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

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed walking with the Lord. I had a good day on campus and two African American students, Nia and Kemonie, prayed with me to receive Jesus today.

Nia was sitting in a large sofa chair on the edge of the lounge where we have Bible study on Tuesdays. She was dressed in black leggings and a black zip neck fleece. She had a smaller nose and her straighten black hair was pulled back into a medium pony tail that fanned out behind her head, wide pretty eyes. When I asked her what she would say to God if He asked her why He should let her into Heaven when she died she said, “B/C… I… That’s a good question.” She thought some more and said, “I had faith in Him my whole life.” She thought she had a 90% chance of going to Heaven and went to Church. I went through the gospel with her and her arms were folded across her chest nearly the entire time but she seemed to be agreeing with me. She knew Jesus had died to take away the sins of the world so I explained His imputed righteousness and the blood that cleansed her. The first real smile I got out of her was when I said, “Say you got a boyfriend for about three weeks, you thought he was pretty cool but then it turns out he was cheating on you and stealing your stuff, so you cut him loose.” She nodded at that. “He comes around in about a week and says, ‘Nia I know I did you really wrong. I was even stealing your stuff and selling it for drugs, but I just want you to know I’m gonna be nice to my next 3 girl friends.'” Then she grinned. “You’d be like, ‘Yeah that doesn’t help me at all’. ‘Cause you can’t do good things over there to fix your bad things here. But that’s how a lot of people think. They’re like, ‘I’ve done some bad things but I’ve done some good things too, my good stuff’s gonna fix my bad stuff with God.’ But your bad stuff still out there kicking people around and there’s not much you can do about it. But God says He’ll turn you bad things into good things. It says in Romans 8:28 That all things work together for good for them that love God and are the called according to His purpose. So God can change the trajectory of something bad that happens to us or we do and turn it into something good. Because He controls all future events.” I asked her then if she’d want to be forgiven for her sins with God living inside her or if she thought something else. “Forgiven with God inside,” she said. So I asked her if when she was asking for forgiveness for her sins if she hoped God would forgive her because he was forgiving and she was trying to do good or if she thought, I know I’ll be forgiven because Jesus died for me. I know you knew the story but were you placing your trust in that?” She thought for a while and said, “I don’t ask for forgiveness for selfish purposes.” I wasn’t completely sure what she meant so I repeated the question saying. “I’m not really asking what your motive for forgiveness was but if you believed you were going to be forgiven because Jesus had died for you, what were you thinking?” She thought for a moment and said, “I didn’t really think about that before.” So I said if she wanted to ask God for forgiveness trusting in Jesus and that He had died for her there was a prayer she could pray and I talked her through it and said if she would want to be forgiven she could pray it silently in her heart. Not that I would hear her but God would hear and she would know she was forgiven. “Wanna do it?” I asked. “Yeah,” she said very softly and I gave her the booklet and she prayed to receive Christ. When she was done she said, “Thank you.” “You’re welcome,” I replied. “Thank you,” she said again. I said, “You’re welcome.” I told her the likelihood now she would go to Heaven was 100% trusting in the righteousness of Christ. Then I showed her some of the stuff in the back of the booklet on living the Christian life in the power of the Spirit. I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do writing her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I gave her a Bible study and told her I would keep her in my prayers until Spring next year. She thanked me again and headed off quickly down the hall to her class.

I found Kemonie sitting in the PE lounge on the counter by the exit doors. He wore a purple jersey of some kind and black nylon sweats, white trainers. He had thin ringlets of curls thinner than a pencil. Good looking kid, nice skin, small feature oval face, barley a mustache, a little like Michael Jackson with a smaller pug nose than the original version. All the seats at the long stretch of tables were filled and he sat alone so I asked if he’d want to do a student survey, he really didn’t want to but agreed to answer the one big question about being killed by a bus and standing before God who asks why should I let you into Heaven. He thought for a bit and said it was a good question and said, “I don’t know.” So I asked if he would want to know what the Bible said about how he got to Heaven and he said, “OK.” I wrote his name down and began to go through the Gospel with him. I explained that God wanted to live inside him but first had to make him “His type” so that like a blood transfusion He could infuse His life into him by the Holy Spirit then living in him. I asked him the big thing Jesus had done to take away his sins but he didn’t know. So I told him how Jesus had died for him and rose from the dead and His righteousness could be to his credit, His blood cleansing him and that God wanted to adopt him making him his child. I asked if he’d want to be forgiven for his sins or thought something else. “Be forgiven!” he said emphatically. I told him there was a prayer he could pray to be forgiven and talked him through it asking if he’d like to pray it. He said he prayed every night. I said this prayer was specifically placing his trust in Jesus to be forgiven. He read it through and I asked again if he’d want to pray it and he said, “I just did,” smiling. “Amen?” I said. “Amen,” he replied and I said, “Your sins are forgiven.  He thanked me and shook my hand. I explained the Christian life living “Inside Out” to him saying the Christian life was ‘Just Ask”. He had a Bible on His phone so I gave him the book Bible Promises for You. I wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” on the inside. I told him I would be praying for him and he said, “Thank you, appreciate it.” and I headed out.

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed today and you walked in real joy. I had a good day on campus and Jan [pronounced Yan] prayed to receive Jesus today. And I got a couple good seeds planted too with a Jewish student named Cory who took a Bible Study on the Deity of Christ. His family was both Jewish and Christian. And a Hindu who also took The Case for Christianity Answer Book.

