Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Thanks for your prayers for the ministry today. I hope you had a great day and a great weekend lies ahead. An African American student named Joe prayed to receive Jesus today. The school was basically empty of students. I think most of the ones I saw were taking their class on-line at school on a computer in a lounge. I guess they may get better Wi-Fi at school than they do at home. Joe’s story is below if you have some time.

Joe was sitting on the third floor of the BIC building at school, outside the office of my faculty advisor (who I have not been able yet to touch base with). I had gone up to see if I could find him in his office and it was empty, but Joe sat on a bench and was willing to answer some questions. He had gone to a local church I had heard of. He had an inch and a half high afro, kind of rough on top. He had a mustache and a beard that was only on the underside base of his chin. Nice smile, medium size sharp nose and features. He wore gray stretch sweats and a grayish blue jacket. He said he wanted to travel. He was a defensive back for the football team, pretty big guy. I asked him what he would say to God if a bus killed him and he was asked why he should be let into Heaven. “I would say I made mistakes but I learned from them,” he replied. “I’ve grown from them.” He thought he had about a 60% chance of getting into Heaven when he died. I began to explain the Gospel to him and he seemed receptive, though I could not tell much through the mask. I kind of feel like I can see someone’s eyes respond a bit. He seemed to track with me anyway. I explained God had to take away his sins to live inside him and asked what Jesus had done to take away his sins. He thought for a minute then said, “He died.” “He died for you, right.” I replied. I explained that the blood of Jesus cleansed us from all sin and His righteousness could be to our credit. I illustrated things and explained why good works could not pay for the damage we’ve done, because we owe God something perfect. I asked him then if he would want to be forgiven for his sins, where Christ lived in him, or if he thought something else. “Be forgiven for my sins,” he said. So I said, “If you’d like to be forgiven there is a prayer you could pray,” and I walked him through it, telling him he could pray it silently. “Wanna do it?” I asked. He nodded and I gave him the booklet saying, “Just pretend I’m not here.” And he prayed to receive Christ. Taking back the booklet from him to write some more things down I said, “Your sins are forgiven.” I explained to him then the power of the Holy Spirit to live the Christian life and how God would give him the power to do anything He wanted him to do. I said living “inside out” God would transform him on the inside and then he would do good things. I told him God could give him powers of perception on the field or help him in any way, if success would lead to good things for him. I said that if he would trust in the righteousness of Jesus to be his righteousness, the likelihood he would get into Heaven was 100%. I gave him a copy of 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” on the inside. I gave him a Bible study on places Jesus claims to be God and said I would pray for him each day for the next year.  Getting up to leave I said “Hey show me your face when I get over here, so I can remember it when I pray for you.” I crossed the hall and he flashed me a grin and I headed out.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance. God truly has blessed these first 2 weeks of school with 23 people praying to receive Jesus and a couple more committing to pray later to receive Christ.

In Him,

Bob