Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope you had a great day walking by the Spirit. I had a good day on campus, and Nicole prayed with me to receive Christ as her Savior.

Nicole was sitting in the hall on the third floor of the BIC. I had gone up there first thing to drop off a form with our faculty advisor. She had brown hair that was pulled loosely back in a bun, some strands framing her face. She wore a pink fleece and skinny jeans with a tear in one knee. Pretty girl, long eyelashes. I asked her if she wanted to do a student survey and she said, “I think I already did one of those.” So I asked, “Did they ask you, ‘Say you’re walking down the road and 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?'” “No they didn’t ask that.” she replied. “I don’t know,” was her answer. “Well would you like to know how the Bible says you get into Heaven?” I asked. “Yeah,” she said. So I sat down and just asked her the questions in the survey. But when I asked her why she’d go to Heaven she said again, “I don’t know. I really have no idea.” She said she went to a catholic church often and thought she had about a 90% chance of getting to Heaven. So I began to explain the Gospel to her with Bible verses, and the righteousness of Christ imputed to her. She did know Jesus had died for her sins but hadn’t put it all together or trusted in that for forgiveness. She wanted to be forgiven and was thinking she was a good person who went to church so God would forgive her sins. So I offered her the prayer and she prayed to receive Christ. I explained that living the Christian life was “Inside out” compared with other religions. “In other religions you do good things on the outside and the deity is pleased with you and takes you to Heaven. Or the Universe is somehow pleased with you and you don’t come back as a cow. But in Christianity, you ask God to transform you on the inside and the Spirit transforms you into a good person and do good things.” I explained. I gave her Zwingli’s view on the mass as symbolic, saying she could remember, when she takes it, that Jesus died for her and so she can know she is forgiven. I got her email to send her some more stuff, and gave her a Bible Study and the book 20 Things God Can’t Do, writing her name and the date and “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front. I explained that if she was trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be her righteousness, the likelihood she would go to Heaven is 100%.  Nicole was happy about that. I got up to leave and she said, “Nice to meet you.” And I said “Nice to meet you too”.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God blessed. Wednesday is a book table day to invite kids to come to Bible study.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and you walked in the Spirit. I had a good day and Ruben prayed with me to receive Christ. During the rest of the day, a girl Stephanie, who was really searching, gave me some time. I talked her through a lot in the PE lounge and gave her The Case for Christ student edition. And another guy Donovan was close to praying, but had to run for his ride and thanked me. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do. I talked to him in the hall in the BIC building, so I hope I’ll find out he trusted the Lord. Two Roman Catholic girls, Maidy and Kim (both were attractive Latina girls), one in the Culinary building and the other in the hall way of the BIC, said they’d tell God about their works to get into Heaven. Then they changed their mind and said they were trusting in Jesus after I went through the Gospel with them. That happens almost every day. I think these students are coming to faith in Christ (kind of finally putting it all together) but it is tough to tell if something changed when they don’t pray with me. And I am asking them an unfamiliar question, so maybe they are right. I always show them the prayer, suggesting they could use the booklet to share their faith with a friend, which I of course hope they will do (and they themselves might pray later). After I read through it and the line, “Is this prayer the desire of your heart?” I say, as if they were sharing it with someone else, “That’s what you believe right?” Maidy & Kim both said “Yes.”  So hopefully some students come to have a genuine moment of faith that way if they had not yet been trusting. Both girls thanked me when we parted. I gave Kim a Bible Promise Book, as she only had a family Bible but did not want to take a Bible from me.

Ruben, a good looking Roman Catholic guy with a light mustache and a goatee, (he also looked Latino) was sitting at a table on the edge of the science building lounge looking down on it from the 2nd floor. I asked him if he’d like to do a student survey on what he thought about God and stuff. But like many often say each day, he said he already did one. [Other Christian groups at school (one that used to be called Campus Crusade among them), do a survey asking questions about religion and never go through the Gospel. I often find students who don’t want to talk to me about God because they think they already did with someone else. I’m not sure why groups do this. Ironically enough it is keeping some people from hearing the Gospel by giving them a religious survey. Crusade records how many “spiritual conversions” they have, so I guess that’s the point for them, so this number is increased in their paperwork.] I chatted with Ruben, asking him if they asked what he would say if he died and stood before God and God said “why should I let you into Heaven?’ “No, they asked me if I went to church, why I went to church and where I went to church,” he replied. “Well would you like to know what the Bible says about how you get to Heaven or not so much?” I asked. “How long will it take?” he asked. “5 or 6 minutes,” I replied and he agreed. I went through the Gospel with him and Ruben wanted to be forgiven for his sins. I asked if he was trusting in Christ when he asked to be forgiven, or if he was going to church and trying to do the right thing and hoping that would be enough to be forgiven. He said, “I was just trying to be a good person.” He wanted to be forgiven for his sins with God living inside him and he prayed with me to receive Christ. I walked him through Zwingli’s representational view of the mass and explained walking by the Spirit. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do, writing his name and the date, saying that he could know that was the day he had gotten forgiven by God. He took a Bible study and I told him I’d keep him in my prayers. He kind of apologized for putting me off initially, saying he thought it was just going to be more of the same. But the Lord had moved in his heart to hear.

