Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Hope ya had a great day in the Lord’s strength.  I had a really good day on campus and Tony prayed to receive Christ.

A staff person who works for the college stopped me in the hall, saying she’d seen me talking to people before and asked if I had a booklet “with the Bridge in it.” The booklet I use has that diagram, though I don’t ever talk through it that way exactly.  So I gave her one when she explained her friend had called her up last night saying she was interested in exploring Christianity more and being baptized possibly.  She hadn’t been sure how to explain the Gospels it seemed.  She said she was frustrated about people on the edges of Christianity who thought they were Christians because they were good and that is why they would go to Heaven.  It was nice to have someone who worked for the college not attack me.

I had two good conversations, both interrupted by people who walked up when the person I was going through the Gospel with very interested.  So I finished what I could and left them with the booklet.  One interrupter was a creepy white guy, suddenly hitting on the Chinese national I was talking to in the cafeteria, Jiahui (Jah wai). His face started to strongly quiver as he interrupted me in mid-sentence and asked Jiahui to “walk him to class”.  She was with another Christian Chinese girl I had spoken to before, so I’m sure God will help her understand the Gospel another way.  It was strange though. Both Jiahui and her friend waved to me later in the hall, so that’s good.  Then later, a guy named Tommy, a nice looking kid with sandy hair (had he not been attempting to grow a beard that was not growing in well with a barely seen mustache) had his very attractive girl friend Alisha walk up.  I completed the Gospel with him cliff-notes version, and she took a booklet I offered.  But her visible impatience shortened the conversation.

At the end of the day, I had a long conversation with Tyler, sitting in the last lounge I walk out through.  He had a lot of questions, some not very clearly thought out frankly, but honest, as to which religion was true and how one could believe in the invisible God.  I gave him as much as I could after going through the Gospel with him evidentially, encouraging him to ask God for faith.  He did take The Case for Christ and two of the apologetic leaflets I give often to Muslims on why the Bible is trustworthy and 100 prophecies fulfilled by Jesus.

I be praying for these students as well for a while on the hope there were a seeds planted.

Tony is a solid-built black student.  A good looking kid with short hair on the sides and a rough afro straight up on the top.  He was pretty much busting out of the red Bulls sweatshirt he wore.  He had gray patterned sweats on, tight at the ankles. He played Defense on the football team.  He said wanted to have a family when I asked him something he wanted to do before he died.  Interestingly enough, if a college guy says he “wants to have a family” for that question, he almost always will turn out to be a Christian or pray to receive Christ.  When I asked what he would say to God if he died and God asked him why he should be let into Heaven he said, “Because… I don’t know, I’ve studied your word.  I’ve practiced it.”  He went to a Bible Church nearby that is a good church and he was familiar with basic parts of the Gospel. Later after praying, when I explained the Holy Spirit’s work to give us power to bear fruit in the Christian life, he finished the list of the fruits of the Spirit for me (Galatians 5:22,23).  He pointed to the Circle image in the booklet I had explained, as wanting to be forgiven and asking God to forgive you trusting that Jesus had died for you, so He could live inside you with His Holy Spirit.  So I asked, as I often do, something along the lines of, “When you are praying for forgiveness are you thinking ‘God will forgive me because I’m a good person and go to Church and I’ve been trying to do the good thing’ or are you trusting in your heart that Jesus died for you and knowing God will forgive you as a result.”  “I have been thinking the first one,” he replied.  “That you’re good,” I stated. “Yeah,” he replied. So I explained that he could ask God to forgive him based on what Jesus had done, and God could live inside him, walking him through the prayer.  He prayed then to receive Christ.  I gave him the book Playing with Purpose, since he was into the NBA and had access to other materials at church. I also got his email. So thanks for your prayers for the Ministry and for Evangelism today if you had a chance. God truly blessed. In Him,

Bob
To donate to our college ministry: http://www.razoo.com/story/Third-Watch-Ministries-Nfp

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed with good things from God’s Grace.  I had a good day on campus. Nick prayed to receive Jesus. Also, a girl dressed all in black down to her boots, with dark-brown wavy hair to her shoulders, Marie, was close. Her blouse had small printed designs on it, like dots (which I mention in case I read this later to help me remember her as I pray for her).  I had a conversation for 2.5 hours with another girl ‘M’, a very “lost in her sins” Christian girl.  Please pray she gets help and counsel at the Church where she goes.   I made her promise to me that she would. Her family is blown up over it and that seems to be the catalyst for change. It was hard to tell if she knew the Lord. She’d had little desire to live for Him, very much a “prodigal son,” but she asked if she could come to Bible study as we parted. She was suffering from the absence of all her church friends (away at college) that had helped keep her more focused before.  Her agnostic brother was bringing a girl friend in over night without her parents objections for years, and the hypocrisy of it had screwed with her a lot.  She started running in bad company.  Now her folks’ double standard and her mom’s tears had broken her as she tearfully told me her story.  Sad story, but hopefully her life can turn.

