Hey sisters and Brothers in Christ,
We had a small group for Bible study again today and I had some good conversations with kids. Two girls had to run to class but seemed like they might receive Christ after they had more time to think through what I had said.  I really felt the Spirit in me as I spoke to them.   I explained to them that what they wanted most in a relationship with someone was to be believed, that they could believe the other person and would be believed themselves.  And that is what God wanted too.  For them to believe that He had become and man and died for their sins and rose again.
Hope, a Filipino guy, was having some struggles with his faith, as a biology major.  I talked him through some apologetic ideas on DNA and creation and told him he was being lied to.  He knew this, but he thanked me for “My talk” and was really encouraged.  I gave him a copy of a new book I got a few copies of really cheaply this summer on sale called: Creating Life in the Lab: How New Discoveries in Synthetic Biology Make a Case for the Creator and he was excited to read it.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and today if you had a moment for evangelism. I felt like some good seeds were planted and Hope was very encouraged so it was a good day

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Brothers and sisters in Christ,
How was your day walking with the Lord?  I had a great day sharing the faith with peeps at school and Ryan prayed to receive Christ.  He was a smaller, dark-complexion guy, stick straight dark-brown-almost-black hair and was raised Roman Catholic.  He seemed very shy and did not make much eye contact, but while we were talking I got him to smile a bit.  He had stopped going to church for no particular reason after junior high.  The Gospel rang true to him though as I was going through it, and he wanted to be forgiven for his sins.  We talked about the forgiveness the priest offered and I explained as I have b4 that the priest was like an insurance agent who, after selling you insurance for your car, did not pay for its repair after an accident, the company paid.  Similarly, the priest did not forgive your sins but offered you the forgiveness God provided in Jesus.  He prayed with me to receive Christ after I talked him through a prayer and asked him if that was, “the desire of his heart”.  I explained the fruit of the Holy Spirit to him and asking for power to live the Christian Life.  He did not have his own Bible at home so I gave him one and a Bible study to read on the Deity of Christ.  His class started then and he slipped inside.

I met with a girl at starbucks today, and chatted her up about school.  And I spent an hour or so chatting up some of the lost kids who sit at a table I roll by, so that was good to get reestablished with a few of them.

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

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
How was the start of your week? Hope you are walking in the Spirit and feeling blessed!  I had a great day of sharing today.  Two peeps prayed with me to receive Jesus, Kamera and Dontrel.

The first person I spoke with today, Kamera, was sitting with her niece and nephew who were smashed into a stroller made for one (they periodically argued while we talked).  She was sitting out on a bench waiting for the bus.  I guess she was babysitting.  She was a big person, not fat, just big and strong in stature for a woman.  Her stick-straight hair was in a bob cut and had several colors dyed through it, her complexion was scarred.  She’s African American.  Kamera thought she would go to Heaven because she was honest and said she believed. She was happy to talk with me and tuned right in, leaning closer to read the Bible verses I read to her.  She had not understood the Gospel, particularly imputation, and had not known how God took away the sins of the world [John 1:29].  Having explained the Gospel to her, she wanted to be forgiven and prayed to receive Christ.  I explained the work of the Holy Spirit in living the Christian life to her and offered her a free book.  She took a Bible Study from me and the book Enjoying Your Walk with God and I told her I would see her in heaven, so that was great.  I got her e-mail to send her some stuff.

Dontrel was sitting in the SSC lounge where we have Bible study and said he’d do a survey with me. He had an afro and a light beard.  Smallish guy for someone who played football.  He thought he would go to Heaven because he tried to do better each day.  He went to a church called Berean Baptist.  He knew Jesus died for our sins, and the Gospel seemed to come back to him to some point, but when I asked him if he had ever asked God to forgive him for his sins based on what Jesus had done or if he was trusting in that he said he really didn’t think so.  So he prayed to receive Jesus.  He didn’t read a lot he said but was into sports saying, “I’ll watch anything”.  He was really interested in the book I got to give out this year, Playing with Purpose.  It’s on the Christian testimony of several NBA players.  Unfortunately he had a class during our bible study, but I invited him to come if his class was ever cancelled. He took a Bible Study on the deity of Christ from me too and I got his e-mail to send him some things.

I had several other good conversations and one guy is going to e-mail me some questions about the Bible, another was struggling with doubts, no longer believing entirely, and he hadn’t understood the Gospel or been to church since January.  I gave him The Case for Faith and talked him through some stuff– so that was great,

Thanks for your prayers for Third Watch and for evangelism today if you had a moment. We are having a Bible Study start up tomorrow so please pray we’d get a solid turn out.  And if you wold please pray for Kamera and Dontrel that they might grow in the faith.

