Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day went well and you sensed the presence of the Lord. I had an abnormal day. When I first got to school I had this sense I should go over to the science building. I had a bad headache and the science building was on the other side of school. But I began to head over there to see if it was God leading. No one would talk with me on the way there, and when I got there only one student was willing to talk. Ethan turned out be a Christian and we talked for 2 ½ hours, overlooking the science building lounge. He had a military cut (buzzed on the sides with a mop on top), a goatee, sandy hair, wearing shorts, nice guy. I answered a lot of questions and he was very well read in some fringe Christian stuff and some scholarship I had also read. One of the scholars we talked about has the wrong view of ancient influences on the Bible. I believe the Bible is the true story and other ancient religions, inasmuch as the myth resembles the Bible, are channeled by cenobites controlled by demons. There’s a resurgence today of paganism and the old gods. [1Timothy 4:1 “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons” ]  In as much as an old religious pagan worship resembles Christianity, it is simply a demon mimicking the truth to make the lie sound more real. The Old Testament Bible is not responding to these lies. It does not have to, it is simply the original true story. I talked to Ethan about the nature of scholarship, certain translations of the Bible and so on. We talked about a dozen different issues including the Dead Sea Scrolls and the original languages of the NT, several different sources of information and a couple other issues. I told him perspective in each of the things he brought up that were outside what he had considered. So I guess that was what I was supposed to do at school today. He already knew a lot, but I told him some different ways he could think about it that he had not considered. I imagine, by the time he is my age, he’ll know twice as much as I. I walked around another 40 minutes but could not get anyone else to talk about God, and the school had cleared out. My headache came back after the few minutes’ respite some more aspirin had bought me. I had someone I had promised to help with a piece of equipment in the late afternoon and headed out. I guess it was a day of discipleship.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance. God blessed. 13 students have prayed to receive Jesus this year so far.

In Him,

Bob

Hey sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed walking with the Lord. We had a good day at the book table. We had about 8 peeps interested in coming to a Bible Study and two students, Lisa and Phillip, each prayed to receive Christ.

Lisa walked up and said she might be interested in going to a Bible Study. She went to a Vineyard Church that is not too far away. I asked her what she would say to God if she died and He asked her why He should let her into Heaven. “What?” she asked. So I repeated the question and she began to talk about doing religious things that seemed good. She mentioned reading the Bible among them.  She also said that she struggled sometimes to be faithful in all of it. She has sandy reddish-blonde hair pulled back and braces, very slight build. “What is it that happened to you though that allowed God to let you into Heaven?” She seemed a bit lost, so I asked her if she wanted to hear some Bible verses. She knew Jesus had died to take away her sins as I questioned her more. I finished talking her through the Gospel and talking about the power of God inside her by the Spirit to be faithful in the Christian life. I offered her the option of being forgiven with Christ inside and she said she wanted to be forgiven. So I said, “Well I know you knew the story of Jesus before, but it seems like you had not been trusting in Him but instead trying to do good things to be forgiven and be accepted by God.” She said that was true and so I offered her a prayer she could pray to trust in Christ. She prayed silently and was really happy. I explained more how she could ask for God’s transforming power and that Christianity was living “inside out” where God transformed her on the inside and gave her power to live the Christian life. “Like say you go to church and they say, ‘You should do this and you should do that’ and you think, ‘This is great but I’m going to forget this by Wednesday.’ But, if you wanted to, in that moment you can pray to God and say. ‘Lord make me this kind of person.’ Then if you have forgotten by Wednesday, it does not matter because God began to work on Sunday when you prayed for Him to transform you.” She liked that idea. I explained the fruit of the Spirit to her and gave her Gal. 5:22&23, saying she could pray for any of what was listed there and God would give her more joy and peace by asking, or faith if she had doubts because faith is a gift. I showed her that verse again. I gave her the booklet with some of the verses I mentioned and the book 20 Things God Can’t Do, writing her name and the date she’d trusted Christ in the front. She gave me her email and I gave her a Bible study and she happily walked off.

