Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

How’s the summer treating you so far? I used to feel like it wasn’t quite summer until the 4^th of July. In childhood that was only a couple weeks after we finished school, as we usually started the year closer to September in my memory. But now by the 4^th summer will be half over. I usually try to paint a little bit in the summer, but the truth is, I need a break from contact evangelism. I’m pretty worn out still.

God blessed us this past school year and I went through the Gospel with over 400 students, many who claimed to be Christians. 15 Muslims were among them and 10 believed themselves to be atheists. I saw 139 students pray with me to receive Jesus on campus and 3 more elsewhere. Several more committed to Christ, most saying they would pray later. Nearly all of them were attending or had (this year) attended Church, but I gave many a card for a local church’s website so they could listen to sermons. Students come from such varied backgrounds. It is hard to know if they would feel like they were in church  in the more modern worship services. But they can hear a sermon, set apart from the worship portion, without feeling the alienation of the worship band. Since the Holy Spirit has led them to God in praying to receive Jesus, I know God will continue in their lives by my prayers for them each night. As Paul writes to people he no longer has direct contact with in Philippians 1:6: “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” We feel prayers like yours, that led them to the contact I had with them, are very important for this reason. I am comforted too in the knowledge that many pray for them that day, having gotten an email “Results of the Work”.

Did you ever miss a chance to do someone a favor? I had that happen last week, giving someone a ride. It seemed like it was gonna take longer than I thought and then they said forget it. I had stuff to do, but later I wondered if I could have done something to help things fall into place. I feel this way, or in a similar vein, sometimes concerning our lives and the message of the Gospel. Beginning an evangelistic conversation isn’t always natural or easy, and I’ve had brief conversations where the context just wasn’t there or it was just too awkward. Sometimes in a group where I am not the central speaker there isn’t an opening. I often tell Ellen, after some strained moments on campus I am later describing, “If you can’t do awkward, you can’t do contact evangelism.” I tell myself this on campus as well when I have just walked by someone and feel a need to double back and ask them to talk or do a student survey, or just see if they are OK.

Some friends gave us flyer miles to take a trip already this year, so we headed out to Yosemite National Park. I always take some books to leave in the drawers in the rooms where we stay in the parks and even booklets with the Gospel that I use as an outline on campus. I left them beside or inside the cover of the Bible often found in the nightstand drawer and left a DVD of the life of Jesus with a question and answer section in a cabin that still had a DVD player. We took a drive up Glacier Point Trail but I’d neglected to put one of the tracts I often use in the pocket of my shorts. We went on a hike to Sentinel Dome and Ellen stopped at the edge of the snow pack to rest in the sun as I climbed to the top. There I met Conner, a 20 something guy from Philly, who was seeing the country between jobs. He had religious tattoos from his hand up his arm. I talked to him about his trip and then asked about his ink. He pulled his sleeve up to show more of it to me. The gates of Heaven was on his shoulder and Jesus with a halo on his upper arm, Mary below that, a cross over the top of his hand. I asked him, “Say you died and you stood before God and He asks you, ‘Why should I let you into Heaven?’ What would you say?”  Conner said he was a Christian and I said “Yeah me too.” He said he thought about what God would want him to do before he did almost anything. “So you try to please God?” I asked and he agreed. So he was hoping that his good deeds were enough to enter Heaven and didn’t seem to ever have understood that Jesus had died to take away his sins. So I began to explain the Gospel. After I had finished I said, “So the answer to the question why should God let you into Heaven is what?” “That I trust in Jesus?” he replied. “That you trust in Jesus and that He died for your sins,” I reiterated. “That I trust in Jesus and that he died for my sins,” he replied back. “Alright.” I then explained trusting in the work of the Holy Spirit in him to give him strength to live the Christian life. This was new to him, to recognize that God’s power gave him strength and could guide him and now was in him by his profession faith. I explained that the righteousness of Christ was his. He thanked me and we shook hands and agreed to look each other up in Heaven. I was kicking myself for having no materials to leave with him. But he has the Holy Spirit by trusting in Jesus and will have my prayers for the coming year each night. I had a chance to do him a favor and believe it led to genuine faith in Christ. Later in the week I went through the Gospel with a young climber, Dustin, who professed trusting in Christ already and knew his good deeds did not give him eternal life, though he worked with at risk kids. He said that was why he had peace even were he to die climbing. I explained the Gospel to him to be sure it was clear. I gave him a booklet after going through it, hoping he would latch on to some analogies that might help him share his faith. Maybe God will give him an opportunity to tell someone about Jesus on a route up El Capitan. Maybe he can do them a favor.

These are the New Believers in the 2016-17 school year. An * means they did not pray but said they would pray later or committed to Christ.

