Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed today and you are enjoying some late summer weather. I had a good day on campus and Christian, Joaquin and  Dylan each prayed day to receive Jesus today.

Christian was sitting in the hall on a bench in the BIC leaning against the wall. He looked Latino, slight in stature short neat cropped hair same length like a cap on his head, he had black athletic pants on and a white shirt. He had a small version of the roman nose, good looking guy. I asked if he wanted to do a student survey and he said, “How long is it I have to go to class in 5 minutes.” “You want the cliff notes version?” I asked. “Sure,” he said. What I told him took closer to 10 minutes than 5 I asked what he would say to get into Heaven and he said “I haven’t done anything bad.” I said I get that but it’s a little different and then I walked him through the good news that his sins were forgiven by Jesus dying for him. He said he would want to be forgiven so I said he could pray a prayer if he wanted to tell God as a man (having had his families catholic religious practice) he believed in Jesus and trusted in him. If he did there was a prayer he could pray and I talked him through it, “You could pray t silently not like I hear ya but God would hear and forgive you.”Got ya, thank you,” He said talking the booklet he prayed to receive Christ. He had a bright up beat spirit. I explained a symbolic view of the mass and a bit of other stuff concerning religious practice. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do explaining living inside out. I wrote “by the Spirit’s power” in the front, his name and the date and “forgiven” He had a Bible but I gave him a Bible study. “I appreciate the time, thanks again,” he said. “You’re welcome. I’m glad it went so well.” We shook hands and he headed off to class.

Joaquin (Wakeem) was sitting in the cafeteria eating a sandwich he brought from home. He had a Harley patch on the back of his jean jacket (that drew me in). The Jacket was loaded up with other rectangle patches up and down the sleeves; the collar was completely loaded with buttons. He was marching to the beat of a different drummer. Turned out he did not ride a motor cycle but he was enthusiastic to find out there was a class he could take at school in the summer. He said he’d answer some questions. He had a drivers cap on had a beard and mustache, slight build skinny jeans, wore glasses. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “Because all through my life I’ve wanted to do good and I’ve provided great examples of it.” He went to a Roman Catholic Church. When I asked how likely it was he would go to Heaven he said, “10%, possibly lower.” I began to go through the gospel with him and asked how God took away his sins. He said you had to “Reverse every sin, do not have any conflict unresolved… Do good deeds commit the right actions and hopefully those sins will be long gone.” As I continued through the Gospel I explained that he was right that you needed a good deed to take away sins but it was necessary for God to do it and die for him as he could not do anything perfect. As I finished the Gospel I asked if he would want to be forgiven for his sins trusting in Jesus or thought something else. “Forgiven for my sins,” he replied. So I offered the prayer to him saying he could pray it quietly and he nodded with his mouth full having been working on his sandwich and then I gave him the booklet looked away to write something, looking back he hadn’t prayed so I asked him and he said, “Oh, I will,” I guess planning until then to pray later. As he finished he said “There it’s done.” I explained the Christian life to Him living “inside out” and gave him a Bible Writing his name and the date and “Forgiven” under it in the front. I showed him the gospels and the “Where to turn” section for questions and gave him a bible study. He was grateful and I said that if he was trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be his righteousness and not his own good deeds the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. That made him happy and as I got up to leave he said, “Thanks I’ll try to make it by the Bible Study.”

I left the cafeteria and found Dylan sitting on a stuffed bench and he said he’d do a student survey. Turned out his parents named him after Dylan Thomas and Bob Dylan. So I said I’d seen Bob in concert twice and I recommended my favorite albums “Blood on the Tracks” and “Oh Mercy” and he said he’d check them out. He is a heavy set guy, pretty big, clean shaven mop of wavy hair. He had black shorts on, long sleeve gray shirt, kind of a pointy chin a little like a statue I have seen of Julius Cesar (the one with his arm out front holding a scroll). He said when I asked him what he’d say to God, “I think that I have dedicated my life to making the world a better place however I can do it. I dedicated my being to be as good a person as I can be.” He went on to say he always tried to do little things to be polite and help people, “You are a terrible person if you don’t do that kind of stuff, you gotta be helping people.” He was pretty certain he would go to Heaven 90-100% he went to catholic school as a kid and went to a church in an office center kind of area as he described it with a friend now. He had an easy short laugh and he listened closely to the Gospel. He seemed to know Jesus had died for him but had not put it together before I explained he did not go to Heaven because he was good, even though those kind of things pleased God and when I asked him if he would want to be forgiven for his sins he said “Um hmm.” I offered him the prayer then going through it and he took the booklet and prayed. He had a bible and I gave him a Bible study and 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name in the front and the date and “Forgiven” and also “By the Spirit’s Power” giving him some examples. He was grateful and headed out and seemed glad.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance God truly blessed. I also gave the student edition of The Case for Christ to a dark haired girl in a flannel shirt and leggings who just wasn’t sure about Jesus after hearing the Gospel. Natalie was really interested and grateful so I’ll be praying for her.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed today and you were walking’ with the Lord. I had a good day and Sam and Irima (Ear ree ma) prayed to receive Christ with me.

