Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Well, I hope if you are in Chicago you enjoyed the California like weather we’re gettin’ and feeling blessed — if you are in California, well hey you aren’t missing much.  So I had a great day today sharing the faith and 2 guys came to Christ, Eddie and Calvin.

Eddie was sitting at a table where a bunch of the peeps I bounce off of hang out.  They had migrated 25 feet into the lounge with the couches, which they do on occasion, and after chatting some of them up I walked out past Eddie sitting at the table alone.  He looked a lot like Jim Morrison who used to sing for the Doors if you can picture him–no other similarities thankfully, however.  Same mop haircut and very similar features.  He had some time to kill before class so we talked.  He was raised in Catholic School and had been reading through Genesis.  He asked me what God did not want man to find out in Genesis 10 and with the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  I explained that God was just trying to keep a group of people at Babel from organizing into greater acts of evil and defiance and destroying the world.  With the Tree, that God, being omnipotent, could know the difference between Good and Evil but humans being only good and finite only knew Good until they became Evil.  And God was keeping them from becoming evil in His forbidding them the eating of the tree.  I went through the Gospel with him and he believed and prayed to receive Christ.  I showed him all the books I had and he picked The Case for Faith to read.  We had a pretty long conversation and I got his e-mail to send him some stuff too and explained the Holy Spirit’s work in the Christian life.  He thanked me and said, “It was really great talking to you.”

Calvin was sitting eating at the counter in the cafeteria.  He’s the second black guy named Calvin to receive Christ this year.  He has very short hair, full features (looked a lot like Shannon Sharpe) and runs track and plays football.  He was a nice guy, and when I asked him why God should let him into Heaven he struggled for awhile, trying to make a list of good things he had done.  He said, “I am honest.  I try to keep others in mind when I can and I give to the poor.”  When that seemed inadequate, having said it he said, “Please.” He was a good guy, went to a Baptist Church, but though he knew the story of Jesus .  He knew he was supposed to “have faith” but was hard pressed to say what it had been for him and did not think he had been trusting in what Christ had done to forgive him after I explained the Gospel to him.  He wanted to pray to receive Jesus and he did, so that was great.  I explained to him, as I have to a lot of peeps, that Christians are not people who are good at being good, but people who are trusting in the power of God to live the Christian life by His Spirit.  I said that it is not our righteousness that makes us fit for Heaven but the righteousness of Jesus that is to our credit (imputation).  I said, “It is like if you were in a class with ten guys and you all were failing except one guy, Jim.  Jim was the teacher’s pet because he had done 2000 points of extra credit and loved the class.  One day your teacher comes in and says, ‘I have very sad news, Jim has died.  But I don’t want all his hard work to go for nothing, so I am going to give all his extra credit to you all.’  So she does that and then you all get A’s for the class.  The righteousness of Jesus is like that.  It is given to us who were failing and now we are made perfect.”  Calvin took More than a Carpenter to read and I got his e-mail too to send him some stuff.  He was grateful and shook my hand and I told him I would be praying for him.

So thanks so much for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance. The Lord blessed today by His Spirit and brought some peeps to Himself.

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
How was your day? It is purported to be the last cold day in Chicago.  So hey now if Jesus will come back I imagine Heaven is like California right?  And then I have seen my last winter.

I had a good day sharing, and two girls came to Christ.  Daniela, a Latino Catholic girl from West Chicago and Dijana (dianna) who is Eastern Orthodox.  Dijana said they speak “Mediterranean” at her church, that is an older tongue she often cannot understand (Greek maybe) but she said this as she got up to leave so I could not clarify.  She was a friend of my friend, Robie, who isn’t at school this year as he manages a store.  She’d seen me hanging out with him, so she was willing to talk as she waited for class to start on a bench seat on the edge of a lounge in the BIC.  Pretty girl, brown hair, shredded jeans and boots.  She did not think it was very likely she would go to Heaven, and when I went through the Gospel with her it was new to her.  Easter is coming up for them.  She said she would like to be forgiven and pray for Jesus to live inside her with His Holy Spirit, but wanted to make sure she was not committing to a different religion.  I explained to her Christianity was based on the forgiveness of sins by the blood of Christ, just as I had said, and the Orthodox church was too.  I explained the Eucharist based on the Gospel and she accepted this.  I don’t think she had been able to follow much of what had been going on at church.  But she received Christ and I gave her a Bible study and a booklet and More than a Carpenter to read.  So I hope she will grow in her faith at church and that through the Holy Spirit she will understand more what is being expressed.

