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