Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Hope ya had a good day.  We had some students at Bible study and then I walked around telling peeps about Jesus.  Diamon, a black girl, and Monsi, a Latina girl, prayed to receive Christ today.

Diamon was sitting on one of the couches down from the book store waiting for a bus. Tall, straight hair pulled back into a hair band all bundled up in a puffy coat.  She thought of herself as a child of God.  I asked her some questions and went through the Gospel.  I asked her if she knew how God took away her sins.  She wasn’t sure, so I said, “What’s the big thing Jesus does to take away the sins of the world?”  She said she couldn’t remember, but after talking her through the Gospel it was obvious she had never heard it before. She wanted to be forgiven and prayed to receive Jesus as her savior.  I began talking to her about the Holy Spirit and she asked me to walk with her to watch for the bus and then it came pretty quick.  So I gave her a copy of Enjoying Your Walk With God and a Bible study as she ran out and she thanked me.

Monsi is Roman Catholic.  She was a nice, friendly, pretty, brown hair girl.  She said her Grandma had named her after an Island in Spain that sounded pretty: Monserrat.  (I googled it and it is a pretty island).  She had been trusting in being religious to make her right with God.  Though she knew Jesus had died to take away her sins, she was not trusting in Him and His work on the Cross but that God was forgiving and she was religious.  But she openly received the Gospel and prayed with me.  She wanted to read The Case for Christ and I gave her it and a Bible study to read.  She gave me her e-mail to send her some stuff as well, and I told her I would pray for her, so that was great.

I had some other good conversations with some who were close to believing and gave them some books today too.  The day went well.  So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a moment.  I’m grateful for the help.
In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Hope you are safe and warm if you live around Chicago, ha or anywhere else it is easier to do.  I had a bit of a shorter day due to the wet blizzard and the cops, but Tim prayed to receive Christ today so that was cool.

When I got to school I had a sense I should go right up to the third floor, so I did.  I talked with Demi right away, small auburn haired girl, braces on her teeth.  She was willing to talk about God because her boyfriend was really religious, though God was not important to her.  She was sitting in a little lounge adjacent to two offices overlooking the big one where we have Bible Study.  She laughed pretty loudly as we talked and I offered her the prayer to think about after going through the Gospel.  I had walked down the hall and had a voice in my head sort of, (a distinct impression anyway) said to give her the book I had just got this morning in the mail.  Campus Crusade for Christ was moving a warehouse and had a sale for a $1.20 on a book their president wrote: Enjoying Your Walk With God.  I bought a bunch cause they were cheap.  I hadn’t read it yet but I knew the author gave it to people who asked him about God. [The UPS guy dropped them off a half hour b4 I left so I grabbed one.]  I walked back and gave her the book, which she took openly and thanked me for, and I left.  I did a loop, and in the hall south from there where Tim prayed to receive Christ.  I walked up the hall and talked with a strong Christian, Ericka, and encouraged her about forgiveness a bit and prayed with her in the same lounge Demi had left. I guess that was too much for some bureaucrat who had been watching.  As we talked, Erika gave a hard look at a cop who walked through.  I couldn’t see his face.  I didn’t think much of it and walked off to go down to my locker.  As I was coming out of the room, the cop asked for my ID and starts in with “do you know why I am talking to you”.  I said I didn’t.  He said I had said something offensive to someone in earshot of my conversations, trying to suggest you could not say anything offensive to anyone.  I pointed out that was impossible to do and that students were saying offensive things to almost everyone all the time.  He said he got called out to talk to them too about the use of profanity and the like.  He tried to suggest I could not talk to random people, because they might be offended, said I was on a campus open to the public and asked if I had been talked to b4.  I said I had last year.  I talked him through it and he suggested they had told me not to talk to people.  I said they hadn’t.  That gave him pause, so he pulled back a bit saying “well you have been talked to about this 2 times, don’t make it 3.”  He suggested I use my indoor voice, which was funny in hindsight.  You can have conversations if no one else can overhear you?  I shook his hand and left.  I wasn’t going to argue with him or point out he was trying to limit my constitutional right to freedom of speech and religion, why bother?  But obviously if this is a policy, it is unenforceable and holds no penalty.  Last year I checked.  It is not a policy in writing anywhere.  He did not threaten me with “after a 3rd time then this thing [he can do] will happen,” I believe because nothing can happen.  If I am polite to him and he has no one I actually talked to complaining, they can’t write a ticket.  So I guess the plan is to simply try to intimidate you and waste your time.  Really bugs me though, and it is draining, but I have to try to stay under the radar.  It was looking worse and worse weather wise so I wasn’t going to stay much longer.  I went by a table where a few of the students I know often sit.  Ironically they were having a conversation about a word one of them had just used (which I had thankfully missed) that they all thought was too nasty to use in public.  I left before I had to hear it so I would not have to call a cop, lol.

