Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
I hope you had a great day today walking with God.  I had a good day on campus, though not very long because I met up with one of my favorite peeps and that took a big part of the day.  But Zach came to Christ today in the Science building, so that was great.  He is a Black guy, thin athletic kid with a afro and features that looked Indian except for his eyes.  He was messing around with his smartphone but took his head phones off and was up for talking.  He thought he was a good Christian, went to church.  I went through the Gospel with him and it seemed like he had been trusting in Jesus until he said, “All the times I been to church I never heard God can forgive you and live inside you. ” I said “well He will if you ask.”  I walked him through the prayer and he prayed to receive Christ.  We talked more about the Holy Spirit and God’s strength through His Spirit to live the Christian life.  He was a big NBA fan and we talked some hoops for a bit. So I gave him a copy of Playing with Purpose about the lives of faith of NBA stars.  I also gave him a Bible study and got his e-mail. So that was great.

So thanks so much for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you got a chance. God was really with me.

In Him,

Bob Bollow

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I hope ya had a great day walking with the Lord.  I had a good day at school.  4 different students prayed with me to receive Christ; Laversa, Martin, Ana and Karen.  Laversa was sitting on a bench on the second floor of the BIC building and I asked her to answer some questions for the Bible Study group.  She’s black, straight hair pulled back tight on her head.  She seemed to have some Christian ideas in her background, she didn’t think she was bad enough to go to hell and tracked well with the Gospel, though she did not seem to remember Jesus took away sin if she ever knew it.  She was attending, at times, some kind of Mosque in the city but agreed with everything I slipped into the conversation against Islam and b4 I could explore the topic with her much she had to run to class.  She did pray to receive Jesus with me and I explained the work and fruit of the Holy Spirit. I gave her the book Enjoying your Walk With God to read and a Bible study on the Deity of Christ.

Martin goes to a Roman Catholic Church every Sunday, he said he is part Irish, had curly dark brown hair. He had a works righteousness idea of salvation, but was only about 70% sure he’d make it to heaven.  He was sitting in the Science building on the floor when we talked.  He wanted to have God live inside him and be forgiven when I asked him, after I went through the Gospel.  I explained a prayer he could pray to do that and after he’d prayed to receive Christ I gave him a Bible Study and The Case for a Creator to read. I got his e-mail to send him some stuff and he seemed happy.

Ana was in a lounge on the second floor of the BIC, just about to set up her laptop on a table, but said she would answer some questions.  She had long brown hair and was from Mexico, a dangerous part she said, and could not return at present to visit.  She had no accent though, nice looking, really sweet kid.  She went to a Roman Catholic Church also and said she prayed every night.  She was certain she would go to heaven, but I explained to her she would have to live a perfect life and she admitted she hadn’t.  After I explained the gospel to her she said she would want to be forgiven and have God live inside her, so I offered the prayer to her, explaining it, and said she could pray right then if she wanted too and she enthusiastically said, “Oh yeah!”  And she happily prayed to receive Christ.  She did not have a Bible, so I gave her one and a Bible study.  She said that people were coming to her door and giving her little booklets, which is probably a cult but I gave her the student edition of The Case for Christ.  Most cults deny he is God. I also gave her a Bible Study on the Deity of Christ and got her e-mail to send her stuff.

Karen was sitting across from the Bookstore.  She wore glasses and had brown hair, shy, nice.  She really seemed like a kind, sweet person.  She attended the Catholic Church too.  But she also did not know how God took away her sins.  In the case of all of these kids, I asked them if they had trusted in what Jesus had done for them on the Cross to make them right with God or if they felt like, “Well I am pretty good person and I am religious,” and were hoping in that for things to work out with God.  Karen agreed that had been where she was at, but wanted to be forgiven and have God live inside her with His Holy Spirit.  She prayed to receive Christ and I gave her a Bible study.  She did not have her own Bible and fortunately I’d had a chance to go to my locker and get another one to give her.  She did not want to read a book.  I explained the Holy Spirit to her and said I would pray for her and she earnestly thanked me twice as I left her.