Phillip had drifted by earlier and left his contact information. I could not talk to him then as I was talking with Jacob, who was a theist.  We’d been talking a long time about some of the absurdities of the materialistic view and political correctness in gender issues. Jacob took Darwin’s Black Box to read and The Case for Christ, so I hope those will bring some fruit. Phillip wandered by again as we were packing up. He was tough to miss as he had a black t-shirt on with bright lettering that said, “I ALSO BELIEVE IN UNICORNS” He had a back-pack on and was wearing a fedora 1950’s style had some brown curly hair poking out and has gotten some face painting done at one of the other tables. He looked pretty trippy, frankly. I thought he might be an atheist.  Since he had given us contact info I wanted to know more about him, so I asked if he really did believe in Unicorns and he said he thought it was possible. I agreed. He was wearing a pretty big cross around his neck and it turned out he considered himself spiritual and had gone through Catholic education his entire life. I also asked him the “Big philosophical question” about death and what he would say to God. He said he wouldn’t really know what to say. He thought about it more, and so I asked him what he thought it was that got him into Heaven. He listed some things including reconciliation, but it seemed he had not thought about what that meant. I asked him what the big thing was that Jesus did that took away his sins and he listed some religious works, so I continued to go through the Gospel with him and he was really interested. I asked him, as I completed the explanation I had given him (a bit abbreviated as the room was packing up and I did not want to lose him) with all the Bible verses, if he wanted to be forgiven. He said, “I would want to have God live inside me and be forgiven.” He had not put it all together either. I said, “Well, I think you knew the story of Jesus. But were trusting in religious works to make you right with God and get you into Heaven?” He agreed, so I offered him a prayer where he could trust in Jesus work by faith. He decided to pray and did quietly was I waited. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote his name and the date in the front. I explained a symbolic view of the mass to him, as he said he went to church every Sunday, and I explained responding to the message as I had with Lisa, praying for God to work inside him.

So thanks for your prayers for our college ministry and for the book table conversations today God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed today walking with the Lord. I had a good day on campus and Emrah and Aristaia each prayed with me to receive Christ.

Emrah (I used a search engine to look up his name and it seems to be Turkish) was sitting on the bench seat by the door in the south east corner of the BIC building. He wore jeans, a pink polo shirt inside a long sleeve button v neck shirt, kind of the old school prep look. He had a mop of blonde hair with some product in it, parted on the side, tall lean looking guy. He seemed to be waiting on a friend and said he wanted to see the United States. When I asked him if when he died, what he would say to God to get into Heaven. He started saying, “I haven’t committed any…” then changed it to, “not committing the worse sins” and finally landed on, “I have committed very minimal sins.” He thought it had been about 4 years since he had gone to church. As I went through the Gospel he said, “Makes sense” several times, understanding it well. He hadn’t remembered from Church that Christ had died for him. He wanted to be forgiven for his sins, pointing at the option of Christ living inside him when I asked. So I walked him through the prayer and he prayed to receive Christ silently with me. I gave him a Bible as he did not have one, writing his name and the date in the front and I also gave him a Bible study on the Deity of Christ. I wrote “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front of the book 20 Things God Can’t Do, having explained the life in Christ to him. His friend was waiting by then, so I asked if he wanted another Bible study and he said “Perfect” and headed out the door.

