Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
I hope your day was truly blessed and I pray that it was as I write this. The last person I talked to today came to Christ.  Ledonte was leaning against the wall using his backpack as a prop on the ground floor of the SRC building. He did a survey with me. He basically did not think he was a bad person and hoped in that for Heaven, but I think the gospel sounded familiar to him. He went to church in Glen Ellyn. He had not asked God to forgive him of his sins based on Christ’s work on the Cross. As I was finishing going through the Gospel with him he had to head for the bus, so we walked together and he prayed to receive Christ reading as he walked. I gave him a Bible Study and he said he’d like a Christian book to read so I gave him More than a Carpenter.

It was kind of a hard day somehow, in part from a long conversation with two atheists. Stefan and Kyle were friends, the later was in a wheelchair with almost no use of his hands. They had been taught a number of lies and were emphatic about them. Stefan said he had read through the Bible twice and had made notes underlining all the contradictions. I said, “I would love to see it.”   I confess I doubted his word a bit, though you can create some issues with crossing genre’s of literature or failing to understand how to interpret a passage. I kind of doubt he did this, and he is the first student I have ever met who read through the Bible twice. (There are resolutions for all the ones I have heard and I have come up with some myself that the apologetic books I have are stumped by.) They also emphatically claimed Socrates was killed because he was an atheist, claiming they had been taught this in a philosophy class at COD and on two other occasions by teachers in High School. I don’t remember ever hearing this before and the Dialogues do not suggest a religious aspect to the trial. I explained Socrates words are completely found in Plato’s dialogues who was not an atheist, and Socrates was not killed but committed suicide by drinking Hemlock after refusing exile. They seemed to kind of remember this.  It was a long conversation and wore me out for some reason. Stefan also claimed there was absolutely no evidence for the existence of God. But they each took a book, The Case for Faith and The Case for a Creator, promising to read them.  But Stefan insisted no one ever stopped being an atheist and Lee Strobel was obviously lying if he said he had been. So basically everyone is lying if they said anything that contradicted anything he thought.  But I smiled all the way through and simply countered their remarks, pointing out that since they admitted there was at yet no proof disproving God or explaining the origin of the world as we find it, God had to be a solid a possibility as their position which they had to admit was also faith based. So hey.

I went through the gospel with 2 Muslim girls on two separate occasions as well and several others, man it really just seemed to wear me out somehow today, maybe it is just the end of the week.

Thanks for your prayers today I need them, and I hope you will have a chance to pray for Ledonte and that Kyle and Stefan would read the books.

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Well, I had a good day sharing today.  I had some good conversations with some Christians and encouraged them in their faith and the assurance of Salvation, explaining the work of Christ on the Cross in a manner they might understand. It is often the most humble students who are living closest to the Kingdom of God that lack this assurance and it is often a joy to talk to them and see them trust more deeply in Christ.

The first guy I talked to came to Christ, Mike. Red-headed guy, a runner, half marathons. He was covenant and had not really thought about how God took away his sins. He went to church and had even been on some mission trips that were service oriented and kind of hoped that would get him to Heaven. He had not been trusting in the work of Christ to take away his sins, but he is now. He decided to pray to receive Christ and be forgiven for his sins. He was not an enthusiastic reader at all but I had The Case for Easter and that looked short enough for him to give it a try. He took a Bible study too and I got his e-mail to send him some short things to encourage his faith.

I had a very discouraging conversation about world views at the end of the day with a representative of the Newman Club who was not a student.  It reminded me that a lot of those purporting to be Christians on campus are not really teaching anything from the Bible or about the truth. So thanks for your prayers to help the Gospel go out.  God is blessing these prayers and I am led by them on campus.

I will be back at it tomorrow, I thought I would be painting but the job got moved to another day.

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Hope ya had a great day. I’m doing great…well tired and wiped out but hey, I got lots of birthday wishes, thanks primarily to Face Book but a bunch from others too. My good friend on the mission field texted me “Happy Birthday” which was pretty great for her to take the time. I got a couple big hugs from one of the girls who came to Christ last year too, so hey I got that goin’ for me and Ellen is making me dinner.