Nick was sitting just minutes until his class would begin at 10 minutes before the hour.  Sitting on a bench, right outside his classroom in the science building helped me in the end, as he merely had to turn the corner to go in and when we parted, he was seconds from class starting if my watch was right (it actually runs a bit slow). He had a short week’s growth of beard and a bright red and white windbreaker on, jeans and tennis shoes and a short hair cut.  He was Roman Catholic and went to St. Johns.  He struggled with what he would say to God if asked why He should let him into Heaven, saying uncertainly half to himself, “I haven’t really committed any of those major sins.”  As I went through the Gospel with him, he knew Jesus had died to take away his sins, but hadn’t been trusting in it.  I went through the Gospel as fast as I could, skipping some stories I like to illumine the verses with and sticking to the Word itself as I saw him glance at his phone.  I asked, “Do you believe Jesus is God and has died for your sins and rose from the dead?”  “I do,” he replied.  So I asked, as I often do, if when he prayed for forgiveness if he thought to himself ‘I haven’t done anything horribly wrong and God is merciful and good so He will forgive me’ or are was he thinking ‘I know God will forgive me because Jesus died for my sins?’  “The first one,” he replied.  And so I said if he wanted to he could ask for forgiveness right now, praying the prayer I walked him through. As I finished, he nodded in confirmation of the content. I said he could pray it quietly in his heart and then did as I held the booklet.  He seemed glad when I offered it to him as he finished and accepted The Bible Promise Book to take with him, saying he had a Bible.  So it went really as well as I could have hoped in the time given and I hope I’ll see him again.

So thanks for your payers for the ministry if you had a chance.  My hard-drive failed so I don’t have everyone on the list anymore as I lost many email addresses.  Everything is pretty screwed up, but I hope this reaches you.  If someone mentions to you they haven’t gotten it, please let me know.

In Him,

Bob

To donate to our college ministry:

http://www.razoo.com/story/Third-Watch-Ministries-Nfp

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Hope your day was blessed.  I had a good day on campus, though for the first few hours I felt like I was simply gonna set a record for the most times in a row students did not want to talk about God.  I spoke with several Christians (some friends, others new to me) and at the days end, Chris prayed to receive Christ.

Chris was laying down on a couch in the 2nd floor lounge on the Northeast corner of the BIC.  I looked in through the glass walls and could only see his legs and the round coffee table that comes out of the arm rest he was spinning casually with a water bottle on it.  I more commonly talk to people in the hallway, but he was back in the corner, sitting next to a guy who looked Pakistani.  Chris looked like the all-American boy, had his cap turned backwards with jeans, tennis shoes and t-shirt.  Sohail had a full lap with a textbook in a ring binder and was writing notes or doing homework of some kind.  He had a short growth of beard but without the typical thinned mustache (it was the same growth as his beard) and longer beard growth I often see on Muslim guys.  Wavy hair, olive skin, nice looking and friendly.  I had walked into the lounge as much because it had been so hard to find people to talk to as anything else.  I was glad Chris wanted to do a survey and his friend, Sohail, next to him was fine with it.  Though he was studying hard, he did the survey too.  Sohail was not interested in Islam though his dad was Islamic.  He wanted to concentrate on his studies and thought he would decide on religious things later in life.  He thought he’d go to Heaven because he was very friendly and kind to people in his life and had given to charity.  “I’ve done sins but I repented of them. I would tell Him all my sins and ask to be forgiven.”  Chris said, “I believe in God. I go to church every Sunday. I guess he’ll probably let me in…”  He thought he’d have a 70% chance. Sohail was at 80%.  The last question of the survey is ‘What you think of Christianity?’ so I asked Chris if he knew how God had taken away his sins. “Confession?” he proffered.  “Well, the priest tells you that your sins are forgiven because God forgives your sins and the reason he can say that is because of what Jesus did” I replied. They both were attentive to the Gospel as I dove into it.  I was a little surprised, as it seemed like two different worlds sitting in front of me (Chris had moved his feet to let me have the end of the couch against the wall).  Possibly Sohail was being courteous. In the end, both said they wanted to be forgiven. But Sohail maintained that he believed you just need to be good.  I asked Chris if he believed Jesus was God, had died for his sins and rose from the dead.  “Yes” he replied.  I explained that he could ask for forgiveness based on what Jesus had done for him, and God could live inside him. I walked him through the prayer, suggesting he could pray it silently like we were not even there, and he did.  He was grateful.  I explained more to him about the Cristian life and forgiveness saying, “The priest is like an insurance agent when you get insurance for your car.  When you get in an accident, the agent doesn’t pay, the company pays. The priest can’t forgive your sins, he is just a guy. Only God can forgive sins. But the priest can reassure you your sins are forgiven.”  I told him that, “Sometimes early on a Sunday, you fog over and might not get much out of church. But when you take the mass, the wafer represents Jesus’ body and the wine is symbolic of his blood. So when you take it, you can take a moment and remember and thank God, knowing Jesus has died for your sins and so you are forgiven.”  I explained that Christianity is the inside out not the outside in.  That repetition allows you to learn an instrument like the guitar.  “You do the chord over and over until they are memorized and the outside becomes the inside.  “Christianity is the opposite. You ask God to change you on the inside and you become that person by His power and it works out eventually on the outside.”  I explained the Fruit of the Spirit that way to him.  “When you go to church they tell you ‘you should do this and you should do that, and you’re like, ‘this is great but I’m gonna forget this by Wednesday.”  But if you feel convicted about something you hear [at church] you can ask God to begin to change you on the inside and He will begin to work.”  He took a Bible and a Bible Study and the Student Edition of The Case for Christ.  Sohail did not want a book and said his studies were more important.  In response I said, “Well, in Christianity God lives inside you and can help you with that as well.  But he had heard my explanations. We parted amicably and he took a copy of the booklet “Would You Like to Know God Personally”.  I got Chris’ email to send him more information.