In the afternoon, Aristaia was sitting in the Science building. She’s from a Greek Orthodox Church, (spoke Greek some) her mom is Greek and her dad comes from a variety of folk. She had blue-green eyes that seemed to change color and sandy blonde hair, wearing yoga pants and a red short-sleeve top, pretty girl with one of those perfect smiles. She wanted to travel the world. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she thought for a moment and said, “I try to help people a lot. That’s like my favorite thing, to help people. I’ve tried to do that my whole life. I care about people generally.” She basically went on to say she made people important and I said, “There is a Bible verse that says that. ‘Let each of you consider one another as more important than himself.’” [Philippians 2:3] She knew that Jesus had died for her sins but hadn’t understood imputation of Christ’s righteousness to her. But when I asked her if she would like to be forgiven for her sins with God living inside her, she right away said “Yes” with conviction. Suggesting she might not have put all of this together before enough to trust in Christ for forgiveness, she said, “I went to Sunday school… but they didn’t really talk about it that way.” So I offered her a prayer she could pray and she silently prayed to receive Christ. I explained living inside out to her and many other metaphors I use to help students think about how God acts in the world, since she seemed to have time. She had a Bible, but I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do to read, writing “By the Spirit’s Powers” in the front. I talked to her about living “Inside out” where God would transform her on the inside and then she would do things by his strength in the world.  I gave her a Bible Study also. She’d thought she had about a 50% change of going to Heaven so I said, “This is 100%. If you are trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be your righteousness, how righteous is Jesus?” She agreed He was 100% righteous and that his righteousness is worth an infinite amount. I said “Maybe I’ll see you around. I’ll just say hi.” and she smiled and I headed off.

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

Tomorrow is a book table day and we are hoping to get some kids interested in Bible Study. We’d be grateful for your prayers for that.

Thanks again.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope you had a great day walking by the Spirit. I had a good day on campus, and Nicole prayed with me to receive Christ as her Savior.

Nicole was sitting in the hall on the third floor of the BIC. I had gone up there first thing to drop off a form with our faculty advisor. She had brown hair that was pulled loosely back in a bun, some strands framing her face. She wore a pink fleece and skinny jeans with a tear in one knee. Pretty girl, long eyelashes. I asked her if she wanted to do a student survey and she said, “I think I already did one of those.” So I asked, “Did they ask you, ‘Say you’re walking down the road and you get hit by a bus, so you’re dead, and you stand before God and He says why should I let you into Heaven, what would you say?'” “No they didn’t ask that.” she replied. “I don’t know,” was her answer. “Well would you like to know how the Bible says you get into Heaven?” I asked. “Yeah,” she said. So I sat down and just asked her the questions in the survey. But when I asked her why she’d go to Heaven she said again, “I don’t know. I really have no idea.” She said she went to a catholic church often and thought she had about a 90% chance of getting to Heaven. So I began to explain the Gospel to her with Bible verses, and the righteousness of Christ imputed to her. She did know Jesus had died for her sins but hadn’t put it all together or trusted in that for forgiveness. She wanted to be forgiven and was thinking she was a good person who went to church so God would forgive her sins. So I offered her the prayer and she prayed to receive Christ. I explained that living the Christian life was “Inside out” compared with other religions. “In other religions you do good things on the outside and the deity is pleased with you and takes you to Heaven. Or the Universe is somehow pleased with you and you don’t come back as a cow. But in Christianity, you ask God to transform you on the inside and the Spirit transforms you into a good person and do good things.” I explained. I gave her Zwingli’s view on the mass as symbolic, saying she could remember, when she takes it, that Jesus died for her and so she can know she is forgiven. I got her email to send her some more stuff, and gave her a Bible Study and the book 20 Things God Can’t Do, writing her name and the date and “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front. I explained that if she was trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be her righteousness, the likelihood she would go to Heaven is 100%.  Nicole was happy about that. I got up to leave and she said, “Nice to meet you.” And I said “Nice to meet you too”.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God blessed. Wednesday is a book table day to invite kids to come to Bible study.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and you walked in the Spirit. I had a good day and Ruben prayed with me to receive Christ. During the rest of the day, a girl Stephanie, who was really searching, gave me some time. I talked her through a lot in the PE lounge and gave her The Case for Christ student edition. And another guy Donovan was close to praying, but had to run for his ride and thanked me. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do. I talked to him in the hall in the BIC building, so I hope I’ll find out he trusted the Lord. Two Roman Catholic girls, Maidy and Kim (both were attractive Latina girls), one in the Culinary building and the other in the hall way of the BIC, said they’d tell God about their works to get into Heaven. Then they changed their mind and said they were trusting in Jesus after I went through the Gospel with them. That happens almost every day. I think these students are coming to faith in Christ (kind of finally putting it all together) but it is tough to tell if something changed when they don’t pray with me. And I am asking them an unfamiliar question, so maybe they are right. I always show them the prayer, suggesting they could use the booklet to share their faith with a friend, which I of course hope they will do (and they themselves might pray later). After I read through it and the line, “Is this prayer the desire of your heart?” I say, as if they were sharing it with someone else, “That’s what you believe right?” Maidy & Kim both said “Yes.”  So hopefully some students come to have a genuine moment of faith that way if they had not yet been trusting. Both girls thanked me when we parted. I gave Kim a Bible Promise Book, as she only had a family Bible but did not want to take a Bible from me.

