Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I had a good day today on campus. Ben, Dylan and Nicole prayed to receive Jesus today. I hope your day was blessed as well and you had some joy.

Ben was sitting in the hallway on some chairs on the second floor of the BIC and said he had already done a survey. I said this was something else (after making sure he had not done it with me and I wasn’t having a brain lapse). “It’s how you get to Heaven. Like say 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?’ what would you say?” He said he didn’t know what to say, so I asked if he’d like to hear some “Bible verses that tell you how you get to Heaven–or not so much?” “Ok,” he said. So I said my name and got his name. He was a solidly-built black guy, handsome features, dark skin. He had a black hoodie on, pulled up over a rough cut afro. He wore sweats, tight at the ankles covered in what looked like a knit tweed print. Low-top black canvass shoes. “Do you wanna do the survey or just hear the verses?” I asked. “You can just tell me the verses,” he replied. So I went into the Gospel with him, using some of the verses in the booklet I use and adding more conversationally.  He knew Jesus had died for his sins. He listened intently to everything I said, not really making eye contact but staring at the booklet very seriously. I did get him to glance my way and smile once or twice. I finished up telling him about the blood of Christ and the imputed righteousness that could be ours by faith because He was God. I explained he needed to trust in that and that faith saved him. “So would you want to be forgiven for your sins, trusting in Jesus or do you think something else?” “Forgiven for my sins,” he replied. “If you want to trust in Jesus to be forgiven and have God live inside you, there is a prayer you can pray,” I said, going right into the explanation and reading it through. I read the line, “Is this prayer the desire of your heart?” “Yeah,” he replied. So I said he could “pray it silently in his heart and God would hear and forgive him and could live inside him.” He said “yeah” again when I offered it and prayed to receive Jesus. I walked him through the Christian life and the fruit of the Spirit and gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do. I explained everything in the book was “by the Spirit’s power.” So I wrote that and his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front, and gave him an example asking if he followed. “I get it,” he replied.  I asked if he had a Bible and he responded, “Yeah, I believe in God,” as if everyone who believed in God would have a Bible. I responded with something like, “Well, now you understand He is Jesus and forgives you.” He had to run to class then and stood up after I gave him a Bible study and said, “Thanks,” and shook my hand and headed off.

I headed down the hall then and had a sense I should head over to the PE building and thought, “I’ll head over there,” and then thought to myself, “If you are going to head over there, why are you walking in the wrong direction?” So I just abruptly turned around and went down stairs to  the tunnel from the BIC. I’m not sure where those little conversations come from (I may just be reasoning with myself) but in this case it lined up right to find Dylan who had decided to lay down on a hard bench under the staircase, (where a girl named Bre had trusted Christ a few weeks ago). Dylan was a real good looking kid, like a catalogue model. Brown hair wearing a hoodie and jeans. When I asked what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “I’m your son.” I asked him the likelihood he would get into Heaven and he said, “100%. I don’t see God sending me elsewhere, even though I’ve definitely sinned.” I said the last part of the survey was what he thought about Christianity in this little booklet. “It’s funny you should come by,” he said as if he’d been thinking about it. “I don’t really know the story of Christianity.” He then said something like he was not raised with any faith but he believed in God. So I went through the Gospel with him too, saying all I’d said to Ben and asked if he’d want to be forgiven for his sins, trusting in Jesus. He said he did, so I read him through the prayer, saying he could pray it silently, not so I would hear it but God would hear and be forgiven with God inside him. “Wanna do it?” I asked. “Yes sir,” he replied and he took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. I also gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front along with “by the Spirit’s Power” explaining the Christian life to him. He had to run to class then and said looking at his phone, “Bob, I gotta go to class,” and said for the second time, “I appreciate it,” offering me his hand to shake. I quickly pulled out a Bible study and he said he’d try to make it to ours and headed off down the hall.

Nicole was sitting up on the third floor of the BIC building. After 2 PM the hall was pretty empty, but the classroom near us was in group discussions. She was a very pretty girl and might have passed for sisters with the actress Katie Holmes. She had long brown hair past her elbows and a narrower face than the actress. She wore leggings, black and white canvass hightops and a light blue hoodie. I asked her to do a survey and she said, “I’ll do it. I said no the last time you asked me but I’ve seen you around so OK.” So, so much for worrying that I am bugging students, asking them more than once to do a survey when they say no. This has happened to me before. When I asked her what she would say to God she said, “I pray to God a lot. I wouldn’t owe anybody anything. I’ve believed in Him my whole life, I’ve never doubted.” She was sure she would go to Heaven, 100%, and said she had gone to church when she was young and “taken all the classes.” As I went through the Gospel with her, I asked her if she knew what Jesus had done to take away her sins. She had no idea. So I said it would probably come back to her as I went through it, but I really don’t think she had ever understood the Gospel. I explained how the blood of Jesus poured out, sort of like His life-force on the world and made life all the places we made death. “There’s death inside us from our sin and the Bible says the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin, turns death into life. So now you’re alive inside and you match God so He can live inside you.” “Wow, that’s so cool,” she replied. I told her that good works could not save us and she agreed your good things could not fix your bad things. “But God says He can turn your bad stuff into good stuff.” I quoted Romans 8:28 to her. I asked if she would want to be forgiven for her sins and she did, so I said there was a prayer she could pray to trust in Christ and explained it to her. I said she could pray it silently if she wanted. “Thank you,” she said taking the booklet to pray and she did. I gave her a Bible Study she was interested to read. Her mom had a very old copy of the Bible that had been in the family that she said she would borrow sometimes. I asked if she’d like one of her own and she said she would. I wrote her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front and she really liked that. I also showed her the “Where to Turn” passages and said there was a section on prophecies Jesus had fulfilled. I also gave her the book 20 Things God Can’t Do writing “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front and explaining the Christian life is asking God for strength to do everything. As I said to everyone today, the Christian life is living “Inside out.” “God transforms you on the inside, you become a good woman and then you do good things on the outside.” I got her email to send her some stuff and she’d thanked me several times as I went though things. I got up to go and said, “It was really nice to meet you,” shaking her hand “thanks for taking a chance and talking to me.” “Thank you. It was nice to meet you too,” she responded. “You’re welcome” I said and headed off.

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

In Him,

Bob