So I was really blessed today and God worked, thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for Evangelism today if you had a chance, God was faithful and heard.

In Him,

Bob Bollow

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I hope you had a great day walking with Jesus.  I had a good day on campus and since it was nice out I tried to stay outside, stay out of view of my detractors.  I came across Nick on a bench outside the SRC building where peeps wait for the bus, sitting in the sun.  He was a big burley dude with a scrub beard and a plaid shirt.  Brown hair and glasses.  He looked like an offensive lineman, but it turned out he wanted to move to Nashville and try to make it in music.  He plays the mandolin.  We talked about that some and people I knew in Nashville or who had recorded there trying to make it.  I talked him through the Gospel and it turned out his family was lapsed Catholic.  His sister and brother had moved out when they got older and his folks had just kind of stopped going.  So he had as well.  He had no idea if he would go to Heaven, but after I explained the Gospel and what Christ had done for him, I took out a booklet and asked him if he wanted to forgiven for his sins and have Christ live inside him and he said he did.  I walked him through the prayer in it and he prayed with me to receive Christ.  I gave him a Bible Study and More Than a Carpenter to read and we talked some more about music.  I encouraged him to trust in the power of the Holy Spirit and to ask for God’s help and guidance in even his creative efforts with Music.  I talked to him about the song “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen. The lyric goes, “I heard there was a secret chord that David knew and it pleased the Lord”. David’s playing calmed the evil Spirit in Saul, so who knows.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWDfH51gvc0&list=PL29C1AC875253A513

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism if you had a chance today. God led me to another one of His to come to know Him and be forgiven.

In HIm,

Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
I hope your day was blessed of the Lord and you were guided by His Spirit in all things.  I had a great day of sharing and two Students, Luis a Latino Guy, and Ryann, prayed to accept forgiveness by receiving Jesus as their Savior.  I also had some encouraging conversations with a couple guys;  Ricky (a guy overheard part of this and asked me to meet him there tomorrow too) and later Baru whose father is a moderate Muslim and whose mother is a Christian.  I gave each of them The Case for Christ (Ricky took the student version).

Luis was sitting in the Cafeteria eating and said he’d be interested to answer some questions.  He had a ball cap on, a thin mustache and walked with a forearm crutch.  He was trusting in his goodness to go to Heaven and hadn’t really thought about the death and resurrection of Christ.  But he wanted to be forgiven and have God live inside him.  So after I had gone through the Gospel with him he prayed to receive Jesus.  I gave him More than a Carpenter to read and told him I would pray for him.  Kyle, a Christian from China who had studied in Saipan, overheard us and we had a great conversation for some time about theology and Christianity in China and the underground churches there.  He asked some very good questions.  I left him feeling a lot of peace.   I had another half hour I planned to stay on campus so I walked over to the science building on the sidewalk outside as it was a beautiful day.

At the Science building I found Ryann sitting in the far end of the building in the lounge on the ground floor.  She was up for talking.  She felt she recently had asked God into her life wherein she had been away before.  She is pretty with brown curly hair, tanned complexion.  She knew that Jesus death was the way God had taken away sin, but she admitted she had not been trusting in that and had no assurance of salvation and had never asked God to forgive her sins based on what Jesus had done.  She could not believe God had forgiven her for all of her sins.  But I explained the Gospel and that it was Christ’s righteousness, not hers, that made her fit for Heaven that was to our credit.  I said, “Have you ever had someone do something really cruel to you and it feels like you died a little bit?”  She said she had.  I said, “When we sin it is like we create little bits of death around us and in us and in others.”  I explained that Jesus was the source of all life and that when He died he gave His life to restore all the death we have created.  And that we received this payment for our sins by faith.  She said she wanted to have God live inside her and be forgiven.  So I showed her the prayer where she could ask to receive Him and asked if she wanted to pray and she said, “Yes.”  And she did.  I talked to her about reading the Bible.  She did not have one, so I gave her one.  She was interested in Science and struggled with how it fit with faith.  I explained that every scientist has to act as if there is a God to order the world, to expect continuity in their experimentation, they are theists in the philosophical basis they work off of.  I said, “If everything came from random chance and an explosion you could not count on consistency in the Lab or in an O.R.”  She seemed to see that but it was a new idea to her.  So I gave her a copy of The Case for a Creator and a Bible study on the deity of Christ.  I got her e-mail to send her stuff too.