Ruben, a good looking Roman Catholic guy with a light mustache and a goatee, (he also looked Latino) was sitting at a table on the edge of the science building lounge looking down on it from the 2nd floor. I asked him if he’d like to do a student survey on what he thought about God and stuff. But like many often say each day, he said he already did one. [Other Christian groups at school (one that used to be called Campus Crusade among them), do a survey asking questions about religion and never go through the Gospel. I often find students who don’t want to talk to me about God because they think they already did with someone else. I’m not sure why groups do this. Ironically enough it is keeping some people from hearing the Gospel by giving them a religious survey. Crusade records how many “spiritual conversions” they have, so I guess that’s the point for them, so this number is increased in their paperwork.] I chatted with Ruben, asking him if they asked what he would say if he died and stood before God and God said “why should I let you into Heaven?’ “No, they asked me if I went to church, why I went to church and where I went to church,” he replied. “Well would you like to know what the Bible says about how you get to Heaven or not so much?” I asked. “How long will it take?” he asked. “5 or 6 minutes,” I replied and he agreed. I went through the Gospel with him and Ruben wanted to be forgiven for his sins. I asked if he was trusting in Christ when he asked to be forgiven, or if he was going to church and trying to do the right thing and hoping that would be enough to be forgiven. He said, “I was just trying to be a good person.” He wanted to be forgiven for his sins with God living inside him and he prayed with me to receive Christ. I walked him through Zwingli’s representational view of the mass and explained walking by the Spirit. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do, writing his name and the date, saying that he could know that was the day he had gotten forgiven by God. He took a Bible study and I told him I’d keep him in my prayers. He kind of apologized for putting me off initially, saying he thought it was just going to be more of the same. But the Lord had moved in his heart to hear.

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed in the Lord. I had a good day on campus today.  It took a bit of time to get someone willing to talk, but Samantha, Kayla and Korin each prayed to receive Christ today.

I saw Samantha sitting at the end of the hall on a bench where there are some workout classes. I thought I could ask her as I headed out the side door there leading to the outdoor concert area at the MAC arts center. I headed down to where she was, and she was willing to answer some questions. She has been taking a world religions class at school. She had short brown hair (looked a bit like actress Janine Turner), tall, no make-up and a green T-shirt that had ARMY across the front. She hadn’t been to church a lot of late but had gone to Catholic School. She was wearing yoga pants and seemed to have recently gotten out of a workout class. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven if she died. She sighed and thought for a bit. She said something about not wanting to sound boastful and then said, “I think I’ve worked really hard to input into others, and other lives. I nanny for special needs children.” She thought she’d have an 85% chance of going to Heaven, but expressed again that she didn’t want to blow her own smoke. She listened closely to the Gospel and seemed to track with everything, though she didn’t remember how Jesus had taken away her sins when I asked. So when I asked her if she wanted to be forgiven for her sins she simply said, “Yes” with conviction. So I asked if she believed Jesus was God, had died for her sins and rose from the dead. She said, “Yes” firmly again. So I said, “Well if you’d like to place your trust in that to be forgiven, there is a prayer you can pray. After walking her through it, Samantha prayed silently to receive Jesus. I gave her a Bible, writing her name in the front and the date.  I also gave her the book 20 Things God Can’t Do (I always write “By the Spirit’s power” in the front of this book) along with a bible study and a card for Compass Church, encouraging her that she could watch a few sermons online. I gave her the Rose publication Why believe the Bible as in my experience with other students it corrects some of what she’d learn in class, depending on the teacher. She said she had to write a paper and thought it might help. I told her I would pray for her and she thanked me and said, “Nice meeting you.” And I said, “You too” and headed off.

