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

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Hey, hope ya had a nice warm day where ever you are. It is cold here. 16 degrees when I left for school and it didn’t even go up 10 degrees from there.  I went through the Gospel with some peeps today and Brian prayed to receive Christ.  He was in a lounge on the second floor over by the vending machines.  Pretty dressed up by COD standards; nice sweater and shirt and dress pants.  He looked to be in his late 20’s, short hair looked like your average business casual guy at lunch., He did not think he deserved to go to Heaven and was really matter of fact.  I explained the Gospel to him, that his sins were paid for and asked him if he would like to be forgiven for his sins.  he said he would and prayed to receive Christ.  He didn’t want a book, but he took a Bible Study on the deity of Christ and I told him I would keep him in my prayers.

I also bumped into Ina today, a girl I had gone through the Gospel with who is Albanian.  Basically a little adorable girl who was planning on signing up for the Marines.  I walked her to the science building and back and met her boyfriend, Will.  I have been praying for her to come to Christ and not to go into the Marines, as she is about 5’3″ and with the new woman-in-combat policy I felt it was dangerous for her and other men, as well as probably a good way to be violated by a less than Marine-worthy male.  She had some misgivings and did not sign up to enlist as planned yet, and said of my praying (that she would not), “It’s probably working.”  So I hope she will trust in Christ and look to civilian life.  She speaks 4 languages and under the old policy might have done ok at an embassy.

So thanks for your prayers today for the Ministry, the Holy Spirit led me.  Please pray for Brian to grow in his new commitment to Christ.

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
How’s your day been?  I had a good day.  We had an interesting Bible study and then I walked around doing evangelism, as the guy I was gonna meet for lunch couldn’t make it.  I found some of the peeps that have come to Christ this year and like to talk to, and then I found Elvis who prayed to receive Christ.  He was sitting in a corner lounge on the first floor listening to his iphone, and he did a survey with me.  We talked about Elvis ( the former rock star who hailed from Memphis) a bit which was fun.
He went to a catholic church now and again and seemed like a really good guy who was trying to be good.  As to why God should let him into Heaven he said, “I really used a lot of my life to pay it forward so to speak, effort towards others.”  He was sure that would get him into Heaven.  So I talked with him about motives and how your good deeds can’t fix your bad and how everything we do is less than perfect.  I explained to him that two different people could look the same on the outside but inside have entirely different motives. I went through the Gospel with him and it turned out he had never thought about God forgiving him based on what Jesus had done for him on the Cross.  But he wanted to be forgiven and live his life asking God to direct him and give him strength to live.  So he prayed with me to receive Christ.  So that was great. I  gave him a Bible, as there was only a family Bible at his house, and I gave him the student edition of The Case for Faith to read and a Bible study on the deity of Christ.  I got his e-mail to hook him up with some other stuff too.

So thanks for your prayers today for the ministry and for evangelism if you had a chance.  Please pray for Elvis, that he might grow in faith and trust in the leading of God’s Spirit.

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Well, I hope you had a productive day.  Mine went fine, though no one came to Christ.  It was one of those odd days when I was either speaking with a Christian or a Muslim.  I did get some seeds planted though with a couple peeps.  The day was ending with a good conversation with a guy from Pakistan, nice Muslim guy.  But his friend joined us and started in telling me stuff about Palestine which I was fairly certain was untrue.  He was a Muslim who did not seem to believe core things I have been taught about Islam, saying it was a religion of peace, though the consummate Muslim was Mohammed who was clearly a warrior, like David, not a peaceful guy.  So to emulate Mohammed you would not be peaceful.  One of the things he maintained was that the Palestinians had never used suicide bombers in Israel.  I just rolled with it saying well that went against what I had thought was true, correcting only the things he said that were in error about Christianity.  So I called my friend from Lebanon, Hicham, when I got home.  He happened to be driving right then with a man who had only been in the states one year and was Palestinian.  They told me, though there had not been any of late due to increased security measures, that there had been Many suicide bombers in Israel who were Palestinian.  These have been men, women and even children.  One big problem Islam has is that the Quran plainly misstates some major Doctrines of Christianity which can be historically proven.  Christians have consistently believed for nearly 2000 years that the Trinity is the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit for example — The Quran teaches we believe this to be in the Father, the Son and Mary.  It also teaches that the Romans did not actually kill Jesus, but clearly every historical statement concerning this fact teaches the Roman Crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth unto death.  This is true both inside and outside Christianity before Muhammad.  So the Quran is wrong about the teaching of another world religion and so cannot be infallible.  To get around this they say the Bible was changed, but the historical teaching of the Church on these issues has not changed and this information is easily obtained outside the Biblical record even were it provably corrupted.

