Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I had a great day of sharing today; I hope you were blessed today as well. Today two students prayed with me to receive Christ, Stephanie and Franklin and I had a good conversation with a Muslim Student Sho, from Pakistan who took the student edition of The Case for Christ from me to read and How Good is Good Enough by Andy Stanley. He was really searching and said he had done a lot of bad things and a lot of bad things had been done to him. He’d investigated other religions and found help through counseling that was Christian ideologically as he reiterated it. We talked a while until his ride came and he took my phone number to talk more.

On two separate occasions I went through the gospel, [or tried to with the second who had to run] with students who are into a new cult at school. It seems to be from their teachings they are The World Mission Society Church of God. I have seen and overheard several Koreans talking up students trying to get them into personal Bible studies, a similar tactic is used by the Church of Christ (who teach Baptismal regeneration — not the Christian denomination found all over the South). WMSCG people walk around asking students if they have heard of the Mother God, which turns out to be some Korean chick whose now dead husband was the second coming of Christ. They believe any number of things I won’t bore you with I shot down about 6-8 of them one by one as one girl took me to passages she had highlighted in a bible. It was a lot like talking to a Jehovah’s Witness, they show you a passage or quote one, you explain how this is obviously a misinterpretation of the plan language found there, they jump to the next one. One she showed me involved a claim for the preexistence of humans b4 they are born on earth (as angels who have sinned and were sent down from heaven) using the language of God’s final speech to Job, in which ironically is God actually telling Job he was not there at the foundation of the world and had not been born, or existed, yet. I am not sure how much progress I made. On another occasion I had come behind them after they had talked to a student and warned them and told them the Gospel.

Stephanie was sitting in the MAC (MCAninch Arts Center), did a survey with me and believed the Gospel after I went through it with her. She is Asian, cute, moral and attended a Catholic Church until College started eating up all her time. But the Gospel all made sense to her though she had not known how God took away her sins and when I asked her if she had ever prayed to be forgiven based on what Jesus had done for her on the cross, she said she hadn’t but wanted to and to have God’s Spirit live inside her, so she prayed to receive Christ. She took a copy of More than a Carpenter from me to read and a Bible study on the Deity of Christ and said, “This is good, because I hear that sometimes, people say Jesus wasn’t God.” So I think she was interested to read and she was enthusiastic about the Lord.

Franklin was sitting on a decorative chunk of limestone on the newly grassed slope by the cafeteria doors chilling in the sun b4 class. He is a pretty big, nice looking Latino guy, and friendly. He had recently moved to the area and didn’t have a Church yet. I could tell he took to the Gospel right-away and while I talked him through stuff he would say, “Oh,” and “I see.” He also did not know how God took away his sins, he was an honest guy. He felt like he was in a relationship with God so I explained the difference between having a relationship with someone and being in one saying everyone has a relationship with God as their creator but not everyone is in one where He lives inside them, I compared it to a girlfriend and a friend who was a girl that he never asked out. He saw the difference. I asked him if he had ever asked God to forgive his sins based on what Jesus had done for him on the cross, he hadn’t and wanted to and did. I also gave him More than a Carpenter and a Bible study and got his e-mail to send him some stuff.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and today if you had a chance. It is beautiful in Chicago all the flowering trees have come out all at once from the heat, it was 87 today. And God has provided many people who have come to Christ through your prayers, 74 so far this school year. Thank you for your help.

Blessings in Him,
Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Well, I hope you had a good day today. I had a good day of sharing on campus and Lily and Chris prayed to receive Jesus. Lily is from a Roman Catholic background, brown hair nice looking kid; she has a really simple heart and just did not understand salvation by faith at all or even the atonement. She seemed to have a bit of a hard time tracking so I tried to be even more precise and clear in what I said to her concerning the gospel. I explained asked God to have relationship based on forgiveness of sins through Jesus. She had not asked God to forgive her based on Christ’s work having understood none of it. But after explaining the prayer to her I again asked her if she believed Jesus had died for her sins on the cross and she said she did and in the end she prayed while I left her alone. I explained the Holy Spirit to her and living the Christian life by seeking His power and gave her the book, More than a Carpenter.