Blessings,

Bob Bollow

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I had a good day of sharing the faith today.  I encouraged a few peeps in their faith and nudged one guy a little closer, Lord willing, and helped a Lutheran Girl see where her trust and hope needed to be.  And a guy Mark prayed to receive Christ.  Mark was sitting in the hall in the science building, just kind of hanging, and was up for doing a student survey.  He had dishwater-strawberry-Blonde hair, easy going looking, bit of a beard just starting to show.  He had grown up Roman Catholic until he was 13, been an acolyte, gone to Catholic school and “heard it every day”.  But in high school he’d gone to West Chicago public school and “The atmosphere was different”.  Then his parents began to argue about religious things, his mom wanting to try a different church.  They tried one, but his dad he said somehow thought this was “like back-stabbing”, though he wasn’t sure what his dad had meant by that.  The end result was that they no longer attended Church at all.  When I asked him why God should let him into Heaven, he thought for a bit and said, “I don’t think I have an answer for that to be honest.”  He thought he’d have a 50/50 shot at Heaven.  I went through the Gospel with him and it rang true to his heart, and he said he would like to be forgiven and have God live inside him.  I asked him, as I often do, if he thought he had ever asked God to forgive him based on what Jesus had done.  He told me a story about wrestling with his 4 year old brother when he was 6, and how his kid brother’s arm had accidentally been dislocated.  He got spanked and his brother got his arm popped back into place by their pediatrician and came home with a teddy bear, so no big deal.  But he had felt bad and asked God to forgive him, so he knew he’d done it b4.  So I talked to him about asking God for forgiveness, consciously thinking that Jesus had paid for his sins on the Cross.  I used the analogy I sometimes use of meeting Derek Rose in a club and having a Bulls Cap on and him offering me a ticket to a game in his sky box.  I jump at it, and show up at the gate where he has left a ticket for “Bob” attached to his name.  “But, I say my name and when they ask me who left the ticket, I protest saying, ‘My name is Bob and don’t you have a ticket for me?'” The guys says, “Look we must have 50 ‘Bobs’ in here.  You gotta have the name of who left you the ticket.” I said, “So forgiveness from God is asking in the Name of the one who provides it.”  He saw the point and I went through the prayer with him.  I thought he would put it off when he said, “Can I have a copy of this?” meaning the booklet.  I said, “Sure.” But then he took the booklet and prayed to receive Christ.  I explained walking by the Spirit to him in living the Christian life by God’s power, gave him a Bible study and asked him if there might be a book he’d like to read.  He said he was majoring in science, so I gave him The Case for a Creator and I left him my e-mail.

So thanks for your prayers for the Ministry and for evangelism today if you had the chance. I am always so grateful for the prayers of God’s people.

May God Bless you today as you walk with Him,

Bob Bollow

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I hope you were blessed today walking in the Spirit.  We had a great day at the book table.  I got there about 7:45AM to pick up our advisors permission form and chat him up . He’s been our advisor for 11 years at school, great Christian guy.  Then I went home to get the stuff we’d packed and Ellen and we went back and got a table.  We thought we were not in the best spot, but the Lord led quite a few people over to sign up for the study that had the day and time open [Tuesdays noon – 1 PM].  And because we were in the middle of the lounge looking at the seating in the center, two black girls Aja and Shaya (as it turns out) were sitting right in front of us off to the left a bit.  Aja was a bit bigger girl curly hair and Shaya was smaller wearing tights and had stick straight hair, cute.  I asked them if they were interested in Bible study and Shaya held up a Bible and said she’d got one.  Another group gives out their translation of the Bible @ school.  The lounge is the size of a small gym and the ceiling goes up about 3 and a half stories, so it wasn’t too hard to have space.  But after a while I thought I should go over and go through the Gospel with them and see if they were believers.  So I said a prayer for help and guidance and walked over and started talking to them.  Shaya knew Jesus had died to take away sins and Aja {pronounced Asia} didn’t even know that, and Shaya was surprised when I said she was right.  I went through the Gospel with them and they both said they wanted to be forgiven for their sins.  I asked them if they had ever had a chance to ask God to forgive them for their sins based on what Jesus had done for them, and both of them said no . I walked them through the prayer and they were both eager to pray it.  They came over to the table and picked out some books to read.  I later brought them each a mini squirt-gun we were giving away.  I got their e-mails, so I will send them a story and gave them Bible Studies too.  We were talking about 15 or 20 feet from where we pull chairs together to have the Bible Study, so hopefully they will come.