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed in the Lord. I had a good day on campus today.  It took a bit of time to get someone willing to talk, but Samantha, Kayla and Korin each prayed to receive Christ today.

I saw Samantha sitting at the end of the hall on a bench where there are some workout classes. I thought I could ask her as I headed out the side door there leading to the outdoor concert area at the MAC arts center. I headed down to where she was, and she was willing to answer some questions. She has been taking a world religions class at school. She had short brown hair (looked a bit like actress Janine Turner), tall, no make-up and a green T-shirt that had ARMY across the front. She hadn’t been to church a lot of late but had gone to Catholic School. She was wearing yoga pants and seemed to have recently gotten out of a workout class. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven if she died. She sighed and thought for a bit. She said something about not wanting to sound boastful and then said, “I think I’ve worked really hard to input into others, and other lives. I nanny for special needs children.” She thought she’d have an 85% chance of going to Heaven, but expressed again that she didn’t want to blow her own smoke. She listened closely to the Gospel and seemed to track with everything, though she didn’t remember how Jesus had taken away her sins when I asked. So when I asked her if she wanted to be forgiven for her sins she simply said, “Yes” with conviction. So I asked if she believed Jesus was God, had died for her sins and rose from the dead. She said, “Yes” firmly again. So I said, “Well if you’d like to place your trust in that to be forgiven, there is a prayer you can pray. After walking her through it, Samantha prayed silently to receive Jesus. I gave her a Bible, writing her name in the front and the date.  I also gave her the book 20 Things God Can’t Do (I always write “By the Spirit’s power” in the front of this book) along with a bible study and a card for Compass Church, encouraging her that she could watch a few sermons online. I gave her the Rose publication Why believe the Bible as in my experience with other students it corrects some of what she’d learn in class, depending on the teacher. She said she had to write a paper and thought it might help. I told her I would pray for her and she thanked me and said, “Nice meeting you.” And I said, “You too” and headed off.

I came across Kayla in the MAC Arts building lounge. She was a pretty girl with blonde shoulder length hair tucked behind her ears, an occasional freckle in the right places on her face, wearing black jeans cuffed at the ankles and a gray shirt. She was sitting on a bench by the elevators and after checking how long the survey would take, she agreed. But we hit it off and ended up talking for a long time. She wanted to tool around the country in a VW mini-van. When I asked her what she would say if God asked her why He should let her into Heaven she said, “You should know.” Then she added, “I just try to be a decent human being.” She’d taken a world religions class freshman year and had been a regular attender at her Catholic Church, but fell away from it. She said the idea of Hell as a threat to be a good person didn’t work for her. She just wanted to be good. She seemed to react against religious rules. I told her Christ said that the only law was love, and that you should love God and love your neighborhood as yourself. She agreed with that, so I explained to her that you had to be all powerful and all-knowing to know and do the Good. You had to know what to do and know how to control the outcome of an action and be all powerful to do so. And you had to know what to guide people to do to begin with. I told her a story of how a good deed could go badly. That is why Christ said “No one is good except God alone.” I explained that a lot of what she believed was good was because she lived in a Christianized culture. We talked about other religions and I told her that Christianity was the “Truth Myth” (as J.R.R. Tolkien once told C.S. Lewis). She agreed with what I explained to her. She knew Jesus had died to take away her sins. After going through the Gospel with her she said she’d like to be forgiven. I asked if she believed Jesus was God, had died for her sins and rose from the dead and she said, “Yes, it’s what I’ve been raised with.” Which is what they told her was the reason she believed what she believed in class probably. Though this is not true, I let it go. “Well if you’d like to place your trust in that so your sins can be forgiven and God can live inside you, there is a prayer you can pray. I walked her though it, offering it to her and asking if she’d like to pray to receive Christ. She took the booklet considering and saying, “Maybe, at some point…” but then she read a bit and decided to pray to receive Christ. I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do and a Bible Study on the ways Jesus claims to be God in the New Testament based on Old Testament passages. I told her I would keep her in my prayers and she said, “Thank you, I appreciate that.” Then I headed outside.

I walked about a bit more with no takers and then finally at the end of the day went up to talk to my advisor who steers some kids to Bible Study. He’s a solid Christian and has my back on campus. We talked for a while and I headed down the 3rd floor hall of the BIC building and passed Korin sitting with her legs pulled up on a couch in near empty lounge by the windows. So I walked back and asked her if she’d do a student survey and she agreed. She had a deep voice, good for radio. She had straight brown hair down past her shoulders and a ball cap on. She wore blue jean shorts and a V-neck blouse, cute kid, a bit shorter. She wanted to have a family and it seemed like she grew up in Hawaii as she described a church there with a Catholic name. She said it wasn’t exactly a typical church in as much as it seemed you could pray in whatever religious expression you believed in, “They read some Bible verses,” she said. When I asked her why God should let her into Heaven she said, “I really don’t know,” half to herself and then said, “I don’t know.” I asked if that is what she wanted to say and she said, “Yeah.” She thought she had about an 80% chance of going to Heaven. She was friendly and just waiting for her class to start. I went through the Gospel with her and she listened closely. So I asked her if she’d want to be forgiven for her sins with God living inside her and she said firmly, “Yes,” much like Samantha had. I asked if she believed Jesus was God, had died for her sins and rose from the dead and again she firmly replied “Yes.” So I said if she wanted to trust in that, she could pray and she took the booklet and did. She was anxious to keep it afterwards and I used it to explain walking by the Spirit. I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do and a Bible Study. I promised I’d keep her in my prayers and she thanked me and I headed out. Then I remembered and walked back to give her a Compass Church card to watch sermons online and she liked that idea.