Matt, Jose, Karrina, Gabriela, Alex, Taranice, Mirna, Berenice, Ada, Victoria, Khyla, Nirali*, Evelyn*, Dinah, Lashunna, Josh, Oscar, Heidi, Viviana, Jimmy, Daminesha, Peter, Vanessa, Javier, Xavier, Bee, Mandy, Grant, Malik, Aurelio, Jesse, James, Ydalmy, Crystal, Justin, Sarah, Trina, Yuanita*, Kristina*, Kamaria, Jeremiah, Jessie, Eli, Kevin, Christine, Aronique, Acarria, Mike, Alivia, Sarah, Paul, Jai, Michelle (paint Customer), Apollonia, Julio, Julio, Ashley, Nancy, Randy, Dejan, Alex, Julia, Gio, Katie, Sue, Adrian, Isak, Lilli, Gerardo, Frimpong, Bridget, Ryan, Dan, Jacob, Jacob, Kaitlyn*, Christina, Aliyah, David, Beahja, Akayna, Kenny, Sydney, John, Rafa, Nate, Tiana*, Michael, Nezlly, Demond, Jermain, Pete, Page, Brian, Trent, Dominque, Marcello, Kennedy, Danny, Kofi, Darian, Josh, Jenny*, Brenda, Isaiah, Shanice,  Jamelle, Theresa,  Ymari, Stephanie, Lexy, Blexendi, Luke, Julia, Nick, Kallie, Amber, Cydney, Brandon, Kayla, Josephine, Chad,  LaTerrance, Branley, Geselle, Marylin*, Henri*, Yunik, Austin, Vanessa, Sal, Angelo, Taleshia, Andy, Josh, Damsith, Tearl, Joe, Shane, Taylor, Urbano, Jonathon, Joanne, Ivana, Marcela, Gaby, Emily, Jordan, David,  Brandon,  Alena*, Eddie, Conner*

Since 2002, over 1,000 students have prayed with me to receive Christ through contact evangelism.  Thanks for your prayers and gifts for our ministry. I’ll be trying to use the summer to raise some more support for fall. We’re grateful for your financial help and need it to make ends meet in life. And we are especially grateful for your prayers. May God bless your summer.

In Him,

Bob                                                                                                         bob.thirdwatch@sbcglobal.net                                                                                                                                           www.thethirdwatch.org

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope you have been having a nice weekend and things are going well in your walk with the Lord.  Things went well on campus Friday, in as much as Eddie prayed with me to receive Jesus. But he was the only guy I could get to go through the Gospel with me the entire day.  I had some conversations with other students I knew, chatting them up. But at the end of the day I’d wished I’d counted how many peeps had turned me down. Not particularly a record for that on Friday, Fridays are notoriously empty of the student population at school so a lot of halls you turn to look down are completely empty.

I finally ended up (at close to 12:30 or so) in the PE building. Eddie was one of only 3 people in there. He was sitting alone at some tables they have lined up this year.  When I first saw him, he was talking to one of the Christian guys on the football team, a huge black dude who plays on the line who’d I’d gone through the Gospel with earlier in the year. I walked around the staircase to come from the other side and the other guy at the table turned me down. But then Eddie, about 4 seats away in the line of tables, said he was interested. He had short brown hair, longer on top and swept to the side, wore glasses and possessed the most high pitched voice I have heard come out of a college age guy in my life. It rarely broke into lower cadence. He sounded somewhat like the fictional character Screech in the old TV show “Saved by the Bell”. But Eddie was really friendly and did not have the social awkwardness Screech had on the TV show. He was taller than me by a couple inches, skinny, wearing jeans and a Bulls shirt, saying he wasn’t really much of a fan, “just liked the shirt”. He worked at his family’s 7/11. It turned out we had some mutual friends that went to our Bible study and he went to CRU (the name Campus Crusade now has on campus). I started the Crusade group there in 2002 and ran it until 2009. I asked Eddie what he would say to God if he died and God asked him why He should let him into Heaven. At first he wanted to skip the question but finally landed on “I care about people more than myself.” He thought he had about a 90% chance of going to Heaven but did not go to church, “I listen to KLove,” he said. “Klove is church for me.” (Klove is the radio station that plays exclusively Christian music. I rarely listen to it but the DJ’s seem very friendly and pointed out to him later this was because they were in the Spirit.) He listened to the Gospel closely and with interest, but I wasn’t sure if it was clicking based a bit on his facial expressions.  So after I said, “God wants to live inside you with His Holy Spirit but first He has to make you His type, like a blood transfusion.” I asked if he followed that. “Not really you’re talking really fast.” I might have been. I’m usually conscious of time constraints, kids sometimes have only a bit of time before class. So with Eddie I explained the idea a couple different ways and slowed way down, realizing the ideas were completely new to him. In the end he wanted to be forgiven but was unsure about Jesus being God (When I asked if he believed Jesus was God and had died for his sins and rose from the dead.) I explained that he [Eddie] was kind of like a trinity. He had a mind that was like the Father, a body that was like Jesus and emotions like the Holy Spirit (we are certainly compound beings [1Thessalonians 5:23] based on scripture and I am not saying this is how we should be divided in a biblical sense. I just use this as an illustration to help kids sometimes). “Like when you are by yourself in the car and you talk to yourself. It’s like there is another you inside you. God is like that, three persons in one God. Jesus comes forth from the Father.” I said it was more complicated than that, but asked if that kind of helped him see there were not three gods but one. That seemed to help him and he accepted it. I talked about the Spirit living in him, giving him power to live the Christian life and living “Inside out”. He said he felt God’s presence with him. I told him he could trust in Jesus’ work on the cross then to be forgiven, by asking for forgiveness. I walked him through the prayer, asking if he wanted to pray and receive forgiveness based upon Jesus. “Yeah,” Eddie said and he happily and slowly prayed then to receive Jesus. He said the Bible was “kind of overwhelming” but he did not have a bible, so I gave him one, writing his name in the front and the date so he could remember when he’d been forgiven. I gave him the book Bible Promises for You and he was interested in that so he would have things to post on Facebook. I also gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do though he almost did not want another book.  I told him maybe once in a while he could read a page and there were more quotes in it for Facebook.  He also took a Bible Study. He thought he might come to the fire pit we are doing at the house next week during exams since a mutual friend Kevin (a football player) was coming. It turned out he was the Equipment Manager for the football team. Kevin had turned him down for lunch so he asked me if I’d like to go to lunch with him. I said sure. So we walked across campus to Chik-fil-a and I bought him lunch. I gave him a card with the website for Compass Church, suggesting he could listen to a sermon once in a while, though he lived too far out in Hinsdale to physically attend.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry all this school year and for evangelism if you had a chance. 139 students prayed with me to receive Jesus on campus  since fall 2016-2017 spring and 3 more peeps off campus. Several others committed to Christ saying they would pray later. It was a blessed year.  Thanks for blessing it with your prayers. At some time during this school year I passed 1000 students that have prayed with me to receive Jesus since I began campus evangelism. Thanks for all your help to make it possible for us to be used by God together.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed walking in the Lord. I had a good day on campus, though no one would talk to me for the first 30 minutes or longer. But then Jordan, David & Brandon each prayed with me to receive Jesus. And a tall girl with wavy brown hair in a bun, ripped up jeans on and braces on her teeth, Alena, committed to Christ, saying she believed and trusted in Him to be forgiven. But she had to run for her ride, her sister kept texting her. I did give her a Bible and the student edition of the Case for Christ. So I am hopeful she genuinely trusted Christ and will pray for her.

