Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope you had a blessed day and saw God’s favor, not that it is always seen though we know we have it.  I had a shortened day today as I had a class on Islam for a couple hours and then a Chiropractic appointment to get some of my headaches fixed, looks promising.  But Bri prayed to receive Christ.  She is the 3rd girl named Bri or Brionna to come to Christ this year and all of them African American students.  They don’t look at all alike though, so that’s where the similarity ends.

Bri was laying out flat on her stomach, looking at her computer screen with her phone up against the divider to the work out area of the PE building. The school took a couple of tables out of the lounge and she and another guy ten feet away were on the floor.  Bri had straight black hair, pulled back in a wide black hair band, running shoes on and a grey fleece jacket and leggings.  She said she’d do a survey for our Bible study group.  She had pretty almond shaped eyes.  I asked her what she would say to God if he asked her why He should let her into Heaven. She said, “‘Cause I don’t feel like I should go to hell.  I’ve been planning to go to Heaven my whole life. It’d be weird to get to the end and be like, ‘What!'”  She thought she had an 80% chance to go to Heaven.  She seriously listened to the Gospel as I walked her through it, and knew Christ had died to take away her sins. She wanted to be forgiven.  So I asked her why, to see if she’d been trusting in what Christ had done for her or her own goodness and God’s presumed mercy.  “That I’m good enough.” she replied.  I offered her a prayer where she could trust in Christ and she decided to pray to receive Him and she did silently.  I explained to her the power and work of the Holy Spirit to live the Christian life.  She took The Bible Promise Book from me and a Bible study on the deity of Christ. She said she might email me, so maybe I will hear from her to send her more things to think about.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance. God blessed.  I have a couple paint jobs to end the week but I’ll be back at it Monday.

In Him,

Bob

To donate to our college ministry:

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

Hey Brothers and sisters in Christ,

I hope you were blessed today and guided by the Lord.  I had a good day today hanging for an hour of discipleship with one of the peeps and Neel prayed to receive Christ.  Strangely there is not much to tell about Neel’s conversation with me since he didn’t have time to answer any questions.  I saw him sitting on the sunken steps of the Science building lounge, dressed in jeans and a hoodie with a pale blue athletic team shirt of some kind partly hidden by his jacket.  He looked to belong to some Mediterranean people group in background, if I had to guess, olive skinned. Good looking guy.  He said he attended a Baptist church. He had a day’s growth of heavy beard and his hair combed back like a Ken doll does (sorry for the description but I’m pretty ignorant of haircut terminology).  I asked him to do a survey and he was up for it but said, “Well how long will it take?”  I told him about 7 minutes, but he didn’t have that long. So I offered him a booklet to read about it since the last question is “What do you think of Christianity as described in this booklet?”  I superficially began to describe Christianity to him as a blood transfusion, where God wants to transfuse His life into you and live inside you. But first He has to make you his type. He has to take away your sin.  Since Neel told me he went to a Baptist Church, I said, “So what is the thing Jesus does back in history that takes away your sin?”  He struggled briefly and I realized he did not know the Gospel.  But realizing I did not have much time, I asked him if he had 3 minutes to “understand this” and he said he did. So I quickly launched into the Gospel with him, going through bible verses.  And he listened intently with his fingers over his mouth contemplatively.  After I finished, he said he’d want to be forgiven and have God live inside him, trusting in Christ.  I asked him, as I often do, if when he asked for forgiveness if he thought he’d be forgiven for being good or because he had been trusting in what Jesus had done for him on the Cross. I restated it a couple different ways.  “It’s the second one,” he replied, and said he had been trusting that he was good and God would forgive him.  I’m glad he went on to restate it because I wasn’t sure which option he had heard as “the second one” after restating it for clarity a couple times myself.  I walked him through a prayer he could pray. “You could pray this right now if you like, and God would forgive you and begin to live inside you if you want. Just pretend I’m not here and God reads your thoughts.”  He did then pray and I had just enough time to explain to him the work of the Holy Spirit in the Christian life. Then he was getting texted, I think, for his ride.  I gave him The Bible Promise Book and he took off.  It might have all happened in just over 5 minutes.

So that was good. I encouraged some Christians on security of eternal life based on Christ’s imputed righteousness and that was the day of conversations.

