Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope ya had a good day walking with the Lord. Thanks for your prayers for the ministry. Things evangelism was a blessed work today, Vincent, Ian, Andy and Ray each prayed with me to receive Christ. I’m truly grateful for your help. There stories are below if you want to spend the time.

Vincent was sitting in the upstairs of the PE lounge on a sofa. His otherwise short hair was kind of a mop of tangles in front and had blonde sun highlights in it from the summer just past. He had a light mustache and a beard just under his chin, square jaw, slight build. He had a white t-shirt on and light blue athletic shorts, looked like he’d been working out. He was up for doing a survey and it turned out he came from a Roman Catholic background. He said he’d like to get married for the One thing you want to do before you die question, which was a good sign (typically) he’d receive Jesus, if he hadn’t yet. I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven. “I’m a faithful Christian,” he replied. He thought he had a 90% chance of going to Heaven. As I began to go through the Gospel I asked what had to happen for God to take away his sins so He could live inside him. “Confession?” he guessed. I said that was true the Bible said that if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But when you confess to the priest the priest does not forgive your sins he is really telling you God forgives your sins. He nodded as if he thought that to be correct. I said he could think of the priest as an insurance agent you go to get insurance for your car. If you wreck your car you call the insurance agent and he connects you to the company, but the insurance agent does not pay for repairs the company pays. So the priest is telling you God forgives you and it is because God got paid. I went on to explain how God became a man Jesus and he lived a perfect life we could not. When He died and poured out his blood it cleansed him so God could live inside him and it also paid God back for all the imperfect things we’d done that we owed God something perfect to pay for. I explained salvation by grace through faith. I asked if he would want to be forgiven or thought something else. “I’d want to be forgiven,” he replied. I said if he wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray, if he had never told God he wanted to be forgiven trusting in what Jesus had done for him on the cross. I talked him through the prayer and asked if it was the desire of his heart. He nodded. I said he could pray it silently right now and only God would hear. “Wanna do it?” “Sure,” he said. He prayed the to receive Jesus. I explained the likelihood he would be forgiven now trusting in the righteousness of God to forgiven him was 100%. I explained the Christian life to him living Inside > Out when God first changes you on the inside then you become a good person and then you’ll do good things on the outside. “Everything is by the Spirit’s Power,” I explained. I also gave him Bible Promises for You writing his name and the date and “forgiven!” in the front and The Case for Christ Answer Booklet and a Bible study. I told him I would be praying for him through spring and the next year after. I stood up to go and he said, “Thank you so much.” I said, Sure, I’d see him in Heaven and shook his hand and headed off.

Ian was sitting in some chairs lining the hall of the second floor of the BIC. His head was down and as I walked up. His top was a mop of chin length brown curls. He looked up and had a friendly face smaller nose tan and freckled, He had a slight build wore dark blue athletic shorts and had a long sleeve dark grey t-shirt on. Good lookin’ kid. He said he had time for a survey. His parents had divorced and he’d lived with them in several states Virginia, Wisconsin and more recently in Vegas where he went to what he felt was a good church. I asked him what he would say to God if he died. “I don’t know, hmm…” he thought for a moment. “I feel like it should be His standards not by mine.” “Like what He says in the Bible,” I replied. He agreed saying he was a Christian and pulled a gold cross out from under his shirt for me to see. He thought the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. I began to explain the Gospel to him and asked what was the big thing that happened to take away his sin. “Repentance?” he guessed. I said it was true we repented but the real reason God forgives you is he got paid. I went on to explain the gospel to him and at one point he recognized the description of blood and the crucifixion and said, “Like communion.” I agreed saying we had to be perfect to be in Heaven so God became a man and lived a perfect life for us, died and rose again. “Can I keep this?” he asked of the booklet I’d been writing in. “Yeah sure,” I replied. I explained the righteousness of God (Is 61:10, Gal. 3:27) it’s His righteousness not ours. Then that he had to Receive Jesus and believe in his name. “So if someone would ask you why should God let you into Heaven you’d say, ‘Because Jesus died for me,’ That’s the standard.” “Oh!” he said, getting it. I said this was given to him by grace through faith. I asked if he’d want to be forgiven trusting in what Jesus had done. “Yeah,” he replied. I said there was a prayer he could pray then and walked him through it saying he could pray it silently and he did. I explained the Christina life to him living Inside > Out. I also gave him Bible Promises for You writing his name and the date and “forgiven!” in the front and The Case for Christ Answer Booklet and a Bible study. I told him I would be praying for him through spring and the next year after. “Can I ask you a question?” he said. “Sure,” I replied. “What is the difference between pride and confidence?” he had described himself as confident. “Because everything I do I have confidence and that has always helped be accomplish things.” I said “Everything you are you were created to be by God. So, you can say you are something but can’t take any credit for it really. I could say I was intelligent; I went to grad school and seminary and was a philosophy major. But I never did anything to make myself intelligent. It’s not like I worked out every day and got smarter or made sure I ate the right food. God made me this way. So then you do things well He wants you to do and when people say, ‘You’re really good at that,’ you can say, ‘It’s just how God made me’. Then He gets the praise and you don’t become arrogant and screw yourself up.” That answer really worked for him. He looked at his phone and realized his ride, a cousin, had been waiting for him. “What’s your name again?” he asked. “Bob. It’s on the booklet in my email,” I replied. “Appreciate it,” he said gratefully and he ran off.