I bumped into Kendall, who prayed to receive Christ Oct 8^th, who was doing really great – going to good Church with his dad and had just been on a retreat.  I gave him The Bible Promise Book and told him I had been praying for him. So that was great to see someone thriving at church.

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

In Him, Bob
To donate to our college ministry:

http://www.razoo.com/story/Third-Watch-Ministries-Nfp

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope you had a good day walking with the Lord.  I had a good day on campus, though some cold medicine I took last night gave me a very bad headache and had me struggling through the day a bit. Still, Aaron and Vanessa each prayed to receive Christ.

Aaron was sitting in the PE building where I headed when I first got to campus, I had to use lockers on the other side of the building since the empty one I use nearly did not open yesterday.  So I zigzagged a bit and found a kid I talk to now and again, encouraging him through a minor trial.  I headed downstairs and saw Aaron laying on a bench. So I decided to see if he was up for doing a survey and cut across the lounge to him.  He had a perfectly rounded afro about 2.5”s high, an amiable face and a big warm smile I did not see until we parted.  He seemed pretty tired. He played football at the school, so he was on the big side. 180lbs I’d guess.  He wore black sneakers, dark blue jeans and a black jacket with a Bulls insignia on it.  He was sitting about 10 feet from where Megan had prayed to receive Jesus yesterday.  He said he went to a Baptist Church every week. I thought Aaron was a Christian because in asking him what he would say to God to get into heaven he said “He paid for my sins. He forgave all the mistakes I made.”  But later, in going through the Gospel, I asked him if he knew how God took away his sins. “What is the big thing Jesus did to take you sins away?”  But he didn’t seem to know at all and I could tell as I went through the Gospel he hadn’t heard it.  He was obviously tired and yawned a bit at first, occasionally distracted by an attractive black girl with a bare midriff and tight jeans who began talking to the guy next to him. He glanced over at that.  But when he looked away I would just repeat myself or the verse and say a silent prayer that the Spirit would be in the Word.  I have the analogies I use most often to illustrate different points memorized, so I can recite them and pray something else in my head as I speak.  And I do that sometimes, praying as I go through, if someone seems inattentive or I sense God is at work and I ask for God to draw them in to Himself.  Aaron tracked with me and, more than I usually would, I’d stop and ask, “See what I mean?” or “Ya feel me?”  He would always say he did.  In the end he said he wanted to be forgiven with God inside him. So I said, “Well it seems like you did not understand this before right?”  He shook his head in the affirmative, so I walked him through the prayer and asked him if that was the desire of his heart.  Then he paused and I watched his pupils go back and forth as he read all the lines of the prayer again slowly and finally said, “Yes.”  So I told him he could pray quietly to himself, like I wasn’t there, and ask for forgiveness. He did.  He thanked me.  I gave him The Bible Promise Book and Playing with Purpose on NBA players testimonies since he had the Bulls coat on.  He took a Bible study as he got up to go to class and said thank you twice, more earnestly this time, and his face lit up in a smile.

Then my friend Emike walked up, thanking me for the Bible study I had sent her last night, and asked me to pray for her test. Then Clarke walked up and she asked Clarke if she had gotten the bible study too. Clarke said she hadn’t, but she wasn’t looking for Robert but Bob, and I finally came up on her phone.  I gave her the Bible she had asked for yesterday and teased her and Brionna a bit, hugged them both and left the building through the tunnel and headed back to my truck to get another Bible.