Tim was an interesting guy. Tall, wearing a cap, eating a peanut butter sandwich.  He had not really gone to church much but had learned about God at a YMCA camp. There, as a kid, he and some friends had made a cross.  He somehow got to bring it home.  It seemed like they had a raffle and he got it.  He prayed at home and had the cross on his wall.  He did not know the Gospel at all and after I went through it he said he wanted to be forgiven and believed God and Christ were inside him.  As I read the prayer, he read it with me and said “Amen.”  I gave him The Case for Faith to read and got his e-mail to send him some stuff.  He got up to go to class and offered he his hand in thanks and we shook.  So I will be praying for him and will send him some stuff to read. So that was great.

So please pray for Tim and ask the Lord with me that Demi might be saved.

Then if you would pray I can stay out of ear shot of the liberal women at COD who like to call the cops on me, or that God would remove them. I know a lounge to stay out of this year, I guess, but it kind of bums me out to be looking over my shoulder.

In Him,

Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Wasup?  Hope ya had a good day.  It was sunny today in Chicago, in the 40’s, and tonight we are supposed to get a snow storm, ha. But my buddy Tim plows snow, so all good for him.   And as for me I had a good day sharing the faith with peeps.  Marco and Shonika prayed to receive Christ as their Savior.

Marco was on a couch at the base of the stairs, just waiting to go to class.  He is a 6’4″ Mexican guy with fair skin, and Clark Kent glasses and kind of looked like him.  So hey, broke every stereotype, right?  He is from a Roman Catholic background and does not go to Church often but said he prayed.  He was friendly and interested and listened to the Gospel.  He wanted to be forgiven, and after hearing the Gospel, having never prayed to receive Christ, he did.  I had some time to explain the Holy Spirit to him and then he had to run to class, but he took a copy of The Case for a Creator with him to read and thanked me.  Please pray that the faith really takes root in him.  I encouraged him to look for a church and told him I would pray for him.

Shonika, a black student, was sitting at a table hours later. I was about to head home as it was after 3 and the school empties out, but she seemed like she had time to kill and she was up for doing a student survey about God.  She was really friendly, 5″4′ and “good at every sport” and a gifted musician.  Cute kid, straight hair pulled back into a tie.  She listened to the Gospel attentively and had heard it before, but had not been trusting in Christ to forgive her sins but was more hoping God was magnanimous.  She wanted to be forgiven for her sins based on what Jesus had done for her though, so she prayed to receive Christ.  She was thankful and took The Case for Faith to read and a Bible study, and thought she might be able to come to our Bible study. I  got her e-mail to remind her, so please pray she will come and grow.

I had some other good conversations explaining the Gospel and had a fun day, so thanks so much for your prayers for the ministry and for Evangelism today if you had a chance.  And please say a prayer for Marco and Shonika that they might grow stronger in faith in Christ.