Sam was sitting on a bench after class with his backpack on, about to head out when I came across him and he said he’d answer a few questions for our Bible Study group. He wore black athletic shorts, shoes and socks. His hair was swept back short on the sides, and he had on a green shirt. He was short with a roman nose and a day’s growth of beard. Not very tall, stocky build. When I asked him what he would say to God to if asked why He should let him into Heaven he said, “Because I… I don’t know… I tried to make everyone happy I crossed paths with.” He thought he had about a 70% chance to go to Heaven and went to church on holidays. He listened attentively to the Gospel and seemed interested right through. He didn’t know Jesus had died for his sins and hadn’t known about the blood of Christ cleansing him or the imputed righteousness. When I asked him if he would want to be forgiven for his sins, trusting in what Jesus had done, or thought something else, he said, “I would want to be forgiven to lift the burden off.” So I asked if he believed Jesus was God, had died for his sins and rose from the dead. “Yes,” he said. I asked, “Would you want to place your trust in that to be forgiven for your sins?” “I do,” he replied with some enthusiasm. So I talked him through the prayer and offered it to him and he took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. He did not know where the Bible was he thought they might have at home, so I gave him one, writing his name in the front and “forgiven” beneath the date. I showed him the “where to Turn” section and encouraged him to read in the book of John. I said if he was trusting in Jesus’ righteousness to be his righteousness, the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. I explained the Christian life, living inside out, showing him some examples in 20 Things God Can’t Do where that might work out. I gave him a Bible study and a card for Compass church (as I had given Nick yesterday) saying he could check it out online. (I think Nick lived near and might visit). He was enthusiastic and said “Awesome” in response to things I continued to explain to him. “Awesome this is so kind of you,” he said, thanking me and getting up to go. I told him I would keep him in my prayers and he left happy and changed, his burden gone.

I talked to a couple professing Christians who could not really tell me how God had taken away their sins but claimed to be trusting in Christ as I finished the Gospel. So I hope they then believed and hadn’t quite realized it.

I found Irima after kind of a habit trail. I somehow thought I was supposed to go up to the third floor at about 20 minutes to 3. Being on the ground floor (1) and feeling tired, I got an elevator and went up to 3. Exiting, I turned left, went a couple steps, and then I felt like I was supposed to go to the corner lounges in the other direction, so I did. The first guy said “No thanks.” The next guy was eating across the room and turned me down. So I headed down the hall three steps, and then felt like I was supposed to ask everyone else in the lounge who had looked busy. So I went back, got a sip of water and walked back into the 3-wall lounge, the windows of which looked out to the outdoor theatre. I got 3 more “No thank you’s” from the 3 kids sitting there. So I walked out and headed down the hall and in the next lounge there was one student asleep. So I headed right around the corner down the hall and asked a guy against the wall. He was not interested. I kept walking, before me was an empty hall, to the other end of the building and walked past a connecting hall a couple steps. I felt like I was supposed to go down it, so I turned around and walked down that hall and there was an older woman studying on a set of benches who looked older (staff I thought). No one else was there except a black girl who walked up as I did, standing in front of the vending machines 15 feet from me. I usually talk to people who are sitting down but I though it seemed like I was being led. So I asked her if she’d do a student survey and she agreed. I said I’d sit over on the bench and wait until she was done at the machine, the older woman got up and left. Irima walked up saying something about the machine not working. “I was not trying to get away,” she said. She wore a ball cap and had her afro pulled back behind her head, nice looking girl, full lips. Cut solid athletic build sort of with a black and white thin horizontal stripped shirt on. I said something like “no worries” and told her my name and began to ask her questions. When I asked her what she might say to God to get into Heaven she said, “Because I had stuck with this religion even through my doubts.” She thought she had about a 50/50 chance to go to heaven. She had an accent and said when I asked that she was from Nigeria. She listened to the Gospel and did not seem to know how Jesus had taken away her sins so I explained the Gospel and how God wanted her to believe Him. Specifically that He had become a man and died for her sins rising from the dead. (Having explained the Gospel and the righteousness of Christ and His blood to cleanse her so He could truly be known by her living in her.) I asked if she wanted to be forgiven for her sins and she nodded. So I said “It doesn’t seem like you had ever put all this together before, right?” and she nodded she had not. Saying there was a prayer she could pray and explaining it I also said this would mean God would live inside her and give her the strength to live the Christian life “inside out.” I asked if she would like to pray to receive Jesus and she nodded again.  I handed her the booklet saying she could just pretend I was not there and she bowed her head not looking at the booklet and prayed in her own words to receive Jesus and be forgiven. I got her email and gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. It turned out she was Catholic (so I gave her a symbolic view of the Mass, saying she could just tell God at that time thank you knowing Jesus had died for her and so she was forgiven.  I said if she was trusting in Jesus’ righteousness to be her righteousness the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100%, which gave her some joy. She said in Nigeria everyone was religious, either Muslim or Christian and when you expressed your doubts they “”Shamed you”. I said that was not what God did to Peter when he sank (we’d take about the miracle in the bible study I had showed her). He floated him (and put him in the boat). That is what God does He lifts us up. I encouraged her to ask God to simply take away her doubts showing her again the verse saying faith was a gift as it was in the list of the fruit of the Spirit. I gave her the student edition of The Case for Christ. I also gave her the Rose Publication, “Following Jesus”. I told her how God had seemed to lead me to her, which she liked and I would be praying for her. She was grateful. “I appreciated it thank you,” she said as we parted. “You’re welcome thanks for being willing to talk.”

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob

I also was led to a Muslim girl with a lot of Christian friends and she appreciated my explaining the Gospel clearly and took “Jesus and the Quran” from me her name was Safa.

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed, I had a good day, and Nick prayed with me to receive Jesus.

He was sitting in the hall of the BIC wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Classic clean cut kid hair wept back looked a bit young, kind of like the kid in “Monster House” the Movie without the bangs.

