Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed walking with the Lord.  I had a good day on campus and had some good conversations and David prayed to receive to Christ. He was sitting at a table in the PE lounge.  Big dude, on the offensive side of the ball. He had a duffle bag on the table and was leaning forward on it, kinda hugging the football and it in one pile.  He was an African American guy, good looking with really short hair and a bit of a mustache, with almond shaped eyes. David said he’d done a couple other surveys with some other religious groups, two yesterday he’d thought. This happens periodically. Some Christian groups on campus, (one that used to be called Campus Crusade) send students out to do spiritual interest surveys. Sadly they seem to have never trained these kids on my campus how to go through the Gospel or transition into it from the survey. [I have mentioned this to the leaders and they acknowledge it and that’s the end of it.  I worked for them for a year and was never trained in this either. They did say I could do a student survey and a guy kind of made one up with a kid when I was with him once.  I used the idea and made up a survey and always end it with the Gospel.] I regularly meet students who are not interested in doing an additional survey.  So I asked David, “Did they ask you this question? ‘You’re walkin’ down the road and you get hit by a bus. So you’re dead, and ya stand before God and He says, ‘Why should I let you into Heaven?’ What would you say?” He said no, they hadn’t asked that. “Well do you know how to get to Heaven?” I asked. He looked back at me and was thinking, but had nothing to respond with, so I stepped into the pause and said, “Would you like to know how to get to Heaven, to know what the bible says?” “OK,” he replied. So I walked him through the verses, He had John 3:16 memorized and said it with me, but 3 minutes later, when I asked him “What is the thing Jesus did back when He was on earth that took away your sin?” He thought for a few seconds and said, “The bread?” “Well that is something you do at church to symbolize what Jesus did.” I responded.  I explained the Gospel and imputed righteousness of Christ to him and that he needed to receive it. I asked if he would like to be forgiven for his sins and have God live inside him, or if he thought something else. “God live inside.” he replied. So I said, “Well, it doesn’t seem like you have ever put all this together before, right?” He agreed, shaking his head. “Well there is a prayer you can pray to be forgiven.” I talked him through it, saying he could pray it like I wasn’t there. God would read his thoughts and he could start a relationship with God. He took the booklet from me and prayed to receive Christ.  I explained a little more of the Christian life to him, relating it to the football field and gave him The Bible Promise Book after asking him if he’d like it. I also gave him a Rose Publications handout Who I Am in Christ that has a lot of verses and stuff in it. I told him I would pray for him.  He was from Chicago and had a Bible at home. Then we said good bye and he headed off over to his friends.

I was a bit discouraged at the end of the day after talking to an atheist kid in the science building lounge right before this time with David.  Marcus looked about 20 had a winter cap on and V-neck shirt, a quick smile with perfect teeth and a bit unshaven.  He described himself as an anti-theist. He had drawn his conclusions after looking into and observing religion, he claimed. But his new metaphysic, science, was full of lies and the peer review process for scientific publication has become controlled–no new information counter to the paradigm is published now. The latter he admitted to be true about scientific publishing. We went back and forth for a while and I hoped I created some doubt. I went through the Gospel. I am sure he had heard before. Maybe he was talking to me for some other purpose. I gave him Barry Setterfield’s name as a source he asked for in Plasma Physics and the movie title “The Principle” and a few other things I felt led to say. But I don’t know if I made a dent in the lies Marcus believed. He said he worked in the bio department at school and had been raised Christian.  It left me more sad than usual for some reason. Then I walked over from the science buildings to the other end of campus praying and feeling I hadn’t said enough and found David, a simple hearted guy who believed. Some people learn just enough information to destroy their faith. But there is usually a catalyst of some pain that precedes it. College may end for David after a couple years at COD playing football, not because he is not intelligent. But since he came out of the Chicago Public Schools, college will be very hard to get through having been given no tools. Marcus unfortunately, up until now, has believed what he was taught in a better school. But David is going to Heaven.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for Evangelism today if you had a chance. I’m grateful and so is David.

In Him,

Bob