4 students all African American came to Christ today; Tival, Tatiana, Derrick and Devontae. Another day that evidenced that black parents give their kids more interesting names than white parents in America as a rule. The black kids are cool and often the most fun to talk to. Tival was the first conversation I had. He was sitting killing time in a ground floor lounge in the BIC. He went to Church consistently but did not know how God took away his sins or about the Holy Spirit as the means to live the Christian life. So the conversation was completely straightforward to the Gospel and he prayed with me to receive Jesus. I gave him a bible study and More than a Carpenter to read. Sometimes I feel like I get to pick all the low hanging fruit, (prayer works). I feel like Ruth walking behind the gleaners, not that it is always comfortable or easy to enter into conversation but hey, no complaints. Tatiana went to Church regularly too and wanted to be forgiven and had never asked God to forgive her sins based upon what Jesus had done for her on the Cross to pay for her sins. She prayed with me as well and I asked her, “Do you like to read?” she said, “Yes.” I asked “A lot of just a little?” She had a heavy somewhat urban accent in English to my ear and I had to ask her to repeat herself once. She said she liked to read a lot and I asked if she would like to read some things about Jesus and she said, “Yes, about Jesus.” So I gave her The Case For Christ. I gave her a bible study on the Deity of Christ too.

I caught Derricks eye as I walked buy his table and nodded. So I circled back around and asked if he would do a survey, Devontae was sitting with him and another guy Jeremiah started out but felt like going somewhere it seemed. Anyway he said he had to go after he did the survey. So I gave him a booklet and told him, “This will explain how to go to heaven.” He took it happily but I don’t know if he read it. The guys were using with the plug outlets built into the table and I picked at the one in front of me out of curiosity, Derrick reached over and popped it open. I cracked, “Yeah, this is the new thing in American the Black men lead the white men now that we elected Obama.” This cracked them up and Devontae decided to do the student survey with Derrick then and both listened to the gospel and prayed to receive Jesus and be forgiven. They both had gone to Church when they were younger so I invited them to Bible Study as we sat not 15 feet away from where we were seated and got their e-mails to send them stuff. I gave them each More Than a Carpenter to read since they confessed to be less than big readers, and a bible study too and encouraged them to read the Gospel and go to Church explaining the Holy Spirit to them.

So hey Happy Birthday to me, I will take 4 peeps praying with me for a gift every year. Thanks so much for your prayers for me today, God blessed me and I pray all who blessed me would be blessed.

Please pray for Tival, Tatiana, Derrick and Devontae, that they might grow in the Lord and God would lead Derrick and Devontae to a Good Church.

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Well, we did a book table today. They can be hard mid-year when not as many peeps come by. But today, the second week of classes, was good. We’ve learned though to just give away unconditional candy and books. If you don’t think you want to come to a Bible stud,y don’t give us your contact info to get something, because we really don’t want to bother you. But I went through the gospel with at least 6 people. Some of the students I have gotten to know from doing evangelism came by: sweet Beola (spelled Beulah) and her friend, a very pretty muslim girl Namra from India, they are fun. The guy at the table next to me was a methodist student, Adam. He obviously did not know the Gospel but confessed it when I had finished going through it with him, which I overlooked as a contradiction to everything he had said b4 since it seemed there was a pride block. He is one of the guys in the movie club, they screen film and talk about it after so I signed up.  And I gave him $10 for food at the end of the day after he had said he was gonna be there until 10 PM, was unemployed and wouldn’t be eating. H said he had no money with him and was broke, he had taken a lot of our candy. 🙂 The other peeps I went through the Gospel with were two guys named Matt, dressed in the same  t-shirts, oddly, James and his girlfriend and Andrew a catholic guy who I got to take a “Jesus Saves NT” which has the Gospel in the front. He was interested in different translations and that copy I have a few of is New American Standard which is the closest to the Greek. I could tell you why I don’t read any of the other ones and have good reasons for all but hey ya probably don’t want to know. A bunch of peeps signed up for the Bible study and the day went well. I got a bit of the Gospel in with some others and gave them a booklet or a book. I hope we’ll get some to come to Bible study to learn some stuff.