I came across Kayla in the MAC Arts building lounge. She was a pretty girl with blonde shoulder length hair tucked behind her ears, an occasional freckle in the right places on her face, wearing black jeans cuffed at the ankles and a gray shirt. She was sitting on a bench by the elevators and after checking how long the survey would take, she agreed. But we hit it off and ended up talking for a long time. She wanted to tool around the country in a VW mini-van. When I asked her what she would say if God asked her why He should let her into Heaven she said, “You should know.” Then she added, “I just try to be a decent human being.” She’d taken a world religions class freshman year and had been a regular attender at her Catholic Church, but fell away from it. She said the idea of Hell as a threat to be a good person didn’t work for her. She just wanted to be good. She seemed to react against religious rules. I told her Christ said that the only law was love, and that you should love God and love your neighborhood as yourself. She agreed with that, so I explained to her that you had to be all powerful and all-knowing to know and do the Good. You had to know what to do and know how to control the outcome of an action and be all powerful to do so. And you had to know what to guide people to do to begin with. I told her a story of how a good deed could go badly. That is why Christ said “No one is good except God alone.” I explained that a lot of what she believed was good was because she lived in a Christianized culture. We talked about other religions and I told her that Christianity was the “Truth Myth” (as J.R.R. Tolkien once told C.S. Lewis). She agreed with what I explained to her. She knew Jesus had died to take away her sins. After going through the Gospel with her she said she’d like to be forgiven. I asked if she believed Jesus was God, had died for her sins and rose from the dead and she said, “Yes, it’s what I’ve been raised with.” Which is what they told her was the reason she believed what she believed in class probably. Though this is not true, I let it go. “Well if you’d like to place your trust in that so your sins can be forgiven and God can live inside you, there is a prayer you can pray. I walked her though it, offering it to her and asking if she’d like to pray to receive Christ. She took the booklet considering and saying, “Maybe, at some point…” but then she read a bit and decided to pray to receive Christ. I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do and a Bible Study on the ways Jesus claims to be God in the New Testament based on Old Testament passages. I told her I would keep her in my prayers and she said, “Thank you, I appreciate that.” Then I headed outside.

I walked about a bit more with no takers and then finally at the end of the day went up to talk to my advisor who steers some kids to Bible Study. He’s a solid Christian and has my back on campus. We talked for a while and I headed down the 3rd floor hall of the BIC building and passed Korin sitting with her legs pulled up on a couch in near empty lounge by the windows. So I walked back and asked her if she’d do a student survey and she agreed. She had a deep voice, good for radio. She had straight brown hair down past her shoulders and a ball cap on. She wore blue jean shorts and a V-neck blouse, cute kid, a bit shorter. She wanted to have a family and it seemed like she grew up in Hawaii as she described a church there with a Catholic name. She said it wasn’t exactly a typical church in as much as it seemed you could pray in whatever religious expression you believed in, “They read some Bible verses,” she said. When I asked her why God should let her into Heaven she said, “I really don’t know,” half to herself and then said, “I don’t know.” I asked if that is what she wanted to say and she said, “Yeah.” She thought she had about an 80% chance of going to Heaven. She was friendly and just waiting for her class to start. I went through the Gospel with her and she listened closely. So I asked her if she’d want to be forgiven for her sins with God living inside her and she said firmly, “Yes,” much like Samantha had. I asked if she believed Jesus was God, had died for her sins and rose from the dead and again she firmly replied “Yes.” So I said if she wanted to trust in that, she could pray and she took the booklet and did. She was anxious to keep it afterwards and I used it to explain walking by the Spirit. I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do and a Bible Study. I promised I’d keep her in my prayers and she thanked me and I headed out. Then I remembered and walked back to give her a Compass Church card to watch sermons online and she liked that idea.