Monster House Trailer Where I Do Every Sound

When I asked him what he would say to God if asked why He should let him into Heaven he said, “I would say… I don’t know.” He had been to church a couple times with a friend growing up. The last time he remembered was one Easter he thought but he could not remember the name of the Church at all. He thought he had maybe a 70% chance of getting to Heaven. He had few expressions as I went through the Gospel with him, barely cracking a smile and I was afraid he was bored but it turned out he was simply quiet and had been taking it all in as I explained how Jesus had died for him. He said he liked scuba diving and wanted to do that in Australia on the Great Barrier Reef. So I said Heaven was not just a place it was the presence of God and our problem is our being does not match God’s being, we are not perfect without sin. It is kinda like you are breathing air and you need to be able to breathe in the water, like the Gillyweed in Harry Potter (that magically gave him gills to save his friend). We need to be transformed so God takes away our sin so he can live inside us and transform us for Heaven. I asked him if he would want to be forgiven for his sins when I asked him and so I asked if he believed Jesus was God had died for his sins and rose from the dead. He said, “Yeah.” So I said if he wanted to trust in that he could be forgiven, telling that to God in a prayer. I talked through the prayer and asked if he would like to pray and he said “Yeah sure.” I gave him a Bible, he did not want to take one but I explained they were bought by people for me to give away and they would want him to have it. So I wrote his name and the date (which he questioned but I was sure of it) and “forgiven” by it showing him the “Where to Turn” section. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote, “By the Spirit’s Power” in it explaining living the Christian life, “Inside Out”. Also gave him a Bible Study.   I told him if he was now trusting in the Righteousness of Christ to be his righteousness the likelihood he would get into Heaven was 100%, he seemed to have some visible joy at that and I told him I would be praying for him until a year from Spring. “Thanks,” he said with a big smile. “Nice to meet you,” I replied. “Nice to meet you too.” and he headed across the hall into class.

So thanks for your prayers or the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sister in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and you are feeling the blessing and presence of the Lord. We survived the replacement of our crumbling front stairs, though barely, and feel we can disguise some of the gross misdeeds with landscaping and forgive it. I know, my growth in basic Christianity would be stunning were it at all remarkable.

Sebastian and Celeste prayed to receive Jesus today so that lifted my heart. I was in danger of being like Jonah over his vine, but I repented and prayed for the owner of the company this morning on the phone (about his painful foot and bone spurs, his name is Harold if you’d feel like praying for him he is 81) He previously shared with me his very difficult life. He said he was going to come over and we’d talk more about religion. Seemed making an issue about my concrete might be an obstacle to him hearing the gospel so I mostly let it go, he’s Catholic.

Sebastian was sitting in the PE lounge, about noon. Good looking black guy with a nice complexion looked like he got a lot of sun, nice features, a kind, oval face, nice smile, not real big in stature. He wore a black and white knit zip up the front open cardigan sweater and black straight leg jeans, white shoes and a white t-shirt.  He was playing a game on his phone and was willing to answer some questions. When I asked him what he would say to God if he died and was asked why He should let him into Heaven he said, “”Umm I don’t know, ahh…I don’t know that could tell Him one solid reason why.” He thought he had about a 50% chance of going to heaven. He’d been going to a church on Rt. 59 called Calvary until about a year ago.  It’s a good church and I have meet quite a few Christians through the years who went there and also had several students who went there pray with me to receive Christ. I went through the Gospel with him and he’d remembered that Jesus had died for his sins. He had not really put any of it together except that Christ died for sinners and he had not been trusting in it. When I finished explaining everything related to the atonement of Christ and imputed righteousness. He wanted to be forgiven when I asked if he would want to trust in Jesus dying for him so God could live inside him he said, “I would want God inside.” “It seems like you hadn’t really put all this together and nailed it down yet putting your trust in it?” I said. “Yeah,” he acknowledged. So I said there was a prayer he could pray to be forgiven and talked it through with him. I asked him, “It says does this prayer express the desire of your heart so does it? He agreed. I said he could pray it silently so only God could hear, “Wanna do it?” Yeah he replied and prayed to receive Christ. I gave him a Bible Study and the Book 20 Things God Can’t Do explaining living by the Spirit asking for Him to transform us, Inside out. I wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” in it so he could remember. He had a Bible so I said he could begin reading in John if he wanted. He did not use email. “Thanks,” he said. “Yeah sure,” I replied.  He’d said he was athletic. “What do you play here?” “Soccer,” he said. “We got a game at 4 but I have an earlier class.” He was just waiting around. “Well maybe that was God’s providence for you,” I said. He thought about it and I said, “God bless ya brother.” “Have a good one, “ he said.