Jordan was sitting at the counter, looking out the window killing time with his phone. He had a Bulls cap on and a white button shirt with blue trim that looked a little wrinkled. He had wire-top rimmed glasses and a bit of a chin beard. He was a really nice guy. I asked him what he would say to God if he died and was asked, “Why should I let you into Heaven?” “Wow, OK,” he replied thinking. “I’ve tried to do my best to help others whenever needed, be unbiased toward others and treat them how I’d like to be treated, kind of the golden rule.” I asked him how likely it was he would go to Heaven and he said, “I’d really like to say 100%, but maybe 70.” He said he’d stopped going to what he called “religious education” (turned out his family used to go to the Bible Church in town) when his parents divorced (when he was 11) and it fell on the weekend when he was with his father. It seemed like his dad was really religious but didn’t want to send him off to do that on the weekend when they were together. He knew Jesus had died for sin and found the Gospel interesting as I explained it. So I offered him the idea that he could be forgiven with God inside him or think something else and he pointed to the circle with God inside being forgiven and said, “I’d be this side.” It seemed like before he’d been figuring he was good enough to go to Heaven if he’d thought about it much. So I asked him if he believed Jesus was God and died for his sins and rose from the dead. “Yeah,” he replied. “Would you want to trust in that to be forgiven?” I asked. “Yeah,” he said again. So I walked him through the prayer and he was willing and prayed to receive Christ. I explained that if he trusted in Christ’s righteousness and not his own, the % likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. We talked for a while. I gave him a Bible study on the deity of Christ and 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote “By the Spirit” in the front and explained the Christian life to him living “Inside Out”. He gave me his email to get another Bible study. I gave him the link for the Compass Church and recommended he take in some sermons there. He thanked me and said it thought it was good I went around and talked to people about God. I told him it was stressful and laughed. I said I’d see him in Heaven and he said, “Yeah because of the righteousness of Christ, it’s 100%.” “That’s right” I said, shaking his hand and I headed out.

David is a black student, good looking guy, sitting in the line of chairs outside the cafeteria. He had kind of a stove-pipe cut to his afro which was about 5 inches high. He was wearing dark grey sweats tapered to the ankle and a black shirt, well put together. He played basketball at school for fun and didn’t have any future aspirations, (which is good because the basketball team was horrible last year). I asked what he would say to God to get into Heaven. “Well when I was younger… my mom and dad were really into religion, I’ve tried to [get into it]  I get into arguments with her [mom]. I tried, it’s hard to get into it. I go to Church, so I guess I’d tell God I tried.” I explained the Gospel to him and explained trying to do religious things on your own is not Christianity. I retold him the passage where Christ tells of those who claim they belong in the kingdom of Heaven because they have done miracles, cast out demons or prophesied in Christ’s name, super religious peeps (Matt. 7) but went to hell. “Christ said to them depart from me you Lawless” I told him. “The Word of God being present on the Earth had such power people seemed to be able to do great works just claiming His name.” I told him Judas would have been one of those people as he probably cast out demons. I said he did not need to try to be religious in his own strength, he needed to trust in God to transform him on the inside and then do good things on the outside in the power of the Spirit. I asked if he had been trusting in what Jesus had done for him on the cross to be forgiven or had just been trying to be good and hoping God would forgive him. He admitted he had not been trusting in Christ for forgiveness. I asked him if he believed Jesus was God, had died for his sins and rose from the dead and he said he did. I asked him if he’d like to trust in that and he said he would and he prayed with me to receive Christ. I’d explained to him living inside out and gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote “By the Spirit” in the front and a Bible study and he gave me his email to send him another one. He thanked me and I headed out shaking his hand.

