Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope you felt the presence of the Lord in your life today.  I had a good day of sharing and Adrian committed his life to Christ and Lorn prayed to receive Him.  They were both sitting on a couch in the Mac arts building and Lorn really wanted to talk to me more than Adrian, but she asked him if he would answer some questions and he agreed.  He was kind of multi-tasking and doing math homework and I think he caught enough of the Gospel to follow.  Adrian is Asian.  He looked like he was from the Philippine Islands, short, glasses, mop-cut hair.  Lorn was a white girl, long brown hair, attractive.  Both of them went to church.  Adrian used to go every Sunday and now was going every other week and Lorn went with her Grandma to a Catholic Church.   Her grandma went to a different church when she did not go.  She was interested in spiritual things and tuned right in and Adrian’s attentions seemed divided.  But that took the attention off of Lorn, so when I came to the end to offer her the Gospel she wanted to pray to be forgiven saying, “There’s probably things I need to be forgiven for…”   When she finished, I talked to Adrian who finally was back with us.  I had asked them if they had really grasped what I had said to them before I came along and they’d said no.  I asked him if when he prayed to be forgiven he thought more he was a good person and God was good and would forgive him, or if he had been trusting in what Jesus had done for him.  He said, “I thought that I was a good person.”  So I explained to him that he needed to trust in what Jesus had done.  I asked him, “Do you believe Jesus is God and that He had died for you on the Cross and rose again to make you right with God?”  He said “I do.”  I told him, “The Bible says if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart God raised Him from the Dead you will be saved.  So the prayer is more for you so you will know what you have said to God.”  I suggested he could pray it later.  And he seemed to want to pray later, so I gave him the booklet and each a Bible study, telling them about the Fruit of the Holy Spirit as the means by which we live the Christian Life.  Lorn also took the Q & A video, “Jesus Fact of Fiction” and asked if I could give her a Bible another day when her pack was not so heavy.  I only had one video, but Adrian said he’d like one, so I said I would look for them again to give him one.  Lorn thanked me and Adrian told me to have a nice day.  So I will be praying for them and look for them Thursday in the Lounge in the hopes they have a similar schedule.

So thanks for your prayers for the Ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance.  God worked and I had a couple other conversations where good seeds were planted.

In Him,

Bob Bollow

To donate to our college ministry:

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

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ
I hope you had a great day walking with the Lord. Things went well on campus and three students Lonie, CJ and Burnella all prayed to receive Christ. 3 others, Aleena, Courtney and Kenia [Kenya] said they would pray later.

Lonie and Aleena [his girlfriend] were sitting in the MAC art center lounge/gallery on a couch and he had his arm around her. They are African American.  She was wearing tight jeans with tears in them and had straightened longish curvy hair with highlights.  He had a nylon skull cap on and had a thin bit of a mustache.  They were good looking kids. They had been to church, which is typical of the African American students I talk to.  They listened to me share the Gospel but they hadn’t known how God took away their sins.  But at the end they said they wanted to be forgiven.  I encouraged them to pray a prayer and Lonie did out loud.   Aleena said she would pray “at home”.  So I hope she will ask for forgiveness based on Christ’s work for her on the Cross.  I told them I would keep them in my prayers and I’ll hope to bump into them again.  I could only get them to take the booklets.

CJ was sitting by the doors out the back of the BIC building on the second floor.  He had sandy hair, green eyes, wearing jeans and a t-shirt.  He hadn’t showered or shaved this morning (or possibly yesterday either judging by his hair) and looked really serious.  I was surprised he was willing to talk to me.  He was a good-looking guy.  It turned out he was going to a Lutheran church that: “Isn’t like a Lutheran Church”.”  He had an average build.   He described himself as an intellectual and was reasonably sure he would go to Heaven because “God promised that all believers would be let into Heaven.”  The question is what do you believe and he didn’t know what Jesus had done to take away his sins.  He patiently listened to the Gospel and said he would want to be forgiven.  So I asked him, “When you pray for forgiveness, are you thinking you are a reasonably good person [he’d described himself as moral] and God is good so He will forgive you?  Or have you been thinking Jesus died for you and are trusting in that?”  “I’ve really been lost and confused trying to figure things out,” he replied.  So I offered him a prayer he could pray, explaining it.  Not taking the booklet out of my hand he read the prayer, praying it.  He didn’t want a book to read, saying he had a lot already and I encouraged him to read the Bible, explaining it would feed the bond between him and God.  He had the fruit of the Spirit memorized and seemed to get the idea pretty well.  He took a Bible study from me but said his e-mail was really full, so I will keep CJ in my prayers and told him so. He said he would too.