I had a couple other good conversations and finally after a few hours I was just tired of struggling with my headache that 3 Excedrin Migraine and a chip of muscle relaxer hadn’t really fixed.  I got my coat out of the locker and headed to the other side of the building to the door nearest where I was parked.  I looked in the lounges I passed and a girl glanced up as I walked by one, right by the elevator I was gonna take.  I felt prompted, but that does not always mean God is leading. Sometimes it is just the worker in me refusing to quit on the day.  So I prayed saying, “I’ll ask and if she says no I am going home.”  So I turned around and walked 20 feet back into the middle of the near-empty lounge on the second floor of the BIC.  Vanessa was not doing much. She had her purse on the seat beside her that remained between us, along with a small swing-out table in the middle of the couch when I sat down.  She was willing to talk and I looked at her for the first time.  She had a long really thick braid of very dark hair and had over-the-knee black suede boots and jeans on and a modest shiny rayon black V-neck blouse.  She looked Latina, a pretty girl.

She regularly attended the Catholic Church and wanted to travel.  When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she replied, “I would say because I have a good heart.  I’ve never done anything to intentionally cause pain or hurt anyone.”  She thought she was very likely to go to Heaven. “Right now I’d get in, but maybe there was something I did as a child, you never know. So 95%, you never know about the other 5%.”  She thoughtfully listened to the Gospel and I presented it seriously in tone. It seemed the thing to do, but maybe I just was too spent by the headache to throw over much energy into it.  But she wanted to be forgiven and have God live inside her. I offered her the prayer, walking her through it.  She prayed quietly in her heart to receive Christ.  I gave her a remembrance view of the mass, saying she could think that symbolically her sins were forgiven and have joy even if she did not get much else out of Church.  We talked some more, for a half hour all told.  I gave her a Bible and a Bible study and got her email to send her some more things to read.  I got up to go and she thanked me.  My headache came back. I’d pushed it away somehow, or God had. I headed downstairs to the door and out.

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

In Him,

Bob To donate to our college ministry: http://www.razoo.com/story/Third-Watch-Ministries-Nfp

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed.  I had another great day on campus. Megan prayed with me to receive Christ and Nick committed his life to Christ.  Also Lenell, a guy I spoke with last year who is a Christian, had told me his brother, Malik, was not living for God at all and had gotten into the gangs in the city.  I gave him a copy of Playing with Purpose, which is testimonies of players in the NBA who are Christians, to give to his brother who loved basketball.  He said his brother was completely changed by the book, is out of the gangs and out of the city and living for the Lord.  So that was great to hear.

Nick was sitting in the hallway in the BIC.  He was wearing a winter cap with a mop of curly hair poking out from underneath.  He was on the short side and wore sweats.  Clean shaven, nice looking kid, he seemed privately pretty religious though he didn’t go to church regularly anymore but only on holidays. He said sometimes he would go to church when he felt lost or didn’t know what to do and it would comfort him.  He said he would often pray privately in his room and had a Bible and said he found comfort that way as well. When I asked him what he would tell God if He asked why He should let him into heaven, Nick said, “If you look at all the things I’ve done there’s plenty of reasons not to let me into heaven.  But I apologized for them and never took advantage of a person.”  He did not know how God had taken away his sins, so I explained the Gospel to him and he took it all in as the hall filled with people.  He said he’d like to be forgiven, so I walked him through the prayer and he said yes to the question, “Is this the desire of your heart?” But he suddenly looked at his phone and realized he was late for class. It was a minute until noon. “I have to go to class, I’ll pray this later,” Nick said. I said that was fine, but asked him if he now believed Jesus was God and that he had died for his sins and rose from the dead.  “Yes, I do,” he replied.  “And do you trust in this to make you right with God?  I asked. “Yes,” he said.  So I quoted Rom. 10:9 “if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.”  And said “So based on your confession to me, you can know you are going to heaven. But you need to say this to God and pray.” He smiled and said, “Ok”.  I gave him The Bible Promise Book and got up to leave.  “Thank you very much,” he said gratefully.  I said, “You’re welcome.” And we parted.