Brandon is another black student at school. He was half-again as big as David, 6’2″ about 190, tattoos across each of his hands in large Gothic font letters. He had really nice smooth skin, larger features good lookin’ kid, played point guard and shooting guard. He was wearing a ball cap, his hair was braided underneath with one braid sticking out in back and had a thick beard on his chin. He was busy watching something on his phone and did not want to do a survey. He was sitting in the corner lounge on the far southeast corner of the BIC building but I had felt led to talk to him so I asked, “Ya wanna read a booklet on it on your own?” He said, “sure”, so I got it out to give to him and began to explain the Gospel. He was interested and kept listening, so I kept talking. As I talked him through the Gospel, I got towards the end and asked, “So if someone would say to you why should God let you into Heaven, what would you say?” “‘Cause Jesus…” he said. So I said, “But before this, if you asked for forgiveness from God because something went wrong, would you have been thinking ‘I’m a good person and go to Church and stuff and so God will forgive me’ or would you have thought ‘I know God will forgive me because Jesus died for me.'” He smirked and said, “That I was good enough.” So I asked him if he believed Jesus was God, and died for his sins and rose from the dead. He said “yes” so I asked him if he would want to trust in that to be forgiven and he did. I walked him thought the prayer and he prayed to receive Christ. He did not have a Bible so I gave him one and wrote his name in the front and the date saying he could remember that was the date when he had been forgiven. I explained living “Inside Out” to him with God’s power living in him and he said, “Awesome!” I told him he could ask for God’s help to make him better at anything he tried to do and if it was good for him and would not mess up his life God would help him. I gave him the book 20 Things God Can’t Do and a Bible Study and got his email. He was grateful and I shook his hand and told him I would keep him in my prayers.

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 walking with the Lord. Marcela prayed to receive Christ today on campus and I had some good seeds planted (Nick who looked like Kevin Spacey with nice skin and all his hair. He took The Case for Christ) and 2 strong apologetic discussions with agnostics (Nikko an Italian and Nick a Filipino). Encouraged some Christians too. I had a Great day.

Marcela was sitting in the PE building lounge by the workout center. She said her parents sometimes go to a Spanish speaking catholic church so her cousins can understand the service they all go too, mostly only on Christmas and Easter.  She has fair skin and was wearing no make-up. She’s kind of a Tom-boy pretty, long brown hair past her shoulders and a gray hoodie, black leggings. She said she’d do a survey and seemed to be just killing some time on her lap-top. She was friendly and her face was really expressive interacting with what I said. When I asked her what she might say if she died and God asked her why He should let her into heaven she said, ‘I’ve been a good person I guess… I don’t know.” She thought she might have a 50/50 shot at getting into Heaven. She knew Jesus had died for her sins, and that surprised me a bit for someone only going to Church on the Holiday’s. As I went through the Gospel, nearly all her responses were vivid expressions on her face but she listened closely. She said she wanted to be forgiven so I asked her if, “when she asked for forgiveness she had been thinking she was a good person and God was good and would forgive her or if she had been trusting in the idea that Jesus had died for her.” “The first one.” she replied. So I asked if she believed Jesus was God had died for her sins and rose from the dead. “Wait,” she said processing in a second, “if Jesus is God? Yes.”  I walked her through the prayer then that she could pray and asked her if she’d like to pray to be forgiven. “Right now? OK.” She said and prayed to receive Jesus. I told her she could keep the booklet explaining the Christian life to her living “Inside Out” and the fruit of the Spirit. I gave her a Bible and put her name in the front and the date she seemed to really like having it.  I gave her the book Pocket Prayers and 20 Things God Can’t Do and a Bible study saying it could keep her busy for the summer. She said she’d think about getting another. I also gave her a card with the Website of Compass Church to listen to some sermons since she wasn’t attending Church. I got up and said good bye telling her I would pray for her and “God bless you” and she said, “Thank you, you too”.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today. God truly blessed and I’m so thankful for your prayers that make it possible. There are really remarkably few student sitting around school this last week but God is leading me to students and using the time well.

Blessings!

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was a good one. We had some nice sun here and Ivana prayed with me to receive Jesus.