I was pretty tanked by the time I came across Burnella sitting looking down from above the SRC revolving doors where the buses come.  African American, she had straightened loosely-curled hair, full features, a black low neck t-shirt and black and white print yoga pants on.  Nice looking girl.  She was very quiet and didn’t say much, but every time I paused to give her an illustration she looked at me and when I went back to reading a Bible verse she hunched over the booklet I held between us, reading along.  When I asked her one thing she wanted to do before she died she’d said, “Give myself to the Lord.”  That seemed like a good sign that God had been moving in her heart and that energized mine a bit.  She was sure she would go to Heaven, but she did not know that Jesus had died to take away her sins.  But after I had finished going through the Gospel with her she decided she believed it, wanted to be forgiven and to prayed to receive Christ.  I gave her a Bible study and the book Enjoying Your Walk with God to read and got her e-mail, explaining the Holy Spirit to her.

I bumped into some of my lost friends that I hang with and sat and talked with them for a couple hours about morality and stuff and then headed home.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry on campus and for evangelism today if you got a chance God blessed the day and it was good.

In Him,

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

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ!

How has your life in Christ been today?  I hope you have had joy in serving Jesus.  I had a great day today on campus.  The Lord really blessed and Kiera and Rashundra, two black girls, prayed to receive Jesus.  So a nice birthday present for me!  Oh and yesterday at the book table, Matt, a guy who Tuesday said he would pray later, told me he prayed to receive Christ so that was cool too.

Kiera was sitting in the PE lounge, on a half circle couch, reading and listening to music.  I interrupted her and she said she’d answer some questions.  She is a cute girl, soft features, long thin braids with brown highlights, wearing black and white yoga pants with some type of African animal print.  Nice, shy girl.  She is a dancer and told me it was Beyonce’s birthday, having told me she’d like to dance on stage with her.  I told her it was mine too and that I wish I knew Beyonce as I bet she is having some awesome cake today.  Kiera had gone to church a bit when she was younger, enough to have a student bible of some kind, so I gave her a new one (NASB) as she wanted another.  She had some familiarity with the story of Jesus, but had said she would go to Heaven because she was a good person.  After I had gone through the Gospel with her, she said she’d like to make more time for God, and knew she should try.  I said, “Do you believe that Jesus is God, has died for your sins and rose from the dead?”  She made one of those ‘oh yeah’ faces where you kind of scrunch up your features in affirmation, nodding her head.  I explained the work of the Holy Spirit to her and how God could give her the strength to live the Christian life by His power if she wanted to ask for it.  If she would pray for forgiveness in the name of Jesus, His Spirit would enter her.  I said, “Say you are dancing at some club and you somehow end up dancing alongside a girl who is one of Beyonce’s dancers when she is in town for a show.  She sees you dance well and tells you she dances for Beyonce.  You tell her you love Beyonce and she offers you tickets for the show, telling you her name is Cindy (at which point I said that really does not sound like the name of one of Beyonce’s dancers but oh well).  She gets your name, Kiera, and says “just say, ‘Cindy left a ticket for you at the box office at the gate.'”  So [later] you go to the gate and tell them you are there to get a ticket left for you and say your name is Kiera.  The person at the gate asks who left it for you and you struggle for a minute to remember but then say, ‘Cindy’  She finds the ticket and you get to go in.  You got in but you had to claim the name Cindy who left you the ticket.  God has a ticket for you to go to Heaven and for Him to live inside you, but you need to claim it in the name of Jesus.”  “Oh I see that!” she said.   I walked her through the prayer to receive Jesus, asking her if she would like Him to live inside her and help her live the Christian life.  She decided she would and prayed to receive Christ.  I explained the Fruit of the Holy Spirit to her and gave her the verses for that and a Bible Study on Suffering from last night’s study.  So that was great.  She said she’d often sit there and I said I’d check with her once in awhile and pray for her each night.