I was hanging around the PE building and some of the black girls I know who like me that I met last year called out, “Hey Bob!”  I gave a mock bow and they said, “Come over and teach us something from the Bible.”  This doesn’t really ever happen, but these girls really liked the stories I tell them. So I walked over to the half circle couch they were all sitting in. Emike (nice looking long straight hair and round glasses a bit wider nose and Clarke (very long extension braids to her waist, sharp features, pretty) were friends from last year.  Sitting next to them, Brionna was a girl who prayed to receive Jesus last week. I did not recognize Brionna at first because she now wore fashionable round glasses (like Emike) and had her hair straight up in sprouting pony tails instead of straight down out of a baseball cap. She has braces.  Lexi walked up in the middle, chin length hair, cute pixie face, short, straight leg slacks on and Megan sat across from me. She was a girl I had not met.  She was pretty, a little darker long hair coming down out from under a winter cap, yoga pants on, face a bit rounder than Clarke.  They are all attractive black girls and first they said they wanted me to tell them why they had problems with guys.  “You girls have problems with guys?  Pretty girls like you?”  I asked. That made them laugh and Clarke asked me again to teach them something. So I quoted John 1 to them, the first verse, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  I said this was a name for Jesus from when He appeared in human form in the Old Testament.  “What?”  Clarke said “I don’t understand.”  So I explained the call of Jeremiah where he says, “The word of God appeared to him and then touched him on the mouth.”  And I reached over as if I was gonna touch Brionna on the lips but instead said, “Ha, but that would be creepy.”  And I pulled back and they laughed.  I explained there were places in the Old Testament where Jesus appeared as a man, before he was a baby and grew up on earth, as the Angel of Jehovah. I explained how it was Jesus in the burning bush that Moses saw.  I explained the Trinity to them a little bit. At one point Megan stopped me and said, “Wait, Jesus is God. I thought Jesus and God were separate?”  I realized then she didn’t know the Gospel, so I began to teach it to her.  I said, “Say someone finds out I’ve been talking to a pretty girl named Megan and they said ‘Yeah I know her. She said she talked to you. She’s a white girl with red hair and freckles.’  Then I said ‘no she’s a pretty black girl.’  Then you would know it was not the same Megan.  That’s just like if you say you believe in Jesus but do not say He is God.  If you describe Him different, he is a different Jesus.”  “Oh!  Clarke exclaimed, “I get that now.”  So I explained that Jesus was God and went through the Gospel with Megan. She wanted to trust in Jesus and that He died for her to forgive her. I walked her through the prayer and she prayed quietly to receive Christ.  I gave her a Bible then as her family had a Bible, but she did not have her own.  Clarke then said she wanted one, so I said I would have to bring her one later since I only had one with me.  I gave her and Megan the  Bible Promise Book and a Bible study to read.  I helped her find John 1 in the Bible, marked it and explained the Holy Spirit to her.  So that was great.  Lexi told her to read the booklet through and we talked about some other stuff that had happened to me. Some other black guys who walked up said hi to me and little by bit I said good bye and slipped out.

Anton then grabbed me and wanted to pray with me.  He’s a guy who prayed with me earlier in the year, so I gave him some counsel for a while, prayed with him, and headed home.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance. God blessed me and gave me an audience.

In Him,

Bob

To donate to our college ministry: http://www.razoo.com/story/Third-Watch-Ministries-Nfp

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ. Well, I hope you have had a fine day.  Tate Committed to Christ today and Sean prayed to receive Him.

When I first got to school I went to my advisors office on the 3rd floor of the BIC to get some names he’d gotten for me for Bible study.  He advises more than one of the Christian groups on campus and so kids ask for information from him.  Then I headed down the hall. Tate was sitting dressed in black pants and jacket on a bench on the other side of the building.  Dark brown hair cut short, couple random freckles, nice good looking guy, seemed pretty together.  He said he’d give me a couple minutes. So I asked him what he would say to God if he died and God asked him why he should be let into heaven.  He thought for just a moment and said, “Look at my past.”  Just to be certain what he meant I said, “That you had done enough good to go to heaven?”  He said yes to that and sensing he wasn’t going to give me much time I asked him if he went to Church.  He’d said he had a 95% chance to go to heaven so I assumed he did.  He named a church and I asked, “Catholic?”  “Lutheran,” he clarified.  I said I had been raised Lutheran and asked him how God had taken away his sin, pointing out that God wished to live inside him with His holy Spirit, but his sin had to be removed first.  He knew Jesus had died for him.  I explained Jesus’ imputed righteousness with an analogy he liked and said, “So you don’t go to heaven because you’re good but because Jesus is good.”  So I asked, “When you ask for forgiveness because you’ve done something wrong, have you truly been trusting in that Jesus has died for you and so your sins are forgiven? Or are you thinking you are a good person basically, go to church and God is merciful and forgiving?”  “That’s a good question,” he said after thinking a moment.  “Because,” I continued “it seems like from your response you are trusting that you are good enough.”  The light dawned then.  “I don’t want to push too hard, but if you are not trusting in Jesus’ death and payment for your sins, you haven’t been forgiven for your sins and you won’t go to heaven.”  He realized I was right.  I explained he was in college and “You are a man. You have to decide these things. You grow up in the church and it is talked about. You go along with it because aren’t trying to raise the roof or anything.”  He agreed.  I took out the booklet and read a couple verses, since he already knew the Gospel absent the need to make a decision. I showed him the prayer and he agreed with it but wanted to pray it on his own.  I said that was fine.  He shook my hand and thanked me.  “But tell me, do you believe Jesus is God and died for your sins and rose from the dead? And are you trusting in that as your only hope of being right with God and going to heaven?”  He said he did.  “Well, the Bible says if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead – so trust in the whole story – you’ll be saved.”  He nodded and smiled, seemed like it helped.  “So based on your confession, I’ll see you there.”  He shook my hand again and said, “I’ll see you again.”  “I’ll see you then,” I replied.  And I got up to walk away and he thanked me again.  I said, “Sure.”