Andy was sitting in the small lounge at the NW entrance to the BIC building just past the SSC lounge. She was a cute kind of pretty, like Sandra Bullock a bit, if very slight with tanned skin. She had brown wavy hair just past her shoulders, pretty white smile, bright personality. She was wearing a grey sweatshirt and some grey cargo kind of pants. I asked her if she’d want to do a student survey for a Bible study group. She said she had done one for Cru pointing at what might have been a sticker for the group on her laptop. I said this was a bit different. “The main question is: You’re 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? The survey is really about what Bible says is the answer is to that question. Got any interest or not so much?” “Maybe not the Bible but about God yeah,” she replied. I got her name (though immediately forgot it and asked again during an illustration and wrote it down then). In pieces I dramatized the Gospel with the things I usually say quoting verses. And I talked about how God would live inside her if she believed on Jesus and talked about this was by faith. Then finally sitting not far from her I explained  “Inside  > Out” taking out the booklet and reading the line, Your walk with God depend on what you allow Him to do in and through you empowered by the Holy Spirit, not what you do for Him by your own self effort. I said she could be forgiven receiving Christ. There was a prayer she could pray and talked her through it if she would want God to live inside her she could pray this and know she was forgiven. Would you want to do that. “Sure,” she replied. And when she’d finished I said she could keep the booklet and went back quickly showing her the verses I had recited and writing in a couple more and explained briefly the Christian life. “Thanks Bob, appreciate you,” she said cheerfully. I told her I would keep her in my prayers for the next year until Spring and a year after praying a Bible verse for her each day. I wrote her name and the date and “forgiven!” in the front of Bible Promises for You, I gave her a Bible study too and Strobel’s book. “God bless you,” I said getting up to go. “God bless you too Bob, nice to meet you,” she said with a warm smile. And I headed off.

Ray was sitting at a table outside the bookstore. He had a Bass Pro truck drivers cap on and stick straight hair coming down out of it. He had a mustache like a narrow caterpillar, small mouth wore jeans and a blue T-shirt, wore a silver cross around his neck. I asked him if he wanted to do a student survey and he said he would but he had 10 minutes until he had to get to class, how long would it take. I told him I could give him the cliff’s notes version and asked him what he would say to God if he died and God asked why He should let him into Heaven. He said something like it would be up to Him. He said he’d been raised “as a Christian”. I said “Well this is what the Bible says” and I went right into explaining the Atonement and the blood that had cleansed him paid for his sins. God forgave him because He got Paid. I explained receiving this by faith and grace provided it. “Got it,” he said understanding everything for the first time it seemed. I asked if he wanted to be forgiven for his sins. “Why not,” he said. I said there was a prayer to pray accepting God forgiveness and thanking Him explaining the prayer to him. “You could pray this quietly right now, I wouldn’t hear you but God would hear and you’d know you were forgiven, wanna do that. “Yeah, why not,” he replied. And he took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. I quickly gave him Bible Promises for You and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven!” inside and he responded saying, “Perfect.” I also gave him a Bible Study and The Case for Christ Answer Book. “But I gotta let you go to class,” I said handing it all to him. He glanced at his watch and said, “Oh, yeah.”  “Thank you, appreciate it,” he said and fist bumped me and headed to the stairs. It had taken 8 minutes but now he had received his family’s faith.

So, thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism Thursday if you had a chance. God blessed and let some see His salvation.

In Him,

Bob