Daniela is a shy girl but seemed happy, a nursing student.  She had brown hair and a pretty mole on her left cheek, smart.  She was happy.  She had an accent so she may have come to the US when she was older.  She was just sitting and snacking on what looked like salsa and chips at about 2:30 on a couch, just a bit down the hall from the bookstore.  She wanted to have a family and seemed really nice, like the person you would hope to get as a nurse if you were sick.  As I went through the Gospel with her, I asked her what God had done to forgive her sins and take away the sins of the world.  She could not think of anything and I said, “Well, it is by Jesus.” But that did not seem to register more, so I explained his death and resurrection and the imputation of his perfect life, as I had for Dijana b4 who hadn’t understood any more than Daniela had.  She said she would like to be forgiven and have God live inside her by His Holy Spirit and she prayed to do so.  I gave her a Bible as she did not have her own to read and she was interested in Science being a nursing student so I gave her More Than a Carpenter and a bible study on some of the Claims of Jesus to be God in the Bible.  I got her e-mail to send her stuff and invite her to Bible Study next year.

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

In Him,

Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Hope you were led by the Spirit today and blessed.  I had a good day of sharing with some peeps . Two black kids, a girl Lateisha prayed to receive Christ today and a guy Trinity professed faith.

Latetisha was sitting in the lunch room and did a survey with me.  She was tall 5’10” and nice looking with straight hair, kind.  She understood the Gospel but did not think she was going to Heaven as she did not want to trust in Christ as her Savior because she was still sinful.  I said everyone was, but it seemed she did not think she would have the strength to keep from sinning.  I suggested that if it was stuff she did dating that God could give her the strength to resist by the fruit of His Holy Spirit, and that without God’s help no one could live the Christian life.  We talked about it more and she said “Ok. I’m going to do it” and she prayer to give her life to Christ. She took The Case for Christ but then reconsidered, thinking about how much was on her plate and took the Student Edition of the book instead.  I gave her a Bible Study and got her e-mail to send her a story to read.  Please pray for God to give her spiritual strength to live for Christ.  She was waiting to be good enough, something I explained she would never be.  I know God can keep her and I promised her I would be praying for her.  Right afterwards, an older woman bureaucrat (she had a name tag on) started to give me grief about talking to people, but I just politely answered her leading question as if it was all I had time for and slipped away before she could lecture me about things that were not true anyway.  She had been eavesdropping on my conversation with Lateisha.  So please pray I could stay out of the grasp of people trying to get me in trouble at school, I just would rather not have to deal with them or have to be looking over my shoulder for some busybody or the cop they called.

I found Trinity, a guy on the track team (high jump triple jump long jump and 200 M) in the Science building. He was a nice looking guy, really short hair wearing a COD track hooded windbreaker, seemed suburban.  He had been raised in church somewhat, had not gone in a while, but more recently had returned to a private expression of faith, praying before meets and in the morning and asking for God’s help.  He felt he had seen God answering his prayers.  He hadn’t been focused on Christ or the Cross at all in his prayers though he had asked for forgiveness.  I helped him see the Gospel more and he seemed a bit unsure if that had been part of his mindset.  Christ hadn’t been in any of the responses to my questions and I showed him a prayer of commitment he could pray if he thought he had not really expressed thankfulness to God for the work of Christ on the Cross, or trusted in Him for the forgiveness of his sins.  He said, “Yeah, I think, I’ll do that.”  And we talked more about the Holy Sprit’s power to live the Christian life.  I gave him Enjoying Your Walk with God to read and a bible study.  Before I let him I asked, “Do you trust in the death of Christ on the Cross to forgive your sins and make you right with God?”  He said, “Yes I do,” and I shook his hand and said, “Well, the Bible says if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead you will be saved.  So you can count on that.  I’ll be praying for you.”  He thanked me and I was off.