Celeste was sitting in the upstairs PE lounge a couple hours later. She looked Latina; solid athletic frame had shorts on and a 4 inch recent scar on her knee. She was pretty, broad faced, sharp nose, long brown hair falling off her shoulders, She wore her eye make-up coo brushed points at the corners of her eye. She played soccer.  When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she said, “I think I would say it’s up to you, I think it’s up to him to let me in or not.” She thought she had about a 50% chance of going to Heaven. When she told me she went to a Catholic church I said that the last part of the survey was “What she thought about Christianity and I had some verses in this little booklet to show her.” She listened to the Gospel and took it all in; she knew Jesus had died for her sins. But I explained everything to her about the blood of Christ cleansing her from her sins and the imputed righteousness of Christ and how Jesus had paid our debt to God. I asked her if she’d want to be forgiven with God inside her or if she thought something else and she said, “I’d want God inside.” I said something like, “You know you grow up in the church and you really have your parent’s faith and there is nothing about it that bothers you when you go there and it is part of your identity but you don’t think about it much. But then you become a woman and you have to decide for yourself what you will believe.” I said she would have to believe Jesus was God He died for her sins and rose from the dead but also to place her trust in that and asked her if she was trusting. She thought she was because when she damaged her knee and had to have surgery she thought she would like to play soccer again but if she couldn’t because her knee did not recover she would trust God for that too. But then her knee recovered. I said, “That’s actually a great story,” impressed with her faith.  But I am asking something a bit different if you had been trusting in Jesus to take away your sin and make you right with God. She said no she’d really never thought about that. I said, “What God wants most from you is what she would want most someday in a guy she married, “You’d want him to believe you, and you’d want to believe him. And that what God wants most to be in a relationship with Him, He wants you to believe Him and what he has said he did to take away your sin.” I said that if she wanted to have a relationship with God like that there was a prayer she could pray and ask God to forgive her and the Holy Spirit would live inside her. I talked through the prayer and asked her if she wanted to pray it and she said, “Yeah it was nice.” So he took the booklet and took what seemed like a long time and prayed to receive Jesus. I explained living the Christian life by the power of the Spirit inside out and that everything God was asking her to do He would give her the power to do. I explained a symbolic view of the mass where she could thank God for dying for her knowing she was forgiven. I gave her the same Bible study and book 20 Things God Can’t Do writing her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. She liked that and was thankful.  I said maybe I would “see her in Heaven someday, there was a lot of people there but who knows?” She seemed happy and that and I headed out.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a moment God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed. We had a good day at the book table, got some affirmation and went through the Gospel with some peeps.  Stephanie received Jesus as her Savior today.

I was talking to an older student who I used to know from Africa, Mariah, who had just finished up at Southern IU in Physical therapy. She was visiting school and dropped by to ask for a prayer request that she would pass her boards (please pray she does) and say hi. She paused our conversation over her prayer request as Stephanie had picked up  Evolution the Lie and was looking at 20 Things God Can’t Do. Mariah said to her, “I know I saw that too.” I used the break to explain the book a bit and then asked her if she wanted to answer a question. She agreed and I asked her if she died and stood before God, what would she say to get into Heaven. She did not know, but said I could tell her what the Bible said. I went through the Gospel with her, having to blow off Mariah but she understood. Stephanie was a slight tiny girl , a pointed chin small face, cute with glasses and long light brown hair, several inches past her shoulders. She was wearing one of the balloon hats they were making for students on clubs and activities day. I made sure I didn’t rush since she was so hard to read, very quiet and reserved. She had a mostly pink multi colored shirt on with some white and blue. She wore a couple necklaces. She knew Jesus had died to take away her sin, but had seemed to be hoping she would be good enough. She was attentive but did not say anything as I explained the Gospel to her. She said she went to a Roman Catholic Church. When I asked her if she would want to be forgiven for her sins, she looked up at me in the eyes and nodded. So having finished the Gospel I walked her through the prayer and read, “It says here: Does this prayer express the desire of your heart? So would you say that it did?” She nodded again and I said if she wanted she could pray and ask God to forgive her, trusting in what Jesus had done to pay for her sins on the Cross and His Spirit would live inside her. She said she would pray it later when she was alone. I explained living by the Spirit’s Power inside out. I gave her a copy of 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote her name and “By the Spirit’s Power” explaining how everything God was asking her to do He would give her the power to do. I explained a symbolic view of the Mass as remembering Jesus had died for her sins and she was forgiven and when she took it she could just say, “Thank you”. I think she also took a Rose publication handout called “Following Jesus.” She had some other things in her hands. I also gave her a Bible study. I apologized for taking so long and she said “No, I needed this.” So I said something like, “Do you believe Jesus is God, He died for your sins and rose from the Dead? And do you trust in that to take away your sins and bring you to Heaven?” And she said she did. So I said “All that is left then is for you to pray and tell that to God.” She was grateful. I put her balloon hat back on her head for her she’d left on the table to straighten her hair as she’d almost forgot it and she headed out. So that was great. I had some great discussions too and got some affirmation from staff people. A black Christian man running the Diversity department had a table beside ours and said, “You are doing a great work here” after listening to me go through the Gospel with several students. We had some good conversations with Christians too and got some peeps who might come to the Bible study.

So thanks for your prayers for the Table today and for evangelism if you had a chance God blessed us. Ellen, my volunteer staff person, blessed me all day with her help.

Blessings,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and you are walking with the Lord in Joy!  I had a good day on campus and Jada prayed with me to receive Jesus. And Mark, who committed to Christ yesterday saying he would pray later, showed up at Bible Study tonight and had prayed the prayer I showed him. So that was great. Thirteen students have prayed to receive Jesus this fall, and tomorrow we’ll have a book table for the clubs and activities day.