So thanks so much for your prayers for the ministry and for the book table and our work today if you had a moment.  God really blessed and I was able to go through the Gospel with several people.

In Him,

Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
I hope you had a blessed day.  God was with me today and I could sense He guided me by His Spirit.  Two guys prayed to receive Christ today, Teddy and Misael.

Teddy was sitting reading the mythic book series about the “Lightening Thief” if you have heard of that one.  He said he’d read it 7 times — so he didn’t mind being interrupted to do a survey.  He’s a black guy about 5’8″, black and brown Afro.  Cheerful, he runs track and seems to kind of keep to himself, good sense of humor though.  He was sitting on a couch by the student activities office on the ground floor of the SSC building beneath where we have Bible study.  He’d been baptized, but he hadn’t known what it meant, as he had never in as many words asked God to forgive him of his sins based on what Jesus had done for him on the Cross. And he wasn’t really sure why he’d go to Heaven or not.  Evidenced of what he had been relying on was in that, when I asked him how likely it was he would go to heaven when he died, he said 60% explaining he hadn’t been to church in a while.  He really tracked with the Gospel though and believed.  He wanted to be forgiven and prayed to receive Jesus.  He wasn’t much of a reader but I got his e-mail and gave him a Bible study.  He thought he might come to the study on Tuesdays this year, so that was great.

Misael is a Roman Catholic guy.  Dark, close-cropped hair, with a few moles here and there.  He seemed really serious when we went through the Gospel. He was a “math geek” and seemed like a nice guy.  He said he wasn’t, “a big sinner.”  And he went to church but he hadn’t really understood the Gospel.  When I asked him if he had ever asked God to forgive him of his sins based on what Jesus had done for him on the Cross he just shook his head “no”.  So I explained the prayer to him where he could receive God’s forgiveness and asked him if he’d like to pray it “like I wasn’t there” and he shook his head “yes”.  So I handed him the booklet and he prayed to receive Jesus.  I explained the Holy Spirit to him as I always do, and he said he wasn’t “much of a reader” when I offered him a book.  But I did give him a Bible Study on the Deity of Christ to read through, got his e-mail to send him a story, and said I would pray for him.  He asked me my name again and I told him and said I would pray for him and he said, “Thanks Bob.”

So hey pretty great day.  Only one other person I talked to wasn’t a Christian already.  I encouraged a couple of them in the faith and went through the Gospel with them anyway encouraging them to tell someone else..

We’d be grateful for your prayers for the Clubs and Activities day tomorrow to be sure we get a table to give out books and share the faith a bit and to help get the Bible study goin’.

Thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you got the chance.  God really blessed today and I’m truly grateful for your help.

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Hope ya had a great day walking in the Spirit!  I had a good day.  The first girl I had a conversation with came to Christ, Samantha. She was sitting at a table on second floor at the railing overlooking the science building lounge and lucky for me was really sick of her science homework.  Long brown hair, parted down the middle, tanned complexion.  She was playing a bit with her cell phone and hemmed and hawed when I asked her if she wanted to do a survey with me.  But the Lord led her and she asked, “How many questions? How long will it take?”  I told her 7 minutes, but we ended up talking longer.  I could tell from things she said she was from a Roman Catholic background.  I sat across from her and she listened carefully and tuned right in.  She had been through a lot of stuff, said she’d felt like she’d suffered, “Since I was young.” as a reason she should be let into Heaven. I think that might be one of the few times I have gotten something along those lines and the student was not bitter.  She’d lost her mom under some mysterious circumstances. “I’d like to find the truth out about my mom,” was all she’d really say about it.  But she said she wanted to be forgiven when I had finished going through the Gospel.  And she prayed with me.  I began to explain walking by the Holy Spirit to her and her friend walked up but quickly excused herself and went to the bathroom I believe.  I offered her The Case for a Creator but it turned out she didn’t like science.  But she took a Bible Study from me and the book Enjoying Your Walk with God. When her friend came back it turned out she was someone who had prayed to come to Christ in the spring 2012 and I had given her The Case for a Creator. So that was cool.  When I left Samantha said, “Thanks Bob,” and smiled so that was great.

Next week Wednesday we have a clubs and activities day table and due to construction a lot more peeps will be rolling past our table so hopefully some of the kids will stop by as 4 have come to Christ this year.