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

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 Xavier and Josh each prayed with me to receive Christ.

Xavier was standing by the doors leading out of the PE building, leaning against the railing. He had a map of the school in his hand, so it seemed to be his first year at school. He had a short afro and nice features and was about my build, though a bit shorter. He was wearing jeans and a black shirt. He said he wanted to have a million dollars. When I pointed out that although I didn’t have a million, it didn’t seem to go far anymore. He changed it to being a millionaire. When I asked him what he would say if he died and God asked him why he should be let into Heaven he said, “I’m a man of God. I respect You. I talk to others about You. I go to church, not that that is enough [in itself]. My name is in the Book.” He was 100% sure he would go to Heaven. But as I went through the Gospel, he didn’t know it. When I read him some verses about sin and asked him what was the big thing Jesus had done back in the day to take away his sins, He said, “I really don’t know about that…” Then changing his mind, he said something about how he knew Adam and Eve sinned in the garden and God forgave us and something about how in the material world there was sin. It really didn’t make any sense to me frankly, but I just let it go and said, “Well, God is just. And when you sin, you mess up His stuff. Something has to pay for the damage you did when you sinned and this is how God pays for it.” Then I began to explain the atoning work of Christ and His righteousness that is to our credit. Xavier agreed with every point, though they clearly were all novel to him. As I completed the Gospel and explained his need to receive Jesus by faith, I asked him if he wanted to be forgiven for his sins. He said he did and I said something like. “Well it seems like you had not quite put all the pieces together before right? Like you had some of the story around the edges but now you know the whole thing.” He agreed. I explained that he needed to place his trust in Jesus and His work on the Cross. I walked him through the prayer, offering it to him, and he prayed silently to receive Christ. I explained the Christian life in the Spirit to him and gave him a Bible (as he said his Grandfather had one but he didn’t) and wrote his name and the date he received Jesus in the front. I gave him the book 20 Things God Can’t Do, explaining this was the real riches of the Christian life; the promises of God to us, and that Spiritual riches that lasted for eternity were far better than the stuff that is only for a short time here. He agreed. He took a bible study also and I shook his hand and said I would see him in Heaven if he was trusting in the righteousness of Christ to be his righteousness. He agreed he now was.

Josh was sitting at a table in the MAC arts building lounge. Kind of a shorter guy, boyish good looks with a mop of wavy brown hair, wearing a t-shirt, looked young (Ha! but then I’m feeling pretty old these days). He was from an Italian background and wanted to visit Italy. He was regularly attending a Roman Catholic Church. Friendly, kind guy. When I asked him what he thought might get him into Heaven he said, “Maybe how I’ve treated people.” He thought he had about a 75% chance of going to Heaven. He tuned right in to the Gospel and listened closely. He knew that Jesus had died to take away his sins. After hearing the Gospel through, he wanted to be forgiven for his sins. So I asked him if he had been trusting in Christ for forgiveness. “I know you knew the story, but have you been trusting in Christ for forgiveness or going to Church and trying to be good…” Explaining that he had not been trusting in Jesus he said, “Throughout my life I was just trying to do the things He wanted.” I replied, “You know, you grow up in the Church and go along with it. But now you are a man and you have to decide what you’ll do on your own.” I told him he needed to trust in Christ and walked him through a prayer he could pray, explaining it to him. Josh prayed to receive Jesus. “Thanks,” he said, “I really needed this.” I said he was welcome. I then explained a life lived in the Spirit to him and gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do, writing his name and the date in the front. I also gave him a bible study on the Deity of Christ and got his email to send him another one. He thanked me a few more times. He was really nice and I said I’d see him in Heaven and left. A moment later, I went back to give him a symbolic view of the mass to think about too and he thanked me and we went our separate ways.

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and you got a glimpse of the eclipse–it was kinda cool if ya had the glasses. I had a good day on campus, encouraging some Christians and redirecting some Roman Catholics. The best of the day was that two black students, Dante and Alex, each prayed with me to receive Christ.

