Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I went through the Gospel with 4 African American guys, Roy, CJ and Jamari, Jaylen, who each prayed to receive Jesus today and Carmen, a Latina Catholic who prayed to receive Jesus too. I got through the Gospel with a Muslim guy Hadi and Kenyan girl [Linda] who took it in anyway, saying she believed already and another black guy Jordan who committed to Christ saying he’d pray later. Thanks so much for your help in prayer. This is pretty long so I can imagine not everyone wishes to read it. I’d be grateful if you’d just pray for these 5 kids to grow in their faith.

A lot of people turned me down today, but 11 peeps heard the Gospel including Hadi a HS kid who afterwards did not want to tell me what he thought of Christianity (intonating he did not want to insult me. He said he had nothing to say that would help.) but was friendly.  I gave him a small pamphlet on Islam which he took with him. I also went through the Gospel with an Atheist Samantha outside the MAC.

Roy was sitting at the end of a row of chairs and had a slip of paper in his hand he was working on that turned out to be a survey from another group. I asked him if he wanted to do a survey before I realized what he was up to and he said, “I got one ,” showing it to me. I said this was something different and began to ask him questions. He showed me a tattooed verse on his arm saying “This right here,” when I asked him why God should let him into Heaven. He had on red sneakers, quilted jeans and a blue short sleeve shirt. He had a very short afro, fairer skin and an oval face with classic African features. I explained that his tattooed verse (from Proverbs) was from the Old Testament, so that could not tell him how to be saved and I began telling him some of the Gospel through analogies. I went through several of them and then took out a booklet so he’d have the verses written down. “Where did you learn all this stuff?” he asked. “From reading the Bible,” I replied. He circled a few more things on the survey and the girl came back and picked it up without speaking, smiling at me knowingly and I went on explaining everything to him. He had not understood or trusted in Jesus by faith and hadn’t known Jesus had died for him, to take away his sins. Though I think the story sounded a bit familiar. I offered him a chance to pray at the end and he  did and received Christ  and was really happy thanking me. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front and a Bible Study on the deity of Jesus. He was late for an appointment and had to run. “I hope I’ll be seeing you around,” he said. I encouraged him to ask for God’s help in everything and blessed him and he gave me a very serious look saying, “You too,” and headed off.

Jamari and CJ were a couple of football players sitting in the hall of the BIC. They said they’d do a survey. Jamari, a real solid looking guy, was very dark and  more reserved with sharp features, dark blue t-shirt. His afro went up and then flat like a stove pipe. Good looking guy. CJ was built like a receiver and both wanted to play “In the League” [NFL]. CJ was more outgoing, had fairer skin and a bit of facial hair on his lip and chin, face more round classic features for an African American. Both were friendly. Jamri knew Jesus had died to take away our sins, but both had been trusting in good works to go to Heaven. I don’t think either had thought about it much before meeting me. When I asked why God should let them into Heaven, both reacted like they had just read the test question they hadn’t studied for and stared across the hall, thinking. Jamari said, ”Cause I always put people before myself.” CJ said, “I changed my life around from bad to good.” Jamari was 100% sure he was going to Heaven and CJ gave himself a 70% chance. After I went through the Gospel with them and pointed out that they had been hoping they were good enough by their answers, I asked if they would want to be forgiven believing in Jesus. They seemed a bit unclear and I had taught them a lot, through a couple high fives of other players walking by. “Would you want to trust in Jesus dying for you on the Cross to be forgiven. Trusting in the good things Jesus has done, not the good things you have done? Jamari said yes right away, but CJ said, “Man this is a lot to think about.” “It’s not really a lot,” I said, “It’s pretty simple. Do you believe Jesus is God, has died for your sins and rose from the dead.” He looked at me and said, “Yes.” I asked would you want to put your trust in that to be forgiven? He thought for a moment and God touched his heart and he said, “I believe,” very seriously and remained very sober. I talked them through the prayers they could pray and handed them the booklets, saying they could pray silently. They each prayed their own prayer though closing their eyes off and on and kept the booklets. I gave them each 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote their names, the date and “forgiven” in the front of each. They were thankful and cheerful as I left them and I gave them Bible Studies a bit later passing them in the hall.