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Well, I had a pretty good day of sharing the faith today.  Alex prayed to receive Christ as His Savior. He is a black guy kind of a thin faced with a mustache and a goatee. Seemed like a smart suburban kid. He was sitting in a lounge by the financial aid windows killing time but he said he’d do a student survey for the Bible study group. I went through the Gospel with him and he knew with some prompting that God had taken his sins away by the work of Jesus on the cross. He said he did not go to church often but his parents watched Joe Osteen on TV a lot and he did too on Sundays. After I went through the gospel he said he wanted to be forgiven for his sins and so I asked him if he had ever asked God to forgive him of his sins based on what Jesus had done and he said , “Honestly no.” He wanted to so I walked him through a prayer in the booklet I was using and he prayed with me to receive Christ. I explained the work of the Holy Spirit to him in living the Christian life and encouraged him to read the Bible. He said he wasn’t much of a reader and turned down a book but I gave him a Bible Study on the Deity of Christ to read and told him he could fire me off an e-mail if he wanted some more stuff and he said he would.

The next two hours were spent in the lounge where we have Bible Study. A couple of Christian guys I have talked to b4 began asking me questions and I answered them one after the other from 2 PM until 4 PM. One of the guys Sean said after we had talked about the Holy Spirit a couple weeks back as the means by which we live the Christian life he had done as I had asked and listened at two Churches he had attended for any mention of the Holy Spirit’s power to do as the sermon instructed. One of the Churches was Christ Church in Oak Brook. He said they had made no mention of the Holy Spirit. That was the beginning of quite a few questions on the Bible and he learned a lot and was grateful so that was a good use of time today.

Thanks for your prayers today for the ministry or for evangelism if you had a moment. The Spirit led me today.

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Hope you had a nice Valentine’s Day.  El got some flowers and a poem (they don’t have to be that good since she love me) and we had some of those kick-back gift cards from credit card points to go to Macaroni Grill.

Mike came to Christ today.  I found him sitting in a corner table in a vending machine lounge off the outdoor atrium (the landscaping of which looks like about 40K of effort, my tax dollars at work).  He was a husky white guy with a crew cut and an oval face which was nearly expressionless.  He did smile once or twice, but I started praying for him in a subtext in my head while I went through the Gospel with him, realizing I was starting to worry about his lack of reaction.  I’m trying to relate to people and read them as I go when on campus.  I speed up or slow down, say something differently and most people track pretty well.  But I wonder some if it even matters and if I don’t cause myself pointless stress.  “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” [Romans 10:17] and this is what brings people to the Lord.  So in one sense I am just along for the ride, watching the answers to prayer.  But Paul writes in 1Corinthians 9:22 “To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some.” So I believe I am supposed to be prayerful and use whatever intuition God has given me or ability to fit in, but by my view it is a miracle I can still get someone to talk to me on a campus at my age.  Mike smiled at my attempts at humor (ha, well most of them) but was pretty stone-faced otherwise. But he did not look around more than a glance or two and seemed at the very end to really tune in.  He had gone to church periodically at one near his house and he said the gospel contained things he thought he had heard b4.  So I asked him if, when he’d prayed for forgiveness, he held in his heart that Christ had died for his sins and that had made him right with God or if he just thought he was a pretty good guy and God was forgiving.  He thought more the second and decided he wanted be forgiven based on what Christ had done.  I gave him the Student Edition of The Case for Faith and a bible study. He reached out and shook my hand and said, “Thanks, I really appreciate it.” I said, “I hope I see ya in Heaven,” smiled and went out.

I went through the Gospel with 7 others and got some positive responses where they thought they might pray or wanted to believe so I gave them a book.  So it was a good day walking in the Spirit.

Thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism if you had a moment today.  It is still getting peeps to talk to me and receive Jesus.

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I had a great day today of sharing with some peeps and I think I got some good seeds planted with some lost people.  The last person I talked to was Parish.  He was just sitting on the first floor on one of the benches against the glass lounge wall in the hallway right off the Student Services Lounge.  He had 4 or 5 inch braids and had dyed the ends a couple different colors.  He was in Florida at another school last year and runs track and plays football at COD and hopes to run at another school.  Good looking, tall African American kid.  Parish had been to Church some and prayed regularly and read the Bible.  Lately he felt like God had been proving Himself to him through answered prayer.  He kind of broadly knew Jesus had died for sin but had not trusted in the Blood of Christ and His sacrifice for him to be forgiven.  As I talked through the Gospel with him, showing him verses, he said, “Oh,” here and there in realization.  So it was obvious he had not really understood the Gospel or trusted in Christ, and he said he had not, but had more thought he was a good guy and God was cool with him.  So I offered him the prayer and he prayed to receive Christ.  I got his E-mail to send him some stuff and gave him a Bible Study on the Deity of Christ and More Than A Carpenter to read. So that was really great.