Rashundra (ra shun dra) was sitting with her friend she lives with, Monique (hair pulled back glasses looked smart.)  She was a cute kid with straightened hair in kind of a shaggy pixie cut, round face with a bit of a point on her chin.  They were sitting in the hall outside of Rashundra’s class that was soon to start.  Monique was a Christian and claimed Jesus had died for her as to why she should be let into Heaven.  Rashundra knew the story of Jesus, but when I asked her she was more about what she had done religiously.  After I went through the Gospel with them I asked them if they had ever asked for forgiveness based on what Jesus had done for them.  Rashundra wasn’t sure she ever had.  When I explained the prayer to her she wanted to pray to receive Christ.  And she did.  I gave them the student editions of The Case for Faith and The Case for Christ and Bible studies to read.  They had to run to class as the teacher had walked past us and into the room.  So I let them run and they said they would email me about the Bible Study, so I hope they do.

So thanks for your prayers for the Ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God’s Spirit was with me and blessed.

In Him,

Bob Bollow

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

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Well, if you live in or around Chicago today we had a beautiful day and I hope you were blessed in it.  I was truly blessed today on campus and had several good conversations where Matt, Caleb and Robert committed to Christ, saying they would pray later and Dustin, Kiara and Levante prayed with me to receive Christ.

4 Black guys, Matt, Caleb, Robert and Dustin were all sitting together in the PE building.  They all wanted to answer some questions for the Bible Study group.  Matt had almond shaped eyes, short hair and an oval face.  Caleb was a very big dude (sumo wrestler big), afro, round face with a goatee.  Robert was a bit shorter with a perfect 2″ afro, kind, clean shaven face.  And Dustin looked young, Robert’s size, a bit of facial hair.  They all tuned right in and I went through the Gospel with them and they were really respectful and receptive.  As I finished and showed them a prayer they could pray, handing them booklets, Caleb realized he had to run to class.  So they all got up, saying they would pray later (this seemed pretty sincere but I never know how sincere a student is when they delay praying) but Dustin prayed right then.  They took off, but I came across 3 of them later (absent Caleb) to give them Bible Studies to read through, so that was good.

Sitting amidst the $400,000 stone work between the Art building and the Gym (my tax dollars at work,) I came across Kiara, a cute black girl enjoying some shade under a tree.  She had jeans on and a v neck t-shirt, her ears pierced 4 times.  She was about 5’5″ and had the ends of her hair tinted and pulled into a couple braids wrapped around her head.  Nice kid, her paternal twin sister’s name was Tiara she told me, when I pointed out it rhymed.  Her parents had gotten back together (they were not married when she was born) and she lived in West Chicago but commuted all the way to Chicago to go to Church where her mom is part of the tech crew that does the video screens and she said she makes the tapes.  But interestingly enough, though she goes to church two times on Sunday, she hadn’t really had a knowledge of the Gospel of God’s Grace and Christ’s imputed righteousness.  I listened to a bit of her pastors sermon online and I hope I just heard a bad one, but he seemed to be all about exercising principles saying God did not respond to our emotions.  The Bible teaches God does respond to us this way [John 11:33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled]  I asked her, “How does God take away your sin? What is the big thing Jesus does that takes away the sins of the world and you [too].”  But she had no idea. So I told her about the Cross, and after I had finished going through the Gospel I asked her if she would like to be forgiven based on what Jesus had done for her.  She said she would.  “But you didn’t have any of this down before?” I asked. “Yeah” she admitted.  So I showed her a prayer and she prayed to receive Christ.  I gave her a Bible study and explained the work of the Holy Spirit to her and I also gave her a copy of the student edition of The Case for Christ to read.  I got her email to send her more stuff too.