She was sitting just off the hall in a lounge in the BIC building killing time, it seemed, though she talked to me for a while. She hadn’t been willing to do a survey when I’d asked her sitting there last week, but she’d forgotten that I think. She had blonde hair, she was pretty, wore a black long sleeve shirt and tan leggings. She said she’d already done a survey so I asked, “Did they ask you, ‘You are walking down the road and you get hit by a bus so you’re dead and you stand before God and He says why should I let you into heaven?'” “No I don’t remember exactly what they asked it was something else,” she replied.  “Well, would you like to know about how the Bible says you get to heaven? Or not so much?” I said. She said “Sure” so I went through the Gospel with her in the little booklet adding the things I often say. Ivana told me she attended a Serbian Orthodox congregation when I asked her if she went to Church to discover her background. She said she’d just gone to church on Sunday. Telling her God needed to make her His “type” so He could live inside her II asked her what Jesus had done to take away her sins but she could not think of anything. So I continued to explain that God became a man Jesus who lived a perfect life to her benefit as her representative and died for her sins. That the Blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sins.” “Right” she said agreeing. I explained the imputed righteousness of Christ and then that she needed to receive this or place her trust in the work of Christ to be saved by faith. She said she’d like to be forgiven with Christ living inside her so I asked if she’d been trusting in what Jesus had done on the cross to be forgiven or hoping she was good enough and would be forgiven by God because He was good. She shook her head that that last option was true. So I read through the prayer with her, slowly explaining it. “That’s so cute,” she said of the booklet. “I love this!” So she took the booklet enthusiastically and silently and slowly prayed. I asked her if she had a bible and her family had one but she did not have one of her own. So I gave her one showing her some of what was inside maps, the lists of parables and writing the date and her name on the presentation page. “That’s awesome!” She said. She had the same enthusiasm about the book 20 Things God Can’t Do and the Bible study. “This is all awesome, thank you so much,” she said. She gave me her email to send her another Bible study. And I explained the Christian life to her, living inside out. It was great to see her so excited to understand things. “Now you know what church is about,” I suggested. “Yeah,” she said with enthusiasm again. “Well, God bless you!” I said getting up to leave. “You as well,” she replied. “Bye,” I said. “Bye,” she replied sweetly and we were off down the hall.

School is pretty empty and some classes are already over but I am still having some good conversations encouraging some Christians, one Catholic girl asked me questions for an hour today too. So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance. God blessed.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and you are feeling the warmth of God’s presence contra mundum (against the world). I had a great day on campus. Yesterday I only got through the gospel with one girl who was a Christian and blessed me to talk to. But today I got some good seeds planted and Joanne and Jonathon each prayed with me to receive Jesus.

Joanne was sitting in the upstairs lounge having finished a work out at the PE building. She was wearing workout clothes and no make-up, her long dark hair was pulled straight back into a pony tail and she had some over the knee workout pants on with a print pattern, rounded black frame glasses. She was a cute kid and friendly. She went to a Catholic Church every week. When I asked her what she might say to God if she died and he asked her why He should let her into heaven she said, “I don’t know, that’s an interesting question… I believed in you my whole life or I believe in you.” When I asked her how likely it was she would go to Heaven she said, “I haven’t done anything terrible. I go to church.” So she seemed pretty sure she would go. I began to go through the Gospel and asked her what Jesus had done to take away her sins she didn’t seem to remember, so I said “This is how it works” to her and told her about Christ’s perfect life and death for her and his righteousness that was to her credit. I could tell it all resonated with her and she said wanted to be forgiven. I said it seemed like she hadn’t put it all together before about what Christ had done to be able to place her trust in that and she shook her head that that was right. So I said she could pray to receive God’s forgiveness trusting in Jesus and walked her through a prayer she could pray silently like I wasn’t even there and she took the booklet and said, “Alrighty, thank you,” and prayed. I explained more of the Christian life to her and gave her a remembrance view of the Mass where she could take a moment to be thankful and remember Christ had died and taken away her sins. She took the book 20 Things God Can’t Do and I wrote her name and yesterday’s date which we both had wrong in the front. I explained living “inside out”, the fruit of the Spirit and gave her a Bible study. I got her email and she said she might like to come to the Bible Study next semester. She was pleased to understand our faith and as I stood she stood too, reaching to shake my hand over the center of the table tied to the couch we’d sat on. “Thank you very much. It was nice meeting you Bob,” she said. And I said “It was nice to meet you too.”

I walked over to the other end of school and found Jonathon waiting for his class to begin saying he had 10 minutes to talk. He had on a gray hoodie, black sweats and a Sox baseball cap, a day’s growth of beard, very average looking guy, oval face, with a strong look to his eyes somehow and he made eye contact and looked straight at me off and on as I spoke. He had been through confirmation in the Catholic Church as a kid but didn’t remember much, saying the priest gave them something they agreed to and signed it. He hadn’t been going of late. He was a quiet guy, good listener. When I asked him what he would say to get into heaven if God asked he said, “Hmm…” and thought for a while. “I don’t know what I’d say exactly.” We had a time issue so I said, “You can say that if you want” and he agreed. He thought he had a least a 50% chance to get to heaven. I began to go through the Gospel with him and he tracked well with what I was saying. I asked him what Jesus had done to take away his sins and he couldn’t think of the answer so I said, “That’s OK, it’ll come back to you.” I then told him the Gospel. I think he understood for the first time. He wanted to be forgiven as I finished telling him the Good News and so I offered a prayer to him that he could pray trusting in the work of Christ. “It says here ‘Does this prayer express the desire of your heart’ so would you say it does.” I asked. “Yeah, ’cause I understand,” he replied and he received Jesus praying for forgiveness. That was great. I explained a remembrance view of the mass as I do to Catholics and said that if he was trusting in Christ’s righteousness to be his then the likelihood he would go to heaven was 100%. His class was about to begin so I quickly gave him the book 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his mane in the front and unfortunately the 2nd as the date. “Thanks a lot, Bob” he said with a big smile as he got up to go. “Take care of yourself.” I replied “You too”, he said and took off.

I also went through the Gospel with some others, Ivette was very grateful, little pretty brown haired girl with braces. I gave her the book Bible Promises for You and the Compass church website to listen to some sermons as she had dropped out of the Catholic Church, so I hope she will pray and think more about it later.