Thanks for your prayers,

Bob Bollow

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Hope you had a good day walking with the Lord. 4 people prayed with me to receive Christ today. Two Catholic Latino Guys, Jorge and Alex, a girl Jen, also Roman Catholic and a Black woman Araina (A-Ray-na). Jorge and Alex were straight up guys that did not know how they would be judged in terms of salvation or how God took away their sin. I went through the gospel with them after I did a student survey for the Bible Study. Jorge seemed a bit distracted but it turned out they were waiting for Isabel who finally came after he called her and said she’d missed them.  They were praying to receive Jesus at that point. So I talked to her briefly and gave her a booklet and Alex said reassuringly, “We’ll explain it to her on the way home.” So I gave them a choice of books to read, Alex picked The Case For a Creator and Jorge The Case for Faith. Isabel said she’d like to read something too even though I had not had any time to really explain the Gospel too her and said she’d like to read More Than a Carpenter. I left them, promising to pray, and then thought, “Oh I should have given them Bible Studies…what was I thinking”. I doubled back, but they were gone.  But it forced me to walk by a table and a girl, Jen, stopped me to ask me about tattoos saying, “Are you the guy that teaches the Bible Study?” I said I was. Then she said, “I have some questions.” So I sat at her feet and turned the explanation into a presentation about sin and the Gospel. She prayed to receive Christ there too and took a Bible study and More Than a Carpenter to read. I gave her my e-mail and said if she wanted, her friend who had been the source of her question could e-mail me.

I went out into the sun and came upon Araina sitting on a bench. In talking to her she thought she was a Christian but did not think she was going to heaven as she wasn’t good enough and did not know how God took away her sin but was pretty convicted about it. I explained the free gift of God eternal life in Christ to her and she prayed to receive Jesus with me too. I gave her a Bible study and the Student edition of The Case for Faith.

I had several other really good conversations today. The first guy I went through the gospel with had two friends sitting off to one side who asked if they could have a copy of the booklet when I’d finished with my spin on it and when the bible study was. We talked about social issues for a while and they were really thankful.

So thanks for your prayers.  I know God was really leading me today and giving me words. Please pray for Jorge, Alex, Araina, and Jen if you get a chance that they might grow closer to Christ and even check out Bible Study.