So thanks so much 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 your day was blessed today, walking in the Spirit.  I had a great day on campus and Hannah prayed with me to receive Christ. Hannah was sitting in the BIC building in the second floor hall towards the east end, killing time on her phone. She has long brown hair past her shoulders and a sharp jaw line. Nice looking kid wearing jeans and a jacket. She attends a Roman Catholic Church.  I asked her what she would say to God if He asked her why He should let her into Heaven she said, “Well, ’cause I’m like your child.  I tried to spend most of my life spreading your message.  I text my godson all the time to make sure he is going to church.”  That turned out to be her sisters little 2 year old boy.  Hannah knew the Gospel story and I thought it would turn out that she had been trusting in Christ’s death on the Cross to pay for her sins and save her.  She had been sure she would go to Heaven. I gave her the option of believing and being forgiven with God inside her or something else.  She wanted to be forgiven with God living inside her. I asked her if when things went wrong, if she thought she’d be forgiven because she had been trying to please God and He was merciful and she nodded, “Or” I continued, “have you known you would be forgiven because Jesus has died for you and you’re trusting in that? So are you trusting in Jesus or hoping in Hannah and being good.”  “I think I am more just hoping” she replied.  I told her she could begin just by asking God to forgive her based on Jesus and walked her through the prayer. She wanted to pray and did silently.  So that was great. I gave her a copy of The Case for Easter by Strobel to read and she also took The Bible Promise Book to read verses from, though everyone had a Bible in her family.  I gave her a Bible study to read as well and got her email to send her some verses and stuff.  She thanked me and I headed out.

I had two good conversations with students today who were open to the Gospel and took books from me to read.  Maria had shoulder length brown hair, pulled back in a band and glasses. Looked a bit Latina.  She was sitting up on the third floor of the BIC Building on some hall chairs.  She had gone to church as a kid and used to pray every night as a child, but was not sure what to believe anymore.  I talked to her about fulfilled prophecy and she listened very seriously to the Gospel (though she described herself as funny), but she still was unsure as I finished.  So I offered her a book, “She decided to read “The Case for Easter”.  I gave her a pamphlet from Rose Publishing on ‘100 prophecies Jesus fulfilled’ and encouraged her to pray for God to give her faith.  She felt like she had done that, so I hope talking to her was in part an answer to her prayers. I gave her a Bible study too.  “Thanks for explaining all this to me,” she said as we parted.  I told her she was welcome and I would pray for her.

Rachel had shorter reddish-brown hair just past her chin and a small, tight hoop piercing in her right nostril, pretty, wearing jeans and a t-shirt.  She was nice and friendly but said she’d thought she’d done a survey for a bible study yesterday. That would have been Sunday so I think she meant before break.  I asked her if they’d asked her the question, “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?'”  She didn’t think they had asked that, so I said, “Well would you like to know how to get to Heaven?”  I thought she was going to say no, but she agreed and I launched into the Gospel with some illustrations and stuff as I ate my Kind bar.  I quoted Bible verses to her and she was interested and wanted to be forgiven, but unsure if she believed Jesus was God.  I asked her, “Well, you believe in God?” She nodded.  I said “So do you think God can do whatever He wants?” She agreed He could.  “So then He could become a man?” She nodded again.  “So if He became a man, He would tell people the truth, right?”  She thought that was true too.  “So if you knew all the truth in the political season we are in right now and could expose all the candidates’ darkest stuff, what would they do to you if you started telling everyone?  They’d probably get rid of you and kill you.”  That gave her pause and she kept listening.  So I said “What would God to next if He became a man, told people the truth and it got Him killed? Well, He is God, so He’d rise from the dead.  And that is what happened. It makes sense if you believe in God, the rest could happen.”  “It does make sense when you put it that way,” she said and seemed to enjoy the story of the Gospel.  She liked to read, so after I walked her through a prayer she could pray, I offered her a book and she took the long version of The Case for Christ and a Bible study.  A guy had sat down next to us some time along the way and said, “That’s a very interesting book.” “There ya go. That’s one endorsement” I replied. She thanked me, and as I got up to leave I told her I would pray for her. So I will be doing that, and for Maria too.

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 Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed in the Lord.  I had a god day on campus and William and John each prayed with me to receive Jesus.

William was sitting on the 2nd floor of the BIC building at the northeast corner in the hall.  The door was closed in the classroom beside him and he was charging his phone out of the wall.  He had an afro and distinctive features with a kind face.  He was a big dude, about 6’3″ I’d guess, and solidly built with what looked like Blackhawks shorts on under his jeans which were sinkin’ a bit low and over black smooth toed work boots.  He had on a Stanford hooded sweatshirt.  He said he’d answer some questions and had a Christian background. He grew up churched but had not attended in a year or so.  I asked him why God should let him into Heaven if he died and he paused and said, “That’s a good question…” finally saying “’cause I took responsibility for all my sins.”  He thought he had a 60% chance of going to Heaven. When I asked him what Jesus had done to take away his sins, he knew about the Cross.  I taught him all of the Gospel and asked him if he wanted to be forgiven for his sins.  He said he would. And so, since he knew Christ died, I asked him if when he had asked for forgiveness was he was thinking, “I’m good and God is merciful.’  Or if he was trusting that “Jesus had died for him and so he knew he would be forgiven?”  “That I was good,” he said, smiling a bit.  So I offered him the prayer and talked him through it. He quietly prayed to receive Christ.  He had a Bible, so I encouraged him to begin reading in John and gave him a Bible study and The Bible Promise Book.  He gave me his email and happily thanked me, shaking my hand as I got up to go, and said, “Nice meeting you.”