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 ya got a peak at the sun. It came and went between periods of rain here. I had a good day on campus and Urbano prayed with me to receive Christ. I also went through the Gospel with a Muslim girl Maha who was enthusiastic about the Gospel and had gone to Catholic school and I gave her a Church to check out near COD and the Pastor’s number.

Urbano was sitting checking out his phone on a bench outside a lounge in the BIC near the double elevators. He was a really cheerful guy, ready smile. He had dimples when he grinned, good looking kid hair real short on the sides, longer trained back on top. He was wearing a black collared shirt and jeans, Latino. When I asked him if he died what he would say to God to get into heaven he said, “Wow, I never… “Then thinking a bit he said, “I don’t know how I would respond to that!” I said that was fine. He said he went to Church every Saturday night, he was Roman Catholic and thought he had about an 80% chance to go to heaven. I began to go through the Gospel with him and he was interested and enthusiastic. I asked him what the big thing Jesus had done to take away his sins and he basically he couldn’t think of anything, but the story came back to him somewhat. When I explained Christ’s imputed righteousness as a gift to him when God adopts him he exclaimed, “Wow!” It really was a blessing to see someone truly amazed at what had been provided for them by God’s grace. As I finished he said he wanted to be forgiven with God living inside him. It seemed clear he had not ever trusted in Christ to be forgiven, so he prayed with me to receive Christ after I explained a prayer he could pray. I gave him a Bible since he did not have one of his own. I wrote his name in the front and the date he had trusted Christ saying that was the day he could remember he had been forgiven. He was really enthusiastic about that as well, which was great to see, I said if he wondered what to read the read letters were the words of Jesus and he couldn’t go wrong there and he laughed. I gave him a Bible study and the book 20Things God Can’t Do writing “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front and explaining the Christian life, living inside out. He gave me his email to send him some stuff too. He was really grateful and we shook hands as he ran off to class and said goodbye.

I went through the Gospel with a few others who claimed to be Christians, one girl Anna who had not really understood things well said, “Thanks I really needed this!” I gave her a Bible study and got to explain everything to her so it was a good day.

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 were able to trust God did good things, regardless of the visible outcome you had to experience. Two students prayed with me to receive Jesus today, Shane and Taylor.

Shane was sitting in the hall in the science building waiting for his class to begin. It made me want to rush each of the 8 times he looked at his watch. He had straight dishwater blonde hair combed forward, thick wire framed glasses and a blue shirt and shorts on, a couple days growth of beard on his face. Nice guy kinda bookish looking. He really struggled with trying to describe himself in the survey. It turned out he hadn’t been to church as a kid but a friend had taken him to a bible study group in High School. He thought he had at least a 50%+ chance to go to Heaven, “But I don’t know how much over that,” he opined. In responding to what he’d say if God asked him why he should be let into heaven he said, “The way I try to live, I try to help people around me, live a life worth living and make sure others do. I try to live around others who aren’t a bad influence.” As I went through the Gospel he knew some of it. When I asked him what Jesus had done to take away his sins he said, “The Cross”. He wanted to be forgiven for his sins so I asked him, “Do you believe Jesus is God, He died for your sins and rose from the dead?” “Yes,” he said firmly. “Well if you would like to place your trust in that there is a prayer you could pray,” I replied. I talked him through the prayer and wondered for a second if he would have time since he’d told me when his class began and he did not look like the kind of guy who would be comfortable being late. But he glanced at his watch and said, “I guess I have a couple minutes to do that.” And he silently prayed to receive Jesus. I explained that since, if he was now trusting now in the righteousness of Jesus to be his righteousness, the likelihood that he would go to Heaven was 100%. He had a bible but took a copy of 20 Things God Can’t Do. I wrote his name and the date he had received Christ in it explaining anything the book suggested he need to do should be done in the Spirit’s power, he also took a Bible study. I gave him a link for the Compass Church Website to listen to some sermons. He seemed grateful and gathered his things to head off to class with a minute to spare. I told him I would be praying for him and he thanked me.

Taylor was sitting on the bench arbor they have just outside the MAC arts building. She is African American with a kind cute face, a sharp nose, kind of European features and her hair pulled back in a head band. She was a really nice girl. She wore a hoodie and jeans and was enjoying the warm air outside. She hadn’t been to church since she was young but watched it on TV every week. It turned out to be Joel Osteen and he does encourage the reading of the Bible and following of God’s word, so not a complete loss. I explained to her after she had received Christ that everything we do in the Christian life is done by God’s power in the Holy Spirit so anything she heard Osteen say the Lord wanted her to do she should ask for God’s power to accomplish it. “He also has made the mistake in thinking God wants everyone to be rich, but that would be a disaster for some people, money ruins some people. It seems to have been good for him he has a big church and is trying to help people with it but he just hasn’t seemed to realize that would not be good for everyone. God would not give people money if it would hurt them.” She seemed to accept that. I am careful not to be too critical of a ministry a student thinks has helped them or might be in some small way leading them to God. Unless they are in a cult. Osteen is a prosperity Gospel preacher which is error but does encourage people to trust in Christ at the end of his broadcasts. She had not picked up the Gospel from listening to pastor Osteen however as when I asked her how Jesus took away her sin she had nothing to say. Thinking for a while and seeming to genuinely struggle she finally said, “Don’t lie? I don’t know.” I said that was fine and went through the Gospel with her. She took it all in cheerfully. When I asked her if she wanted to be forgiven she picked the circle where Christ lived inside her by His Holy Spirit and forgave her trusting in Jesus. So I walked her through the prayer asking her if she’d like to pray it and she said “Yeah,” with a big smile and prayed to receive Jesus. I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do writing her name and the date she had received Christ in it and “By the Spirit’s Power”. I opened it to the page where the writer says God will forgive us if we forgive others from our heart. I continued explaining this is impossible to do without God’s power in us. We might say we forgive someone but then days later it still bugs us, so we have to pray for a forgiving heart. She liked that and took a Bible study to to read, giving me her email to send her another one, I’ll also send her a link for another church to watch also. I got up to leave telling her I would pray for her and she warmly said, “Thank you so much!” And I headed off into the sunlight.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance God truly blessed, please pray also for a guy Uriel, an agnostic I gave the student edition of The Case for Christ to.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed in the Lord, we are having beautiful spring weather today in Chicago, and summer comes next! Two guys prayed with me to receive Jesus today, Tearl and Joe.