So thanks for your prayers for the Ministry and for evangelism on campus today if you had a moment. God really blessed the work.

In Him,

Bob Bollow

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope you had a great day walking with Jesus.  I had a good day on campus, no police harassment all week and CJ came to Christ.  He was the first person I talked to, though it took me about 25 minutes to get anyone to talk to me at all.  He was sitting by the doors at the end of the BIC building, just killing time, and said he’d answer some questions for the bible Study group.  He’s a Black guy, about 6 foot, nice looking, had an afro.  Black sneakers on with cuffed straight-leg blue jeans.  He was articulate.  But as I went through the Gospel I got no real read on him.  When I asked him why God should let him into Heaven, he thought for a moment and just said, “I don’t know,” paused and said it again.  He had no hope of salvation, but he went to church pretty often.  He was completely unresponsive as I talked him through the booklet I use some of the bible verses out of, and the prayer at the end, just staring at the booklet not even making eye contact.  But he said he wanted to be forgiven and after I walked him through the prayer he prayed to receive Christ.  Then he visibly brightened and looked at me when I talked and seemed happy.  He took a copy of the book Playing with Purpose on the testimonies of NBA players and a Bible Study and gave me his e-mail.  Then we stood up and he reached out and shook my hand smiling and said, “Thank you I really appreciate it.”  So that was really great.

I had a several other good conversations.  One where I gave a guy, Jan, who just could not commit to Christ for the doubts he had, the student edition of The Case for Christ hoping it would remove any false hurdles.  He was going to a “Young Life” group.  I encouraged him, since he wanted to believe, to ask God for faith, showing him the verse in Ephesians 2:9 that teaches faith is a gift. “So ask God for it,” I said.  And he seemed like he would.  An Asian Christian guy was standing outside with his long board and I started a conversation with him.  Arkell was concerned for his Atheist friends and I encouraged him to pray more for them and gave him the student edition of The Case for Faith to help him think of some things to say to them and got his e-mail.

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

In Him,

Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
I hope you had a good day today walking in the Spirit.  No bureaucrat spotted me to call the cops at school today, so I escaped without harassment and Brittany came to Christ.  Blonde girl, nice kid.  She thought she would go to Heaven because she was a practicing Roman Catholic.  But when I asked her, “How does God take away your sin? You know like what is the big thing God did that took away the sins of the world?”  She replied, “I don’t know.”  So I said, “Well, it has to do with Jesus.”  And I went through the Gospel with her.  In the end she said she wanted God to live inside her and be forgiven and prayed for just that.  I gave her the little booklet I’d scribbled all over and a Bible study. She also took the student edition copy of The Case for Christ.

I had a couple of other good conversations today and had one student insist that because he had given me 5 minutes of his time I should then take an hour and 20 minutes of mine out to watch some History channel thing on the God particle.  I might watch it, but the History Channel’s stuff is so horribly inaccurate in my experience, I doubt I will get very far in b4 they have said several things I know to be false.  Sadly, in his case, he had made up his own shtick involving Karma, insisting his good deeds outweighed his bad ones.  If his math on the time I owed him as opposed to the time he’d given were anything like his evaluation of his good deeds, I’m sure there is a lot of red on his ledger.  But then there is on everyone’s, no matter what the History channel says about particles.