Jevante was sitting at the end of a set of benches I’d sat on waiting for my advisor to show up.  He was a real down to earth guy, friendly.  He said his mom and grandma went to a Jehovah’s Witness Church and I asked if he was into that.  He said, “50/50, I mostly go to be supportive of my mom.”  I went through the Gospel with him and just assumed he would not know it.  When I was finished I asked him if he would like to be forgiven of his sins, trusting that Jesus was God and had died for him and would then live inside him.  “I want him to live inside me,” he replied.  I showed him a prayer he could pray and he did.  I explained the Trinity and the Holy Spirit to him.  I gave him Playing with Purpose and a copy of More than a Carpenter, suggesting he could give it to his mom, and also a Bible Study.  “Thanks for everything.  I appreciate it man,” he said.  “Sure,” and I shook his hand.  “I appreciate you,” he said. “Thanks for taking the time to talk to me.”
So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance God was with me and blessed. Tomorrow we’ll set up book table for the clubs and activities day on campus.

In Him,
Bob Bollow

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

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
How’s the life?  I hope you had a great day walking with the Lord.  I had a great day sharing on Thursday, and Jose and Arielle prayed to receive Christ.  Jose was sitting in the MAC arts building on the second floor at a high table overlooking the lounge and had a little time before class.  A good looking guy, big dude, short brown hair wearing some kind of black and white tourist t-shirt from Hawaii and shorts.  He looked athletic.  When I asked him what he’d say to God that he might be let into Heaven he said, “I told you all my sins.”  Then after a pause by way of explanation he said, “confession.”  He was a nice guy and seemed really interested in the Gospel of Grace that he had not known at all.  When he prayed to receive Christ, I told him that because the Holy Spirit lived inside him, he would never be alone.  You could see his excitement.  It was good to see someone with real joy in the knowledge that God loved him and had made a way of salvation.  He was really into sports and basketball, so I give him a copy of Playing With Purpose on the testimonies of NBA stars.  He seemed kinda thrilled with the book and I thought about how people outside the evangelical world might be led to think no one they see through media is a Christian, since the media actually hides this knowledge at every opportunity.  It is somehow more important to know who Dwayne Wade is sleeping with than that Kevin Durant loves Jesus.  For some young men, knowing that a personal hero is a guy walking with God is a huge thing for them.  I gave him a Bible study too. Please pray he gets into a good church.  His attendance had been sketchy.

When I asked Arielle what she would say to God to get Him to let her into Heaven she said, “I went to 12 years of Catholic School,” and grinned.  “I did the time,” I responded and she nodded in agreement.  She was a slim girl with narrow sharp features, no make-up, pretty in kind of an artsy kind of way.  Long brown hair, camisole top and jeans.  She was a shy girl but really friendly and a good sense of humor.  But she was trusting in her goodness to get to Heaven.  When I asked her if she had ever asked God to forgive her based on what Jesus had done for her on the Cross she said, realizing the truth of the Gospel through faith, “I don’t think I ever have.”  So I offered her a prayer she could pray to accept His forgiveness, praying in her heart like I wasn’t there, and she prayed.  She was really grateful and I gave her a Bible study and an apologetics video, “Jesus Fact or Fiction”.  So I’ll be praying for her in the hope the Spirit leads her to genuine fellowship through Him.

Thanks so much for your prayers for the ministry and evangelism this week if you had a chance.  So far 6 (possibly 7) people came to Christ and it was a good first week of sharing the Gospel.