I bumped into a couple different guys who had received Christ this year.  Chris, an African American guy, and Mike and encouraged them and went through some more teaching with Chris.  So that was really good too.  I had an excellent day.

Thanks so much for your prayers for the ministry and for Evangelism today if you had a moment. I’m grateful for the help.

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Well, I hope you are surviving the winter well.  The weather here has been windy and cold, but fortunately the buildings are all connected at College of DuPage, so I can shove my coat in the club’s locker and walk about.  Two prayed to receive Christ today; Ewelina (Evalena Polish pronunciation) and Quincy, an African American guy.

Ewelina was sitting, waiting for her boyfriend to get out of class in the Science building.  I don’t think the class was even half over so she was game to talk a while.  She was a very lovely brown-haired girl whose parents brought her here from Poland when she was 3. She was raised Roman Catholic, predictably enough, and went to church largely to please her parents, but she did pray each night. She seemed to be more attracted to the Gospel the more we talked, but said, “What you are saying does not sound that different from how I am now.  I feel like I have a relationship with God, I pray each night and confess to the priest @ church.” I said, “Well, everyone has a relationship with God [as He is their creator] but not everyone is in a relationship with God.” I explained the difference further by suggesting she and I could have a relationship were we to come to know each other better but only my wife Ellen is in a relationship with me.  I said, Heaven was like a good club, you have to know someone to get in, the bouncer the bartender the drummer in the band.  She said smiling, “So Jesus is like the bouncer in Heaven.”  I said He was and rejected religious people who did not know Him though they did miracles in His name and even cast out demons [Matt. 7:22].  She needed to enter in His name by His righteousness that was to her credit by faith.  I talked to her about the work of the priest suggesting he was like an insurance agent you buy car insurance from.  When you crack up your car, the company he represents pays, not him.  Similarly the priest represents God and must assume you understand the work of Christ forgives your sins and might give you some penance to provoke feelings in that regard, but no man can forgive your sins, only God could forgive you.  She agreed with this and had not prayed for forgiveness thinking about the work of Christ or really understanding it before.  The Holy Spirit seemed to move in our discussion. I told her (giving her a word picture about a relationship and a boyfriend) that what God wanted most from her was the same thing she would want in a relationship, “He wants to be believed.”  I asked her what she thought and she said , “Sounds good.”  And she decided to pray to receive Christ. I explained the work of the Holy Spirit to her and gave her a Bible study and she was looking forward to reading the Bible more.

I spoke with Quincy next.  He was sitting on one of the over-stuffed chairs at the top of the stairs overlooking the SRC revolving doors. He was looking at a laptop, but as I stood at the rails looking out he looked up, so I asked him if he wanted to do a student survey for a Bible Study group and he said ok.  He plays football, just an average looking guy, not huge.  He did not know how his sins were forgiven and the Gospel was all news to him.  He wanted to be forgiven for his sins and said he did believe Jesus had died for him to forgive them.  He prayed to receive Christ.  He did not like to read, but took a Bible study from me and gave me his email to send him something more.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for Evangelism today if you got a chance.  Please pray for Ewelina and Quincy that they might grow.

