Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope ya had a good week walking with the Lord. Mine was pretty slow in evangelism for 3 days. I had some good conversations encouraging Christian students and got one or two seeds planted. Then the day finished with 3 guys at Bible Study Thursday and Mallory and Nick prayed with me to receive Jesus, so that was great. Their stories are below if you have some time. I’d be grateful for your prayers to bless them asking for their faith to grow.

Mallory was sitting beside a guy friend of hers in some stuffed chairs with armrest tables attached, in the 1^st floor hallway to the bookstore just past the SSC area (now under construction). I asked them if they’d do a survey and she said yes though he seemed to have no interest. I sat with my back against the wall on the floor next to her. She had wavy dark brown hair parted sown the middle a bit past shoulder length. It framed a cute face. She didn’t seem to be wearing make-up and wore a long sleeve black shrink top that did not quite meet the top of her grey sweats. I asked her what she would say to God if she died and was asked “Why should I let you into Heaven?” She thought for a bit with an “Um..” and then said, “Because even though I maybe come off rude I have a good heart. I care for other people deep down.” She thought she had a 70% chance of going to Heaven and went to church on holidays. I began to go through the Gospel with her saying God had to take away her sins so he could live inside her and asked what Jesus had done to take away her sins. She thought a second and then said, “He died on the cross.” I said, “Right,” and began to explain how the shed blood of Christ was a power in the world to cleanse her and a payment for what she owed to God. I explained the righteousness of God Christ earned to her credit and that God wanted to adopt her and give her these things. She could become a child of God by faith. I asked if she would want to be forgiven for her sins and have God live inside her and she said, “Of course.” So I said if she wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer she could pray. I read it aloud to her and explained it to her and asked if it expressed the desire of her heart.” She said, “Yes”. I said she could pray it silently and know she was forgiven. “I was praying it as you read it,” she replied. “Ok great,” I said. “Amen?” She closed her eyes and said, “Amen.” I explained the Christian life to her recommending she read the book of John and she said she had a Bible. I gave her Bible Promises for You and wrote her name and the date and “forgiven!” in the front saying she could read the verses for encouragement or turn them into prayers. “Oh, thank you,” she said and she reached out and shook my hand after taking the booklet. I gave her a Bible study explaining it and she took it and reached down to me and shook my hand again and said, “Thank you so much.” I got up to go after explaining walking by the Spirit and living “Inside -> out “, by the Spirit’s Power, saying I would pray a Bible verse for her each day for the next year. “You made my day,” I said.  “You have a nice rest of your day,” she said cheerfully as I got up to go. “We always sit here before class if you want to say hi,” she said. I said, “OK,” hoping to give both of them booklets next week to converse more with him. I headed down the hall pausing at a counter height table, they left a minute or two later.

Nick was sitting in the hallway on the first floor of the easternmost science building. He was a pretty thin guy and did not look like he’d be taller than me if he stood up. He was sitting with a about a seat and a half break between him and a large built black woman with an afro tinted brown on the top. She looked both talker and stronger built than him but turned out to be his mother. He had thin dreadlocks that were also tinted brown, not more than 5 inches long. He had a slight mustache and wore a retainer on his mouth. His narrow face had clear-rimmed plastic glasses, kind of on the fair side in complexion. He had on light brown shorts and a white t-shirt with some printing on it. I asked if he would want to do a student survey and his mom piped in, “I teach him all about and God,” holding up a full sized worn covered black leather Bible. But she got a phone call and picked up so I said, “You wanna just answer the big question and impress your mom?” He said, “Sure.” I asked, “You’re walking down the road and you get hit by a bus. So you’re dead. And you stand before God and He asks, “Why should I let you into Heaven?” What would you say. “I’m a good Christian,” he said. So I said, “Well Christianity is like a blood transfusion. I got A+ blood so if they fill me full of B- blood by mistake I would clot up and die. So God wants to transfuse His life into you, to live inside you with His Holy Spirit. But first He has to make you His type, so He takes away your sin, then you are perfect and Holy inside and God can live inside you. So what’s the big thing God does to take away your sins?” He was thinking so to prompt him I said, “What does Jesus do?” He forgives you?” he said. I said, “But what does He do to forgive you?” He could not think of anything. His mom was on the phone still. I pulled out the booklet then and quickly mentioned the first two points without reading the verses, a bit afraid his mom would interrupt. And then I explained the cleansing sacrifice of Jesus by His blood and His perfect payment to God. His mom hung up and put on some worship music and pulled out her Bible to read. That seemed to signal she was on board with the conversation.  I explained His earned righteousness, he would not go to Heaven because he was good but because Jesus was good and he was connected to Him. God’s adoption of him made him a child of God. This was all his by faith but his good stuff would not fix his bad stuff. I asked if he would want to be forgiven trusting in what Jesus had done. Then the Spirit could live inside him and give him all the strength he needed to live the Christian life. Or did he believe something else. “Islam says their god’s a spirit but he does not live inside you. He’s not a father, did not have a son and there’s no sacrifice for sin. So they have a different God.” “I would want to be forgiven,” he replied. So I said there was a prayer he could pray then and talked him through it saying he could pray it silently. He took the booklet then and prayed the prayer aloud. When he finished I said, “Great. I gave him a copy of Bible Promises for You and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven!!” on the inside. I also gave him a Bible study and The Case for Christianity Answer Booklet. I explained the Christian life living by the Spirit’s power, “Inside -> Out”. I said I’d keep him in my prayers for the next year. I stood up to go and he started flipping through Strobel’s book. His mom said to me, “You keep preaching the Gospel.” “Sometimes it just takes a fresh voice,” I said. She nodded and I asked her name saying I could pray for her as well, she told me it and then said, “You can just pray for the Williams family.” I said, “Yes Mam.” I turned to Nick and said, “I’ll see you in Heaven” and he grinned and I headed out so as not to be late for the Bible study in the cafeteria.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism last week if you had a chance. God blessed.

In Him,

Bob