In Him,

Bob Bollow

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

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Hope ya had a great day walking by faith.  I had a good day of sharing the Gospel and Kayla prayed to receive Jesus as her Savior.  Another pretty Latino girl, Melissa, committed to Christ but wanted to pray later.  I think she genuine believed the Gospel but was hesitant to commit her life to Him.  She had a baby-bump and a fiancé’.  She said she had gone to a Christian Church until she was 18 but then there was “stuff she wanted to do that you are not supposed to do”.  I talked her through the strength that comes from living the Christian life through the Holy Spirit and I got her email, so we’ll see if she responds to the email I sent her.  I’ll keep her in my prayers.  Please pray she might come.  I gave her a copy of Enjoying Your Walk with God.  She told me twice that I sounded like her mother, whom I’ve no doubt is praying for her as well.

Kayla had the most interesting heritage I had ever heard.  She was part German and “some other European things”, half “Mexican” and she said, “there’s some black [genes] in there too but I don’t know where it came in”  She had some wave to her hair that had orange highlights, nice smile, full lips.  She had a cross around her neck and jean shorts on and a shirt covered in a print of black crosses on a white background.  She’d gone to church with friends in the past but not much recently and believed in God.  But she enjoyed hearing about the Gospel and believed and wanted to be forgiven, praying with me to receive Christ.  After she had prayed she said something like, “Thanks. This is just what I needed.  I was having a tough day and now I feel really good.”  I explained to her the Holy Spirit’s work in helping us live the Christian life.  She said she had a class during Bible study but asked if I could send her the Bible study notes.  I got her email to do so, so that was great.  She took a copy of The Case for Faith and a Bible study.  I could tell she was glad.

I also went through the Gospel with a Muslim girl, Maha.  She was very attentive to the Gospel and seemed to like listening.  Her faith seemed “moderate” and she did not have a head scarf on.  She had a lot of Christian friends and said she felt like she was a burden to them.  I explained that “nearly every religion that is truly believed teaches that those who do not believe in it will experience something bad when they die, and that is what Christians believe.  Your friends probably are afraid for you.”  I gave her a few handouts my friend, Hicham, who is in ministry to Muslims in a congregation very near school, had given me on the reliability of the Bible and the Bible vs. the Quran.  She willingly took them to read.  I told her some of his testimony where Jesus had visited him by visions or dreams.  I said I understood how deeply tied to family and community Muslim people were and how hard it would be to tell your family you believed something else.  So I will pray for her.  Preah, her girlfriend, listened in on nearly everything I said but did not want anything to read, saying she would look at what I had given Maha.

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

In Him,

Bob Bollow

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 were blessed today walking in the Spirit.  I had a great day sharing on campus, and Jake and Keichelle each prayed to be forgiven through faith in the work of Christ for them on the Cross.  I park in a far out lot at the beginning of the school year (until students drop classes and you can park closer and not feel like you are taking a spot for a kid who might be late to class) so I come in through the science building.  Jake was sitting on the step of the sunken floor of the big lounge in the Health and Science building.  Slim, white kid with braces, shorter hair, athletic. He grew up in a Lutheran Church.  He thought he had a shot to go to Heaven and had tried to follow God’s teachings, but he didn’t know the Gospel well and so I went through it with him, reading him some bible verses and quoting others.  When I asked him if he would want to be forgiven he said yes.  So I showed him a prayer he could pray to ask for forgiveness, believing in what Jesus had done for him and accepting forgiveness and he prayed.  He had known the story from Church but had never given his life to Christ.  He took a Bible study from me and since he was really into basketball I gave him Playing with Purpose, a book on testimonies from stars in the NBA.  He was pretty excited about the book so that was great.