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

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
I hope you day was blessed.  I had a good day on campus talking with students and Frangela {friends call her Fran}.  She was sitting by the bookstore and I was more or less on my way out.  But she said she would do a student survey for the Bible study group and we talked.  She had stick-straight black hair, past her shoulders and very dark skin, African American, thin features. She said she had most recently gone to a Bible Church not far from school.  She thought of herself as God’s child but she did not know how God took away her sins.  So I went through the Gospel with her which was novel to her.  She said she wanted to be forgiven.  When I asked her if she had ever asked God to forgive her sins based on what Jesus had done she said, “No.”  So I walked her through the prayer at the back of the booklet I use, and after asking her if it was the desire of her heart and she said it was I said, “So you could pray this right now and receive forgiveness for your sins quietly in your head like I’m not even here.”  And she said, “Ok.”  Then she stopped and said, “Right now?”  And I said, “Sure.”  So she prayed to receive forgiveness by Christ’s death on the Cross.  I gave her a copy of The Case for a Creator, since that was the book she picked, and a Bible study.  I explained the Fruit of the Spirit to her as the way to live the Christian life.  She thought she might have heard of it before so I wrote down the passage [Galatians 5: 22+23].  The Bible thinks of us like we’re trees [Psalm 1:3] and trees produce fruit, even a pine tree produces pine cones.  The fruit God wants to produce in us is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control”; This is how we live the Christian life, not by just trying harder but by asking God by His Holy Spirit to give us more of any of these attributes when we lack them. Then I left campus grateful not to be harassed by the cops.

I had a great time explaining the Gospel to Kevin, too.  He was taking a Philosophy course on world religions and was really interested in the Gospel, though he had gone to Church as a kid he hadn’t heard it explained that way.  I also gave him The Case for Christ student edition as he said he might want to have a relationship with God and would think about it.  Several times he said, “Oh!” in kind of a “Now I get it” way.  I will be praying for him and Abby, a girl on Thursday who was very close to committing her heart to Christ.  She was a cute, curly-haired kid who was an Usher at her Presbyterian church, sitting Indian-style in the sunlight outside last week.

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

In Him
Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
How was your day walking with the Lord?  I had a really god day on campus and Jewellel [pronounced Jewel] and Brian came to Christ.

Jewellel was laying on the floor against a section of the wall that came out a bit with her knees bent, wearing big sunglasses and ear buds in her ears from an Ipod.  She’s black, has straight hair, had faded bleached-knee blue jeans on, cute kid.  I asked her if she wanted to do a survey and she hemmed and hawed a bit so I asked her, “Do you know how to get to Heaven?”  She admitted she didn’t so I asked, “Do you want to know?” She hesitated and said she did.  So I sat on the joined chairs that made kind of a bench at her feet against the wall and started going through the Gospel with her, explaining that she would have to be perfect to go to Heaven, but she wasn’t.  That would leave Hell for her and everyone else too, so God became a man, Jesus, to live a perfect life for her.  I explained how Jesus was the source of all life and when He died it restored life to the world.  “You know how when someone does something cruel to you it kind of kills you a Little bit?”  She nodded and said, “Yeah.”  “Well, every time we sin we do that to people.  We create a little death in the world and in us. Jesus restores life where we have created death around us and in us, He pays for our sins with His blood.”  She said she went to church once in a while when she was a kid, but that her father was still very religious.  She said she prayed to God and asked for help sometimes.  I explained to her that what God wanted most from her and everyone is what anyone wants in a relationship, He wants us to believe Him and believe in Him and what He had done to take away her sins.  I asked her if she wanted to be forgiven and she said she did, so I took out the little booklet I have and showed her a prayer where she could have forgiveness and trust in Christ and walked her through the prayer, now laying next to her leaning on one arm on the floor. saying she could pray it right now like I wasn’t here and I got up and sat down again as she slowly read.  When she was done I said God forgave her sins.  I gave her my e-mail and talked to her about a book and she took Enjoying Your Walk With God and a bible study to read, and told her I would be praying for her all this year and next year.  I gave her knee a squeeze as I got up to go saying I thought God had sent me to her.  She reach up and squeezed my hand, smiling, and I said I’d see her in Heaven. She seemed really happy.