Jada was sitting on the edge of the lounge in the BIC, just down from the big lounge where we have Bible Study.  She was an athletic, African American, (a Cheerleader/gymnast). She had been out of the Church she’d grown up in for a few years, but had just started to go back to Church. She lived in Naperville but went into Maywood, attending Rock of Our Salvation.  She wore black leggings and a black t-shirt with gold letters on the front that I never quite got the right angle on to read. She had her hair up in a bun with a hair band around it just over her forehead and fuzzy sandals with black and white stripes of fake fur. She had a cute nose and face, sweet kid.  Looked a little like her favorite athlete Gabby Douglas the Olympic Gymnast. She really seemed to have no knowledge of salvation however. When I asked her why God should let her into Heaven she said, “Because I’m gifted.” She was 100% sure she would go to Heaven when she died. When I asked her, “What’s the big thing that happened to take away your sin?” she hesitated, thinking a bit and said, “God does it.” So I said that was true and that He does it with Jesus. I explained how she had to be perfect and she agreed she couldn’t be. Then I went on to explain that God is just, and we damage His stuff as everything belongs to Him. So seeing we could not pay for our sins, Jesus dies for us. “He does both things?” Jada asked, meaning He is the judge who lays the sentence of death and also the satisfaction of the sentence, dying for us to give life. “Yes” I said. “He does it all.” And I said He offers it to those who believe and want to follow Him. When I explained what God had done, and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness, she said, “That makes sense.” I said that God wanted from her what she would want in a man she might marry one day, “You want to be able to believe him and he believe you. You want trust. If you will put your trust and faith in Jesus and what He has done, God says then He will forgive you and you can begin a relationship with Him.   Then His Spirit lives inside you and gives you the strength to live the Christian life.’ She wanted to be forgiven and so I offered her the prayer she could pray and tell God she believed, so he could live inside her. Asking her if she would like to pray and she said “Yes.” And Jada prayed to receive Jesus. So that was great. She thought she might be able to come to Bible Study every other week. I explained living the Christian life “Inside out” by the Spirit. I gave her the book 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote her name and the date and “forgiven “ in the front, telling her she could remember. Then I showed her a couple chapters and said, “Everything that this book asks you to do, you do by the power of God’s Holy Spirit.” As I would make another point with her she said a few more times, “That makes sense.” I also gave her a Bible study and got her email so that was great. “Thanks so much,” she said. “It was nice to meet you.” “It was nice to meet you too,” I said shaking her hand and I headed out.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed walking with the Lord. I got home to find they had turned my front side walk into a big a asymmetrical mermaid tail. I called them and they reshaped the forms and the sidewalk after I got pretty upset with them, maybe needlessly. But everything turned out ok and I went through the Gospel with the guy who came out to fix it while I helped him dig out the new path. (Man, am I glad I do not dig earth for a living, Luke 16:3). The stairs were visibly out of square too so hey at least they didn’t pour it yet because I’m pretty sure I’d have to live with it. But Justin & Nick prayed with me to receive Jesus today and Mark committed to Christ saying he thought he would pray the prayer after class.

I got a bad night’s sleep and got up early to greet the concrete demo team and then left them to go to School (unwisely it turned out). When I started walking through the building I had a thought I should head over to the science building (it turned out God just wanted me on the road to there). I kind of thought I would take the short cut outside so I looped around finding no conversations and went out the doors at the Cafeteria seeing some students on benches on the path over to the Science building crossing the road. I headed to them and found Justin who had a shirt with something about cows on it I could never really read. He wore tan cargo shorts and had sandy hair kind of swept up on top of his head like if Superman’s hair was curlier, had freckles. He was thin and looked a young 17. Justin said he would talk with me and answer some questions. It turn out he had gone to his grandparents church in the city most of his life. When I asked him what he would say to God to let him into Heaven he said, “Because I feel like I’ve lived a good life, grown up Christian, went to Church, I always give I never take. I tried to live my life as it is.” Maybe he meant he didn’t complain? He thought he had a 70% chance of going to Heaven saying as a qualifier, “I don’t go to Church all the time.” It was obvious as he talked a bit he thought his good religious behavior was all God wanted. I explained to him that his good stuff couldn’t fix his bad stuff. “Like say you got a girl friend for about 3 weeks and you thought she was pretty cool then you find out she’s cheating on you and stealing your stuff, so you cut her loose. She comes around in about a week and she’s like, “Oh Justin I know I did you wrong, I was even stealing your stuff and selling it for drugs, but I just want you to know, I’m gonna be nice to my next three boyfriends.’ You’d be like that doesn’t help me at all because you can’t do good things over there to fix you bad things back here.” When I personalized it he saw that was true I explained we couldn’t be perfect but Jesus was perfect and His righteousness can be imputed to us. I explained the rest of the Gospel to him and he hadn’t thought about it. He wanted to be forgiven. I told him something like, you know you grow up in the Church and you have your parents faith and you agree with everything but when you get out on your own you have to decide for yourself what you will believe. I asked him if telling God he wanted to trust in Christ to be forgiven for his sins was something he had done or something hadn’t done yet. He said, “As I mature that’s something I want to do.”  So I read him through the prayer in the booklet I used part of and said if he wanted to he could pray that silently and he would be forgiven and God would live inside him. “So would you like to do that?” Yeah sure,” he replied and took the booklet from me and prayed to receive Jesus. He was glad when I told him he could keep the booklet I had scribbled in and I showed him some verses on living the Christian life inside out. I gave him a Bible Study and 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and “forgiven” and the date inside. I also showed him a couple chapters and explained everything God was asking him to do He would give him the power to do by the Spirit. I had taken longer than I had told him and he gratefully ran off to class.

Mark was sitting on the floor in a north/south hallway in the BIC. He had dark blonde hair and was wearing a button down short sleeve shirt. Had a smattering of facial hair. He had an interesting voice a bit like he was talking with a mouth full of lettuce and an Eastern European accent to boot. I struggled a little to understand him but followed ok. He described himself as an “Eastern Catholic”. When I asked him what he would tell God to get into Heaven he said, “Because I prayed the rosary every day.” He also said he went to confession and was getting into his faith the last year of high school more even driving himself to Church when his mom didn’t go.  He listened to the Gospel closely and I helped him understand he would have to be perfect. I explained the Catholic Priest as a representative who was telling him God forgave his sins, because God was just and Jesus had paid for his sins. He wanted to be forgiven saying he was a Catholic and so he of course would believe everything I had said. When I walked him through the prayer he could pray he was very interested but said, “I have a half an hour after class I will pray this then.” So I said I had a book for him and gave him Bible Promises for You. I told him the parable of the King and his feast where the guy gets thrown into Hell for wearing the wrong clothes saying that was the righteousness of Christ he was not wearing the garment given him by God. But that if he trusted in the righteousness of Christ to be his righteousness the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. “Do you believe Jesus is God died for your sins and rose from the dead and do you trust in that to make you right with God and go to Heaven?” I asked. “Yes,” he answered so I shook his hand saying then his sins were forgiven. He gave me his email and I gave him a Bible study so I’ll be able to ask him if he prayed after class as he intended. I talked him through a symbolic view of the mass for Sundays too. He was thankful.