Keichelle was sitting on the third floor in a lounge just down the hall a bit and up a floor from where we have Bible Study.  She’s African American, friendly, sweet kid, round face and sort of pug nose and straight hair pulled back into a bun, cute, intelligent girl.  She said she’d like to go to Europe, and I said I’d like to take a boat down the Rhine River in Germany and see all the Castles.  She had a friendly smile and was very interested in the Gospel.  As I began to explain it to her she kept getting this bemused look on her face as she realized she didn’t know it at all.  Her friend kept calling and finally she picked up and told her where she was and said something like, “You need to get here!”  She told her friend she was having this really interesting discussion and told her, “We are going to this Bible study!”  Her friend dropped by only briefly to say she was going to the bathroom however and didn’t come back.  But Keichelle continued to listen about the Blood of Christ paying for our sin and how He died in her place, restores life to all the places our sin creates death and how his righteousness was to our credit (imputation).  When I asked her if she had ever asked God to forgive her for her sins based on what Jesus had done she hesitantly said, “Yes.” “But you didn’t understand what you were doing right?” I replied. “No.” she admitted. “You didn’t know any of this stuff before did you?” I asked smiling and she said, “No” with a bit of a pouting smile.  So I said “Well then you need to ask for forgiveness now” and I read the prayer through to her explaining it and asked her if she wanted to pray.  She said, “I was praying it while you read it.” So I responded, “Then say, ‘Amen'”. “Amen,” she prayed.  I got her email address to send her stuff and gave her a Bible Study to do on her own. So pray she comes to Bible Study won’t you?  I think she would be fun to have around this year, but she’d have to hang at school for a while as she lives pretty far from school and we decided to have an evening Bible study this year.

Thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance.  The Lord heard and brought some peeps to Himself through the work.

In Him,

Bob Bollow

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

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Well, I neglected to seek prayers today for Evangelism.  It was the first day back at school.  I had other stuff to do too once at school, like get officers lined up for our club and flyers hung up for the Bible study.  I talked to one atheist and the rest were believers and that was that for the day.  But one of my peeps Adam is taking Japanese there this year and we were hanging and I brought him back to school just b4 5 PM.  So I decided to roll around a bit as he went off to class.  I found Berto ( Nice looking guy Latino, oxford cloth blue & white striped shirt, blue shorts) sitting facing the doors on the second floor of the BIC building.  When I asked him why God should let him into Heaven he said, “I have no idea.”  He didn’t know how God took away His sin either, but took a guess saying “forgiveness?”  So I said, “Well, yes, He forgives you but the way he does that is through Jesus.”  I explained that, “the “Blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin [1John 1:7].  The reason for that is like you know when you are a kid and someone does something really cruel to you and it’s like it kills you a little bit?” He said he did. I said, “Well when we sin we create death in the world, kill people a little.  Jesus is God, so He is the source of all life and when He gives His life, (life is in the blood Lev. 17:11) it restores life to all the places we created death.  And Jesus dies in your place because you were under the penalty of death for not living a perfect life” (I’d already explained that part earlier to him.)  Then I quoted Romans 5:8 to him.  After I went through rest of the Gospel with Berto, I showed him a prayer he could pray and encouraged him pray and he did.  He was really genuine and believed and you could see it in him.  It was great.  He went regularly to a church in Oakbrook and thought he might come to Bible study.  I got his e-mail to send him more things and gave him a Bible study.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry.  Please pray that Berto would grow and maybe  come to Bible study, along with some of the peeps at school.
Blessings,
Bob Bollow

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

Hey Friends,

Well I hope you had a great summer so far.  And unless you have peeps back in school, your summer goes until the end of September – so cheer up!  When College of DuPage was on trimesters, we’d start at the end of September also.  But those days are gone.  So I’ll be back at it this Monday the 25^th.  Summer was a drag for me; in early June I broke a bone in each of my hands in an accident.  One hand has not healed enough to do painting as yet, if doctors can be trusted in these sorts of things.  So where I usually earn some money and get some projects done in the summer, I instead recovered from surgery on my left wrist.  I did have the honor of officiating a wedding in Montana for Laura and Sam.  Laura is a graduate of Elmhurst College and we have known her since our ministry time there.  I also popped into C.O.D. a few times, but there were very few people sitting around.  During the summer it is ‘take a class and leave for summer fun.’  But one guy, Brandon, who attends a Methodist Church in town did receive Christ while waiting for a ride.  So I’ve been praying for him.

