Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
I had a pretty good day today encouraging some Christians and going after some cultists.  The new cult on campus I might have mentioned is pushing the “Mother goddess” who is some chick in Korea.  They walk around with Bibles, distorting the passages in a way no one who ever wrote a commentary in the history of biblical scholarship possibly could and sucking kids in.  So today I was sick of it and took them down a few pegs and warned them they were under judgment for distorting the word of God.  I kept one guy from getting sucked in and laughed at their blaspheme for effect.  You can’t be harsh doing evangelism as a rule, and I never would be talking to students, but hey, I took out the bat and smacked a few over the fence on them.  I hope God was in it.  I was a bit ticked, not a good sign I suppose.

But hey, Shaq came to Christ today.  Not the Hall of Fame Basket ball player unfortunately, that would have been cool.  Just a tall black guy with braces on his teeth.  Pretty sure he is not an athlete either, I think it might have just been wishful thinking for his mom.  I had to talk him through the idea of forgiveness by claiming the name and work of Jesus Christ.  But he prayed to receive Christ with me and I gave him More than a Carpenter to read and got his e-mil to send him stuff.  I meet a lot of people too who have prayed in some way to receive Christ and have no idea of the atonement.  I wish I could say this was a mystery to me, but the truth is I have heard alter calls a dozen times offering a relationship with God, or to accept Christ, never mentioning the Cross.  I have heard this on Christian radio too and at a Christmas service a few years ago at one of the largest churches in my immediate area.  You are not saved if you think you are going to Heaven because you are good and don’t seem to know why Jesus died, and never think about it when asking for forgiveness.

So thank you for your prayers for the ministry and today if you had a chance.  Please pray I would be wise with my words on campus.

In Him,

Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Thanks for your prayers for the ministry and today if you had a chance.  I had a good day of talking with students and two peeps, Romeo and Martha, prayed with me to receive Christ.  I also got to talk a long time with two students I have been praying for; an Indian girl from a Muslim family and a guy who is part Philippino and part Chinese, I believe.  Those were good conversations I think God was in.  She is a Psych major and is taking a Philosophy class. Hearing students talk about the content of their Philosophy classes can make me wish I was teaching them.  She had almost a Hindu idea of life returning to “The Universe” after death absent reincarnation.  I talked to her about the latin phrase in Philosophy “ex nihilo nihil fit” meaning “out of nothing nothing comes.”  But I think it struck home with her that she needed God for values and morals as we spoke and she ended on theism. I will be praying she comes the rest of the way to Jesus.

Romeo is a black guy, braids, was sitting with some friends one of whom was a Christian.  They all listened well to the Gospel though, and I talked them up a bit too after Romeo had prayed to receive Jesus, giving all of them More Than a Carpenter to read. He hadn’t understood the Gospel before.  Romeo thought of himself as a christian, but had never asked God to forgive his sins based on the work of Christ to save him.  But he has now, and has believed in the Name of Christ . He was going to church, though, so I think his faith will take root.

Martha is Roman Catholic, pretty brown haired girl and said she did not go to church as much as she should.  She hadn’t understood anything of the Gospel but ate the word right up and believed . I encouraged her to pray to accept the forgiveness of Christ for her sins and she did with me. She had to run to class, but I gave her More Than a Carpenter to read and a Bible Study on the deity of Christ.

So please pray for Romeo and Martha if you get a chance and the peeps I talk to from time to time that they might come.  Thanks so much for your prayers, I am grateful.

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Well, I hope ya had a great day today.  I had a really good day of sharing and encouraging Christians in the Christian life.  Grace came to Christ today.  She was sitting in one of the cubbyhole benches on the second floor of the science building overlooking the lounge.  Several people have come to Christ there, so it is a fortuitous place to sit.  It was a little after 2 PM and she seemed in no hurry, so I went through the gospel with her telling her everything I could think of.  She took it in like a sponge and was really interested.  She had brown hair, artistic.  Looked like a girl who used to go to Elmhurst college, Emily.  A really nice sweet kid, she goes to St Francis but did not know how God took away her sins.  She was up for praying to receive Christ and did with me after I finished going through the Gospel.  I explained the Holy Spirit to her and the Mass as remembrance and gave her a Bible to read, as she did not have one of her own.  She said she liked to read so I gave her a copy of The Case for Faith which has an outline of the arguments for The Case for Christ in the back. I  got her e-mail to send her stuff, which I did tonight, and will be praying for her.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry if you have had a chance.  As I’ve mentioned I always am doing evangelism on Mondays but painting has trailed off again and will be Going Out more this week.

Thanks so much for your prayers.