In Him,
Bob Bollow

“But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. James 3:17

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I had a great day of sharing.  A friend posted the above verse on fb today and I felt like that came into play today. By the end of the day two Students had come to Christ. Kenya a Black student, (American though not Kenyan) and Alex a Black guy who was Catholic. Kenya was sitting in the lounge off Starbucks waiting to be called into one of the administration lines in the Student Services Center. It worked out perfectly that I was able to due a survey with her and she prayed to receive Jesus before the little disc vibrated and blinked her turn was up. She was like many Christians believing their own goodness or even obedience saves them saying when asked why she should go to heaven, “Because I lived by His rules on earth.” But it is not enough to live by His rules and no one can do that perfectly anyway so it was the ticket in no one makes it. We have to trust his death and resurrection has paid the price for our sins, believing this we know Him as His Spirit enters us by faith. She did believe and prayed and I gave her a Bible Study on the Deity of Christ and More than a Carpenter to read, inviting her to Bible Study. I get in trouble with the cops sometimes in that lounge but I was able to sit on the floor out of sight at her feet to talk with her. Ha!
I passed Alex sitting on a bench outside the lounge and asked him if he wanted to do a student survey, he said he’d just done one. So I asked, “Oh did they ask you this question? You are walking down the road and you get hit by a bus, and you stand b4 God and He asks you, ‘Why should I let you into heaven?’ What would you say?” He said, “No, they wanted to tell me about the father god and the Mother goddess.” I laughed and said, “Yeah, I’ve talked to those people b4.  It turns out the Mother goddess is some chick in Korea.” We laughed and he was like, “Really. They didn’t mention that.” I pointed out that, “If that was their opening line you would know they were nuts so they slip it in on you over time, I think.”‘ We talked some more and I said, “Well, you wanna answer my question?” He said he went to Church and was good and I said, “Well would you like to know what the Bible says about it?” and he said he would. I went through the gospel with him. It turned out he went to Catholic Church every other Sunday. I asked him if he had ever had a time when he had asked God to forgive his sins because of what Jesus had done for him on the cross. He hadn’t and wanted to pray for forgiveness that God might live inside him and did. I gave him More than a Carpenter to read as well and a Bible study and talked him through confession and the Mass.
I had a crazy long apologetic discussion with a liberal couple. It was like walking on eggshells but they conceded my points and I got them to basically acknowledge a transcendental apologetic, (or a presuppositional idea) that knowledge is made possible by a God or god-like intelligence that has created the under-pinning order of the world that science then discovers. This allows communication. And that morality itself comes from religious ideas that are Christian. Also that, “Natural Law” fails, for us in practice, as humans as we are unable to practice a law code like beasts have, lions for example will kill or drive off the head of another pride, eat or simply kill the previous male head lion’s young and then mate with his previously held mates. For lions we do not call this cannibalism, murder and rape, but we would have to call it that, if, adapted by natural law some human did the very same thing. Natural Law leads to sadism ethically. The guy wanted to appeal to Logic, but why should things be logical? Once again there is an order discoverably mathematic that makes logic a “common sense” appeal. Why should this be if the world came from chaos? Why does the Human Genome consist of transferable code from one set of parents to an offspring? The girl wanted to say she “did not believe in black and white” until I asked her if she thought it was ok to have sex with your children. She had to concede there were some things she called “black”. We talked about homosexuality and I pointed out there was some people we both thought should not legally be able to marry, polygamists, parents marrying their children and so on. So good discussion, after I had explained the gospel, but stressful. It took about 45 minutes and began while he was waiting for her to get out of class.
I talked to a cool artist Raphael at the end of the day. African American guy. I ended up giving him a copy of The Case for Christ. He has seen some apparitions of beings on thrones made up of language or words, [sort of like the code in the ‘Matrix’ if you have seen the movie] pretty trippy stuff and I warned him about darkness. He also once seemed to have had this language come on him and he spoke it, yet he did not believe in Christ. He sees this language at times as if through a transparency, and claims the beings he had seen seemed “very peaceful” communicating with him through emotions and I warned him more than once [2Corinthians 11:14] “…Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” He knew the gospel though not imputation. Had read a lot of Christian books about Heaven and Hell. But He let me pray over him and I prayed God would show him a vision of goodness. He was very talented and I’ll be praying for him.
Tomorrow is a book table day for the clubs and activities fair. Please pray for the fruit of that that we might get a good Bible study going. And pray for Alex and Kenya and even Raphael if you would that they might come closer to Christ.
In Him,
Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Well, not much I can report happened today for certain. I helped 3 Christians understand the atonement at different times. I am not sure if these people were Christians b4, but they were all inordinately grateful as I left them, one Guy thanked me 3 times. It is kind of a sad commentary on the how many peeps are going to Church and praying to receive Jesus and after regularly asking God to forgive their sins without any conscious thought of the cross. One woman even said her works saved her and then completely retracted it after I explained the gospel to her. So this was good work to do but I am not sure if they had been forgiven already and it kind of slipped off the plate or what.

At the end of the day I had a long talk with a girl who had come to Christ last year, she is still trusting in Jesus. That was great and she introduced me to her friends, left about a half hour later and I talked them up for a couple ours leaving at 5 PM. So I hope that has some fruit.

I left feeling like good things happened but it is tough to point to specifics.

Thanks for your prayers, I’ll be headed out tomorrow.