I pray for all the students who come to Christ and about 30 others who seemed like they might be close to the Kingdom of God in Christ but did not pray with me.  It is sometimes difficult to be an Evangelist, not knowing what the Holy Spirit is doing in the lives of those who for whom it is no longer your piece of the chain to influence much.  Like Phillip and the Ethiopian Eunuch, you move on your way, having declared the Gospel and hoping fruit will come, knowing it will in those who genuinely receive Jesus by faith.

I always try to teach the students something about the work of the Holy Spirit when there is time to do so. I wonder where is the power in your preaching otherwise, to live the Christian life?  This life must be lived by the Spirit.  Luther’s small catechism teaches the word and the Holy Spirit bring growth, inasmuch as it is the Spirit who teaches us in the Word, daily forgives our sins and even teaches us to pray.  I don’t know if you follow Luther at all.  I’m not Lutheran,(though I was raised in that church tradition until the age of 12,) but I follow the scriptural teaching that the Christian life is lived by an appeal to the Power of the Holy Spirit.   Bill Bright said this: “Your walk with Christ depends upon what you allow Him to do in and through you, empowered by the Holy Spirit, not what you do through your own self effort.”  I don’t remember the source of the quote but I think it applies: “Christians are simply beggars, telling others where they have found bread.”  In Ephesians there are 2 verses that teach this; 1:19 “and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might” & 3:20 “Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,”  It is His power not ours. His work in us, not ours.By His Spirit.Eph. 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”And then directly speaking of the Spirit: Gal. 5:5 “For we through the Spirit, by faith, are awaiting for the hope of righteousness.”  Gal. 5:16 “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.”

The real difference between the true Christian and the corporate platitudes of someone like Joel Osteen’s mega-church is the Power of the Holy Spirit as opposed to the personal power of the individual human.  Only because His power is there inside the Christian would one have the courage to do contact Evangelism outside a physical church setting.  For the new believer is just like the old, growing in Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit, who does the follow-up.  So knowing that, I will go out again next week and look for those who might know the Lord.  If they respond to the preaching of the Word by Faith, I know they are the Elect and God has begun a work in them.

Please continue to pray for our ministry as the school year begins again.

                  In Him,

Bob & Ellen

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

Hey Friends in Christ,

Well how has your Spring been?  Started out cold here but it’s promising to be a pretty nice weekend.  I’ve had a few ailments of late.  I had eye surgery a year ago on my left eye and then on my right one at summers end, a hernia operation 6 weeks ago and I blew out my knee recently somehow.  It’s swollen up, but it’s summer break now, so I’ve been kind of hopping about on it, stripping wallpaper for extra money.  But hey, something has to make you long for eternal life with God and He already gave me Ellen to live with so He has to shake some of the rest of it up.

God was faithful to use the work on campus right up until the last day when Luke came to Christ.  He was just a regular guy sitting in the BIC building, killing time.  The halls were pretty much empty but Luke was willing to answer some questions and in the end prayed to receive Christ.  108 other peeps prayed to receive Christ this school year too.  I can’t see into their hearts at the moment, but I become more hopeful of their conversion often when I see them later and they are happy to see me.  Still it is impossible to be certain if they have faith and so will go on to love and good works.  The highest of all good works is faith, it all must start here.  It’s what God wants most from you; to believe Him.  This is what anyone wants in a relationship, to believe the other person and for them to believe you.  Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”  But we read in James that Faith without works is dead right?  Possibly we simply don’t understand the word usage we have encountered in the Bible (but then at least we are not reading a book like the Qur’an, which Islamic scholars say is unintelligible in 20% of the text having been translated verbatim from another language, Syriac probably.)