Well, thanks for your prayers.  I’ll be out again tomorrow.

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Hope your day has gone well and you had a good day yesterday.  I’m a bit late with this since my computer is being temperamental, need a new one actually.  But Thursday went well on campus and Jose and Nick both prayed to receive Christ as Savior.

Jose was the first person I got to talk to and he was sitting in the cafeteria eating a Subway sandwich.  He is from Spain and looked it to me.  Nice guy, straight brown hair over his ears a bit.  He had no accent though and understood English fine.  At first he told me he had “never sinned” in response to the question; “Why should God let you into heaven?”  But I asked him if he had ever lied and he confessed he had, so I said, “So what you mean is you haven’t done anything too big, not that you are perfect,”  and he shook his head.  I went through the Gospel with him and he thought that confession might take away his sins.  He hadn’t thought at all about Jesus.  In the end he wanted to be forgiven for his sins and prayed to receive Christ.  He took a copy of The Case for a Creator to read and a Bible study and a Bible as he did not have one of his own.  He’d been going to the Catholic Church some.  I encouraged him to begin reading in the Gospel of John and talked to him about the Holy Spirit.  He was enthusiastic and I got his e-mail to send him stuff

Nick was sitting just outside the cafeteria in chairs against the stairs where you head up to the second floor.  Dark brown hair and a days-growth of beard on his face.  He is Roman Catholic also and did not really understand the Gospel.  He was really interested in the heart motivations for ethics, and the religious forms he had been doing seemed empty to him.  He had no confidence of salvation, which was accurate.  We talked for some time and I answered a lot of his questions and told him the Gospel.  In the end I asked if he had ever asked God to forgive his sins based on what Jesus had done for him on the Cross, and he said he hadn’t.  I asked him if he believed Christ was God and had died for his sins to make him right with God and trusted in that and he said, “Yes.”   “Well,” I said, “if you would want to be forgiven, all you have to do is ask,” and I showed him a prayer he could pray.  He did pray, and I gave him some direction ethically after that, giving him a copy of Enjoying Your Walk With God, as he had not understood walking in the Spirit.  I also gave him The Case for Faith and a Bible study.

I had a good day talking with some other students as well. Thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism if you had a chance Thursday.  God was with me and used us.

Blessings,
Bob Bollow

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I hope you were blessed today and felt the presence of the Lord always with the children of God.  I had a good day of sharing, spending a half hour or so with Jen, a girl who prayed to receive Jesus last semester, teaching her.  Also, Manny prayed to receive Christ.

Manny was sitting on the couches on the ground floor and I came across him first thing today as I was headed towards the Book Store.  He took a moment hemming and hawing as to whether he wanted to talk.  Sometimes I just wait on that and see if God is drawing them.  He was, in Manny’s case.  It turned out he had just begun attending the Compass Church in Naperville the last few weeks.  It was formerly the Evangelical Free Church of Naperville.  I asked him if he knew the big thing Jesus had done to take away our sin and he said, “He took our punishment.”  So he knew the Gospel in some measure.  We connected really well, and after teaching him the Gospel I asked him if he had ever asked God to forgive his sins based on what Jesus had done for him on the Cross. “I’m working toward that,” he replied.  I said “Well would you like to ask God to forgive your sins right now?  If you would there is a prayer you can pray.”  I walked him through the prayer to receive forgiveness from Christ and thank God for the gift of eternal life and said, “So what do you think?”  “I love it,” he replied, and he prayed to receive Christ.  He took a copy of The Case for a Creator. I got his e-mail to send him some stuff so that was great and I think he is probably going to a pretty good church.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance.  I’m grateful and God blessed.

In Him,
Bob Bollow