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

How’s your day been? It is beautiful weather over by me and I had another good day on campus today. Two guys prayed with me to receive Christ. Chris was sitting outside on a bench. He had a pretty cool look going on, black dude with short hair in front and on top and then long braids coming out the back (kind of like in the movie “Predator”), cool glasses. I asked if he wanted to do a survey and he said that he thought he had last year. A guy came to Christ last year that did not look like him in my memory at all with the same name, but his grandfather was a pastor so I checked — wasn’t him. Sometimes my mind’s eye can’t be counted on, if someone changes their hair or isn’t wearing a cap, now wears glasses, I might not remember them right from a 15 minute conversation a year back. So I asked him, “Well, how did you answer this question: “You’re walkin’ down the road and you get hit by a bus, so you’re dead, and ya stand before God and he says, ‘Why should I let you into heaven?’ What would you say?” He said something about being good, and I said, “Yeah, that’s the wrong answer man. I got this little booklet that helps explain it.” and he said, “Yeah, I think you showed me that, does it have a planet in it?” I said it did. So I went through the Gospel with him again (ha not that I remembered doin’ it the last time from the 400 conversations I had last year, he might have been sitting with a bunch of guys and kind of tuned me out). This time he really began to track with me and the Lord was in it. I the end he said he had not prayed to have his sins forgiven based on what Jesus had done for him and he prayed with me to receive Christ. Pretty Great. I told him about Bible study and got his e-mail, he seemed interested so we’ll see. I gave him More than a Carpenter to read and a Bible (as he did not have one) encouraging him to read in the Book of John and about the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5. I talked to him some more and he was interested in Creation, bright guy, so I gave him The Case for a Creator. So 2nd times the charm right? He was cool so I hope he comes to Bible study.

Then I texted another guy who had been having some hard things happen and wanted to get lunch, it was a bit after 2 PM. Turned out he wasn’t ready to deal but while I was waiting for a text back I headed into the lunch room. Kevin said he would do a survey with me. Kind of a tough looking black dude. Really short hair cut, sweats, intelligent guy. I went through the gospel with him and I could tell by the way he interacted he knew it. Though his answers to the survey stuff and been short. In the end he wanted to pray to receive Christ and be forgiven. So he did and I said, “It seemed like you knew this stuff.” And he replied, “Yeah. But I just pushed it aside.” “But now you haven’t?” And he looked at me and said, “Right.” He took More than a Carpenter from me and a Bible study and really did not seem to want anything else. He was just finally ready to believe and ask for forgiveness today. I think sometimes someone with the gift of evangelism has to preach at some of these peeps and that coupled with the prayers that go out with me, God works in them through His Holy Spirit. It’s great to be a closer in baseball if God’s got your arm and so you are hitting your spots.

So thanks for your prayers today. I had a couple other good conversations with some students, their faith crystallized and a couple were just a nudge closer to the truth. God once again gave me divine appointments.

In Him,

Bob Bollow

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I had a great day of sharing today. I found Carsonearly on, he was killing time. He went to Church pretty often he said, Catholic guy. He basically had thought he was going to heaven for being nice to people and being fair with them, smaller guy, working hard on a beard. We talked about cars (his dad had a Corvette he wished he could drive). I went through the gospel with him and he believed. He said he would pray when he, “Had some free time” which, it being the second day of school everyone has but he was just shy to pray with me and I don’t blame him. So I asked him if he believed Jesus was God and trusted in His death on the cross and resurrection to make him right with God and he said he did. I asked him if he would like a free book and he wanted one so I gave him More than a Carpenter and a Bible study.

I had a great conversation with Zain. He is an Indian Islamic guy and I told him about my friend Hicham who had broken both his legs inLebanonand learned English by reading Zane Grey Novels. I later told him Hicham had had visions of Jesus asking him to pray to Him alone. We had a really great conversation and when I asked him what he would say to God if he died and was asked why He should let him into heaven he said, ” I would say, ‘Because I love you.'” I have never had an Islamic person say that. I went through the Gospel with him. He said he went to the Mosque o Holidays. I told him concerning the Bible being corrupted that I read a version from 350 AD and that Muhammad endorsed the Gospels so the ones he endorsed we had. He said he had thought he would like to read the Gospels and I said, “Well, I have this English version with a lot of notes that is easy to understand I got at an estate sale for a buck.” It was an old Living Bible New Testament 25th anniversary edition, it had a good binding and looked nice. He said, “Are you sure you don’t mind?” I repeated I had gotten it cheaply and he was glad to take it. I also told him Ken Taylor the translator had created it for his children and lost his voice at the end of his life and had said he thought God had taken his voice because he had dared to change the words of the scripture, thinking that might resonate with an Islamic thought process. I explained I looked for old copies of the Living Bible cheap at sales and stuff to give to Christian students as a commentary in case they get to a hard to understand part of the bible to read along side it. Giving him a NT was great, it was a life application NT and the books he was interested in were the first 4. So I felt like that was an appointment from the Lord. I told him about my friend Hicham’s Church where it was (it is close to school) and when they met.