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed walking with the Lord. I had a good day on campus and Xavier and Josh each prayed with me to receive Christ.

Xavier was standing by the doors leading out of the PE building, leaning against the railing. He had a map of the school in his hand, so it seemed to be his first year at school. He had a short afro and nice features and was about my build, though a bit shorter. He was wearing jeans and a black shirt. He said he wanted to have a million dollars. When I pointed out that although I didn’t have a million, it didn’t seem to go far anymore. He changed it to being a millionaire. When I asked him what he would say if he died and God asked him why he should be let into Heaven he said, “I’m a man of God. I respect You. I talk to others about You. I go to church, not that that is enough [in itself]. My name is in the Book.” He was 100% sure he would go to Heaven. But as I went through the Gospel, he didn’t know it. When I read him some verses about sin and asked him what was the big thing Jesus had done back in the day to take away his sins, He said, “I really don’t know about that…” Then changing his mind, he said something about how he knew Adam and Eve sinned in the garden and God forgave us and something about how in the material world there was sin. It really didn’t make any sense to me frankly, but I just let it go and said, “Well, God is just. And when you sin, you mess up His stuff. Something has to pay for the damage you did when you sinned and this is how God pays for it.” Then I began to explain the atoning work of Christ and His righteousness that is to our credit. Xavier agreed with every point, though they clearly were all novel to him. As I completed the Gospel and explained his need to receive Jesus by faith, I asked him if he wanted to be forgiven for his sins. He said he did and I said something like. “Well it seems like you had not quite put all the pieces together before right? Like you had some of the story around the edges but now you know the whole thing.” He agreed. I explained that he needed to place his trust in Jesus and His work on the Cross. I walked him through the prayer, offering it to him, and he prayed silently to receive Christ. I explained the Christian life in the Spirit to him and gave him a Bible (as he said his Grandfather had one but he didn’t) and wrote his name and the date he received Jesus in the front. I gave him the book 20 Things God Can’t Do, explaining this was the real riches of the Christian life; the promises of God to us, and that Spiritual riches that lasted for eternity were far better than the stuff that is only for a short time here. He agreed. He took a bible study also and I shook his hand and said I would see him in Heaven if he was trusting in the righteousness of Christ to be his righteousness. He agreed he now was.

Josh was sitting at a table in the MAC arts building lounge. Kind of a shorter guy, boyish good looks with a mop of wavy brown hair, wearing a t-shirt, looked young (Ha! but then I’m feeling pretty old these days). He was from an Italian background and wanted to visit Italy. He was regularly attending a Roman Catholic Church. Friendly, kind guy. When I asked him what he thought might get him into Heaven he said, “Maybe how I’ve treated people.” He thought he had about a 75% chance of going to Heaven. He tuned right in to the Gospel and listened closely. He knew that Jesus had died to take away his sins. After hearing the Gospel through, he wanted to be forgiven for his sins. So I asked him if he had been trusting in Christ for forgiveness. “I know you knew the story, but have you been trusting in Christ for forgiveness or going to Church and trying to be good…” Explaining that he had not been trusting in Jesus he said, “Throughout my life I was just trying to do the things He wanted.” I replied, “You know, you grow up in the Church and go along with it. But now you are a man and you have to decide what you’ll do on your own.” I told him he needed to trust in Christ and walked him through a prayer he could pray, explaining it to him. Josh prayed to receive Jesus. “Thanks,” he said, “I really needed this.” I said he was welcome. I then explained a life lived in the Spirit to him and gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do, writing his name and the date in the front. I also gave him a bible study on the Deity of Christ and got his email to send him another one. He thanked me a few more times. He was really nice and I said I’d see him in Heaven and left. A moment later, I went back to give him a symbolic view of the mass to think about too and he thanked me and we went our separate ways.

