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

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I had a good day today sharing and Senovio prayed to receive Christ as his Savior. He is Roman Catholic and said he goes to Church every day. He wants to be a Professional Soccer player and works out constantly. He did not think about Jesus as his Savior. He thought he would go to heaven because he kept the Ten Commandments. I explained that this was great and pleased God and he should want to please God but his good works would not take away his sins or get God to love him more. When I had gone through the gospel with him and asked him if when he asked God to forgive him for his sins if he thought of what Jesus had done for him on the cross to forgive him he thought for a moment and he said, “I had never thought of that before”. So I said if you wish for God to forgive your sins based on what Jesus has done all you have to is ask Him and accept His forgiveness telling him you are grateful for His death for you on the cross to forgive your sins. I showed him the prayer explaining this and he prayed while I sat on the floor at his feet. I gave him More Than a Carpenter and a Bible study and talked to Him about how God might Glorify Himself through his efforts and how he should seek to depend upon the Holy Spirit. He really seemed to have Joy and told me to stay on “My Mission” encouraging me. I said I will and I would pray for him and gave him my e-mail and said if he ever had a prayer request to send it to me and I would be faithful to pray. He shook my hand and I said I will see you in heaven. He smiled and agreed.

I had a long conversation about truth w/ a strange character who was raised Roman Catholic and decided to become Jewish and thought he wanted to be a Rabbi. He was wearing a Yamaka. He was convinced the Bible had all kinds of contradictions in it but could not name one when I pressed him. He basically told me I could not prove anything I said saying subjective and societal values were what was right and wrong. I said he had basically just laid out the philosophical basis for the Holocaust. We were sitting by a bridge that connects 2 buildings and I said if I had an engineering degree I could sit down and have a conversation about the structural integrity of the bridge. We could talk about trigonometry the temperance for the steel and the likelihood built as it was that it would last 20 years. Now you could say well what if a tsunami hits it? Now I can’t say absolutely that can’t happen but as we are about 1500 miles from an ocean I can say with huge probability it won’t same with an earthquake as we do not get the magnitude earthquakes around here to threaten a bridge, but it is not absolutely impossible, some construction worker towing a crane he thought was not erect could strike it and take it out but also unlikely. There is no such thing as zero probability. But within a certain set of givens that engineers could agree upon we could say it would be definitely there in 20 years. All truth claims in conversation work on an agreed upon set of givens or there is no point of contact in which to have a dialogue. If you don’t believe in Math you don’t believe in bridges. I pointed out History had similar givens as he was trying to suggest I could not prove Jesus had even existed as many people had that name in his time. I said there were other adjectives attached to Jesus name like his town of origin or that he did miraculous works so it is clear in Historical literature who is being spoken of, and there were within the parameters of a certain set of givens sound reasons to believe the claims about Jesus in the NT. He was a real know it all and yet had not read anything and in the end just said he was a Nihilist and it did not matter what the Torah actually said or if it had any contradictions as it was more important what he got out of it. I said German Scholarship took similar positions on Biblical criticism and then wondered why no one wanted to read the Bible anymore in Germany. He never quite got it but hopefully he left a bit less sure that he knew what he was talking about.

Well thanks for your prayers God guided me and gave me words today. Please pray for Senovio to grow in Christ.

Blessings in Him,
Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Had a pretty good day today, Alissa prayed to receive Christ with me. She was sitting on the floor at the end of the hall [because the construction ends the hall] on second floor with her friend Carly. They were waiting to get into class and said they would answer some questions about God. Carly had fuzzy boots and Alissa’s were covered with something like sequins, so hey. Both had brown hair, cute girls. Alissa struggled with the question of what she would say if God asked her “why should I let you into heaven” but Carly just said she didn’t believe in God. I asked her how long she’d felt that way and she said after thinking a minute, “since the 5th grade.” I asked her what was going on then and she said her grandma had died and she just had bad feelings in church after that and kind of blacked out a few times during services. She said she went through confirmation and stuff but nothing stuck. Alissa couldn’t make up her mind on the question and asked me what I would say. So I went through the gospel with them both in my own colorful way quoting a lot of Bible verses. Carly was attentive too. When I was done, Alissa said, “well then I would say Jesus.” I wrote that down and asked her, “Well, has there ever been a time in your life when you asked God to forgive you for your sins because of what Jesus has done for you, ’cause what I said seemed like it was pretty new to you?” She said she hadn’t so I pulled out a booklet to show her a prayer she could pray and she said she wanted to ask for forgiveness for her sins and prayed telling Carly not to look at her as she did, which was kind of sweet. I asked Carly then if she would like the booklet and she said she would so I gave her another one and they both also enthusiastically took More Than a Carpenter to read from me when I offered then a Free Christian book. I gave then a Bible study and then their class was starting so they had to run in so I promised them I would pray for them. I’m going to pray that Carly believes.

So thanks for your prayers today. Please pray for the girls if you get a chance.

Blessings in Him,
Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Well today was kind of a drag. I got hassled by security again and then the campus cops showed up. My problem seems to be one lounge where some busy body ladies who sit at a circular desk and have nothing better to do like to call the cops on me. Once there is a complaint the campus police have top come “hassle me” in their words to look like they have checked into it. The one cop was a little apologetic saying he respected what I was doing and I explained I had been walking around talking to students about God for 10 years at COD and never had a complaint until this year. I had only talked to 2 students b4 this, both were Christians so neither complained. So he more or less acknowledged that it might have been a complaint from somewhere else and that staying out of that lounge would probably solve my problem. He said I should check with student activities or whatever and I said I already had. There are no, for obvious reasons, rules for having conversations with other students. This is why I signed up for a class, so I am now a student. He said I should sign up for a table, I declined since that would mean I basically did not talk to anyone and they have rules for tables so then they can hassle me more. Since I had done nothing wrong and was having a conversation about God there was little they could do so I walked over to another part of campus. It’s a big place but it jerks your chain more than a little and makes you look over your shoulder all the time wondering if someone is going to cut you off and give you an authority lecture. The Cops were actually respectful and kind enough to me if not a bit over cautious, the security they replaced had given me some grief but they dismissed him.

So Thanks for your prayers, I got away anyhow for today. I’ll be staying out of eye shot in that lounge for a while.

Blessings in Him,
Bob