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Thanks for your prayers for the ministry of evangelism.  Today Jake came to Christ.  He was sitting in the science building.  Talkative white kid, slender short hair, went to Catholic Church Christmas and Easter primarily.  He said he kept a rosary in his car and prayed regularly.  He was talkative, a great kid.  Saved his friends life once.  His dad is a truck driver and he said his mom has a Bible study in her house.  I wouldn’t be surprised if his mom was praying for him.  He had prayed for forgiveness sometimes but had no knowledge of the Gospel or of how God took away his sins.  I went through the Gospel with him and explained asking God for forgiveness based on what Jesus had done for him, which he had never done.  He prayed to receive Christ with me.  He was really into science and I gave him a copy of The Case for a Creator.  His friends had walked up and cut the end of the conversation short so I’m hopeful to talk him up again sometime.
I had a couple other good conversations one with a lapsed Catholic, Fred, and also with a black girl Allie.  Allie said she would pray later as we had an attentive spectator, a kind of geeky white kid.  She was cute and nice and he seemed eager to talk to her and had walked up on us later.  She had prayed for forgiveness b4 but never in the name of Jesus thinking about His work.  She was a big Bears fan, and of Cutler the quarterback, so I used the analogy of meeting him at a club and being offered a skybox ticket in a box he’d rented for out of town friends.  All she had to do was go to the gate and give her name and tell who had provided the ticket.  “But what if you went to the gate and gave your name and wouldn’t say who gave it to you?  Without Cutler’s name you can’t get the ticket.  Your name is not enough.  The person at the gate would say, ‘I could have 15 Allies reserved, you need the name’.  Heaven’s like that.  You have to trust in the name of Christ and His provision for you to get in.”  “Something just clicked when you said that,” she responded. Which was a bit of Déjà vu.  That’s the second time someone said that to me this semester.  I think she understood and she kind of emphatically promised me she would pray so I hope she will.
So thanks for your prayers for the ministry if you had a chance of late.  I’m sorry I did not get an e-mail out this morning I was studying for the Bible study and lost track of the time before running to school.
In Him,

Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
I had a great day of sharing after Bible Study today. 4 Peeps came to Christ: Julian, Justice, Anthony and Bianca.

I looped around after coming up from our student group locker to stash the Bibles. [Yes, we have a student group locker so we have hit the big time and I save 50 cents a day now that it is colder on a place to toss my coat]. There is a woman in the SSC lounge (it is the largest one in the school right by Starbucks, it is the size of a small gym) I discovered much to my chagrin on Friday, that does not think I am allowed to initiate conversations with students.  It is impossible to have a rule about this if you think about it.  It would mean anyone from the public who uses the library could not ask a student where the bathroom is.  They have no policy on this, some people just act like they do. I prayed all summer that the women who sat at the info table in the SSC would be replaced as they kept calling the cops on me last year for no reason at all. I finally took a class so I could say I was a student. (I might again next semester, got any suggestions?) The old women at the desk were gone in the fall. Now there is a new desk nazi to deal with who hassled me Friday.  Ha, but she faces the stairs so I came into the lounge behind her back and found Justice sitting around talking with Julian.  I asked him if he wanted to do a student survey, (which is actually a questionnaire) but he said he already had. So I asked him his name, not remembering we’d spoken, and when he told me it was Justice I knew it hadn’t been me. So I said, “What did you say to this question? You’re walkin’ down the road, 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?” Julian heard the question too and they both had nothing so I said, “Ok, how does God take away your sin.” Justice said, “Repent, you repent.” I said, “Yeah, but what is the big thing God does to take away your sin?” Blank looks. “What washes away your sin?” I tried the colloquialism and that triggered Anthony who was standing around eavesdropping. “His Son dies on the cross!” He said with enthusiasm. “That’s why there are the nail prints in his hands and feet!” Now he is preaching to the other guys but they are not really paying attention to him.  So I said to Julian and Justice, who were still kind of struggling genuinely with the question, “You guys don’t know how to get to Heaven right?” They admitted they didn’t. “Well, do you want to know?” They said they did, so I sat on the ground in case someone looked over from the desk I would be blocked from sight by a bunch of football players. I went through the Gospel with them, not quite realizing Anthony had taken a chair behind them to continue to eavesdrop. Both of them wanted to pray to receive Christ and as they were praying Anthony asked over their shoulders, “Can I have one of those?” talking about the booklet.  I watched him and he was reading some of the pages, which I don’t read except the bible verses so these would provide a different angle on the Gospel just a bit.  But I had handed it to him with the page open to the prayer I had walked the other guys through and after a minute asked him if he had prayed.  He’d been reading a page and said, “Oh yeah.” And he prayed to receive Christ as well. Justice and Julian said they did not read much, not wanting a book, and I talked about the Holy Spirit and living the Christian life.  Julian left his seat so Anthony moved into it and I offered him a book. He wanted one and the description made Justice want a book too so I gave them both a copy of More than a Carpenter.  I gave them my contact email as they wouldn’t let me send them anything. So pretty great, God just lined the whole thing up. And I slipped out of the lounge.