Chris is a Black guy he goes to his uncle’s Church Rhema Word, which I had not heard of but hey they got a Facebook page. He felt like he was “following the law” and lived “according to the book” but when I asked him if he knew how God took away his sins he said, “No.” So I explained the gospel to him. He said he had asked God to forgive his sins but when I asked if he had ever asked to be forgiven for his sins because of what Jesus had done for him on the cross he said he had never thought about the part about Jesus. I talked to him about Brian Urlacher leaving him a ticket to get into his skybox at Soldier Field. I said, “Say you meet him and he says he has a ticket for you. All you have to do is say his name at the gate and they will have a ticket for you under your name Chris. But then you go to the gate and start demanding your free ticket but don’t say who left it for you… and they say “who sent you?” You have to use the Name.” He smiled back at me in recognition and I offered the prayer to him and he said, “I’ll do it.” I gave him the Student edition of The Case for Faith and I gave him the Bible study I give out on the Deity of Christ. I explained the Christian life was lived by the Holy Spirit and explained the fruit of the Holy Spirit to him which he had not understood b4 either. He thought he would e-mail me to get the story I offered him and it seems like he is in a good Church where now the Holy Spirit can be his teacher as he hears the word preached.

So thanks so much for your prayers for the ministry and for the work today if you had a chance. Please pray that Lily’s embryonic faith would grow and Chris would be rooted and grounded in Love.

I am talking to more and more atheists on campus this year, today to an atheist and an agnostic. I think this is increasing, many are raised Roman Catholic. It is something to keep in prayer that God would move in this church. I know some of the priests are under the radar and are evangelicals, believing in Scripture and faith alone and I pray that those who believe might be found in these Churches that they might grow.

Blessings in Him,
Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Well, I had a great day of sharing today in as much as I got a couple good seeds planted, got a solid one into a Unitarian, Max ( I hope), and a Black guy Antoine (an Twan) and then Mackenzie prayed to receive Christ. Also my friend from Russian Ministries Sergey had given me 4 Russian New Testaments with testimonies inside at the beginning to give away when I had met a girl taking English as a Second Language who spoke Russian and basically no English. I only thought I needed one but then met another Russian speaking girl and gave one to her and found the girl I had been speaking with before, Mohera yesterday and gave her one. Then today, while talking to my friend Robie, a friend of his Sergei had an accent that sounded Ukrainian to me a little so I asked him where he was from. He said Ukraine and I said I got a book for you, fortunately I was outside and my truck wasn’t too far from that end of School so I ran to get it. I explained the later part of it was a New Testament. He flipped through it looking at the testimonies critically and telling me and his other two friends, one Russian speaking one with one Polish and one Ukrainian parent who the people were and from what country. I thought I was in trouble since he seemed a bit displeased they were not all famous Ukrainians but in the end said, “Good book” and so I was sure he’d read it.

I had my friend, Rebekah, who is in Romania as a missionary praying for me this morning; she found a program you can text with from overseas for free to a state side cell phone. So I had a missionary praying for me and it lifted my heart a bit as I began and I figured it would be a good day. I couldn’t get anyone to talk to me for about half an hour or so but then a girl sitting outside the PE building that I had talked to last year (and forgotten, she reminded me) was sitting on the wall. So I chatted her up sitting on the new $20,000 stone half wall that now graces the sidewalk as you exit the PE building for no good reason I can think of. My tax dollars at work, they tore out the more useful sidewalk, ruined the green space with pavers and cut down several mature willows and flowering trees (where are the environmentalists when ya need ‘um). So she smoked and asked me about the end of the world to which I more or less responded “it might not be the end of the world, but you can see it from here” while taking about the Lord and the cross some more. When she was done with her cigarette and had to go to class I saw another girl was sitting on the other side of the walk from us — so like 35 feet away. She overheard us I guess because when I walked over and asked if she wanted to do a survey she agreed right-a-way. Mackenzie, a cute blonde girl, was smoking too but played basketball and thought it might even things out, maybe it does. Turned out her Mom went to Pathway, a church where some of my peeps attend in Elmhurst. I went through the gospel with her and pointed out she had thought she would be good enough to go to heaven and was trusting in that and hat would not work. Mackenzie said she wanted to be forgiven and have God live inside her and I said, “Well God is like a pretty girl, He likes to be asked. You know how that is. Say you are a senior in high school and some Guy sidles up to you and says ‘So when are we going to go to Prom,’ and you’d say, ‘humph, as soon as you ask me, maybe.’ God’s the same way He just wants you to ask him and to accept His forgiveness so here’s a prayer you can pray.” I read through and explained the prayer and said something like, “So if you’d like to be forgiven you should pray this, quietly in your heart like I’m not here.” She did pray and said she was into Science and liked to read a lot so I gave her The Case For A Creator and a Bible study on the deity of Christ. Then I asked her if she would like to meet this sweet girl I know that goes to Pathway who could meet her at Church and go through the Bible and show her some stuff. “She’s a cute blonde girl you’ll like her.” She seemed really enthusiastic about meeting my friend Maggie and copied her number down off my phone. I said I would see her around and pray for her. So I was really excited about that and texted Maggie who was excited to be used by the Lord too. So pray this all works out and Satan does not change her heart or she’d feel too shy. I got her e-mail though to send her stuff so if it does not materialize I can try to help it out.