Sean is a small guy. He had a mop of brown hair, parted towards the middle, and a couple days growth of beard. Nice looking kid. He was a quiet-spoken, kind guy.  He had silver rimmed glasses, wearing a t-shirt and jeans and, believe it or not, was using a pink crochet hook to make something with bright green yarn.  I didn’t ask. The project so far was only as big as a book mark.  I asked Him why God should let him into heaven and he thought for a while saying, “That’s a good question.”  And thinking more said, “I don’t know. I guess I would say I tried my best… ah, yeah.”  He had gone to Lombard Bible Chapel as a kid and later a Catholic church, but gave no explanation for the change and didn’t seem to have gone anywhere of late.  I began to go through the Gospel with Him and he was really interested, making eye contact as I gave explanation with Bible verses.  A girl, Jelemy (Jell-a-mee) who was his girlfriend, came in and sat in the lounge and later sat beside him after he had prayed.  He thought he had a 75% chance of going to heaven.  He tracked well and understood the Gospel and wanted to be forgiven.  I explained he could pray for forgiveness, walking him through a prayer in the booklet. I explained the work of the Holy Spirit in living the Christian life and Sean prayed silently to receive Christ after I told him to pretend I was not there.  He took his time with it and then Jelemy sat next to us.  I was offering him a book as she did and began to explain the Gospel a bit to her.  She seemed reasonably sure she had been trusting in Christ, so I encouraged her to think about it and possibly pray later. I explained a bit more and repeating myself on several points, suggested Sean could explain it to her.  I gave them both Bible Studies and Sean took The Case for Christ, which seemed to impress her as he did not take the shorter version of the book.  She said she was not a reader but they each took a copy of The Bible Promise Book.  She knew the fruit of the Spirit by heart in Galatians and so seemed to be from something of an evangelical background.  I gave them a couple invitation cards for Compass Church in town.   They gave me their email to send them a study and we said good bye.

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

In Him,

Bob

To donate to our college ministry:

http://www.razoo.com/story/Third-Watch-Ministries-Nfp

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed walking with Him.  I had a good day on campus and Heyley, Brionna, Lexi and Dan all prayed to receive Jesus today.

Dan was the first guy I talked with and he was sitting on the hallway back to the lounge at the NW corner on ground floor of the BIC.  He was wearing a baseball cap turned backwards and had a shaggy beard, sandy hair and sharp features.  Looked like a good old boy if we were in the South.  I asked him if he died what he would say to God if asked why He should let him into Heaven.”Well, let’s see… that’s a good question.”  He thought more and said, “Let’s see,” again.  ‘”Cause I’ve tested my faith in many different ways.  I’m a firm believer in God and Heaven and I’ve done the best I could on earth.”  He thought he had about a 75% change of ending up in Heaven.  He was going to church every day of the week to show he was serious about Lent.  Lent begins tomorrow, so possibly he meant he intended to go.  I went through the Gospel and he seemed to have some “ah ha” moments, realizing how it all fit together, though he hadn’t understood the Gospel.  But the familiarity of it came back as I talked him through the Good News.  I tied the atonement into a symbolic view of the Mass that he agreed with.  I asked him if he wanted to be forgiven and he said he did and then began to say, “I made the leap of faith, believed in God, what other people believe is up to them.”  “Yes, it’s America, people are free to believe as they wish,” I said. “But the God you have chosen to believe in says He died for you.  Would you want to trust in that to be forgiven and have God’s Spirit living in you to have the strength to live the Christian life?”  He said he felt like he had never really trusted in that and had kind of just “pushed the button” of acceptance of religious practice.  “Not with your heart,” I replied.  “Right.” and he decided to pray to receive Christ.  He was truly grateful and relieved to think of himself trusting in Christ’s imputed righteousness.  “So I’m ok,” he stated about being right with God and I said he was.  He thanked me again.  I left him with a Bible study, The Bible Promise Book  and The Student Edition of The Case for Christ.  I’ll be praying for him.