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 and you got a glimpse of the eclipse–it was kinda cool if ya had the glasses. I had a good day on campus, encouraging some Christians and redirecting some Roman Catholics. The best of the day was that two black students, Dante and Alex, each prayed with me to receive Christ.

Dante was sitting on a box-bench under the stairs in the PE building. He played football, and as we talked other players were filing in for the team meetings in the room across from us. He had some soft facial hair [lip and chin] and a ball cap on and was wearing athletic clothes. He was a good looking guy, kind face. It turned out he had some familiarity with the Gospel but had not trusted in Christ. He told me he went to a bible study lead by one of the coaches. He wanted to own his own business. When I asked him what he would say to God if asked why He should let him into Heaven he said, “Because I do all the right things. I don’t kill or steal or destroy. I praise and obey.” He was sure he would go to Heaven. I began to teach him the Gospel and he was very attentive, even as the time crunch came for his meeting. So I asked him if he wanted to be forgiven for his sins and he said he did. I asked him, “So when you asked for forgiveness in the past, were you thinking you were good and went to church and stuff, so God would forgive you because you were good enough?” He nodded. “Or that you knew God would forgive you because you were trusting in Jesus?’ “That I was good enough,” he replied. So I explained he need to trust in Christ for forgiveness and walked him through the prayer. Dante silently prayed to receive Jesus. He did not want to go to another bible study, because he was attending one. But I gave him a printed one on the Deity of Christ and the book 20 Things God Can’t Do, where which I put his name and the date in the front. I explained the life of walking in the Spirit and told him I would pray for him the next year. He thanked me and headed into the meeting.

I spent some time in the art building, planting a seed with Max. He was a childhood Presbyterian (now lapsed) who had miraculously survived a car wreck in the last year or so and had thought there might be a God. He took The Case for A Creator to read. I also bumped into Samuel, a guy I knew from 5 years ago. We prayed together over some stuff and he prayed for me on campus and took off.

I went outside to check out the eclipse and the overcast allowed me to look at it at first without protective glasses. I headed down the walk and found Alex at the back of the building. I asked her to do a survey. “Sure. I have seen you around a lot, last year,” she replied. Her hair was short on the sides and curly only on top. She had black-framed, rectangular glasses and shorts and a tan-knit sleeveless blouse with a jean jacket over it. She was tall, about 5’9″, with a square chin, long legs, artsy, attractive looking. She was sitting up on the stone post at the stair top overlooking the Art building’s outside concert venue. I sat beside her, down a bit on the wall. She had the answer to the question right as to what she would say to get into Heaven. “Because I gave myself to you, no I (brought?) bring you into my life as my Lord and Savior.” Though she only thought she had an 80% chance of going to Heaven, saying “I have some things to work on.” I often help kids with their assurance. So I thought she was saved, but there is more than one way to be a savior. A fireman can save you from a burning building but not from your sin. I began to go through the booklet with her as I always do, figuring I could encourage her to share it with someone else. When I got to the part where I say ‘God has to take away your sin to make you His type, like a blood transfusion where He places Himself and His life inside you’ I asked, “So what is the big thing Jesus does to take away your sin?” She had no idea. So I said “Well it works like this” and taught her about the sacrifice of Christ’s perfect life as God and man. How His blood and cleansed her from sin and His righteousness was imputed to her, which she thought was good. When I finished the Gospel I said, “So it seems like you had never put together all the pieces about how Jesus was your Savior before, right?” She nodded affirmingly. Then I walked her through the prayer and people were gathering around us watching the eclipse. She read it through on her own and asked, “So I pray this out loud?” ‘No silently,” I said. “It is just between you and God.” And she silently prayed to receive Christ. She took a Bible study and 20 Things God Can’t Do. I wrote ‘By the Spirit’s power’ (having explained that to her) and the date and her name in the front. Then we shared my protective glasses a bit and passed them to some others and looked up at the sun, all but disappeared in the sky behind the moon. She thanked me and headed off to class.

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

In Him,

Bob