Tearl was sitting alone at a table in the PE lounge on the ground floor by the Gym. He hesitated but then was willing to answer some questions. He is Huge, African American with short hair, his headphones were clamped to his temples and he was playing with his phone. He had short hair, a chin and jaw beard, glasses, friendly face wearing a t-shirt and shorts. He plays Offensive line for the football team and hopes to get into a Division 1 school next year. He had been going to Church with his grandma until she passed. He didn’t mention his parents at all so I think his grandparents might have raised him. I asked him what he would say if he died and God asked him why he should let him into heaven he said, “I don’t know, I don’t have a real reason. I just tried to give back as much as I could.” he thought his chance of going to heaven was 50%. He listened without much expression, very seriously. But he accepted the things I told him and knew Christ and died for sin. But he had not been trusting in it. I asked him if he’d want to be forgiven and he said he would. Do you think when you asked God for forgiveness you thought you were good enough to be forgiven or knew you would be forgiven because Jesus had died for you?” “I wasn’t really thinking about it either way.” he replied. I pointed out if he really wasn’t thinking about it he could not be trusting in it and he had to agree. “I’m gonna go back to church, get back on track [when I get back home] with my grandpa.” I pointed out going to church did not make him a Christian and he acknowledged that was true. “What I’m asking you is would you like to trust in Jesus to be forgiven.” I walked him through the prayer and asked him if he would like to pray to be forgiven silently between him and God and he decided he would. After he prayed he finally smiled a tiny bit then. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date in it, and a Bible study and explained the Christian life to him and that if he was trusting in Jesus righteousness to be his righteousness, the likelihood he would go to heaven was 100%. I told him he could pray for strength in his hands and speed in his feet and God would help him and he could give Him the praise for his success. He wasn’t giving me much feedback so I just kept asking him if he understood, he always said he did and he seemed like a bright guy. Finally I said. “Well I’ll keep you in my prayers each night for a year, I’ll ask God to bless you with football and even that you get into the NFL, I don’t know if he will do that but I’ll ask Him to bless you.” He finally smiled a real smile and said, “Thank you, that means a lot.” I shook his hand and headed out. Then walked back and gave him my number encouraging him to text me if he had any request in prayer and he seemed thankful.

Joe was sitting in the Hallway of the BIC right by the doors that look out towards a fountain (strangely turned off though it is far warmer now than when it was on in the fall). He had dark almost black hair and wore black athletic shorts and a gray T-shirt, black shoes with black ankle socks. He was sitting waiting for his class to begin and said he’d do a student survey. Good looking guy, slight build and short. When I asked him what he would say to God if asked why He should let him into heaven he said, “Good question.” Then thinking more he said, “I want to see what heaven really looks like.” He was a really nice guy and had a hearing aid in his left ear on the side I sat on, his speech reflecting his impairment a bit, but he seemed to hear me clearly. He thought he’d have an 85% chance to go to heaven saying, “I read the Bible, went to church.” he had gone to a group Bible study at a nearby church called Salem. I asked him what Jesus had done to take away his sins and he thought for a minute and said, “I’m sorry I forgot.” I said that was OK and explained the Gospel to him and he listened closely. When I explained Christ’s imputed righteousness he said, “OK” getting it. Finally I asked which person he thought he was or would want to be someone who had asked God to forgive him based on what Jesus had done believing in that or if he thought something else, “Right there,” he said pointing to the circle with Christ inside your life. I offered him the prayer asking him if he would like to receive Christ praying it and he affirmed he did with an, “Um Hum” he took the booklet and said, “All right,” and prayed to receive Christ. I explained the Christian life to him living inside out and told him about the fruit of the Spirit and that God gave him all the strength he needed to live the Christian life by the Spirit. He took a Bible Study and 20 tings God Can’t Do writing his name and the date in it, and then his class was beginning so I shook his hand and said, “God bless you Joe.” All right, you too,” He replied and I headed off down the hall.

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 you day was blessed walking in the Lord, it was a beautiful day here just to walk between the building among the many flowering trees they have planted. I had a good day on campus and 3 guys Andy, Josh and Damsith each prayed with me to receive Jesus.