I headed over to the PE building after a few hours of back and forth and had a couple good conversations.  I sat down with Heyley (Haley) and Brionna who were just chatting on the lounge couches upstairs by the workout area.  Heyley was a strawberry (wavy/curly/long) blonde haired girl in a pink jacket, cute, kinda tough kid.  Brionna had straightened black hair down past her shoulders coming down in waves out of a black baseball cap.  She had braces and was pretty, African American.  She thought she’d like to be a professional dancer of some kind. She was an athlete.  Heyley wanted to go to South Africa, saying her church took trips there.  She said she was Southern Baptist but her church was Charismatic.  Brionna had been to church when she was young.  When I asked them why God should let them into Heaven, Heyley said, “I spent my time on Earth very useful, I lived life.”  Brionna said, “I haven’t done much wrong, I don’t wanna go down below, that’s a harsh place.”  They were both reasonably sure they’d go to Heaven.  Heyley said 80% and Brionna said 75%.  Neither of them knew how God took away their sins.  I was going back and forth trying to keep them both engaged on either side of me and then Lexi plopped down with one leg through the donut shaped, ring table in front of us and began listening attentively.  She had chin-length hair, a white ball-cap with a black bill on and was wearing workout clothes, short African American, cute kid.  And that is literally all I know about her except she’s not a reader since after I later gave her a Book on Bible Basics she handed it back saying she honestly wouldn’t read it and I should give it to someone who would.  Well, the Church is filled with peeps who never read a book on Bible Basics and never will. Hey people are sheep.  Just as Lexi sat, (in God’s perfect timing) I began to explain the Death of Christ for their sins and His righteousness being to their credit if they were adopted into God’s family. “Ya marry a millionaire, ya got a million bucks. You get adopted into a Billionaire’s family you get to live in the mansion and drive the cars.  When God adopts you, you get the blessings of being in His family. The righteousness of Christ is a gift to you.”  Lexi interrupted with a question on Tattoos which I answered. She then let me go on.  In the end they all wanted to be forgiven.  I got Lexi’s name and shook her hand firmly and she said, “Damn Bob!”  teasing me about the grip, so I played that up a bit.  I opened a book for each of them and each prayed a prayer to receive Christ and be forgiven.  I gave them all Bible Studies to read but only Heyley wanted a Bible Promise.  They happily took the booklets.  I messed a bit with them some and left them to their day.

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

In Him,

Bob

To donate to college ministry: http://www.razoo.com/story/Third-Watch-Ministries-Nfp

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed walking with Him.  I had a good day walking around campus.  Tristan prayed with me to receive Jesus and I went through the Gospel with two different Islamic guys on either side of the BIC building.  Burham from India and Muhammad from Pakistan.  Muhammad and I spoke for a long time and I gave him several pieces of information in pamphlet form as we touched upon their content.  He had taken a religion class and now was taking an Old Testament class.  I gave him stuff on why we trust the Bible records, 100 prophecies Jesus fulfilled and a track on Jesus in the Quran that I had also given Burham.  Both were friendly amicable guys.

Tristan was the last guy I spoke with.  I was pretty tired, still feeling a bit under the weather, but thought I would ask one more person as I headed toward the lockers.  He was sitting on the ground floor of the BIC building in a lounge looking at his computer and killing time it seemed until Basketball practice started at 3:30.  When he stood up at the end of our talking, he seemed several inches taller than me, maybe 6’5″s or so.  He had a mop of dark brown hair and hadn’t shaved for a couple days, showing where a sparse beard would come in.  He wore black athletic shorts and a black fleece pullover and high-tops.  He hadn’t been to church in awhile, saying he used to go to church with his aunt where she worked.  When I asked him why God should let him into Heaven he said, “You know, I have been thinking about this lately.”  He thought some more and talking about Church he said, “I’d like to get back into it… a church is a good thing to have. I think it is necessary and It’s important.”  When I asked him if he thought he had an answer to the question he said, “I don’t know.”  He didn’t have much hope he’d go to Heaven and gave it 55%.  As I went through the Gospel with him, I asked if he remembered at all how Jesus had taken away his sins and he couldn’t remember anything. But he tracked right along with the Gospel and so in the end I asked him if he would want to be forgiven for his sins, trusting in Jesus and have God living in him.  Thinking, he said, “Most people would want to do that but the question is after.”  He wondered about sticking with it and finding a church and I explained how the Holy Spirit living in Him would give him the strength when he asked to live the Christian life.  I showed him a prayer he could pray and asked if it represented what he wanted, “Pretty much, yeah, ” he replied so I asked if anything about it wasn’t true for him and he slowly read it again and said, “Nope.”  I asked if he’d like to pray and he said, “Yeah.”  And he quietly prayed to receive Christ.  There was a family Bible at home so I gave him one of his own, encouraging him to begin by reading in John and explaining the Holy Spirit a bit more in the Christian life.  I gave him a copy of The Bible Promise Book and a card for the Compass Church.  He said he’d email me and ran to practice.