So thanks so much for your prayers today, I had a great day and the sun was shining. My Mom, Shirley, who has severe dementia, is in the hospital with fluid in one lung and a cough she can’t shake so I drove up about an hour and half North to sit with her in the hospital tonight for a few hours. She’ll have it drained tomorrow so I’ll head back up while some plaster I repair dries. Thanks for helping with the ministry. May God richly bless you weekend.

Blessings in Him,
Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Hope you had a good day. It somehow turned into June in Chicago, 78 degrees and sunny too. So I went outside and talked to peeps, walking to some of the other buildings that I haven’t visited as much since it got cold.

I found David listening to his phone Mp3 in the Athletic building. He said he would do a survey with me and it turned out he went to Catholic Church pretty often but had lost some regularity in college. He didn’t know how his sins were forgiven by God. He was a good guy, shorter stocky build with a light growth of beard. After I went through the gospel it seemed to all make good sense to him. But when I asked David if he had ever prayed to be forgiven for his sins because of Christ’s death on the cross, making him right with God he said, “I want to say I have but I don’t know.” I was certain he had not been trusting in Christ’s death to make him right with God because when I asked David why he was going to heaven he said, “All my life I’ve always tried to help someone.” So basically, he hoped he was good enough and thought there was about a 75% chance he would go to heaven. I said, “Well, if you wanted to be sure you had asked for and accepted God’s forgiveness through Christ there is a prayer you could pray.” I read it through and explained it to him and said, “So what do you think?” He said, “I like it!” So I left David for a minute to get a drink of water and could pray. There was no one else near us on our side of the building; we were on a bench across from the pool. I explained the Holy Spirit’s work and that the Christian life was not trying harder to be good but it was asking for God’s power to be able to be more kind or whatever (listing for him the fruit of the Spirit) by God’s Holy Spirit. He didn’t have his own Bible so I gave him one with Bible Study and More Than a Carpenter to read. “The thing about the Bible is it is a spooky book” I said. “And there is a spooky part to you, your soul, and God’s Holy Spirit in Old English in the Bible used to be called the Holy Ghost. When you read the Bible it is a supernatural book and it feeds and strengthens the spooky part of you the supernatural part,” I said. He looked at me and said, “I like your words.” “Great” I replied. I told David that I would pray for him and he said he’d pray for me too and we shook on it.

I went through the gospel with 7 others today as well. Some were Christians who needed some affirmation and direction. I gave a Christian girl The Case for a Creator after she explained that all of her professors in the sciences were atheists. She was excited to read it. I also gave another girl who attended a Lutheran Church but was struggling with belief (she didn’t believe in Jesus entirely) The Case for Christ, student edition. I talked with a couple atheists and tried to challenge them a bit, one more successfully than the other. So I had a good day of sharing. Thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for today, if you got a chance.

Please say a prayer for David tonight for his faith to grow.

Thanks so much for your prayers.

Blessings in Him,
Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I had a pretty long day today. No one prayed to receive Christ but I had some productive conversations with those who were searching and with several professing Christians who seemed to understand the atonement for the first time. I’m not sure where that leaves them or what they were trusting in before. Three people said they were now trusting in Jesus sacrifice on the cross by the time I went through the gospel with them though they hadn’t seemed to understand it at the beginning of our conversation, not knowing how God took away their sins. Sometimes, I guess someone puts you on the spot and you don’t understand. But, fortunately for me, salvation is God’s Job. I’m just preaching the Gospel to them and I can leave the effects to Him.

So thanks for your prayers today. There’s the old question if today was the last day of your life how would you spend it? I’d spend it preaching the Gospel like I did today hoping some of the seeds I planted will bear fruit.

Blessings in Him,
Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Thanks for your prayers today if you got a chance. Hope your day went good. I walked around for a good hour b4 I got anyone new to talk to me. But by the end of the afternoon, 3 PM or so, Victoria and Joanna had prayed to receive Christ.