I met Naa a couple hours later. She was from Ghana, had braided hair and a round face. She had not been able to find a church like hers since coming here. Naa did not have any assurance of salvation saying she would ask God to forgive her and let her in [to heaven]. She thought she had a 50/50 chance. Her English was a bit weak so I went slowly with her (not knowing if her speaking matched her comprehension, I think her comprehension was better) out on a bench outside the SRC. I explained the Imputation of the merit of the perfect life of Christ to her that would cover all her sins, “It’s like one of those extreme make over shows,” I said. “Where they give the girl new teeth and pluck her eyebrows and she is a hot chick. God makes us over with Christ’s righteousness and the Bible says we are ‘Clothed with the righteousness of Christ.’ [Galatians 3:27, Philippians 3:9] or ‘become the righteousness of God.'” [2Corinthians 5:21]. She said, “Yes but I still sin.” I explained how the Blood of Jesus ( a concept he said she understood) to cover her sin was worth an infinite amount because He was God and His life was worth an infinite amount so no matter what she had done there was always enough to pay for her sin. She smile a beautiful white smile then and when I showed her the prayer explaining she could share her faith with another or pray it to rededicate her life to God.” She said she thought she had prayed something like this before but asked, “could I pray it again?” I said she could pray it to rededicate herself to God and accept His forgiveness. She did and visibly brightened and I blessed her and gave her More than a Carpenter to read and a Bible Study inviting her to Bible Study. So that was really great.
So thank you for your prayers today God’s Spirit led me and gave me good things.

in Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I had a great first day of sharing today for the semester. I went through the gospel with 11 people several were Christians, a couple had to run before I could do more than breeze through and give them a booklet but with a positive response. The first guy I spoke with Matt was searching a bit and had had a hard time believing in Jesus though raised a Lutheran, we talked a long time and I gave him the student edition of The Case for Christ. So I got a good seed planted with Matt and several others. By the end of the day 3, John, Mary and Antuan, had prayed with me to receive Christ.

John was just a “Christmas and Easter Christian” attending Church on those days and had not understood the atonement of Jesus on the Cross for his sins saying he’d go to heaven “because he always helps people”. After I went through the Gospel with him he said he wanted to be forgiven and prayed to receive Jesus as his Savior and God so that was great. He had a Bible @ home and did not want to take anything to read so I will be praying for him to be moved into fellowship by the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

Mary attends Calvary in Napervillebut said she would go to heaven because she knows “God forgives all sins and accepts everyone”. I added, who ask right? She agreed but when I asked her, “What was the really big thing that happened so God would forgive your sins?” she thought hard for a little while but could not think of anything. I went through the Gospel with her and asked her if she had asked God to forgive her sins based on what Jesus had done for her on the cross or had been praying with that in mind and she said she hadn’t and wanted to do that, so she did. I gave her a Bible study and the student edition of The Case for Faith I got her email too and invited her to bible study which we are going to being having on Mondays at Noon in the atrium lounge with the big round desk in it if ya know anyone at COD who would like to come.

Antuan was sitting with a couple of friends. They were all African American guys and I asked them if any of them felt like doing a student survey. Only Antuan responded saying he’d do it if it did not mean he’d have to attend the Bible Study. I laughed and said no strings attached and we talked through the gospel. Antuan went to Church in Lisle. He said he’d tell God “I did my best to walk the path you gave me.” But he too did not know how God had taken away his sins. After I went through the gospel with him he prayed to receive Christ as his savior. I gave him a Bible Study and a copy of More than a Carpenter to read and got his e-mail. He thanked me twice and shook my hand. His friends ignored our entire conversation.

So hey thanks for your prayers if you got a chance. Please pray for John, Mary, and Antuan that they might be lead By the Spirit.

In Him,
Bob Bollow