Later I was answering some questions a Christian girl had about Jesus and the Bible.  Kathleen was a cute little button of a kid, had on a big poofed drivers cap, brown straight hair, a little quirky.  She went to a Roman Catholic Church but had given her life to Christ in faith.  Chris, a black athlete who I had talked to on Monday, slid about 3 spaces away onto the couch where Kathleen was sitting with her feet up on, caught my eye saying, “I read that booklet through all the way.”  I said, “Great did you pray?”  “I pray every day,” he replied.  “Yes,” I said, “but did you pray the prayer in the booklet?”  I had explained the Gospel to him but he had to run to class and seemed unfocused (almost ADD) so I gave Him the booklet, encouraging him to read it which he’d just said he had prayed and I said, “Great,” again.  And he stood up pulled up his pants and walked away before I really could say much more as I was tied up with Kathleen.  So I’ll keep him in prayer.  Also on Monday, a girl I had gone through the Gospel with last semester said she had prayed to receive Christ as well.  Allie, a cute African American girl.  She’d promised to pray later, as she had attracted a boy at the end of our conversation.  I’ve been praying for her some, but I did not know.  So that was good too.

So I will be praying for Lateisha and Trinity, Chris and Allie in the Hopes that God will keep them and draw them closer to Himself.

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

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Getting a bit-o sun by you I hope. It sprinkled here and then came out, and our cat is sucking it in in the doorway.  I had a good day today by the end of it.  I had discussions on Bombings, of course, and racism, religion and war all over.  Near 3 PM I was about ready to crash and the halls had emptied out, but then I came across Tessa sitting in the second floor hallway (waiting on her bf Richard, it turned out).  Tessa had very light brown, nearly blonde, long hair, pretty, smart.  She had a hooded sweatshirt on and the baggy print pants that look like PJ’s.  We talked for 20 minutes or so.  She thought of herself as “artsy” and she was a really nice kid.  Her parents had divorced and she went to what she described as a “Pentecostal church my aunt and uncle owned,” as a kid.  Then family issues ended that period.  For a while they went to Calvary over on rt. 59.  She did not go to church at present.  Asking her how God took away her sins and prompting her with something Jesus did, she didn’t have an answer.  So I explained the Gospel to her and it was novel.  At the end she said she wanted to have God live inside her and to be forgiven.  I showed her how she could pray to have that and she did.  I explained the Christian life to her, living by the Holy Spirit and offered her a book.  She wanted to read about science so I gave her The Case for a Creator to read and a Bible study on the Deity of Christ.  Her boyfriend walked up and I got his name and told them both I would pray for them.  I told her I would send her some info on epigenetics and got her email to send her stuff.

So that was a great way to end the day.  I talked to a Muslim friend and gave him a Bible today, so i hope he’ll be tempted to read it beyond the part I showed him.

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

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Hope you were blessed today. I had a good day on campus where David, a Roman Catholic, and Kalli came to pray to receive Christ.  David was sitting in a hallway on the first floor and was interested in doing a survey before class.  Good lookin guy with short brown hair.  He was from a Roman Catholic background.  He seemed like a nice guy and said he “liked to help people” as a reason he’d go to Heaven.  He understood that Jesus had died to forgive sin and thought he had a better than average chance of going to Heaven, but in talking through the Gospel he had not  been trusting in Jesus’ work on the cross to forgive him.  He decided he wanted to be in a relationship with Christ and prayed to do so. I gave him a Bible and More than a Carpenter to read and a Bible study on the Deity of Christ and quickly explained the Holy Spirits work.  The idea of receiving Christ was novel to him so I am hopeful my prayers for him will bring him closer to God by the Holy Spirit.  And that the book, and especially the Bible, will draw him in to the Father.  I take heart sometimes in Isaiah 55:11 “So shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”  This is one of those times, but I should take heart in it always.