Dante was sitting on a box-bench under the stairs in the PE building. He played football, and as we talked other players were filing in for the team meetings in the room across from us. He had some soft facial hair [lip and chin] and a ball cap on and was wearing athletic clothes. He was a good looking guy, kind face. It turned out he had some familiarity with the Gospel but had not trusted in Christ. He told me he went to a bible study lead by one of the coaches. He wanted to own his own business. When I asked him what he would say to God if asked why He should let him into Heaven he said, “Because I do all the right things. I don’t kill or steal or destroy. I praise and obey.” He was sure he would go to Heaven. I began to teach him the Gospel and he was very attentive, even as the time crunch came for his meeting. So I asked him if he wanted to be forgiven for his sins and he said he did. I asked him, “So when you asked for forgiveness in the past, were you thinking you were good and went to church and stuff, so God would forgive you because you were good enough?” He nodded. “Or that you knew God would forgive you because you were trusting in Jesus?’ “That I was good enough,” he replied. So I explained he need to trust in Christ for forgiveness and walked him through the prayer. Dante silently prayed to receive Jesus. He did not want to go to another bible study, because he was attending one. But I gave him a printed one on the Deity of Christ and the book 20 Things God Can’t Do, where which I put his name and the date in the front. I explained the life of walking in the Spirit and told him I would pray for him the next year. He thanked me and headed into the meeting.

I spent some time in the art building, planting a seed with Max. He was a childhood Presbyterian (now lapsed) who had miraculously survived a car wreck in the last year or so and had thought there might be a God. He took The Case for A Creator to read. I also bumped into Samuel, a guy I knew from 5 years ago. We prayed together over some stuff and he prayed for me on campus and took off.

I went outside to check out the eclipse and the overcast allowed me to look at it at first without protective glasses. I headed down the walk and found Alex at the back of the building. I asked her to do a survey. “Sure. I have seen you around a lot, last year,” she replied. Her hair was short on the sides and curly only on top. She had black-framed, rectangular glasses and shorts and a tan-knit sleeveless blouse with a jean jacket over it. She was tall, about 5’9″, with a square chin, long legs, artsy, attractive looking. She was sitting up on the stone post at the stair top overlooking the Art building’s outside concert venue. I sat beside her, down a bit on the wall. She had the answer to the question right as to what she would say to get into Heaven. “Because I gave myself to you, no I (brought?) bring you into my life as my Lord and Savior.” Though she only thought she had an 80% chance of going to Heaven, saying “I have some things to work on.” I often help kids with their assurance. So I thought she was saved, but there is more than one way to be a savior. A fireman can save you from a burning building but not from your sin. I began to go through the booklet with her as I always do, figuring I could encourage her to share it with someone else. When I got to the part where I say ‘God has to take away your sin to make you His type, like a blood transfusion where He places Himself and His life inside you’ I asked, “So what is the big thing Jesus does to take away your sin?” She had no idea. So I said “Well it works like this” and taught her about the sacrifice of Christ’s perfect life as God and man. How His blood and cleansed her from sin and His righteousness was imputed to her, which she thought was good. When I finished the Gospel I said, “So it seems like you had never put together all the pieces about how Jesus was your Savior before, right?” She nodded affirmingly. Then I walked her through the prayer and people were gathering around us watching the eclipse. She read it through on her own and asked, “So I pray this out loud?” ‘No silently,” I said. “It is just between you and God.” And she silently prayed to receive Christ. She took a Bible study and 20 Things God Can’t Do. I wrote ‘By the Spirit’s power’ (having explained that to her) and the date and her name in the front. Then we shared my protective glasses a bit and passed them to some others and looked up at the sun, all but disappeared in the sky behind the moon. She thanked me and headed off to class.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for Evangelism today if you had a chance. The Lord truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

How’s the summer treating you so far? I used to feel like it wasn’t quite summer until the 4^th of July. In childhood that was only a couple weeks after we finished school, as we usually started the year closer to September in my memory. But now by the 4^th summer will be half over. I usually try to paint a little bit in the summer, but the truth is, I need a break from contact evangelism. I’m pretty worn out still.

God blessed us this past school year and I went through the Gospel with over 400 students, many who claimed to be Christians. 15 Muslims were among them and 10 believed themselves to be atheists. I saw 139 students pray with me to receive Jesus on campus and 3 more elsewhere. Several more committed to Christ, most saying they would pray later. Nearly all of them were attending or had (this year) attended Church, but I gave many a card for a local church’s website so they could listen to sermons. Students come from such varied backgrounds. It is hard to know if they would feel like they were in church  in the more modern worship services. But they can hear a sermon, set apart from the worship portion, without feeling the alienation of the worship band. Since the Holy Spirit has led them to God in praying to receive Jesus, I know God will continue in their lives by my prayers for them each night. As Paul writes to people he no longer has direct contact with in Philippians 1:6: “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” We feel prayers like yours, that led them to the contact I had with them, are very important for this reason. I am comforted too in the knowledge that many pray for them that day, having gotten an email “Results of the Work”.

Did you ever miss a chance to do someone a favor? I had that happen last week, giving someone a ride. It seemed like it was gonna take longer than I thought and then they said forget it. I had stuff to do, but later I wondered if I could have done something to help things fall into place. I feel this way, or in a similar vein, sometimes concerning our lives and the message of the Gospel. Beginning an evangelistic conversation isn’t always natural or easy, and I’ve had brief conversations where the context just wasn’t there or it was just too awkward. Sometimes in a group where I am not the central speaker there isn’t an opening. I often tell Ellen, after some strained moments on campus I am later describing, “If you can’t do awkward, you can’t do contact evangelism.” I tell myself this on campus as well when I have just walked by someone and feel a need to double back and ask them to talk or do a student survey, or just see if they are OK.

