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

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your weekend has been blessed walking with the Lord. I got a little busy and forget to write what happened on Friday the 13th.  Jonathan and Liam each prayed with me to receive Jesus Friday which turned out to be the last day of regular school for a while. I’ll go check it out Monday but with students only coming in for Labs no one is likely to be stuck there waiting for their next class. So it will probably be a ghost town like it is during exams and was on Friday for the most part.

Jonathan was sitting at table in the cafeteria. He had a lunch bag wore rectangular glasses he looked over the top of at me occasionally through. He had brown hair in a mop. Looked to be 19 but I later found out he was 24. He had on tan jeans and a dark t-shirt. His face looked like an average college kid, he had normal speech. He was in a 2 year program at school that is for developmental disabilities students but he was obviously at high functionality in the spectrum. Had a small build not very tall and went to the Bible Church in the next town over. When I asked him what he would say to God if he died and was asked “Why should I let you into Heaven he said, “I would say, ‘I’m one of your sons. I always prayed and I always come to Church.’” I went through the Gospel with him and he knew Jesus had died to take away the sins of the world. He was attentive all the way through. I asked if he would want to be forgiven he did. Then asking if he’d been trusting in Jesus or thought something else he wasn’t sure. I asked if when he asked for forgiveness if he’d trusted Jesus died for him and would be forgiven he said, “I know God is good. When you have an operation… well I had 4 of my wisdom teeth taken out. So I prayed to God that He would protect me.” So I asked if he would now like to trust in God to forgive him because of what Jesus had done for him on the cross there was a prayer he could pray. I talked him through it and asked if it was the desire of his heart. “Yep.” he replied. I said he could pray it silently and only God would hear and he nodded and took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus.  I gave him the book Bible Promises for You and a Bible study on the Deity of Christ. We talked some more for a while about trusting in Jesus by His Holy Spirit and chatted in general and I headed out.

Liam must have been one of the last people in the school which was as I’ve said nearly empty all day. He went to the same church as Jonathan but it had “been a while”. He was a regular degree student sitting in the far southeast lounge on the second floor of the BIC.  He wore a hockey cap, a winter vest and jeans. He had a smattering of beard that hadn’t been shaved for a couple days and a round shaped face and square chin. Looked young.  “Honestly in my opinion it would be a decision up for God [sic]. It would be insensitive and selfish to say I did all these good things. If you think you did then God should really know. He’s always watching over you so…” When I asked him the likelihood he would go to Heaven he said, “70% you know, a C.” As if giving himself a letter grade.  He knew Jesus had died for our sins too and still listened attentively to the Gospel and my stories and explanations of the blood of Christ cleansing him and the Righteousness of Christ that was to his credit leaning forward to look at the booklet I held out. When I asked him if he would want to be forgiven with God inside him or thought something else he said. “Be forgiven.” So I offered him the prayer asking if reflected the desire of his heart. “Yeah it did,” he said after a second of thought.  I said he could pray it silently, “Not that I would hear you but God would hear and you’d be forgiven. Wanna do it?” “Yeah sure,” he replied. And he checked again anyway after looking at it saying, “Out loud?” “No it’s not my business it’s between you and God.” “OK,” he replied and smiled and prayed to receive Jesus.  I gave him 20 things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front and “Just Ask”. I had explained that the Christian life was, “…asking His help in everything so really the Christian life is Just Ask.”  He asked about the Bible study and I said we were gonna move it to be in our house in Wheaton since they were closing the school and he took my card with my contact info to get directions thinking he might come. I got up to go and he thanked me and I said I’d see him in Heaven and headed out through the empty halls.

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope you had a blessed day walking with the Lord. I had a good day on campus and Brady, George and Tabitha Prayed to receive Jesus today. Thanks for your prayers.

Brady was the first guy I talked to sitting at a table surrounded by 4 chairs. I spotted him as I looked North down the hall headed out of the BIC on the first floor towards the Cafeteria. I walked down thinking I would ask him and if he said no head to the Lunch room. He said he’d do a survey. So I sat in one of the chairs. He was a computer guy and kind of looked the part; he was slight and had short light brown hair flat to his head like a cap. He had a warm smile, oval face and was friendly if a little awkward; he was obviously intelligent and did the sound boards for the services at his Methodist Church. He had on a half red and blue (on the top) Iowa State hoodie with a half zippered front and jeans his laptop open on the coffee table. When I asked him what he would say to God if asked if He should let him into Heaven he said, “Because I believe in God–according to the Bible anyone who truly believes in a God gets into Heaven.” He thought he had a 50/50 chance of getting into Heaven. I went through the Gospel with him and he took it all in. As I finished talking about how the blood of Jesus cleansed him he said, “OK I think I get it.” I explained the righteousness of God to his credit and that he had to believe in Jesus by faith. I asked if he’d be forgiven with God inside or thought something else and he said, “Currently I’m the first one.”  So I said there was a prayer he could pray if he wanted to tell God he had decided to trust in what Jesus had done for him on the cross to be forgiven, now as a man, not a child in the church anymore just going along with things. I talked him through the prayer and asked if it was the desire of his heart. ‘Yes,” he replied. Saying he could pray it silently and know he was forgiven I asked if he’d want to and he said, “I think that I’ll pray, but quietly.” And he took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. Holding on to the booklet he said, “There seems to be some more here I’d like to read.” I said there was and explained the Christian life living “inside out”. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date and “forgiven” on the inside and “Just Ask”. I explained now trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be his righteousness the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. I told him I would keep him in my prayers until next year in the spring and he thanked me and I headed out.