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

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
I hope you had a blessed day . I had a good day on campus.  Met for lunch and to chat with one of our peeps, Michelle, who is a real sweetheart, and two students came to Christ.

Christine was sitting on the floor in the science building. Blonde straight hair, maybe 5’5”, no makeup. Quiet hard working kind of girl, very reserved, though I got her to laugh a couple times. She had come once to a Bible study a year ago though I was hard pressed to remember her.  But she remembered me and did a student survey with me.  She thought she would go to Heaven because she was “An all around good person and had never maliciously hurt anyone.” So good works basically.  She went to Calvary, a large church out on Rt. 59 west of our house.  The Gospel seemed novel to her, however, as I went through it .When I asked her if she had ever asked to be forgiven based on what Jesus had done she said she hadn’t.  I read through the prayer with her and read the little line, “Is this the desire of your heart?”  She said it was and she said she would like to pray later.  So I asked her, “do you trust in what Jesus has done for you on the cross to make you right with God?”  She said, “Yes.” And I said, “Well, that is all that matters then right?” and she got a big smile on her face.  So hopefully she will come to Bible study again.

Sae was sitting in a lounge bench on the hall on the first floor beneath where Starbucks is on the second floor.  She’s African American, really matter of fact.  Large loosely curled hair and a long face with kind of straight features.  I had a hard time getting her to react much or crack a smile.  She had described herself in three words (one of the survey questions) as shy sweet and resentful.  She did seem a bit glum.  She had no assurance of Salvation but she went to church.  She knew some bible facts and interjected them here and there and I was a bit surprised, as Christianized as she seemed, that when I asked her if she had ever asked to be forgiven based on what Jesus had done for her she just flatly said, “No.”  So I walked her through the prayer and asked her if she would like to be forgiven and she said she would and I said something like, “Well, you could pray right now and ask for forgiveness, like I am not even here, quietly in your mind.  God is like a girl, He likes to be asked.”  She agreed to pray and I looked down as she did and when she was done she said, “Ok.” And she seemed to brighten.  She said she actually had all the books I was offering her but she took a Bible study and I said we’d have a book table up next week on Wed and she could look and see if I had any books she might want.  She smiled at that and I could tell she was different.  So hopefully we’ll connect again, I told her I would be praying for her.

So thanks so much for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism if you had a chance today.  The Lord was with me and guided me.

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Well, I had a good day of sharing the faith today with several nominal Christians and a couple believers and a few of the lost.  I went through the Gospel with 11 students in all, and bumped into a couple kids who had come to Christ the previous year and told them I was praying for them.

Mid-day, Michelle believed on Christ.  She was sitting on the floor around a short hallway on the second floor of the BIC building.  She said she’d do a student survey with me and we chatted.  Cute kid, tall brown shoulder length hair.  She had been raised catholic and described herself as a faithful believer who believed God had a plan for her life.  She went to a small bible church every Sunday with her mom.  But when I asked her if she had ever asked God to forgive her for her sins based on what Jesus had done she said she had gone to confession once as a child and asked for forgiveness.  I explained what the priest offered her was based on what Jesus had done and having explained the Gospel encouraged her to pray for forgiveness trusting in the work of Christ, going through the prayer with her.  She said she would and prayed to receive Jesus.  So that was great.  I gave her a Bible study and the Student Edition of The Case For Faith.  I invited her to a Bible study and explained the Holy Spirit to her. So I will keep her in my prayers.

Thanks so much for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism if you had a chance today. I had some good conversations and encouraged some peeps a bit closer to faith, I hope, who were lost. I know God was leading me today.

In Him,
Bob Bollow

“He says, It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant; 

To raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel;  