Andy had a blue shirt and jeans on and kind of looked like a ken doll with a couple days growth of beard, same hair cut as Ken. Sitting in the cafeteria at the counter, he was the first guy I spoke with today who was willing to talk.  He only had 11 minutes before class started and did not have time to do a survey but said he would do take a booklet. As I gave it to him I borrowed a bit more of his time to explain the Gospel. I had taken all the time before class as I looked walking away but he had not seemed worried about it as he had become interested. It turned out he had friend who had gotten him interested in religion a few months ago, taking him to some church stuff but that guy had entered the Navy. After hearing it he remarked about what a great proposition the Gospel was in God’s offering him salvation already paid for by Christ. After I had gone through the gospel he said he’d want to be forgiven so I asked if he’d been trusting in Christ, saying I knew he’d probably heard the story before. “But if I’d asked you why should God let you into heaven would you have said you were trusting in that Christ died for you?  Or were you trusting in the idea that you were basically a good person and God would forgive you and be merciful?” “Yeah I’d have said that,” he said with a grin. So I offered him the prayer saying he could be forgiven with God living inside, he took the booklet back from me then praying to receive God’s forgiveness through Christ. I had enough time to explain the Christian life to him living inside out and give him a Bible Study and 20 Things God Can’t Do, writing the date he’d received Christ and “By the Spirit’s power” in the front. He thanked me and we laughed that maybe we’d see each other in Heaven and I let him go to class.

Josh was Filipino and was sitting at a table in the PE building just up the stairs outside the workout area, wearing a white t-shirt and some blue sweats with stripes on the sides. He had a straight dark mop of hair, as you might expect, starting to recede a bit in front, and almond eyes with hidden eyelids which at first made me think he was Chinese. He is from a small Island in the Philippines but said his family lived in the Capitol and took a boat still sometimes to vacation on the smaller Island of his birth. He came from a Roman Catholic background but had not been to church in a while. When I asked him what he would say to God if he died and God asked him why should I let you into heaven he said, “Hmm… Because I believe in you.” He knew Jesus had died for his sins but had not been trusting in it, he paid close attention to the scriptures and explanations without remark and as I finished the Gospel I asked him if he wanted to be forgiven. “Yeah,” he said nodding his head. I asked if he had been trusting in Christ or if he still needed to do that if he did there was a prayer he could pray and I walked him through receiving Christ by the prayer and asked if he’d like to pray that and he said, “Yeah sure.” and he silently prayed to receive Jesus. I explained the life in Christ to him living inside out and gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do and a Bible Study on the deity of Christ. He was happy but didn’t have much to say in response so I asked him some questions about his home and left saying, “God bless you.” Shaking his hand. “God bless you too,” he replied warmly and I headed out the doors.

I went back to the truck to get more books chatted up a guy Kevin on the deck, with ink sleeves and a reddish beard, seemed to have been in the military based on his cap. He was grateful to hear the Gospel and gave him a Pocket Prayers Book, “There ya go.’ he said gratefully accepting it, I hope that was a good seed.

I came upon Dansith sitting in the hall he had a light blue shirt on with a crucifix around his next and jeans on.  He had a thinning loosely curly head of hair and said he was from Sri Lanka. He appeared Indian in features, darker skin nice looking guy. He looked upset and I said, “How you doing? Something wrong?” It turned out he was worried about Trump starting a nuclear war based on “Operation Gotham Shield” which simulated an apocalyptic strike on New York City. I told him Trump had also said he was going to let the Chinese take care of North Korea and that NK did not presently have a weapon they could reach the US with. That calmed him down a bit as we talked more I asked if he’d like to do a survey for our bible study Group and he was up for it.  I asked him, “What’s one thing you’d like to do before you die?” He said “See Jesus”. So that was promising. But he was trying to do enough good to merit going to Heaven.  I asked him what he would say to God if asked why He should let him into heaven and he said, “Because all the things I’ve done… I’ve done good things and bad things, I have done more good deeds.” He seemed to think God would weight them out and the biggest pile would determine his salvation.” He then rambled a bit, “I’ve been baptized and I’ve done things for others… I do take wrong turns and I get worried. God is the only way to truth the only way to have [it]. He is the eternal. We need to do good deeds that’s what we’re here for, help the poor, the blind the weak.” He went on a bit more. I began going through the Gospel with him and he would interject something good he had done as I spoke, I talked about how Christianity was like a blood transfusion where God wanted to transfuse His life into you, to live inside you with his Holy Spirit. He talked about having O blood and he gave blood every year. I asked him how God took away his sins what was the big thing Jesus had done, “Holy Spirit?” he guessed after thinking a moment. “Well this is how it works,” I began and walked him through the Gospel. He found other places to talk about doing good deeds in the middle but I finally got him to just stop and then clarified what I was asking him when asking if he wanted to be forgiven, I told him he could not do good works to be forgiven and pressed upon him that Jesus had to die for him and he had to trust in that. I asked if he had been trusting in that. “Most of the time no,” he admitted, “but I’m seeing it now.” he realized then he need to trust in Christ’s goodness not his own and prayed then to receive Christ after I walked him through the prayer. He took 20 Things God Can’t Do to read and I write his name in the front and the date he had been forgiven, writing, “Forgiveness is yours!” under it. He went to class then as we both stood and he was grateful as we parted.

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

In Him,

Bob