Kalli was sitting on a bench upstairs and down the hall from where I had left David in the BIC building.  Nice kid, young looking, with braces and glasses and brown shoulder-length hair.  Her mom went to a Greek Orthodox church and her dad to one she described as “christian”.  She said she got to celebrate 2 Easters. (Ha, I think I would rather have 2 Christmases, but hey.)  A bit into going through the Gospel with her, after doing a survey, her friends walked up who had met me before at a book table.  Emily and Matt were Christians who I had bounced a few questions off of to see if they believed (a few months back when I met them).  They sat in on the rest of the Gospel and I made sure I had a brief overlap so they would hear it all.  Kalli hadn’t been able to remember how Jesus took away her sins and said, “I helped the needy” when I asked her why she’d go to Heaven, but a lot seemed to come back to her as I talked her through it.  I asked her if she thought she had been trusting in the work of Christ to forgive her sins and she wasn’t very sure, but then didn’t think she had directly asked.  And frankly, from interacting with her she had not been trusting in Christ.  So she decided she wanted to pray to receive Jesus and she did which was cool.  Then I offered her a book, and Emily and Matt each took one as well.  Kalli took the Student edition of The Case for Christ and Emily liked science and really liked to read so she took The Case for a Creator chiding the other two for being not much for reading as Matt took the Student edition of The Case for Faith.  I gave them all Bible studies and got their e-mails to send them stuff.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you got a moment.  God really blessed.
Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

How’s the life walking in the Spirit?  Well, I got a parking ticket today foolishly (so I paid to park today) but the Lord blessed the work anyway, though I was a scofflaw.  Fortunately for me, perfect obedience is not required for God to use the gifts of the Spirit ’cause I’ve never been perfect a day in my life.  But the perfect obedience of Christ is imputed to me.  Ambrosia, an African American girl, prayed to receive Christ.  And I had a couple convicting conversations and at least one discipleship one too where the student was really appreciative to learn about walking by the Spirit.

Ambrosia, a cute, round girl with glasses, was sitting at a table with Shay, a girl who had prayed to receive Christ at the beginning of December.  I did not recognize Shay since she was backlit as a silhouette and her hair was straight up in a pony tail.  But as I asked them to do a survey, her face appeared on a different angle and I recalled to her talking to her in the cafeteria.  She had found a Church, so that was good news and an answer to my prayers for her.  Our familiarity got Ambrosia to do the survey and interestingly she described herself as having a “pure heart”.  She attended church some, but the Gospel was somewhat novel to her, as it had been to Shay last semester.  After I had explained the work of Christ to her, she wanted to be forgiven for her sins and have God live inside her by His Holy Spirit.  So she prayed to receive Christ.  So that was really great. I got both of their e-mails.  As it turned out Shay had not checked the one she gave me b4. So I sent them both some stuff.  Ambrosia wanted to read Enjoying Your Walk with God, or at least try to.  She did not seem to be much of a reader, but the chapters are easy and short.  I told them I would be praying for them both.

So thanks so much for your prayers for the ministry and for the work of evangelism today if you had a chance.  God really blessed.

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Hope ya had a great day walking in the Spirit.  It got sunny and warm here by the end of the day. On campus, a black guy, Torrance, prayed to receive Christ with me in the cafeteria.