I talked to some other peeps and then was feeling pretty spent by 3 PM, but I thought I would talk to one more student if I could.  I went through the tunnel to the SRC and found Bianca and Dina sitting together looking like best friends with Dina’s head on Bianca’s shoulder.  Both looked Latino, seemed like sweet girls.  Dina didn’t want to talk but just to listen and she encouraged Bianca to do a survey.  She’d been to a Baptist Church a few years before for a time but her father had gone to prison and it seems like some things had changed from that.  She said she would tell God if He asked her why He should let her into heaven, “Because I learned to forgive.”  She thought she had a 50/50 chance to go to Heaven and had a tender heart, but had not understood Jesus had died for her sins.  When I finished going through the Gospel with her she wanted to be forgiven and prayed to receive Christ. She wanted to look at all the books I had and took, The Case for Faith. Dina would not take a book but said to Bianca, you can read it to me. I got her e-mail to send her some stuff.

So thanks for your prayers today for the ministry if you had a chance.  I’ll always go out to do evangelism on Mondays after Bible Study.  God blessed me today it was fun.

The election is coming up soon, don’t forget to be asking for God to have mercy on our country, we are in a bad place.

In Him,

Bob Bollow

Hey Brothers and Sisters,

Thanks for your prayers for the ministry or for evangelism today if you had a chance. Two people, Thalia and Roy, prayed to receive Christ today. Thalia was sitting by the revolving doors near the bookstore. (I had just walked Ellen to the door after Bible study to head to the office and walked right by her and turned to talk to her.) She has naturally curly brown hair, pretty. Her mom was a pastor at some kind of Church and she went to another once in a while.  But like many college kids, she had work conflicts and time crunches. She did not get there much. She did some online studies with YouVersion.  At first I thought she had received Christ as she said she would say, in part, to God if she died, “You’ve forgiven all my sins”. But she did not really know how God too away her sins and though she seemed familiar with the gospel story she had not really trusted in it. She had a hard time with some issues. One was people going to hell who followed a different religion and the other was the idea of Satan and his influence on us. I began to explain how the Bible says our influences are God, the world, the flesh and the devil and that the satanic world used the world around us to distraction and our own sinful nature and God even used Satan. Somewhere in the midst of just saying some stuff that the Bible said, she said all of a sudden, “Something just kicked there” and the Holy Spirit had worked in her heart.  I talked to her about receiving Christ and pointed out from some of the stuff she had said she really hadn’t really been trusting in what Christ had done and she finished the sentence, “received Him yet”. I agreed and I walked her through the prayer and she prayed with me. I spoke with her more, explaining the Holy Spirit.  She was really open to the things of God and I gave her The Case for Faith and a Bible study and got her e-mail to send her some stuff.

Roy was a bit older guy, 30 maybe.  He was sitting at a table in the Lounge where we have Bible study, texting. When I asked him something he wanted to do before he died he said, “Get my soul right.” Turned out he did.  He did not think he would go to heaven when he died, that he “didn’t have enough straightened out.”  I went through the Gospel, as he had not know how God took away his sin or understood about receiving Christ.  When I asked him if he had ever asked God to forgive his sins based on what Jesus had done, he said he hadn’t, but wanted to be forgiven.  I walked him through the prayer and he prayed with me to receive Jesus.  I explained the role of the Holy Spirit and gave him a book to read.  His wife walked up, Sherice, and I asked the nature of their relationship and then gave her a booklet and having given him More than a Carpenter I gave her the student edition of The Case for Christ to read.  I had gotten his e-mail to send him stuff too.

So please pray for growth for Thalia and Roy and for his wife Sharice, that she might receive Jesus if she has not.

I’m grateful for your prayers today or whenever you might have a chance.

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Hope your day was blessed. I had a good day of sharing the faith today and two girls, Amber and later Kim, prayed to receive Jesus as their Savior.

Amber was sitting on the stairs by the bookstore waiting for a ride and is Puerto Rican by heritage and wanted to go back to visit there. She was really shy, dark hair and complexion. But I got her to laugh a few times and when I asked her what she would say to God as to why He should let her into Heaven she said, “I need forgiveness.” She went to church sporadically but did not know how God took away her sins and had never prayed to receive Jesus as her Savior. She wanted to pray to receive Christ when I invited her and she did. She did not have her own Bible at home so I gave her one to read and a Bible study. So I will be praying for her.