Some friends gave us flyer miles to take a trip already this year, so we headed out to Yosemite National Park. I always take some books to leave in the drawers in the rooms where we stay in the parks and even booklets with the Gospel that I use as an outline on campus. I left them beside or inside the cover of the Bible often found in the nightstand drawer and left a DVD of the life of Jesus with a question and answer section in a cabin that still had a DVD player. We took a drive up Glacier Point Trail but I’d neglected to put one of the tracts I often use in the pocket of my shorts. We went on a hike to Sentinel Dome and Ellen stopped at the edge of the snow pack to rest in the sun as I climbed to the top. There I met Conner, a 20 something guy from Philly, who was seeing the country between jobs. He had religious tattoos from his hand up his arm. I talked to him about his trip and then asked about his ink. He pulled his sleeve up to show more of it to me. The gates of Heaven was on his shoulder and Jesus with a halo on his upper arm, Mary below that, a cross over the top of his hand. I asked him, “Say you died and you stood before God and He asks you, ‘Why should I let you into Heaven?’ What would you say?”  Conner said he was a Christian and I said “Yeah me too.” He said he thought about what God would want him to do before he did almost anything. “So you try to please God?” I asked and he agreed. So he was hoping that his good deeds were enough to enter Heaven and didn’t seem to ever have understood that Jesus had died to take away his sins. So I began to explain the Gospel. After I had finished I said, “So the answer to the question why should God let you into Heaven is what?” “That I trust in Jesus?” he replied. “That you trust in Jesus and that He died for your sins,” I reiterated. “That I trust in Jesus and that he died for my sins,” he replied back. “Alright.” I then explained trusting in the work of the Holy Spirit in him to give him strength to live the Christian life. This was new to him, to recognize that God’s power gave him strength and could guide him and now was in him by his profession faith. I explained that the righteousness of Christ was his. He thanked me and we shook hands and agreed to look each other up in Heaven. I was kicking myself for having no materials to leave with him. But he has the Holy Spirit by trusting in Jesus and will have my prayers for the coming year each night. I had a chance to do him a favor and believe it led to genuine faith in Christ. Later in the week I went through the Gospel with a young climber, Dustin, who professed trusting in Christ already and knew his good deeds did not give him eternal life, though he worked with at risk kids. He said that was why he had peace even were he to die climbing. I explained the Gospel to him to be sure it was clear. I gave him a booklet after going through it, hoping he would latch on to some analogies that might help him share his faith. Maybe God will give him an opportunity to tell someone about Jesus on a route up El Capitan. Maybe he can do them a favor.

These are the New Believers in the 2016-17 school year. An * means they did not pray but said they would pray later or committed to Christ.

Matt, Jose, Karrina, Gabriela, Alex, Taranice, Mirna, Berenice, Ada, Victoria, Khyla, Nirali*, Evelyn*, Dinah, Lashunna, Josh, Oscar, Heidi, Viviana, Jimmy, Daminesha, Peter, Vanessa, Javier, Xavier, Bee, Mandy, Grant, Malik, Aurelio, Jesse, James, Ydalmy, Crystal, Justin, Sarah, Trina, Yuanita*, Kristina*, Kamaria, Jeremiah, Jessie, Eli, Kevin, Christine, Aronique, Acarria, Mike, Alivia, Sarah, Paul, Jai, Michelle (paint Customer), Apollonia, Julio, Julio, Ashley, Nancy, Randy, Dejan, Alex, Julia, Gio, Katie, Sue, Adrian, Isak, Lilli, Gerardo, Frimpong, Bridget, Ryan, Dan, Jacob, Jacob, Kaitlyn*, Christina, Aliyah, David, Beahja, Akayna, Kenny, Sydney, John, Rafa, Nate, Tiana*, Michael, Nezlly, Demond, Jermain, Pete, Page, Brian, Trent, Dominque, Marcello, Kennedy, Danny, Kofi, Darian, Josh, Jenny*, Brenda, Isaiah, Shanice,  Jamelle, Theresa,  Ymari, Stephanie, Lexy, Blexendi, Luke, Julia, Nick, Kallie, Amber, Cydney, Brandon, Kayla, Josephine, Chad,  LaTerrance, Branley, Geselle, Marylin*, Henri*, Yunik, Austin, Vanessa, Sal, Angelo, Taleshia, Andy, Josh, Damsith, Tearl, Joe, Shane, Taylor, Urbano, Jonathon, Joanne, Ivana, Marcela, Gaby, Emily, Jordan, David,  Brandon,  Alena*, Eddie, Conner*

Since 2002, over 1,000 students have prayed with me to receive Christ through contact evangelism.  Thanks for your prayers and gifts for our ministry. I’ll be trying to use the summer to raise some more support for fall. We’re grateful for your financial help and need it to make ends meet in life. And we are especially grateful for your prayers. May God bless your summer.