Nick was sitting in the hallway on the south side of the BIC. He was wearing a pretty prominent steel cross and a T-shirt with a dove symbol on it. He had an inch high afro, wore glasses, looked and talked like a smart kid, a kind face, good looking guy with green pants with a lot of quilted stitched lines straight across the legs. When I asked him what he would say to God if he died and God asked him why He should let him into Heaven he said, “Ooo I never thought about that ever before. I’m not gonna lie to you, I don’t know. The good things you do don’t outweigh the bad. So it would be tough to answer. You can’t say you’re a good person.” He thought his chances of going to Heaven were 60-40 saying he was the least terrible person of all his friends and then more or less saying that didn’t count for much. “You can’t do anything perfect,” I said agreeing with him. “See what I’m saying?” he replied. He followed closely with the Gospel as I launched into it conversationally and then took out a booklet so he would have some Bible verses in print. A guy came by and asked what we were talking about and I said Jesus and he gave Nick 4 chapters to read in the Bible on a scrap of paper so Nick took them and the guy walked off without introducing himself. I guess he did not realize I was sharing the Gospel. I finished explaining how Christ had lived a perfect life for him keeping the law and told the story in Matthew 22 again about the King that throws a guy into Hell for wearing the wrong clothes to explain imputed righteousness. “That’s a great story,” he said liking the explanation. And I said it was one of Jesus’. He wanted to be forgiven and so when I offered him the chance to receive Christ and pray he wanted to and prayed to receive Jesus. We talked some more. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front along with “By the Spirit’s Power” explaining the Christian life. He talked about his mom a lot saying he did not have a father, just a twin sister. She was very religious but the advice she was giving him seemed to suggest he needed to cling to faith (try harder) and pray but not really the right details. And he had not understood the Gospel. She also had not mentioned walking by the Spirit. He said he was going to ask his mom the question I had asked him and he planned it out saying he was going to wait until she got home and had her feet up. He took an extra booklet and I gave him a Bible Promises for You book for her and he said he kind of wanted to keep it. I gave him a Max Lucado book on prayer for her then too, since I didn’t have another copy with me. I got his email, gave him a Bible Study and taught him about living the Christian life, “Inside out”. He was grateful and I got up to leave and said, “God bless you.” and he said, “God bless you too.” “Thanks,” I said and headed down the hall. I’ll pray for his mom when I prayer him. Really a great conversation.

So thanks for your prayers for the Ministry and for Evangelism today if you had a chance. God blessed real good. 🙂

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your weekend has been blessed and you and walking in some joy. I had a good day on campus Thursday John prayed to receive Christ and Mariana committed to Christ.

I bumped into Justin (in the PE lounge) a guy who had trusted Christ as his savior last year. He is on the track team but got a full ride to Wisconsin and was just hanging out to visit with a few of his friends after practice. I told him I was praying for him and he said he prayed for me too and grinned at me. Rachel walked up and sat down after a while. She had prayed to receive Christ last year. I told her I was praying for her when she said was surprised I remembered her name. After a bit Lionel walked up and sat down at Justin’s table across from me (he has not trusted Christ yet but said he kept the booklet with my notes in it from last year) and a bit later John sat down and Lionel pretty much was just bent over having been destroyed from running in practice, he hadn’t been in shape at all in summer. John seemed fit as a fiddle though. He had a rough topped afro, chin beard and mustache, smaller guy but he had his shirt off and a back pack and shorts on and he was ripped, chest and abs. After a bit I said I was gonna head out and look for some peeps to talk to and tell how to get to Heaven. I asked John if he knew how to go to heaven and he said, “Yeah you believe.” Believe what?” I asked. He wasn’t sure so I began to talk him through the Gospel. He hadn’t remembered how God took away his sins. Rachel and Justin trailed off in their own conversation and since John had pulled up a chair about 5 feel from the table I went over on my knees to show him some of the same verses I had quoted him and review using the booklet so he would have it. Lionel was still bent over looking down trying to recover in a chair several feet away so when he said he would want to be forgiven for his sins I encouraged him to pray to receive Jesus taking Him through the prayer. “Now, right here?” “Sure.” I said, “They won’t even notice.” “Out loud?” “No just silently between you and God,” I replied and he prayed to receive Christ. I gave him a Bible study. He had a bible it was his family bible but he said he took it with him when he left for school as no one else read it. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote his name and “forgiven” in the front along with by the Spirit’s power” having explained His power was the only way to live the Christian life. He took the booklet too and I said I would pray for him and I headed off saying goodbye to everyone and I would keep them in my prayers as I had also been praying for Lionel.

Mariana was studying on her computer and did not look up at me but I felt compelled to go back and talk with her, she was in a side hall between classrooms in the BIC building. She was a short Latina with a horizontal stripped shirt on and skinny jeans. She had an oval sweet face and brown and tan eye shadow. I asked her if she wanted to do a student survey but she was busy so I offered her a booklet and quickly explained what Jesus had done for her to pay for her sins. She went to Church on the holidays. So after the short conversation I asked her if she believed Jesus was God died for her sins and rose from the dead. “Well I didn’t before but I do now (after you explained this),” she replied. And would you want to trust in that for your sins to be forgiven. She said she would so I talked her through the prayer suggesting she could pray it later when she had time. I gave her a Bible study to and she thanked me and I headed off after inviting her to Bible Study. I walked a bit down the hallway and thought I could get away with giving her a Bible Promises for You book. So I walked back and offered it to her. She took it gratefully and thanked me and I wrote her name in the front and mine. Then I headed out leaving the rest to the Spirit and our prayers.