Kim was sitting on one of the shelf seats overlooking the lounge in the science building on the second floor. Pretty, thin, brown haired girl, black military style boots on with her black jeans tucked in them. Kim has the longest eyelashes I remember ever having seen on a student. She worked Sundays but her catholic family went to church periodically. She knew she had done things wrong but said, “I don’t think I’ve done anything to the point where I wouldn’t be allowed into Heaven. She listened to the Gospel and decided to pray to receive Christ also. I gave her More Than a Carpenter to read.  I’ll be praying for her as well.

Jerv came to Christ last week Monday. His friend was at a table in the Student Services Center Lounge where we have Bible Study. He started talking and then took a phone call, but Jerv wanted to do a survey in his absence. Gap-toothed smile with braids, he was a nice guy. He was from Rwanda.  Both his parents were dead and he lived with his Auntie. He attended Church but did not understand the Gospel of Grace through Christ. He prayed with me to receive Christ, but his friend, having come back and heard it, decided to think about it.

So thanks so much for your prayers for the ministry or if you had chance today. God answered them and please say a word for Kim, Amber and Jerv that they might grow in strength of faith.

In HIm,

Bob Bollow

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Well, we had Bible Study today and Felicia, a girl who prayed to receive Christ last year came afterwards and had a piece of Pizza (a recent attempt to attract more bodies we’ll drop since no one eats it, ha) and went around with me for a few hours doing evangelism. She is from the Ivory Coast and likes to come along so we talked though the Gospel with a few people and Tywan came to Christ. Tywan is a big black dude who was sitting at a table with a couple other students.  It was a little hard to navigate the conversation since one kid, Jenny, was a little over the top, but I managed to calm her a bit and could tell Tywan was interested. He prayed with me and took a Bible study. He goes to Church every Sunday, but did not know how God took away his sins. Another of the guys, Kajai, wanted to think about it and took a booklet, as did Jenny in the end.

Thanks for your prayers for the ministry. Please pray for Tywan if you get a chance to grow in his faith. I have some painting work to catch up on the rest of the week, I’d be grateful for prayers for stamina since my business has pretty well vaporized and I need to climb some ladders.

Blessings in Christ,

Bob Bollow

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I hope you had a great day. My day went good.  I had some great conversations and 2 guys, Jesse and Bijan, came to Christ today. Jesse was sitting in the science building and went to church at Calvary in Naperville, but he was trusting in his good works and self effort to go to heaven. He decided he had not asked God to forgive him based on the work of Jesus on the cross and prayed to receive Christ. He took a Bible study from me and More than a Carpenter to read and I got his E-mail to send him some stuff.

Bijan is from Michigan and came here to play football. He got here late in the semester and is a quarterback so he is sitting out a year. His Uncle and Auntie have a ministry they just began where he is from, and he went to church there but he did not know how God took away his sins and had not prayed to receive Jesus. Bijan said he wanted to be forgiven for his sins and prayed professing his faith in Christ. I gave him the Student Edition of The Case for Christ to read and a Bible study and got his e-mail too.

So thanks for your prayers today, God blessed through them. Please pray for Jesse and Bijan to grow in their faith, and if a guy named Bijan is in the NFL one day might be him. 🙂

Thanks again.

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Well, I only got to go through the Gospel with 2 peeps yesterday because we had Bible study.  But one of them, Jose, came to Christ, who was sitting on a bench outside the lounge where Starbucks is.  That was such a good straight conversation of the Gospel with a guy who wanted to know God and took More than a Carpenter from me to read.

I guess that was consolation for today, where no one came to Christ and I spent a third of the day talking to moral relativists.  “What kind of moral relativist?” you may ask. The kind where you are a moral coward to the point where you are unwilling to say Child Rape is definitively wrong. The kind where everyone gets what they want when they die; Yes, including Hitler who will be in an Arian Kingdom where he gets to kill Jews, (I know because I asked), I was told, “If that is what they believe who am I to judge?” Well, when ya got that little of a moral compass and can talk yourself repeatedly into a logical corner with no thoughtful change of tack — I got nothing for you. I just wish it did not take 40 minutes for me to finally give up.

Another guy was basically in the same place and with scientific reductionism believed we were all just results of chemicals in our brains. By the way they know almost nothing about the brain, guess nothing conclusive about its evolution ( which does not lead them to think it can’t have happened but should) and the honest Evolutionists admit there is a poor fossil record and we cannot be sure any of them is in line with us in our ancestrally. But if all your science teachers and some lectures at Fermi lab have told you otherwise hey, why believe me.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2008/feb/19/thedistinguishedbiologistpr

So hey, hopefully there will better news tomorrow, maybe it planted a seed.

Thanks for your prayers. They kept me from screaming 🙂

In Him,
Bob Bollow