Faith is a living thing, unlike simple belief that even demons have (James 2:19).  Often the act of an individual praying to receive Christ after a Gospel message is critiqued as inadequate for Salvation, as it is a mere intellectual ascent.  But of course this is not what it is at all, if genuine, for this is not faith in the scripture.  In the Bible, Faith is generated by God in us (a gift from Him, Eph. 2:8.)  It embodies and fills a person.  And so a living faith that is one with God would of course lead to some action.  So James teaches (James 2:26), otherwise it is dead.  James is merely continuing to add to the definition, stating what the byproduct of a living faith produces:  Concomitant actions.  Of course these actions may very in frequency, intensity and even definition in a variety of people, and each has a different starting point.  So simply looking at actions would not tell you much.  A lot of people are religiously good.  Most of the peeps I talk to are good.

Mere intellectual ascent does not produce living faith.  I may agree with you that a certain bus route is the fastest commuter option in a city and yet, for reasons of my own, never ride a bus.  There are many ideas or intellectual notions that do not require an active life structure to support them; a belief in Pi for example need not work itself out in any active commitments.  I believe in Pi completely and have absolutely no doubt it can be multiplied by the radius of a circle and give you its circumference, and this does not change my daily actions one bit.  But Christian faith is deeper and more essential than this, James is teaching Faith is not like Pi.  James is not teaching that these actions do what Faith does (save you.)  He is merely asserting that if you have faith they will be present.  Riding a motorcycle assumes you can balance equipment on two wheels.  But being able to balance does not require that I ride a motorcycle.  Faith is different in that, if I have a genuine faith, it will compel me to get out there and be riding, doing some kind of work.  Loving ones children, helping ones neighbor.  Faith that is real is tied to a compulsion, a concomitant action.  This is simply what faith produces in people.  James is providing further insight into Faith, not suggesting works replace it or supplant it.  On campus I don’t know the people I am talking to well enough to know if they have changed, nor would that definitively show their new hearts.  But if the Holy Spirit has entered into them at that moment in time, He will begin to produce His fruit (Galatians 5:22+23) though this fruit might begin so subtly that the closest intimates of the converted may fail to see it.

And this is the other thing about our lives, without asking for God to lead and empower us by His Holy Spirit our actions do not please Him.  It is when we seek God for His help and direction we walk by the Spirit.  It is like God wrote you a grand play that is your life and in the end you will have something of a review.  But all that is looked for is that you sought the Director’s guidance. Eph. 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”  I pray every night for these new believers each by name, for I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in them will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Phil. 1:6.

Thanks for your love and prayers and support this year that made God’s work possible.  He did it and we are so grateful for your help in allowing Him to use us.

New Believers 2013-2014      Michelle, Soe, Kristine*, Samantha, Teddy, Misael, Aja, Shaya, Mark, Kamera, Dontrel, Ryan, Kayla, Zach, Jewellel, Brian*, Frangela, Theresa, Brittany, CJ, Lucia, Luis, Ryann, Nick, Laversa, Martin, Ana, Karen, Zach, Kyra, Precious, Meishan, Brandon, Edwardo, Andy, Maria, Rob, Maribel, Kyanna, Montez, Dylan, Dionnie, Kevin, Matt, Taylor, Tracy, LaDonte, Shanice, Amber, Andrew, Teresa, Nadia, Patrick, Angelica, Samantha, Denasia, Erika, Larry, Joe, Dan, Mike, Maursheka, Nia, Joy, Kathy, Taylor, Maggie*, Devon, Isaiah, Ashley, Justin, Raina, Pat, Gil, Karli, Liz, Robert, Casey, Chris, Marita, Ana, Kevin, Sam, Taylor, Kaven, Duke, Brygette, Katie, Edwardo, Taj, Jimena, Cherise,  Madelene, Michel’le[mishelay], Jemile[Jimeel], Xander, Shane, Junior, Alex, Alex, Raquel, JT, Kirk, Leo, Ulysses, Courtney, Kayla, Brandon, Gyel, Joshua, Alejandra, Luke, Zach*  (An * means they committed but did not pray with me)

May you know the presence of God this summer and may He bring healing and restoration for you as well.

In Him,

Bob & Ellen