I looped around and went into the Cafeteria and found George sitting at a table. He had a mop of bleach blonde hair that must have been brown before as it looked kind of like straw. He had kind of a squared up face with a five o’clock shadow on his lip his beard not showing anywhere else He had rectangular glasses and was engaged to be married. He was wearing a gray zippered hoodie and black sweat pants. He was a nice average looking guy. I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven and he said, “I mean if He doesn’t I understand. I tried to live my best. If he doesn’t think that it was enough, I’m sorry, that’s all you can say.” I asked him what the likelihood he would go to Heaven was and he said, “I don’t know it’s up to Him not me.” He knew Jesus had died when I asked him what he had done to take away his sins. I went through the Gospel with me and he stopped me after I talked about the blood of Christ and he asked me if there was a time in my life when I prayed and God had a different plan than what I asked for, I told him 3 life changing redirections I did not want one of which was not being able to have kids. He told me his future wife might have fertility problems and I gave him the name of a couple alternative medical doctors I wished I’d known of years before. I wrote down Romans 8:28 and explained I believed God worked things for good. He told me about a Church he watched on TV and I told him I had met the pastor there and, knowing what I did he’d queried me about the need for a decision for Christ. I said that pastor had told me he thought of the Christian life like a strand of DNA. I agreed it progressed like a ladder but every ladder has the first step. The pastor agreed with me then seeing the need for a beginning. “It’s like a chain snapped, a shot from a gun the race begin,” I told him. I explained the righteousness of God to his credit. He said he’d been raised Catholic and there was a lot of guilt in that church. I explained salvation by grace through faith and I asked if he’d want to be forgiven with God inside or thought something else. “Be forgiven,” he said. I asked if he’d want to trust in Christ. He told me about a friend who he admired who was guided by God. I said God wanted us to become like a child asking for His help in all things. He said he thought it was actions that counted and I said the Bible does say faith without works is dead, but it also says without faith it is impossible to please Him. If you don’t ask for God’s help since you cannot control outcomes you could never be certain you’d done something good and I gave him an illustration of a disaster that could come for a perceived good action. I redirected him to the question for him. “I’ve been taking small steps,” he said. I said yes sometimes you need to get a running start, in a relay race only the first runner begins exactly when the gun goes off, the next takes a lot of little steps but then he is handed the baton, but you are not in the race until you take the baton. “I am trying to pass you the baton,” I said. I said that then with God’s power in him he could live. He was persuaded then so I read through the prayer with him and he said, “That’s pretty good.” So I said he could pray it silently and he said, “Sure.” He prayed then to receive Jesus. I gave him a Bible Promise Book, he had a bible and I gave him a Bible Study to read on the deity of Christ. He shook my hand to thank me and told me there was a movie he’d seen on YouTube called “Do you Believe” he thought I’d like it. I got his girl’s name “Emily” and said I’d pray for her when I prayed for him. And I headed out withim.

Towards the end of the day I came out of the science buildings over the bridge and down the stairs and bumped into a woman volunteer with another Christian group (the leader of which I am friends with) standing at a table with a pretty black girl seated there I had not met or seen before. Tabitha had long braids an oval face. She wore a brown sweater and jeans. She had fairly dark skin but her lips were white and she had a similar white dot over her right eye. When I saw her hands I realized she had a skin pigmentation disorder as her fingers were rippled with white as if someone had painted only the very tops of them. I believe she had the skin problem vitiligo. She was really nice they were discussing the Corona flu problems. The school was discussing shutting down for a couple extra weeks leading to Spring Break which the School has now decided to do beginning Monday. Most classes are going to online options until it warms up. The Coronavirus dies at 80 Degrees so a warm Spring would help eradicate it. She worked in a rest home and she said the flu could be quite dangerous to people there. The other campus worker had to leave but we talked a little longer I got her name and told her mine and said goodbye. I got about 12 steps away and I remembered that the other group the volunteer worked with did not really focus on evangelism. A couple students from it had prayed with me to receive Christ, the Gospel not being covered in their studies in a decision manner. So I walked back and asked if she wanted to answer my big metaphysical question I ask students on campus, she said “OK”. So I asked her  “You’re walking down the road you get hit by a bus so you’re dead, and you stand before God and He says, ‘Why should I let you into Heaven?’ What would you say?” She asked me to repeat it and thought for a moment and said, “I don’t know what I would say.” So I asked what she thought it was that got someone into Heaven and she said, “Following Jesus.” I asked what that would mean. “I recently turned back to God and decided to follow Him,” She explained but I’m just getting back into it, kind of on a journey.” So I explained Christianity was like a blood transfusion and like that God wanted to transfuse His life into her, live inside her with His Holy Spirit but first He had to make her His type by talking away her sin, then she could know Him because he was living inside her. She wasn’t sure How God had taken away her sins. I explained how Jesus had died for her and the rest of the Gospel, taking out a booklet and writing in it. At the end I asked her if she would want to be forgiven with God inside or thought something else. “Have God live inside me,” she said. So I said if she’d like to be forgiven trusting in Jesus there was a prayer she could pray and I talked her through it and asked if it was the desire of her heart. “Yes,” she said. So I said if she wanted she could pray it silently and God would hear and forgive her would she like to do that, “”OK,” she replied and I said she could pretend I wasn’t there and I stepped away and looked down and she prayed to receive Jesus. I explained the Christian life to her asking if she had a Bible and she said, “I have my mother’s Bible.” “Do you like that or would you like to have one of your own?” “Maybe both,” she said smiling. So I gave her a Bible showing her the Where to turn section and saying there were messianic passages she could look up. Or just read something from Jesus in red. I wrote her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote “Just Ask” in the front. I told her I would keep her in my prayers until next Spring. “Thank you so much Bob,” she said and I headed out.

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

In Him,

Bob