I will also make You a light of the nations, 

So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”  Is. 49:6

 Hey Friends,

How is your  summer going?   We have been plugging along.   I’ve had a bit of painting work, a rare thing in this economy, and we had a BBQ this past weekend.  About half the kids that came were College of DuPage students I have gotten to know over the past year.   Some of the peeps are not Christians, so it is good to strengthen our relationship with them and give them some food, love on them a bit and plug into their lives and relationships.    The kids that came were from the Philippines, Assyria and India, and it made me think of the verse above speaking of Jesus who is “a light to the nations” and then living in us we become “the light of the world” [Matt. 5:14].   I can’t bring Jesus to these places, but there were wayward students from these places in our backyard on Memorial Day, eating and playing bags.   God’s salvation is reaching the ends of the earth.   A Coptic girl from Egypt, Youstina, received Christ this year as did two Serbian Orthodox students: Jennifer and  Zdravko.  A Greek Orthodox girl, Dijana, prayed to receive Christ this spring.   Danni came to Christ this year.  She’s from the Philippines and is in an evangelical Church.   Rosette, who prayed to receive Jesus, is an African American student from France.  Jose’, from Spain, also came to Christ this year.   9 others were Latino.  55 were African American.   Most of these peeps are Americans, or hoping to become Americans, and from the perspective of Isaiah whom God is speaking through above, America itself is the “ends of the earth”.   By the end of the school year, 99 students prayed with me to receive Christ, and 4 committed to Christ, saying they would pray later.    I pray for others each night who I hope were close.  Matt was a typical suburban white kid, the first conversation I had last fall.   He believed in God and had grown up Lutheran, but was struggling with the claims of Christ.   I talked to him awhile and gave him The Case for Christ to read.   Later in the Fall I saw him and he came over to tell me faith was “Percolating” in him and he was beginning to believe.   I don’t know if he came to Christ, but I am prayerful God will bring him to Himself.  Facebook keeps me in touch with some of the students and also e-mail.

We gave away well over 100 books & bibles to new believers, Atheists and Muslims who showed enough interest to take a book from me.  We also discipled a few peeps at school.   We’ll hang out with some of the kids through the summer when we can, and get a bit of rest.   It is our hope and prayer that these students will more deeply be led by the Holy Spirit into an evangelical faith and find a community of faith they can connect with regularly .  Sometimes the next part of their sanctification will occur slowly, but several of the students who received Christ with whom I was able to hook up with later said they had found a church.   Most are attending a church when God leads me to them and were trying to be good people.  They just did not know Jesus died for their sins or they had not as yet trusted in Him.   Some of them are going to a Catholic Church, but I take heart that some of these churches are led by priests who have discarded the most destructive of Roman Catholic Doctrines and teach that faith alone saves us.   Two stories I often tell led me to think this.   Two years ago, after going through the Gospel with a Roman Catholic student, he said, “Yeah, I know all those verses.  You sound just like my priest.”   “Your priest has used these verses?” I asked.  He said yes and that he and 7 of his friends were in a bible study with his priest, who as far as I could tell was an evangelical Christian.   Then a couple years back I heard Presbyterian Theologian RC Sproul say he has received offers to debate Roman Catholic priests on the Biblical Doctrine of Salvation by Faith alone.   It has proved difficult, however, to find a Roman Catholic priest who takes the Historical Roman Catholic position, wherein the priest believed religious works contributed to the saving faith of the believer.  In one debate, the priest apologized to Sproul at the intermission, saying he believed as Sproul did, that faith in Christ alone saved us.  But if he said that at the debate his Bishop would find out and he’d be in trouble.

So in doing Evangelism we are abiding in the hope that truth-faith comes by an act of God as someone hears His word [Rom. 10:17].  Then the Holy Spirit enters the believer and begins to produce Sanctification (which is by the Spirit, 2 Thessalonians 2:13) drawing them into a closer walk with Christ.

These are the students who have prayed to receive Christ this 2012-2013 school year (an * means they committed but did not pray with me)

Matt*, John, Mary, Antuan, Carson, Chris, Kevin, Kenya, Alex, Jorge, Alex, Jen,

 Araina, Tival, Tatiana, Derrick, Devontae, Mike, Ledonte, Jose, Jesse, Bijan,

 Tywan, Jerv, Amber, Kim, Thalia, Roy, Julian, Justice, Anthony, Bianca, Jake, Allie,

 Grace, Romeo, Martha, Shaq, Leron, Kameron, Youstina, Jennifer, Cendy, Zdravko,

 Nate, Mayra, Tanisha, Rosette, Shay, Nana, Desire, Delet, Mesha, Randy, George*,

 Dionne, Tomika, Anthony, Jonathan, Danni, Calvin, Damian, Wade, Marquis, Viviana,

 Austin, Mike, Mark, Markus, Josh, Melissa*,Ewelina, Quincy, Parish, Mike, Alex,

 Marco, Shonika, Tim, Manny, Jose, Nick, Diamon, Monsi, Elvis, Brian, Taylor,

 Briesha, Jaylan, Kaitlynn, Ryan, Torrance, Ambrosia, David, Kalli, Tessa, Lateisha,

 Trinity*, Chris, Daniela, Dijana, Eddie and Calvin

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and financial support.  We would not be able to bring the Gospel and reach into the lives of these students without it.  We are blessed by your partnership with us.  God responds to the prayers of His people.

In Him,  Bob & Ellen