Third Watch Ministries, NFP Bob & Ellen Bollow
P.O. Box 1283 April 3, 2025
Wheaton, IL 60187
“There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
The holy dwelling places of the Most High.” Psalms 46:4
Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I hope your “Winter into Spring” has been a blessed one and you are walking by the Spirit in faith not by sight. We are walking this way and asking God for more faith. Hey it’s a gift—you can get more of it. I think many people would at least say we have seen success in ministry in the goal of seeing people pray to receive Christ, 141 this school year. I clicked on the “Look Inside” button in a success book recently at Thrift Books. The Success Principles by Jack Canfield provided the following quote: “If you want to be successful, you have to take 100% responsibility for everything that you experience in your life. This includes the level of your achievements, the results you produce, the quality of your relationships, the state of your health and physical fitness, your income, your debts, your feelings — everything!” Of course it depends on what you mean by success. But I realized reading this idea would bring disaster to the Christian life, which is about walking by the Spirit’s power. I explain to the students who have prayed to receive Christ that the Christian life is “Inside Out, not Outside In.” First we ask God to transform us, then we do good things. We are not transformed or saved or sanctified by the good things we do by our own strength. After all, our enterprises often seem doomed to woe even when blessed; the more happy the marriage the more sad the death of one spouse in old age. The happier the Story the more sad the ending, unless you stop it in the middle. Ellen and I have watched movies that ended in disappointment. Fortunately they are fiction. So if I don’t like the story ending I say to Ellen, “I’m just going to pretend they were happy, got married and had wonderful children so I can think happy thoughts before bed.” Most movies are forgettable anyway of course. We occasionally watch one again when we realize we forgot how it ended. But in real life such pretending is not possible. And we know Jesus said in John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” I catch myself pressing a bit sometimes when sharing the Gospel. Then I silently pray and ask God to work in their heart and continue waiting on Him for the outcome as I recite the verses from His word. Psalm 127:1 tells us, “Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman wakes in vain.” God has sealed us with His Spirit in Ephesians 1:13, but we are to go on walking in the Spirit (Galatians. 5:25).
Everything we have in life is from our gracious God. Though I earnestly want students to trust in Christ, I’m not trying to talk them into a life in Christ. I am hoping to put my “best foot forward” by God’s power. And then I pray for them, knowing only the Holy Spirit can bring sanctification. I think I am good at talking to students about the things of God. But in 1Cor. 1:5 I read that, “in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge.” Everything we are in life came to us by the nature God gave us and renewed in us and by the events He engineered to shape us. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Eph. 2:10). God has blessed us and it is made possible by your prayers and gifts.
When the covid scare had Illinois shut down in 2021, we decided to go to Florida and talk to students on the beaches that were open. Ellen worked from the condo we were blessed with in the second part of the week (on the cheap from a kind lady we met.) Panama City Beach was taking a hiatus from spring break partiers then by outlawing drinking on the beach. (They have changed the laws back now, for money.) There was not a fraction of the number of people to talk to that I expected. Worse still, on my first day the first 30 people I spoke with said “no thanks.” Then I came across a nice older couple. The wife wrote Christian books the husband proudly informed me. I told them what I was up to and they asked how it was going. I said, “No one has talked to me so far.” They asked how many I had asked. I’d been counting and said more than thirty and, if I’m remembering right, I told them they made 33. “Oh we’ll pray for you,” they promised. After that, 31 people came to Christ in a week of days (given some were lost to rain) and God let me know it was not about me. So below are the students who have prayed with me to receive Jesus this school year so far. Thanks for your help, truly. “This is the way” as The Mandalorian often says. In the words of Paul, “For who regards you as superior? And what do you have that you did not receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” (1Cor. 4:7) So as Will said on TV in The Guns of Will Sonnett “No brag just fact.”
I went through the Gospel with a girl Anna this year and have seen her and talked with her since. She’s never prayed the prayer in the booklet. But she said her mom read through it along with all the other verses I wrote in it and she prayed the prayer to receive Jesus. So there is a River the Streams of which make glad the city of God. Some people just have to step near enough to hear the rush across the rocks. When He calls, they’ll jump in.
Here are the students who have prayed this school year. (An * means they said they would pray later.)
David, Jonah, Skylar, Rosslyn, Phil, John, Erick, Lilly, Erick, Matt, Sergio, Jaydi, Brandon, Adrian, Lauren, Camille, Ella, Madi, AJ, Charles, Jomally, Ellie, Madison, Odalys, Jess*, Rebecca, India, Jorie, Markail, Monse, Ethan, Kevin, Kai, Alijana, Michael, Adam, Rita, Arielle, Samantha, Michael, Josh, Reanne, Danielle, Marisa, Tamara, Annette, Ellis, Savannah, Lena, Joseph, Kaycee, Alexa, Malcolm, Daniel, Abbie, Ozzy, Michael, John, Roger, Connor, Q, Brandon, John, J, Diego, Damo, Roy, Victor, Daniel, KD, Charlie, John, Areli, Tamryn, Pablo, Mari, Julianna, Alijah, Cam, Keith, Matthew, Julia, Jessica, Panos, Dailen, Max, Jon, Moe, Salvador, Keri, Yace [ya say], Gianna, Jude, Donte, Jack, Dajah, Aly, Yvonne*, Kiyla, Ian, Gabe, Cory, Nyla, Anthony, Ryan, James, Melody, Quami, Shaun, Zach, Stepan, Alenka, Thomas, Mercy, Emily, Sam, Brendan, Kevin, Jayda, Elizabeth, Jeremiah, Ashley, Joe, Drew, Jess, Natalie, Josh, Julyssa, Joseph, James, Daniel, Kyran, Matthew, Steve*, Shay, Jabari, Jorge, Kejsi [KC}, Jose, Brandon, Kaitlyn, Ivy, Vanna, Princess
Thank you for your faithful prayers & support.
In Him,