Towards the end of the day I found Brian, a black guy from South Africa, laying on the grass outside.  He had very short hair and a light mustache, very friendly.  I had said hi to a friend of his on a bench and he asked me about the Cubs and Sox since I had a Cubs shirt on.  We talked a bit and I asked him if he wanted to do a survey about God for a Bible Study Group.  He said ‘fine’ and I asked him some questions and went through the Gospel with him.  He had gone to church some, even lately, and had thought he was going to Heaven because, “I’ve been a good person all my life.”  I went through the Gospel with him and could tell it was news to him he had not heard b4.  He said he would like to be forgiven and I showed him the prayer but he said, “I will pray this on my own later.”  I said, “Do you believe that Jesus was God and died for your sins and rose from the dead so you can too and do you trust in Him to make you right with God?”  “Yes I do,” he replied.  So I shook his hand and said “Well based on your confession I can tell you God forgives your sin, hearing your faith.” He got a big smile at that and I gave him More Than a Carpenter to read and a bible study.  He gave me his e-mail when I offered to send him a story and I promised to pray for him.  So I will send him some stuff.

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

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I had a good day today of Bible Study, and we had some peeps come to that.  I taught through Isaiah 53, comparing it to Christ’s Passion events.  Ellen met one of the peeps for coffee and I walked about sharing the gospel.  Zach, the last person I talked to before I left, came to Christ.  He was sitting eating a sandwich just down the hall from where we have Bible Study.  He had brown hair and the first traces of some sideburns coming.  He had gone to catholic school as a child and hadn’t been to church much since.  But after I went through the Gospel with him he said he wanted to be forgiven.  I asked him if he believed the story of Christ and he said he did.  So I showed him a prayer he could pray and he did, then read on in the booklet.  I talked to him about the Holy Spirit and since he was into science I gave him a copy of The Case For a Creator to read and a Bible study.  Then I walked out the nearby door and headed to my truck feeling like I had escaped again.  Not a very good feeling, kinda like being hunted.  But hey that’s the story for now.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry, Bible Study and for evangelism today if you had a chance. God blessed our efforts.

Bob Bollow

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope you had a blessed day walking with the Lord.  I got on and off campus without legal incident and Kayla prayed to receive Christ.  She was sitting in the science building where I started out, since it was a few buildings away from where the cops hassle me. Also I got some peeps I chat up in there that hang out.  She was a cute kid, straight brown hair.  She hadn’t been to church since she was a little girl as her parents had stopped going.  But her boyfriend and her were getting serious and wanted to look into the things of God at a Bible Church some distance north of here where his family goes.  They were looking into pre-marital counseling in part.  She thought she had done everything the Lord had asked her to, but she did not know how her sins were taken away by Christ’s work on the Cross and so had not prayed to be forgiven based on what He had done for her.  But she prayed with me and I gave her a Bible study.  I’m sure people are praying for her at her boyfriend’s church, and I got to feel the benefits of that.  Periodically something like that happens where someone has just begun to be on the right track and is seeking God and I happen along at just the right time.  It’s really great because often there is not much I can do to follow up, though most are going to church, so I am grateful when I know they will be cared for.

I spent a while chatting up some of the lost kids I know, giving some advice with some Christianity blatantly put in.  I also chatted up a girl I am friends with who knows the Lord and is starting a new relationship with a guy who prayed to receive Christ last year so I was encouraging her in purity. It was a good day.

So thanks so much for your prayers for the Ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance and please pray for Kayla that she might grow in the faith.

Bob Bollow