Victoria was sitting on the stairs in the SRC waiting for a ride, she’s African American, pretty, articulate and didn’t really want to talk or to do a survey saying she had done one before. I’ve run into this every so often at school, another student group goes around doing surveys and never bothers to (or probably has not been taught how to) go through the gospel with whoever they might talk to, they have “spiritual discussions” more or less. The group is a national campus organization that at one time made a priority of evangelism that they seem to have lost. Several times this year I have asked people to do surveys for a Bible study group. Three times this year they have come to Christ when I just kind of talk around it after they said they had already had. A few other times they just didn’t want to talk, but the 3 times I could just kind of start chatting w/ them they came to Christ. So I asked Victoria if she died and stood b4 God and He asked her why she would go to heaven what would she say. Her reply was a mix of “I’ve been religious” and “I’ve been good”. So I went through the gospel w/ her little by bit and then showed her some Bible verses, she didn’t understand the gospel until I had explained it and then decided to pray to accept God’s gift of forgiveness for her sins. After she prayed to receive Christ I gave her, More Than a Carpenter to read and a Bible study and she was glad.

Joanna was sitting in a lounge in the BIC building, cute brown haired girl studying to be a nurse. She described herself as “Caring Loving and Faithful”, and it seemed genuine, she’ll probably make a great nurse. She had been to a Roman Catholic Church before college and was too busy to go as she had conflicts Saturday night and Sunday with work. She listened to the Gospel and believed and I left her alone for a moment when she prayed to receive Christ as her Savior and came back as she finished. I explained how dependence on the Holy Spirit was how Christians lived a life where they could follow God and it was impossible otherwise and about the fruit of the Holy Spirit and asking for God’s help. I gave her a Bible study, told her I would pray for her and I talked to her about giving her a book. I offered her a couple that were a little shorter (since she didn’t think of herself a big reader having enough to study already), the student edition of The Case for Christ and More than a Carpenter. “So would you like a book I asked?” She hesitated, thinking, and I said, “Or both of them?” “I better take both of them,” she said, “I need to convince my boyfriend.” “What’s his name?” I asked. “Nicholas.” “I’ll pray for him too,” I said. She smiled gratefully. So I will maybe you could pray for them too after you read this, that he might receive Christ as well.

So thank you for your prayers for me as I do evangelism and for them today if you got a chance. Nearly 70 people have prayed to receive Jesus this year including Victoria and Joanna, so it has been great to be used by God that way.

Blessings in Him,
Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

How are you? Hope you had a good day. I had a good day of sharing! Amanda Prayed to receive Christ and a couple students were close. Particularly a girl, Tracy, who had just started attending a Lutheran Church because she is getting married. She had no Church background and understood the Gospel for the first time. And the other was Andria, a painter.

It was such a nice sunny day I looked for peeps outside, most smoking, and made it over to some of the buildings disconnected for construction right now than made it back to the BIC building where I came upon Amanda messing around w/ the MP3 part of her phone. When I asked her if she wanted to do a student survey she sat right up as if she’d just been called into class to take a test and agreed right away. I really felt like the Holy Spirit was moving on her. She was an athlete w/ COD mascot across the front of a hooded sweatshirt and gray sweat pants. She tuned right in, she said she had gone to Church some as a kid in Maywood, I think she said her dad had taken her but it had been a while, the name of the church she said had changed and she couldn’t remember what it was now. She thought it was Baptist. She had long curly hair pulled back in a tail, lighter complexion, nice, cute kid. I could tell she was interested and really tracked with the gospel. When I asked her if she would want to be forgiven for her sins and have the Spirit living in her she said she would so I explained the prayer to her, asking if it was the desire of her heart and said she could pray the words in her head as if I wasn’t there and she agreed and did. So that was great. I got her E-mail to send her a story and gave her More than a Carpenter to read and a Bible study telling her I would pray for her and explaining the work of the Holy Spirit in the Christian life. And I said I would see her in Heaven, you could tell she was happy.

So thanks a lot for your prayers for the ministry and today if you had a chance to pray. And please pray that Amanda would grow in her new found faith and come to Bible study or find fellowship in a good Church.

Blessings in Him,
Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Hope you had a good day; I had a good day of sharing with the students and three students trusted Christ payment on the cross for their sins to make them right w/ God today, Karen, Kristy and Terrence.