In Him,

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

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope you have been having a nice weekend and things are going well in your walk with the Lord.  Things went well on campus Friday, in as much as Eddie prayed with me to receive Jesus. But he was the only guy I could get to go through the Gospel with me the entire day.  I had some conversations with other students I knew, chatting them up. But at the end of the day I’d wished I’d counted how many peeps had turned me down. Not particularly a record for that on Friday, Fridays are notoriously empty of the student population at school so a lot of halls you turn to look down are completely empty.

I finally ended up (at close to 12:30 or so) in the PE building. Eddie was one of only 3 people in there. He was sitting alone at some tables they have lined up this year.  When I first saw him, he was talking to one of the Christian guys on the football team, a huge black dude who plays on the line who’d I’d gone through the Gospel with earlier in the year. I walked around the staircase to come from the other side and the other guy at the table turned me down. But then Eddie, about 4 seats away in the line of tables, said he was interested. He had short brown hair, longer on top and swept to the side, wore glasses and possessed the most high pitched voice I have heard come out of a college age guy in my life. It rarely broke into lower cadence. He sounded somewhat like the fictional character Screech in the old TV show “Saved by the Bell”. But Eddie was really friendly and did not have the social awkwardness Screech had on the TV show. He was taller than me by a couple inches, skinny, wearing jeans and a Bulls shirt, saying he wasn’t really much of a fan, “just liked the shirt”. He worked at his family’s 7/11. It turned out we had some mutual friends that went to our Bible study and he went to CRU (the name Campus Crusade now has on campus). I started the Crusade group there in 2002 and ran it until 2009. I asked Eddie what he would say to God if he died and God asked him why He should let him into Heaven. At first he wanted to skip the question but finally landed on “I care about people more than myself.” He thought he had about a 90% chance of going to Heaven but did not go to church, “I listen to KLove,” he said. “Klove is church for me.” (Klove is the radio station that plays exclusively Christian music. I rarely listen to it but the DJ’s seem very friendly and pointed out to him later this was because they were in the Spirit.) He listened to the Gospel closely and with interest, but I wasn’t sure if it was clicking based a bit on his facial expressions.  So after I said, “God wants to live inside you with His Holy Spirit but first He has to make you His type, like a blood transfusion.” I asked if he followed that. “Not really you’re talking really fast.” I might have been. I’m usually conscious of time constraints, kids sometimes have only a bit of time before class. So with Eddie I explained the idea a couple different ways and slowed way down, realizing the ideas were completely new to him. In the end he wanted to be forgiven but was unsure about Jesus being God (When I asked if he believed Jesus was God and had died for his sins and rose from the dead.) I explained that he [Eddie] was kind of like a trinity. He had a mind that was like the Father, a body that was like Jesus and emotions like the Holy Spirit (we are certainly compound beings [1Thessalonians 5:23] based on scripture and I am not saying this is how we should be divided in a biblical sense. I just use this as an illustration to help kids sometimes). “Like when you are by yourself in the car and you talk to yourself. It’s like there is another you inside you. God is like that, three persons in one God. Jesus comes forth from the Father.” I said it was more complicated than that, but asked if that kind of helped him see there were not three gods but one. That seemed to help him and he accepted it. I talked about the Spirit living in him, giving him power to live the Christian life and living “Inside out”. He said he felt God’s presence with him. I told him he could trust in Jesus’ work on the cross then to be forgiven, by asking for forgiveness. I walked him through the prayer, asking if he wanted to pray and receive forgiveness based upon Jesus. “Yeah,” Eddie said and he happily and slowly prayed then to receive Jesus. He said the Bible was “kind of overwhelming” but he did not have a bible, so I gave him one, writing his name in the front and the date so he could remember when he’d been forgiven. I gave him the book Bible Promises for You and he was interested in that so he would have things to post on Facebook. I also gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do though he almost did not want another book.  I told him maybe once in a while he could read a page and there were more quotes in it for Facebook.  He also took a Bible Study. He thought he might come to the fire pit we are doing at the house next week during exams since a mutual friend Kevin (a football player) was coming. It turned out he was the Equipment Manager for the football team. Kevin had turned him down for lunch so he asked me if I’d like to go to lunch with him. I said sure. So we walked across campus to Chik-fil-a and I bought him lunch. I gave him a card with the website for Compass Church, suggesting he could listen to a sermon once in a while, though he lived too far out in Hinsdale to physically attend.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry all this school year and for evangelism if you had a chance. 139 students prayed with me to receive Jesus on campus  since fall 2016-2017 spring and 3 more peeps off campus. Several others committed to Christ saying they would pray later. It was a blessed year.  Thanks for blessing it with your prayers. At some time during this school year I passed 1000 students that have prayed with me to receive Jesus since I began campus evangelism. Thanks for all your help to make it possible for us to be used by God together.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed walking in the Lord. I had a good day on campus, though no one would talk to me for the first 30 minutes or longer. But then Jordan, David & Brandon each prayed with me to receive Jesus. And a tall girl with wavy brown hair in a bun, ripped up jeans on and braces on her teeth, Alena, committed to Christ, saying she believed and trusted in Him to be forgiven. But she had to run for her ride, her sister kept texting her. I did give her a Bible and the student edition of the Case for Christ. So I am hopeful she genuinely trusted Christ and will pray for her.