It was cool to bump into Torrance, as one of my friends (a girl from the Philippines) Sychar, had introduced him to me last week so we had some rapport.  It turned out we had talked for about 40 minutes last year and I had given him a book.  Today we talked more about his personal life and how he had felt more connected with God while in Catholic School, but it turned out really he had simply felt more religious.  He talked about how he confessed his sins to a teacher who would pray with him, or friends in the hope they would learn from his mistakes, and mostly they didn’t want to hear much about it.  He did not really feel it had made him feel any more forgiven, but he tried to learn and wring some good out of his mistakes.  By and large it was his own attempt to get over things and “move on”.  After I had gone through the Gospel with him, I asked him I, when he prayed for forgiveness, if he was holding in his heart or even the back of his mind that God would forgive him because of what Jesus had done to forgive him on the cross, or if he was just thinking God would forgive him because he was not that bad of a guy.  He said it was the latter and said he really had not included God’s Holy Spirit or power in the process of trying to live a Christian life at all.  I asked him if he would want to be forgiven based on what Jesus had done for him on the Cross and he said he would, and we both bowed our heads and he prayed silently.  I gave him the book Enjoying Your Walk With God and a Bible study to read through.  I’m sure I will see him around to encourage him.

I saw some other peeps today and I gave away a couple other books to those who were searching or just finding faith.

So thanks for your prayers for the Ministry or for evangelism today.  God really blessed.

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Hope you warmed up a bit today (60 finally in Chicago) wherever you are and walked by faith.  I had a good day of sharing the Gospel with students, and 2 students, Kaitlynn and Ryan, prayed to receive Christ as their Savior.

Kaitlynn was sitting on a couch not far from the bookstore on the 1st floor.  She has strawberry-blonde hair and is a bit heavy set.  She hemmed and hawed when I asked her if she wanted to do a survey but decided to do so.  She attended a church in West Chicago called Ginger Creek and knew some of the people I knew from there.  She thought she’d go to heaven because, “I deserved it,” so not the Biblical notion for sure and she said she did not know how God had taken away her sin.  I think it is possible in her youth group the teaching had not been very clear to her.  The Gospel seemed somewhat new to her and she said she wanted to be forgiven.  I explained how she could pray to do so, she mulled that over a bit and then said, “I’m going to do it.”  And she did and then continued to read the next page, so I wasn’t sure what was up.  So I asked if she had prayed and she said she had.  She did not want a book, saying she knew she wouldn’t read it. I got her e-mail though, to send her some stuff and gave her a Bible Study to go through.  I’ll be praying she grows in the faith.  We talked about the Holy Spirit some and about praying for those you could see had some issue or another, so I think she has a good start in her walk with God in Christ, by the Holy Spirit.

I came across Ryan sitting outside his classroom, listening to some music [I think] waiting for class to start.  He was painfully honest when I asked him why God should let him into heaven saying, “I’d probably say, ‘You shouldn’t.  I’ve been a bastard my whole life.'” I wouldn’t have pegged him for that.  He had glasses and brown hair with an orange Hedly T shirt on, really normal looking.  He was a bit closed, but I began to explain the Gospel to him and it became clear he had been turned off pretty badly by the Catholic Church.  But after hearing Christ had died for his sins, he wanted to be forgiven and so I took out a booklet and showed him a prayer he could pray if he wanted and he did.  He took a Bible study from me and The Case for a Creator, which is a good book, so that heartened me.  I explained the Holy Spirit to him saying, “A lot of people think Christianity is just people who are good at being Good.  But it is more like a bumper sticker I read once that said, Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven.  Christianity is about asking for God’s power that we would be better men.”

So 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,
Well, I hope you had a great day walking in the light.  I had a really interesting day at school, though no one came to Christ.  I went through the Gospel with quite a few kids and had 3 Black students flag me down and bring me over to explain Gay marriage and it’s issues to them.  I then went into the Gospel with 2 of the guys, walking them to class, and giving them each a booklet.  I think they were pretty tuned in but I ran out of time to bring it to a decision, so I’ll hope to bump into them again, Bobby and Brian.  I had the chance to explain love and Law and the societal impact of Gay marriage in response to one of the Peeps at a table I walk by, and the Spirit was really with me and it took well.  I had an Islamic guy stop me in the hall and ask me to explain Christianity to him and ask me 20 minutes worth of comparative religion questions.  I went through the Gospel with another Muslim guy who was really interested too.  So lots of productive conversations, seeds sown and other good stuff.