Karen was the first person I talked to today so that was great when someone early in the day trusts Christ so you know God has already blessed you no matter how the rest of the day goes. She is Roman Catholic and goes to church in Batavia. Karen is kind of typical of many of the Roman Catholic peeps I talk to in that she had some general concept of Christianity but did not understand the cross of Christ or His substitutionary atonement for her dying and rising from the dead. She hoped everyone deserved forgiveness and that God would forgive her but was really hoping she was good enough and doubted some that she was. She was a friendly, pretty, brown-haired girl and after I went through the gospel w/ her I asked her if she would like to be forgiven for her sins so God could live inside her and she said she would. So I asked her “Well, it did not seem like you really understood that Jesus had died to take away your sins? I know when you are a kid growing up in church sometimes you just kind of go along with whatever your parents are up to but as a woman have you ever said to God that you would like to be forgiven for your sins because of what Jesus has done for you on the cross?” She said she hadn’t. So I showed her a prayer and explained it and said she could pray it in her hear if she wanted as if I wasn’t even there if she’d like to and she smiled and said she would and prayed to receive Christ. She liked to read so I asked her about some topics and she said she liked science so I gave her The Case for a Creator to read and a Bible study. She was really happy and I told her I would pray for her that she would grow and we shook hands and she said it was nice to meet me. So pretty great.

The last two people I talked to were a couple, Terrence and Kristy. They were sitting at a table in the Cafeteria; he was playing around w/ her phone. She seemed to be soft spoken and he said they would do a survey w/ me. Kristy thought she had been a good person, though Terrence seemed skeptical about that, he said he thought he had repented for all his sins before. But neither of them knew how the cost of their sins was paid for by God with Jesus death on the cross. They both tracked with me pretty well and after I explained the gospel to them they wanted to pray to receive Christ so I explained how they could by showing them a prayer and they did. Kristy didn’t have a Bible, she seemed to be from a Catholic Background, she is White Terrence was black and seemed more protestant I the way he responded to stuff. I gave her a Bible I had just gotten out of the truck as I had given one to another student earlier. It was a life application New Living Bible so that should be good Terrence was really interested in it to. I showed her where to begin reading in John, gave them each a copy of More than a Carpenter to read and a Bible study and got their e-mail to send them another story form Max Lucado.

So I had a good day right up to the last and some other good conversations. Thanks for your prayers for me and the lost. And please pray for the three students who trusted Christ today, Karen, Kristy and Terrence.

So thanks for your prayers, I am believe Marian has come to Christ.

Blessings in Him,
Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

How’s it going for you today, raining and a cold 35 degrees in Chicago and more of the same tomorrow, so if ya don’t live near me ya got that goin’ for ya. Earlier in the day I spoke with Marian and after I went through the Gospel with her she committed to believing that Jesus had died for her and trusting in that to make her right with God. She understood the atonement for the first time. She is from a Roman Catholic Background and her Grandmother was very religious she said. She prayed each day and her Grandmother sent her a rosary, though she didn’t seem to know what it was called until I mentioned it and doesn’t use it to pray. She hope she was going to heaven because she was good b4 we spoke, I’d asked her to talk b4 but she didn’t want to, but she had been thinking about it and had changed her mind so I’m glad God led me to ask her to talk again. After I went through the prayer with her and asked if it was the desire of her heart she said it was and asked to keep the booklet, which is the polite way to say she didn’t want to pray in front of me and I can understand that as I am practically a stranger. I gave her More than a Carpenter to read and a Bible study and as I said good bye she said “Wow this was really a good experience.” And I smiled and promised to pray for her.

I had a good day of sharing and spent two hours talking with a Christian guy Dan from 1:30 until 3:30 bout his views of life and the world. He is the first person I have met that actually has studied the Mayan Calendar so he had some interesting things to say about that and other things he had learned studying world religions. I wanted to talk him around and be sure he was orthodox where it mattered and he was and he gave me some things to look into. It is tough talking to some of the students who are well informed about the financial markets and the state of the world to be optimistic with them about their futures as it seems unlikely America will look anything like what it was while I was coming through it after college, but God will be faithful to keep us in His ways.

I also got to give one of the Russian Language New Testaments my friend at Russian Ministries gave me to a young woman who did not speak any English and was at school for the English as a second language program. It is pretty cool with testimonies from well-known people from Russian Speaking culture in the front. I haven’t had a chance to run into Mohera who I had gotten the books for but he gave me a few so now I carry one around in my bag in case a Russian Speaking person comes into my path.

So thanks for your prayers, I am believe Marian has come to Christ.

Blessings in Him,
Bob