John was sitting in one of the cubbyhole benches overlooking the science lounge.  He was Asian looking in appearance and had family in 4 states in the US.  He had stick straight black hair (or very dark brown) and was wearing a fleece pullover zipped at the neck and skinny jeans that met his black white laced converse canvas tennis shoes. When I asked him what he would say to God if asked why He should let him into Heaven he said, “I’ve tried.  I don’t know.  I’m not sure.  I’ve tried to be the best I can be.”  He said as a kid he went to church, but could not remember the name.  He didn’t have any knowledge of the Gospel.  But he listened closely as I went through it with him.  In the end, I asked him if he would like to be forgiven for his sins and have God live inside him.  “I’ve only thought about it once in a very long time. But yeah, I would like to be forgiven,” he responded. Since he’d had no real church background recently at all I asked, “Do you believe Jesus is God and died for your sins and rose from the dead?”  He thought for a second and said, “Yes.”  “If you’d like to trust in that to be forgiven, there’s a prayer you could pray and it’s on this next page,” I said and walked him through the prayer and offered for him to pray it. “I was just reading it with you,” he replied.  “Amen?”  I said. “Amen” he said in reply.  He did not have a Bible so I said a friend had just bought me some and gave him a Bible, The Bible Promise Book and a Bible study.  I gave him the names of several churches near him and he said apologetically that he probably would not make it to a Bible Study.  I said “No worries. I’ll see you in Heaven.”  “Yeah I’ll see you again,” he said.  “Thanks for your time,” he said sincerely.  I told him he was welcome to it.

So thanks for your prayers for the Ministry and for Evangelism today if you had a chance.  God blessed the work and it was a good day.

In Him,

Bob

To donate to our college ministry:

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

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed.  I had a good day on campus and Alexander prayed to receive Christ.  He was sitting in the hall of the BIC building, wearing a grey V-neck viper pull over, grey sweats cut off to make shorts and blue Adidas with white stripes on his feet.  He had short brown hair and a slight mustache.  He reminded me of Tony Stark, the character on this TV show I have only seen once or twice called “Agent Carter”.  (The actor’s name is Dominic Cooper.)

Alexander said he was raised Catholic but now went to a Christian church.  He is the second person I spoke to this year who prayed to receive Christ with this backstory.  In both cases, I think the Church they attended rang more true to them but too rarely preached the Gospel as a commitment to trusting in the blood of Christ in His sacrifice. And they simply continued to believe in their own good works.  (Will was the other student like this.)  When I asked Alexander if he died, what he would say to God if asked why He should let him into Heaven? He said, “I lived life the clean way.  I don’t know… something along those lines I would hope.  What would you say to that question?”  “Well, I’m a Christian.” I said.  I asked him the likelihood he would go to Heaven and he said, “I don’t think I would say.”  Leaving it up to God, I think he meant.  I said, “Yeah that’s ok. A lot of people would say that.”  I began to explain the Gospel to him like a blood transfusion, where you have to have blood that matches your type. We have to become God’s type because He wants to transfuse His life into us.  But there is sin in our lives.  So God takes away our sin and then we are perfect and holy inside and we match God and He can live inside us.  Alexander couldn’t remember how his sins were taken away, but seeing the Cross in the booklet I then pulled out, he said, “Oh Christ died.”  “Right,” I said, “but there is more to it than that.”  I explained the imputation of Christ’s righteousness and that we don’t go to Heaven because we are good, but because Christ was good and that he needed to trust in that.  As I finished, Alexander said he would want to be forgiven, but felt like it would have to come at the end of his life as he would sin again.  I said, “Yes, you will, but when you ask God to forgive you based on Christ’s sacrifice and righteousness, the Holy Spirit enters you and seals you.  You become a New Creation and sin cannot destroy you in the way it once could.”  He saw that God would change him and decided to pray to receive Christ. He prayed aloud, sitting next to me, crossing himself to begin and finish.  So that was great.  I asked him if he had a Bible of his own or a family Bible and he said his mom had one he could use. It was kind of worn out.  So I gave him one. He was grateful and thanked me a couple times and shook my hand as I left him.  He said he’d email me if he had any more questions.  I also gave him a Bible Study and The Bible Promise Book.

I encouraged some other Christians today and got some good work done. Thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance.

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 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