Jordan was sitting at the counter, looking out the window killing time with his phone. He had a Bulls cap on and a white button shirt with blue trim that looked a little wrinkled. He had wire-top rimmed glasses and a bit of a chin beard. He was a really nice guy. I asked him what he would say to God if he died and was asked, “Why should I let you into Heaven?” “Wow, OK,” he replied thinking. “I’ve tried to do my best to help others whenever needed, be unbiased toward others and treat them how I’d like to be treated, kind of the golden rule.” I asked him how likely it was he would go to Heaven and he said, “I’d really like to say 100%, but maybe 70.” He said he’d stopped going to what he called “religious education” (turned out his family used to go to the Bible Church in town) when his parents divorced (when he was 11) and it fell on the weekend when he was with his father. It seemed like his dad was really religious but didn’t want to send him off to do that on the weekend when they were together. He knew Jesus had died for sin and found the Gospel interesting as I explained it. So I offered him the idea that he could be forgiven with God inside him or think something else and he pointed to the circle with God inside being forgiven and said, “I’d be this side.” It seemed like before he’d been figuring he was good enough to go to Heaven if he’d thought about it much. So I asked him if he believed Jesus was God and died for his sins and rose from the dead. “Yeah,” he replied. “Would you want to trust in that to be forgiven?” I asked. “Yeah,” he said again. So I walked him through the prayer and he was willing and prayed to receive Christ. I explained that if he trusted in Christ’s righteousness and not his own, the % likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. We talked for a while. I gave him a Bible study on the deity of Christ and 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote “By the Spirit” in the front and explained the Christian life to him living “Inside Out”. He gave me his email to get another Bible study. I gave him the link for the Compass Church and recommended he take in some sermons there. He thanked me and said it thought it was good I went around and talked to people about God. I told him it was stressful and laughed. I said I’d see him in Heaven and he said, “Yeah because of the righteousness of Christ, it’s 100%.” “That’s right” I said, shaking his hand and I headed out.

David is a black student, good looking guy, sitting in the line of chairs outside the cafeteria. He had kind of a stove-pipe cut to his afro which was about 5 inches high. He was wearing dark grey sweats tapered to the ankle and a black shirt, well put together. He played basketball at school for fun and didn’t have any future aspirations, (which is good because the basketball team was horrible last year). I asked what he would say to God to get into Heaven. “Well when I was younger… my mom and dad were really into religion, I’ve tried to [get into it]  I get into arguments with her [mom]. I tried, it’s hard to get into it. I go to Church, so I guess I’d tell God I tried.” I explained the Gospel to him and explained trying to do religious things on your own is not Christianity. I retold him the passage where Christ tells of those who claim they belong in the kingdom of Heaven because they have done miracles, cast out demons or prophesied in Christ’s name, super religious peeps (Matt. 7) but went to hell. “Christ said to them depart from me you Lawless” I told him. “The Word of God being present on the Earth had such power people seemed to be able to do great works just claiming His name.” I told him Judas would have been one of those people as he probably cast out demons. I said he did not need to try to be religious in his own strength, he needed to trust in God to transform him on the inside and then do good things on the outside in the power of the Spirit. I asked if he had been trusting in what Jesus had done for him on the cross to be forgiven or had just been trying to be good and hoping God would forgive him. He admitted he had not been trusting in Christ for forgiveness. I asked him if he believed Jesus was God, had died for his sins and rose from the dead and he said he did. I asked him if he’d like to trust in that and he said he would and he prayed with me to receive Christ. I’d explained to him living inside out and gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote “By the Spirit” in the front and a Bible study and he gave me his email to send him another one. He thanked me and I headed out shaking his hand.

Brandon is another black student at school. He was half-again as big as David, 6’2″ about 190, tattoos across each of his hands in large Gothic font letters. He had really nice smooth skin, larger features good lookin’ kid, played point guard and shooting guard. He was wearing a ball cap, his hair was braided underneath with one braid sticking out in back and had a thick beard on his chin. He was busy watching something on his phone and did not want to do a survey. He was sitting in the corner lounge on the far southeast corner of the BIC building but I had felt led to talk to him so I asked, “Ya wanna read a booklet on it on your own?” He said, “sure”, so I got it out to give to him and began to explain the Gospel. He was interested and kept listening, so I kept talking. As I talked him through the Gospel, I got towards the end and asked, “So if someone would say to you why should God let you into Heaven, what would you say?” “‘Cause Jesus…” he said. So I said, “But before this, if you asked for forgiveness from God because something went wrong, would you have been thinking ‘I’m a good person and go to Church and stuff and so God will forgive me’ or would you have thought ‘I know God will forgive me because Jesus died for me.'” He smirked and said, “That I was good enough.” So I asked him if he believed Jesus was God, and died for his sins and rose from the dead. He said “yes” so I asked him if he would want to trust in that to be forgiven and he did. I walked him thought the prayer and he prayed to receive Christ. He did not have a Bible so I gave him one and wrote his name in the front and the date saying he could remember that was the date when he had been forgiven. I explained living “Inside Out” to him with God’s power living in him and he said, “Awesome!” I told him he could ask for God’s help to make him better at anything he tried to do and if it was good for him and would not mess up his life God would help him. I gave him the book 20 Things God Can’t Do and a Bible Study and got his email. He was grateful and I shook his hand and told him I would keep him in my prayers.