So thanks for your prayers for the Bible study and for evangelism today if you had a chance. God truly blessed the work.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed walking with the Lord. I had a great day on campus and William and Alexis each prayed with me to receive Jesus.

It seemed like almost no one wanted to talk to me today having all done spiritual interest surveys with some person working with/for the organization once called Campus Crusade for Christ. None of these go through the Gospel with a student. Yesterday I talked a girl into listening to the Gospel anyway who received the Lord but today many people seemed a little annoyed to be asked again. William had also done a survey which he told me when I first walked up. I said this was different and explained a little, that it was about how you get to heaven. He agreed to listen saying, “I have some ideas.” So I sat at his feet.  He was sitting along the wall by the cafeteria. He wore light green skinny jeans with elastic ankles, he was a smaller black guy with a rough cut afro and a ball cap on and a backpack. He wore a black hoodie that said GOD on the front and had a bit of facial hair, mustache and goatee. I began explaining the Gospel to him with some verses, that God loved him, wanted him to believe in Him and to know and live inside him. I asked him what Jesus had done to take away his sins so that could happen and he didn’t seem to know. A big nerdy looking white guy who had wedged in next to him answered, “Jesus died on the cross.” (He had walked up after me trying to sit next to an attractive girl with headphones on, on William’s right, who ignored him when he first approached asking to sit down in a space to small for him. William then moved over some, he wedged in, she got up and left.)  William gave him a look like, if you say so at his unrequested help. I told the nerd guy he was supposed to let William come to the idea on his own and tracked back to the explanation. Moments later while I was in the middle of an illustration on imputation a Cru staff person walked up behind us, interrupted me and asked if we would do a survey. We had to tell her no twice. The booklet her organization prints up that I had just used in part to go through some of the Gospel with William was sitting open on top of my backpack in front of me as she interrupted. I thought I might of lost him at the second interruption by a professing Christian but he tuned right back in after she went away, genuinely interested. Fortunately God is at work and it is not up to me. I explained that anything God asks us to do He gives us the power to do explaining the Holy Spirit and the life in Christ. Then I asked him if he would want to be forgiven trusting in what Jesus had done. “I’d want to be forgiven, yeah,” he replied. So I talked him through the prayer and asked if he’d like to pray that silently between him and God to be forgiven and he nodded and took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. I told him he could keep the booklet there was some more stuff in it about faith and explained living “Inside out” by the Spirit. I gave him a Bible because he did not have one showing him the section in the back called “Where to Turn” that answers questions and that Christ’s words were in red. I wrote his name in the front and the date and “Forgiven” telling him he could remember. I gave him a Bible study explaining that, he did not want to get another in an email. And I gave him the book 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front. “That’s about it,” he said. I told him he could email me any questions he might have. We stood up and he shook my hand and thanked me and I said Yeah and I’d see him Heaven. And we went our separate ways.

I chatted up some peeps I knew from last year outside and then found Alexis sitting in the corner of the BIC building at the entrance to the tunnel that goes over to the PE building. She looked Latina, had long brown hair up in a bun cut a bit over her ears, a pretty oval face and black framed rectangle glasses, she had a sweatshirt on and black leggings and was reading a tablet. It turned out she had left the Catholic Church due to her parents disinterest but her grandparents were religious and had gotten her back into it now that she was older she had just made confession of faith and her first communion. But I’m not sure she was going to Church. When I asked her what she thought she’d say to God if she died to get into Heaven she said, “Hmmm” and smiled, saying something like, “I don’t know how that would work.” I told her that probably is not what happens but the question is really asking you what you think it is that gets you into Heaven, “I’d have to right my wrongs, that’s basically it.” She knew Christ had died to take away our sins and listen to the Gospel. I explained the priest’s role in confession as I did yesterday to Daniella and imputed righteousness and the cleansing blood of Christ. I said that she was right; she’d have to right her wrongs to get into Heaven the problem is we can’t do it, or turn our bad stuff into good but God can. She said she would want to be forgiven with God inside emphatically pointing at that circle. So I showed her the prayer she could pray. She’d told me about her recent Church experience so I said, “Well it seems like you’ve done the things that the Church would have you do religiously but do you think you have told God that you want to be forgiven for your sins trusting in Jesus?” asking if she had personally expressed that to God or if she hadn’t really done that. She thought and said, “Haven’t really done that.” So I offered the prayer to her saying she could pray silently like I wasn’t there and she nodded and took the booklet and prayed to receive Christ. I talked to her about the Christian life and God giving her the power to live it. I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front and her name and the date and “Forgiven” in the front. I gave her a Bible Study and she gave me her email to get another one. “Nice to meet you,” I said getting up to go. ‘Nice to meet you too,” She said. “Thanks.” I replied. “Thank you.” She said. And I headed down the hallway towards my truck.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for Evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and you felt near to God. I had a good day on campus and Jackie prayed with me to receive Jesus. Daniella committed to Christ, shyly saying she would pray later.