Jan was sitting in the Science building in the hall on the North side. I had seen him before but he’d been talking with someone I think so I did not want to interrupt.  But today he was alone. He is an interesting looking guy. He has a handsome face with sharp features and straight, light brown hair down to the middle of his back. He did welding and so had black motorcycle boots on with his straight leg jeans tucked into them, he wore a black short sleeve t-shit with a biker eagle across the front in white.  His voice had a marked Polish accent and he said he was Catholic. I asked him one thing he’d like to do before he died and he said, “Make up for my sins.” I asked him what he would say to God if he died and He asked, “Why should I let you into Heaven?” he said, “Perhaps you shouldn’t.” Trying to figure out a bit more what he thought I asked what he thought it was that go you into Heaven and he said, “The ability to forgive and be forgiven.” I asked how likely it was he would go to Heaven and he said it depends on what happens over time but he said, “Let’s be optimistic, 70%.”  I began to go thought the Gospel with him and he was in a bit of a hurry as his class was going to start, as I finished explaining the imputed righteousness of Christ to his credit he a abruptly said,  “Ok, I get it, continue.” I got to the end of going through the Gospel saying that he could be adopted by faith and become a child of God and be saved by Grace. I asked if he would want to be forgiven and he said that he felt that he would get to that place eventually but there were some things he had to do, almost to merit it. So I turned to the back of the booklet and explained living “Inside Out” with the quote, “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 by your own self effort.” I explained everything he thought he wanted to do or God wanted him to do, God wanted to help him do by His power inside him. I said something like, “You think you need to put your socks on after your shoes but what really matters is the man you are that puts on the socks and shoes that God can make you to be.” I explained that in other religions you do good things and god is pleased with you and takes you to Heaven or the Universe is please and you don’t come back as a cow or something, in Christianity you ask God to transform you on the Inside and you become a good man who has the power to do good things.  “Yes that is what I would say I just did not know how to put it into words,” he replied. I took that as agreement so I said that if he wanted to be forgiven for his sins there was a prayer he could pray. I talked him through it the last line of it says, “Make me the kind of person you want me to be.” I explained that he would be asking for God to transform him and change him so he could do what he thought he should do. I said that if God did not give him enough power to do it, He would probably be keeping him from something that would be bad for him in the future that only God could see. I asked if he wanted to pray it silently and he thought for a moment and said, “OK.” And he prayed to receive Christ. I offered him a Bible but he said it would be hard to find one in Polish but his parents had one. I encouraged him to read the book of John showed him the fruit of the Spirit and he said he had to go to class (the door of which was 5 feet off my right shoulder). So I quickly gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do explaining God would give him the power to do anything conditional he asked of him. I wrote “Just ask By the Spirit’s power”. I wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” on the inside and he took it and quickly headed into class.

So thanks for your prayer for the ministry and for evangelism today if you have a chance. God blessed.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope God blessed your weekend. I had a good day on campus on Friday and Syed, a Muslim prayed to receive Jesus. I got a good seed planted in Miles too whose girlfriend and best friend are Christians. He did not want to give up control of his life. I explained control was nothing but an illusion anyway and that without God partnering with him he could not know and do the good. I explained using some illustrations that eventually life forces you to accept that you can’t do it alone.  I Asked him if he had ever hear the Beatles song “Help”. He said it was his favorite Beatles song so I quoted the lyric, “When I was younger, so much younger than today I never needed anybody’s help in any way But now these days are gone and I’m not so self assured (And now I find) Now I find I’ve changed my mind, I’ve opened up the door.” I said the writer of the song was pointing out that as ya get older you realize you cannot do life without help, man that was my favorite song he moaned. His countenance had fallen as we talked and he said his girl friend’s family had told him he needed God in his life. We left amicably and I talked him through the booklet and prayer. Please pray that the illusion of his independence would “vanish in the haze” and he would turn to Jesus.

Syed was sitting on the small lounge attached to Starbucks. He had on a black shirt on with two parallel white stripes across the chest, sweats and a black Adidas ball cap. He was not a big guy, a bit on the thin side and average height. He had a chin beard and a couple days’ worth of beard on his cheeks, his mustache was not thick. He wore black box rimmed glasses. When he told me his name I assumed he was Muslim, and he said, when I asked, that he went to a mosque. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into heaven he said. I would say that I cared for animals and humans more than myself. He thought he had a 50/50 shot at going to Heaven. I explained the gospel then to him explaining the need for Jesus to be God and a perfect sacrifice. I said that if he believed Jesus was God had died for his sins and rose from the dead he could be forgiven. I contrasted Islam with Christianity at the end pointing out that their god did not live inside people. I asked if he would want to be forgiven for his sins trusting in Jesus or thought something else and he said, “Obviously I would want to be forgiven for my sins.” I said that if he wanted to trust in Jesus to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray explaining he would be appealing to Jesus as God to forgiven him. I asked if he wanted to pray to be forgiven and he said, “Sure,” and he prayed to receive Jesus. I explained the Christian life was living inside out and I offered him The Case for Christianity Answer Book. He asked if the Library might have the book and I said they would not since it was a religious book. I thought he might want a shorter booklet he could keep on the down low, though he said someone else on campus had given him a Bible. And he did take “The Case for Christianity Answer Booklet which is thin enough to stick in your jeans pocket. I gave him a Bible Study on the Deity of Christ and he took that to read. I explained that trusting in the Righteousness of Jesus to be his righteousness the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. We said goodbye and he was thankful. So I hope I will run into him again and ask how he is doing. He had some interest in our bible study. Please pray he comes.

Thanks for your prayers for the ministry and evangelism on campus. God blessed and I am hopeful Syed will find fellowship or come to ours on campus.

In Him,

Bob