Jaylen was a round face guy with a short afro and facial hair, (lip and chin) very articulate, shorter, had some weight on him, not too much though. He was sitting at a table on the edge of the lounge where we have Bible Study facing the bathrooms. He was willing to do a survey. When I asked him why God should let him into Heaven he said, “Because I try to bring a positive influence wherever I go.” He thought he had a 50/50 chance of going to Heaven. He listened carefully to the Gospel and so I asked him if he wanted to be forgiven for his sins after comparing Christianity to Buddhism and Islam. “Forgiven,” he said simply. So I asked him if he thought he had been trusting in the death and resurrection of Jesus to pay for his sins and get him into Heaven or if he’d been hoping he was good enough. “Trusting in Jesus,” he replied. So I said that this was a way he could share his faith and I showed him the quote in the back I always talk to students about, “Your walk with Christ depends on what you allow him to do in and through you, empowered by the Holy Spirit, not on what you do through your own self effort.” [Paraphrasing] Then I said if he was showing this to someone and they wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer they could pray and I walked him through it.  I asked, “Is this something you’ve done before, said this to God, or haven’t you gotten around to it yet?” “Hadn’t gotten around to it,” he replied. So I said he could pray the prayer silently in his heart so only God would hear and asked if he wanted to do that. He nodded and took the booklet and prayed to receive Christ, so that was great because he had joy then. I offered him some books to read and he chose a Bible promises book, so I wrote his name and the date and “Forgiven”  in the front. He was very grateful and thanked me several times. I explained the Christian life to him. “Alright,” he said enthusiastically, “thanks for that.” I said I’d write that down as to what he thought about the Gospel and he said, “The man.” I also gave him a Bible study to read and said I’d see him in Heaven as I got up to go. He thanked me again and I headed out.

I hadn’t put two Bible promise books in the my pack and school was emptying out. But it was a little earlier than I wished to leave, so I walked out to the truck and got some more books and went in to school again. After another conversation with a Christian I invited to Bible Study, I found Carmen sitting on the second floor near the stairs in back near the waterfall. She is a pretty short, petite, Latina girl with long brown wavy hair past her shoulders. She had a yellow shirt on and jeans and nearly perfect white teeth. Her eyes were like  Mila Kunis, cute kid. She said she tried to go to Church every Sunday.  When I asked her what she would say to God if He asked, “Why should I let you into Heaven?” she said, “Because I always believed in Him and looked up to Him.” I went on to explain the Gospel, saying God wanted to know her, which meant to live inside her with His Holy Spirit but first He had to take away her sins to make her his type. I asked what the big thing was that God did to take away her sins. She kind of apologetically said that in her church, which she assumed would be different than mine, she confessed her sins. I said that was right. The Bible said “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I went on to say, “The Catholic church teaches that only God can forgive your sins. So the priest does not forgive your sins, but he is telling you that because you confessed that God forgives your sins. So why is it the priest can say that?” She was unsure. To help her think I said, “When we sin we hurt ourselves and the earth, and everything here even us is God’s stuff. So when you wreck God’s stuff you owe Him for it. And God has to get paid, so the priest can say your sins are forgiven because God got paid for your sins.” I went on to explain the Gospel of Christ as how God is paid for our sins, His blood cleanses us in an ongoing power in the world and His righteousness is to our credit. I said this is symbolically what the Mass is about. She had not realized these thing before at all. I said when she took the mass she should just say, “Thank You” to God for forgiving her. She wanted to be forgiven so I said she could pray a prayer receiving God’s forgiveness trusting in Christ. I explained it to her and said she could pray silently and she took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. She said her mom had a big Bible so I offered her one and showed her the “Where to Turn” section and she really liked that. I put her name the date and “forgiven” in the front. She got a phone call from her ride home and asked them to wait 2 minutes more. I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do and a Bible Study. She thanked me for talking to her and I said now she knew what church was about. “Thank you,” she said warmly and hurried off.

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

In Him,

Bob