“He says, It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant; 

To raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel;  

I will also make You a light of the nations, 

So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”  Is. 49:6

 Hey Friends,

How is your  summer going?   We have been plugging along.   I’ve had a bit of painting work, a rare thing in this economy, and we had a BBQ this past weekend.  About half the kids that came were College of DuPage students I have gotten to know over the past year.   Some of the peeps are not Christians, so it is good to strengthen our relationship with them and give them some food, love on them a bit and plug into their lives and relationships.    The kids that came were from the Philippines, Assyria and India, and it made me think of the verse above speaking of Jesus who is “a light to the nations” and then living in us we become “the light of the world” [Matt. 5:14].   I can’t bring Jesus to these places, but there were wayward students from these places in our backyard on Memorial Day, eating and playing bags.   God’s salvation is reaching the ends of the earth.   A Coptic girl from Egypt, Youstina, received Christ this year as did two Serbian Orthodox students: Jennifer and  Zdravko.  A Greek Orthodox girl, Dijana, prayed to receive Christ this spring.   Danni came to Christ this year.  She’s from the Philippines and is in an evangelical Church.   Rosette, who prayed to receive Jesus, is an African American student from France.  Jose’, from Spain, also came to Christ this year.   9 others were Latino.  55 were African American.   Most of these peeps are Americans, or hoping to become Americans, and from the perspective of Isaiah whom God is speaking through above, America itself is the “ends of the earth”.   By the end of the school year, 99 students prayed with me to receive Christ, and 4 committed to Christ, saying they would pray later.    I pray for others each night who I hope were close.  Matt was a typical suburban white kid, the first conversation I had last fall.   He believed in God and had grown up Lutheran, but was struggling with the claims of Christ.   I talked to him awhile and gave him The Case for Christ to read.   Later in the Fall I saw him and he came over to tell me faith was “Percolating” in him and he was beginning to believe.   I don’t know if he came to Christ, but I am prayerful God will bring him to Himself.  Facebook keeps me in touch with some of the students and also e-mail.

We gave away well over 100 books & bibles to new believers, Atheists and Muslims who showed enough interest to take a book from me.  We also discipled a few peeps at school.   We’ll hang out with some of the kids through the summer when we can, and get a bit of rest.   It is our hope and prayer that these students will more deeply be led by the Holy Spirit into an evangelical faith and find a community of faith they can connect with regularly .  Sometimes the next part of their sanctification will occur slowly, but several of the students who received Christ with whom I was able to hook up with later said they had found a church.   Most are attending a church when God leads me to them and were trying to be good people.  They just did not know Jesus died for their sins or they had not as yet trusted in Him.   Some of them are going to a Catholic Church, but I take heart that some of these churches are led by priests who have discarded the most destructive of Roman Catholic Doctrines and teach that faith alone saves us.   Two stories I often tell led me to think this.   Two years ago, after going through the Gospel with a Roman Catholic student, he said, “Yeah, I know all those verses.  You sound just like my priest.”   “Your priest has used these verses?” I asked.  He said yes and that he and 7 of his friends were in a bible study with his priest, who as far as I could tell was an evangelical Christian.   Then a couple years back I heard Presbyterian Theologian RC Sproul say he has received offers to debate Roman Catholic priests on the Biblical Doctrine of Salvation by Faith alone.   It has proved difficult, however, to find a Roman Catholic priest who takes the Historical Roman Catholic position, wherein the priest believed religious works contributed to the saving faith of the believer.  In one debate, the priest apologized to Sproul at the intermission, saying he believed as Sproul did, that faith in Christ alone saved us.  But if he said that at the debate his Bishop would find out and he’d be in trouble.

So in doing Evangelism we are abiding in the hope that truth-faith comes by an act of God as someone hears His word [Rom. 10:17].  Then the Holy Spirit enters the believer and begins to produce Sanctification (which is by the Spirit, 2 Thessalonians 2:13) drawing them into a closer walk with Christ.

These are the students who have prayed to receive Christ this 2012-2013 school year (an * means they committed but did not pray with me)

Matt*, John, Mary, Antuan, Carson, Chris, Kevin, Kenya, Alex, Jorge, Alex, Jen,

 Araina, Tival, Tatiana, Derrick, Devontae, Mike, Ledonte, Jose, Jesse, Bijan,

 Tywan, Jerv, Amber, Kim, Thalia, Roy, Julian, Justice, Anthony, Bianca, Jake, Allie,

 Grace, Romeo, Martha, Shaq, Leron, Kameron, Youstina, Jennifer, Cendy, Zdravko,

 Nate, Mayra, Tanisha, Rosette, Shay, Nana, Desire, Delet, Mesha, Randy, George*,

 Dionne, Tomika, Anthony, Jonathan, Danni, Calvin, Damian, Wade, Marquis, Viviana,

 Austin, Mike, Mark, Markus, Josh, Melissa*,Ewelina, Quincy, Parish, Mike, Alex,

 Marco, Shonika, Tim, Manny, Jose, Nick, Diamon, Monsi, Elvis, Brian, Taylor,

 Briesha, Jaylan, Kaitlynn, Ryan, Torrance, Ambrosia, David, Kalli, Tessa, Lateisha,

 Trinity*, Chris, Daniela, Dijana, Eddie and Calvin

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and financial support.  We would not be able to bring the Gospel and reach into the lives of these students without it.  We are blessed by your partnership with us.  God responds to the prayers of His people.

In Him,  Bob & Ellen