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. Marcela prayed to receive Christ today on campus and I had some good seeds planted (Nick who looked like Kevin Spacey with nice skin and all his hair. He took The Case for Christ) and 2 strong apologetic discussions with agnostics (Nikko an Italian and Nick a Filipino). Encouraged some Christians too. I had a Great day.

Marcela was sitting in the PE building lounge by the workout center. She said her parents sometimes go to a Spanish speaking catholic church so her cousins can understand the service they all go too, mostly only on Christmas and Easter.  She has fair skin and was wearing no make-up. She’s kind of a Tom-boy pretty, long brown hair past her shoulders and a gray hoodie, black leggings. She said she’d do a survey and seemed to be just killing some time on her lap-top. She was friendly and her face was really expressive interacting with what I said. When I asked her what she might say if she died and God asked her why He should let her into heaven she said, ‘I’ve been a good person I guess… I don’t know.” She thought she might have a 50/50 shot at getting into Heaven. She knew Jesus had died for her sins, and that surprised me a bit for someone only going to Church on the Holiday’s. As I went through the Gospel, nearly all her responses were vivid expressions on her face but she listened closely. She said she wanted to be forgiven so I asked her if, “when she asked for forgiveness she had been thinking she was a good person and God was good and would forgive her or if she had been trusting in the idea that Jesus had died for her.” “The first one.” she replied. So I asked if she believed Jesus was God had died for her sins and rose from the dead. “Wait,” she said processing in a second, “if Jesus is God? Yes.”  I walked her through the prayer then that she could pray and asked her if she’d like to pray to be forgiven. “Right now? OK.” She said and prayed to receive Jesus. I told her she could keep the booklet explaining the Christian life to her living “Inside Out” and the fruit of the Spirit. I gave her a Bible and put her name in the front and the date she seemed to really like having it.  I gave her the book Pocket Prayers and 20 Things God Can’t Do and a Bible study saying it could keep her busy for the summer. She said she’d think about getting another. I also gave her a card with the Website of Compass Church to listen to some sermons since she wasn’t attending Church. I got up and said good bye telling her I would pray for her and “God bless you” and she said, “Thank you, you too”.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today. God truly blessed and I’m so thankful for your prayers that make it possible. There are really remarkably few student sitting around school this last week but God is leading me to students and using the time well.

Blessings!

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was a good one. We had some nice sun here and Ivana prayed with me to receive Jesus.

She was sitting just off the hall in a lounge in the BIC building killing time, it seemed, though she talked to me for a while. She hadn’t been willing to do a survey when I’d asked her sitting there last week, but she’d forgotten that I think. She had blonde hair, she was pretty, wore a black long sleeve shirt and tan leggings. She said she’d already done a survey so I asked, “Did they ask you, ‘You are walking down the road and 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?'” “No I don’t remember exactly what they asked it was something else,” she replied.  “Well, would you like to know about how the Bible says you get to heaven? Or not so much?” I said. She said “Sure” so I went through the Gospel with her in the little booklet adding the things I often say. Ivana told me she attended a Serbian Orthodox congregation when I asked her if she went to Church to discover her background. She said she’d just gone to church on Sunday. Telling her God needed to make her His “type” so He could live inside her II asked her what Jesus had done to take away her sins but she could not think of anything. So I continued to explain that God became a man Jesus who lived a perfect life to her benefit as her representative and died for her sins. That the Blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sins.” “Right” she said agreeing. I explained the imputed righteousness of Christ and then that she needed to receive this or place her trust in the work of Christ to be saved by faith. She said she’d like to be forgiven with Christ living inside her so I asked if she’d been trusting in what Jesus had done on the cross to be forgiven or hoping she was good enough and would be forgiven by God because He was good. She shook her head that that last option was true. So I read through the prayer with her, slowly explaining it. “That’s so cute,” she said of the booklet. “I love this!” So she took the booklet enthusiastically and silently and slowly prayed. I asked her if she had a bible and her family had one but she did not have one of her own. So I gave her one showing her some of what was inside maps, the lists of parables and writing the date and her name on the presentation page. “That’s awesome!” She said. She had the same enthusiasm about the book 20 Things God Can’t Do and the Bible study. “This is all awesome, thank you so much,” she said. She gave me her email to send her another Bible study. And I explained the Christian life to her, living inside out. It was great to see her so excited to understand things. “Now you know what church is about,” I suggested. “Yeah,” she said with enthusiasm again. “Well, God bless you!” I said getting up to leave. “You as well,” she replied. “Bye,” I said. “Bye,” she replied sweetly and we were off down the hall.

School is pretty empty and some classes are already over but I am still having some good conversations encouraging some Christians, one Catholic girl asked me questions for an hour today too. So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance. God blessed.

In Him,

Bob