.

In Him, Bob & Ellen

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ.

I hope your day was blessed and you are living without fear. After all The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him to all that call upon him in truth  [Psa. 145:18]. The exciting story beginning with  “I came to Christ on the first day of cancelled classes.” sadly will not be told, since no one came to Christ today. I actually found no one to talk to I spotted two students studying neither were interested. I’ve never seen the school more empty. Of course no one hangs out there if they do not have a class.  Ironically there is no real community at a community college. So I guess for a while it’s night as Jesus said in John 9:4 “We must work the works of Him who sent Me, as long as it is day; night is coming, when no man can work.

Thanks for praying,

Bob