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
How was your day?  Blessed I hope.  Mine went ok.  I encouraged some Christians in their faith and eventually came across Melissa who prayed to commit to Christ.  I was headed out of the Science building and walked past Melissa, but felt prompted to walk back again, which does not always work out.  But Melissa was willing to talk and turned out to be an older student, 36, in pastel sweats. She was also divorced and pregnant.  Her story was kind of interesting as her parents had been Roman Catholic, but when they moved to Illinois with her as a baby, the Catholic Church they were attending would not baptize her as they had not attended long enough to have given enough to the Church financially.  I guess Catholic Churches had kind of a “pay to play” thing going then, might still now, who knows.  Anyway, this completely alienated her parents, understandably enough.  They have not been back to a Catholic Church since.  She married a Lutheran guy, was married in that church and had attended a nondenominational church.  But when I asked her  why God should let her into Heaven she appealed to the minimal least morality I’d heard anyone put up.  Effectively she hadn’t stolen or killed anyone or done anything she thought would keep her out.  After going through the Gospel with her I pointed out to her that she seemed to be depending on not having done anything very bad and that, like most people, she seemed to kind of assume God was forgiving and that would get her into Heaven when she died.  She acknowledged she was and I said, “Well, if you just know the story of Christianity and are not holding that in your heart when asking forgiveness, trusting in what Jesus did for you on the Cross, you have not received Christ.”  She seemed somewhat surprised to realize that.  I offered her a prayer she could pray but she wanted to pray later, so though it seemed she committed to Christ and I asked her and she confessed this, I’m not sure if she will, but will pray for her. I gave her the booklet and a Bible study to read.

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

Drive safe. 🙂

In Him,
Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ.

I had a good day of sharing the Gospel today and Josh came to Christ.  He is an African American guy, plays sports at school, Cub fan,(so he knows how to suffer and that should help him in the Christian life.)   Josh regularly went to church when he lived at home and thought he’d go to Heaven, though he had no idea why God would let him in.  When I asked him how God took away his sins he didn’t have any idea.  He tried, “Baptism.” I said, “That is symbolic of it — what is the big thing Jesus does that takes away the sin of the world?”  He had nothing.  He was sitting with Sam in the Cafeteria and  when Josh said he’d do a survey Sam jumped in, but as I went through the Gospel Sam wasn’t interested and played with his phone a lot.  But Josh tuned in and wanted to be forgiven and prayed to receive Christ. I  messed with Sam about it some and did get their e-mails.  I hope Sam turns someday and he is not the seed that falls on the rocks.

Thanks for your prayers for the ministry and today for evangelism if you got a chance. I had some other good conversations with Christians, so it was a pretty good day. But then it always is when someone believes. Please pray Josh grows.

In Him,

Bob Bollow

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Well, I hope you were blessed today walking with the Lord by His Spirit.  I had a good day.  Markus and Mark prayed to receive Christ. It felt like it took a long time to get going.  No one wanted to talk to me for the first hour it seemed like, but I kept praying and walking and eventually I saw Markus sitting at a table just west of the sky bridge connecting the SRC building to the Science Building.  He agreed to do a survey.  He is a big 6’3″ good looking black guy, plays Basketball and Football at COD.  He had been to church a little but had not heard the story of the Gospel of Jesus.  But he tuned in and he believed and prayed to receive Christ and truly trusted Him.  I explained the work of the Spirit to him and he said he had 3 Bible Apps on his iPhone, so I encouraged him to read in the book of John.  He had never been out of the state but he will get to Heaven one day.  I gave him a Bible study and he took More than a Carpenter to read.  I got his e-mail to send him stuff.

Mark was sitting at the counter looking outside, about to eat lunch in the cafeteria.  I said “hey” and kept walking past him.  I was a little tired and I had asked around the room, been turned down a lot already and figured I’d head out to another building.  Then I felt like I was supposed to go back and talk to him.  It feels awkward to walk back across the room to someone, but hey he agreed to talk. He was a white kid with wavy brown hair wearing a jersey of a team I did not recognize.  He is Roman Catholic and knew Jesus had died for sin but had never even thought about it relative to himself or asking to be forgiven by God.  He had simply thought God was forgiving.  After going through the Gospel with him, he prayed to receive Christ as well.  I offered him a Bible but he said he had several, but took a bible study on the Deity of Christ.  He did not want a Christian book saying, “I’ll just read the Bible.”  So that was great.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry of evangelism at COD and for today’s work if you had a chance. God was with me today.

In Him,

Bob Bollow