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

In Him,

Bob

To donate to college ministry: http://www.razoo.com/story/Third-Watch-Ministries-Nfp

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and you sensed the presence of the Lord.  I have a good day on campus.  I was a bit peaked and slowly losing what was left of my voice, but Erika prayed to receive Jesus today.  I also gave a little lesson on evangelism to a Young Life leader, named Leah, that I hope will help her and gave her a Bible Basics book to help her understand the Bible.

Erika is a pretty Filipino girl with a couple highlights in her hair and a thick long braid that was wrapped around her right shoulder.  She was fair skinned with slightly almond shaped eyes. She has only been in America for 3 years and her family planned on coming years before that, making sure she learned English.  She was sitting at one of the bar height, two-seat tables that overlook the MAC Arts Building lounge from the floor above.  She grew up 7th Day Adventist and when I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she said, “Because I have done the best I can to follow His teachings.”  She only thought she had a 50% chance of going to Heaven, however.  As I went through the Gospel with her it was all familiar to her and she nodded in agreement.  She wanted to be forgiven for her sins and have God live inside her.  I asked her, since she seemed to have known the Gospel, if when she prayed for forgiveness she had been trusting that God would forgive her because Jesus had died for her and her sins were paid for, or if she was hoping He would forgive her because He was merciful and she was religious.  She said she hadn’t been trusting in Christ and so I offered her a prayer she could pray to begin a relationship with God and she prayed quietly to receive Christ.  She was visibly happy then and said, “Thank you.  This is really what I needed today.”  We talked some more and I gave her a Bible Promise Book and the Student Edition of The Case for Christ.  I explained the Bible Study I had given her on the ways Jesus claimed to be God through the Old Testament, and she said she’d like to come to Bible study.  “Lately I’ve been thinking I wanted to connect to my faith more. This is just what I needed.”  She thanked me several more times. She was so sweet. It was really great to be able to be the one to help her understand a commitment to Christ.

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

Blessing in Christ,

Bob

To donate to college ministry: http://www.razoo.com/story/Third-Watch-Ministries-Nfp

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope you are doing well in the Lord. I managed to make myself sick being outside without a coat (working on Friday) and recent stress did me in and I got a sore throat and aches.  So I have been limping through the weekend and sequestered myself indoors today for the thaw we are having in Illinois.

But on Thursday, Will prayed to receive Christ.  He was sitting down by the Student Activities offices on a couch.  (An area I avoided for a few years until I got a Lawyer to secure my right to free speech.)  I walked up to ask him if he wanted to do a student survey for our Bible study group.  He had a boyish face and a crewcut, jeans on and a black long-sleeved fleece shirt, the sleeve of which he pulled up exposing his bicep in reply.  He began showing me a large cross, each end with 3 curved tips and informed me he was a Catholic and now attended Willow Creek.  Tattoos as evidence of salvation was suggested to me earlier in the year by Ramy who also prayed to receive Jesus.  “Well, the survey is questions about God and stuff like: 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?”  “I’ve done some bad things but I have done good things to make up for it,” Will said without hesitation.  I said the Bible said something a bit different and asked him if he wanted to hear some verses. He was ok with that, so I began to go through the Gospel with him.  He listened well and I asked him, “When you pray for forgiveness, are you trusting that Jesus has died for you so you know you will be forgiven? Or have you thought, ‘I’m a good person and God is merciful.'”  “A little of both” he responded.  “Well, you need to put all your trust in Jesus” I said.  It was obvious to me from his first response that he had a view of salvation based on his earning it. “I know you knew the story because it is all over the Catholic Church, and you probably heard it at Willow. But have you ever had a moment where you told God, ‘This is how I am going to roll now.’ Or did you kind of just drift into it?” [And began going to Willow.]  “Just drifted.” he replied.  So I offered him a prayer where he could receive forgiveness based on Jesus when he’d said he wanted to be forgiven and have God live inside him.  I walked him through the prayer and he prayed to receive Christ.  So that was great.  I offered him a book but he said he read his Bible, one verse every night.  I think he had sensed at Willow that there was more life than he had been experiencing in the Catholic Church and now he has understood the Gospel rightly and come in.  He thanked me and shook my hand.

So thanks so much for your prayers for the ministry and for Evangelism last Thursday if you had a chance.  God blessed and I planted some good seeds too with two different guys named Alex.  Each were close to a decision, saying they believed the Gospel but not sure they were ready to commit their lives to following Christ.  Both had good questions. One tall with dark brown hair and a thin mustache, the other kind of an all-American guy look, shorter with sandy hair.

Blessings,

Bob Bollow

To donate to our college ministry:
http://www.razoo.com/story/Third-Watch-Ministries-Nfp