Thanks for your prayers today if you had an opportunity.

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
I had a great day of sharing today and I hope your day was one where you asked for His guidance and help by His Spirit all the day long.  Today 3 Black students prayed to receive Jesus:  2 girls, Taylor and Briesha, and a guy Jaylan.

Taylor has straight hair in kind of a pixie cut.  She was thin with glasses, short black boots.  She thought she had done a survey with someone before when I asked, so I said, “Did they ask you this question; You are walking down the road and you get hit by a bus, so you’re dead, and you stand before God and He says to you, ‘Why should I let you into heaven?’ What would you say?” First she said she hadn’t killed anyone and then trailed off into good works.  I said the Bible teaches something different and asked if she would like to know what it says . She said she would so I began to go through the Gospel with her.  The death and resurrection of Christ were not what she had been trusting in to make her right with God.  Much of the story seemed to be novel to her.  I told her all she needed to do to be forgiven was to ask, trusting in what Jesus had done for her in His saving work on the Cross, believing, and showed her a prayer she could pray.  She did and asked to keep the booklet.  I explained the work of the Holy Spirit to her in living the Christian life. She said she liked science and we were sitting in the hall of the science building (facing north) so I gave her The Case for a Creator to read.  She liked to read and was up for it.

Briesha had loose, curly hair long down on her shoulders with black glasses, thin, cute kid.  She wanted to adopt a lot of kids but didn’t seem to have any interest in ones of her own.  She went to an Apostolic Church, as did Taylor, and she had some familiarity with the Gospel.  But she hadn’t been trusting in it, saying as to why God should let her into heaven, “Because I tried to be the best I could be.”  So I asked her, after talking her through the Gospel, if she had been trusting in the death and resurrection of Christ to make her right with God.  She said some religious stuff, missing my point, so I prayed and asked her again a bit differently.  She finally understood my question and started to think and said, “Oh.”  Then thought some more and said, “Oh!”.  Thought a bit more, realizing and confessed she had not been trusting in that.  I explained that if she was not trusting in Christ’s work to save her she had not received Christ.  Then she prayed to receive Jesus.  She picked More Than a Carpenter to read and said she did not have her own Bible.  I gave her one and told her a good place to start was in John, explaining “Word” was a name for Jesus and then she had to run to class.

I went and put some more books in my satchel at my locker and came up the back stairs, cutting across the end of the lounge where we have Bible study.  Jaylan was sitting using a phone a bit and had his laptop open.  He said he’d do a survey and was a friendly guy.  He had large features and short hair, good looking guy, played football.  He had some familiarity with the Gospel but had had no idea if he was going to Heaven or not.  Still, he prayed each day (it seemed he prayed the Lord’s Prayer) though he hadn’t gone to church while at school.  He tuned in pretty well and asked some questions.  I asked him also if he had ever asked God to forgive his sins based on the work of Jesus or had been trusting in that.  Or did he just hope he was good enough and God was forgiving?  He said he hadn’t done that.  So I showed him the prayer and he asked if it was a different one than the prayer you pray every day, which through some hit and miss I discovered was the Lord’s Prayer as we said it together.  I said that prayer assumed he had already trusted in the work of Christ to forgive him of all his sins on the Cross a one point.  Seeing that he then prayed to receive Jesus as his Savior.  I explained the Holy Spirit’s work to him and he took the book Enjoying Your Walk With God to read and a Bible study and gave me his E-mail to send him stuff, so that was great.

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

In Him,
Bob Bollow