Daniella was sitting in the hallway outside the bookstore where this year they have set out come counter-height tables with a couple of chairs. She sat at one of these and I asked her if she’d want to do a student survey. She’d done one she said. Cru does surveys but then don’t tell people the Gospel. So quite a few students were not interested to talk to me to hear the Gospel, saying they’d already done a survey. I said this was different and I asked her if she’d like to know how the Bible said you got to Heaven.  “Sure, I don’t have anything else to do,” she replied. She was wearing a shawl wrapped around her shoulders. The AC was pretty cold there, as that stretch is technically underground. Her long, wavy hair was pulled back behind her head. She had a small nose and kind of a heart-shaped small mouth, looked like a country girl.  She went to a Roman Catholic Church. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she said, “I mean I guess He doesn’t have to, I mean I wasn’t the best person but you know…”  She was pretty certain she would go to Heaven, 99% she thought nonetheless. I asked how God took away her sin and she said, “Baptism?” I said that was what the Church said took away her original sin, but what about the sins she committed day to day? “Confession?” she guessed again. I said “Well the priest says your sins are forgiven, but the Church teaches only God can forgive your sins. So he is really saying God forgives you. He’s like an insurance agent that sells you insurance for your car. When you crash you call the agent, but he doesn’t pay, the company pays. So God pays for your sin. See, everything belongs to God, even us, so when we sin, even hurting only ourselves, we damage God’s stuff. We owe Him for the damage. But God is just. So what is it that Jesus did that allows God to pay for your sins?” She didn’t know, so I explained the Gospel to her and the imputed righteousness of Christ and she understood it all clearly for the first time. She said she wanted to be forgiven for her sins, so I said she could just pray, telling God she wanted to be forgiven for her sins. I walked her through the prayer, but she was uncomfortable praying just then. So I asked, “Do you believe Jesus is God, died for your sins and rose from the dead? And do you trust in that to be forgiven for your sins?” “Yes,” she said. “Ok well you can talk to God about it later” I said. I explained the Christian life to her, that God gave her the power to do everything he was asking her to do, by His Spirit. I gave her a book Bible Promises for You showing her the Bible verses and how you could pray them if you wanted.  “You are giving me this?” she said. “Yeah, sure, free book,” I said writing her name in the front. I also wrote the date and said, “When you pray later you can write ‘forgiven’ under it later so you can remember.” I also gave her a Bible study explaining that to her. I got up to go. “Thanks,” she said. I nodded in reply and headed off.

I had a couple of good conversations where I got some seeds planted and finally found Jackie at the end of the afternoon. She was sitting along the wall outside the cafeteria killing some time before heading home. She had tan lace up boots on that were unzipped and untied with the laces undone. She wore a spaghetti strap blouse and had an over-shirt pulled off her shoulders half way down her arms. Her skinny jeans were cuffed at the top of her boots. Bright white teeth in a perfect smile, very fair skin and long straight dark hair, pretty. I walked past her not thinking she looked the type to want to talk about God, then silently rebuked myself for the stereotype, turned and asked her to do a survey and she said yes. She told me her name was Jackie and I said, “Like Jackie Kennedy.” “My mom named me after her,” she replied. “She was a pretty lady, you’re pretty too,” I said matter of factly. She actually looked a lot like Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, if a bit smaller in stature. She thanked me. She’d tried college a few times before she said. When I asked her if she died, what she would say to God to get into Heaven she said, “That’s a good question…” she thought for a while and then said, “I tried to be a good person.” She said she was 100% sure she would go to Heaven. I went through the Gospel with her and she knew Jesus had died to take away her sins. She listened to the Gospel and took it all in and I asked her if she’d like to be forgiven for her sins or if she thought something else. “Forgiven,” she replied. So I said, “Do you believe Jesus is God, He died for your sins and rose from the Dead?” “There was a time when I did, I think part me still does inside,” she said, “Baby steps.” As if saying she had belief. So I said if she would want to be forgiven and ask God for faith to believe there was a prayer she could pray and talked her through it and asked if she’d like to pray silently like I wasn’t there. She agreed and prayed to receive Jesus. When she finished I said, “You can keep the booklet.” “I can,” she said enthusiastically, “great.” It was the first unguarded thing she’d said. I said I could give her some books and gave her a bible study on the deity of Christ she liked. Then I thought to ask her if she liked to read and she didn’t and said she was really busy so I gave her the book Bible Promises for You, showing her some of the verses and giving her examples how she might pray them. “Like AA,” she said. “AA says to trust in a higher power so this fits with that,” I said, thinking she might have just told me why it was her third try at college. We had a good talk. I told her I would keep her in my prayers for the next school year and the one after. I wrote her name in the front and the date and ‘forgiven” under it and handing it to her got ready to go. I told her that if she was trusting in the righteousness of Christ to be her righteousness, the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100%. “It was nice to meet you,” she said offering me her hand to shake. I shook it and said, “It was nice to meet you too,” I said shaking it. I headed down the hall, stopped and wrote some stuff down, but it was late and I had to print up the Bible study so I headed out a side door and saw Jackie crossing to the parking lot in sunglasses. I waved to her and she waved back and headed south.

We had a good time at the bible study, even though no one from last year can come until next week.  We brought pizza and ate together in case anyone else came. A guy I’d just met today David, (big dude, free curly afro who had not received Christ, was walking through the lounge with another black student, Caitlyn (pretty round face long braids they were both big but not fat) and so I called him over for some pizza. They both sat. And ate. I told them Bible Stories and we talked about polygamy and some other stuff they asked about. David left for class and thanked me for the pizza. Caitlyn stayed, so I began to go through the Gospel with her and when her mom called, she invited her in for pizza. Her mom finally found us and took a couple pieces to go. I finished the Gospel with Caitlyn and she understood it much better I think, saying she had asked God to forgive her before trusting in Jesus. She took a Bible study and her mom chatted and said she really felt blessed and complimented Ellen for having such a sweet spirit.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance. God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob