Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope you had a great day walking with the Lord. I had a good day on campus and God led me to some people who wanted to hear and be forgiven though I only got through the gospel with 3 students. Michael, Tom and Byron each prayed with me to receive Jesus today.

Michael was the first guy I spoke to right in the hall immediately down from row of lockers I use on a row of chairs. He was wearing a runner’s zipper jacket and jeans. Smaller guy and thin with a mop of brown hair swept back and the occasional freckle (the ones girls call beauty marks). Good looking kid, kind of magazine good looks except I suppose for his size. He was friendly and wanted to start a computer game business. When I asked him what he would say to God to be let into Heaven he said, “I’d say that I followed His commands.” It turned out he had been turned off as a Roman Catholic kid by the institutional church, which has admittedly had a myriad or the worst kind of corruption problems. But he felt like he still lived a life of faith and was 100% sure he would go to Heaven. He knew Jesus had died to take away his sins as we talked. I explained the imputed righteousness of God, Jesus had earned by fulfilling the Law and that he wouldn’t go to Heaven because he was good but because Jesus was good and he was wrapped up with Him. “OK,” he said understanding. I told him he needed to trust in that and the cross of Christ to be forgiven and asked him if he wanted to be forgiven with God inside or thought something else. He thought for a moment and then pointed to the circle with Christ on the throne and said, “Be forgiven.” So I said there was a prayer he could pray and talked him through it. “Is this prayer the desire of your heart?” I read to him and he thought it was. Asking if he’d like to pray silently to be forgiven I offered it to him and he said, “Yeah,” and prayed to receive Jesus. I explained the Christian life living by the Spirit’s power Inside out reading some stuff to him in the back. “This is a good booklet,” He said. I agreed it lined everything up but one of the best parts is what I had added about the Righteousness of God being to his credit, as it meant he did not have to earn it by good things since none of our actions were perfect. He agreed. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do writing by the Spirit’s power” and his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front explaining everything God was asking him to do He would give him the power to do by His Spirit. I gave him a Bible Study too. He had to run to class so I gave him a Bible study on the deity of Christ and said I’d cut him loose. “Thank you,” he said as I got up to go. And I sad he was welcome.

Tom was sitting in the cafeteria an hour or so later in the day. He had tight curly hair, very short on the sides and what was almost a perfect afro on top except he was blonde and blue eyed so the curls were bigger, being Caucasian, than that of someone of African heritage. He had on a grey t-shit and what looked to be faded blue jeans. He was extremely friendly and nice, not in a fake way but if he lived in your neighborhood you’d want him greeting new peeps on the block. Kind of naturally affirming. He said he wanted to have a family, which is one of the telltale responses that mean a guy will accept Christ. When I asked him what he would say to God he thought out loud a little and finally landed on, “I tried my best. That’s what I’d say.” I asked him the likelihood he would go to Heaven and he said, “I don’t practice so I’d say zero %.” it turned out his dad had asked him to check out Roman Catholicism when he was a kid but he hadn’t been to church since then. He listened closely to the Gospel and could not think of anything when I asked him what Jesus had done to take away his sins. “I feel like I probably know this…” he said. So I began to go through the Gospel with him and explain the death of Christ to pay for his sins and His blood that cleansed him so God could live inside. He said he’d want to be forgiven so I asked if he thought it was true Jesus was God had died for his sins and rose from the dead. He more or less said he thought so but though he could not be sure he wanted to “Take a leap” and trust in that. So I offered him the prayer in the booklet explaining it and asked if he would like to pray it silently so God could hear and forgive him? “Definitely, especially recently.” So I gave him the booklet and he took his time and prayed to receive Jesus. So that was great. He did not have his own Bible so I gave him one showing him the “Where to Turn” section and told him there was section too on prophecies that were fulfilled by Jesus. I wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I also gave him a Bible Study and 20 Things God Can’t Do writing by the Spirit’s power” in the front explaining the Christian life “Inside Out” and that everything God was asking him to do He would give him the power to do. I asked what he meant by “especially recently” and he said that about 6 months ago he just somehow began thinking he just couldn’t believe there wasn’t a Heaven. That thought had stayed with him. He said about our conversation, “You could call it a coincidence.” “Or providence,” I suggested. “Yes providence,” he agreed smiling warmly. He had to run to class. I got up to go and he said, “Thank you, good luck!” He meant that I would find more people to believe in Jesus as we’d talked about what I was up to and how I had to trust in God to make good out of my actions, or I would be afraid that I might do more harm than good talking to people about God. Thanks,” I replied and he headed out of the cafeteria to class.

I walked around some more and when I got to the PE lounge headed up the stairs walking beside Jerry, who had prayed to receive Jesus the other day. He was sweating having played some pick-up basketball. I shook his hand and said I was praying for him and he said he’d prayed for me too so I thanked him. Byron was lounging on a sofa upstairs. He was a good looking guy with a 4 inch braids on the top, short on the side, afro. Good looking black guy with a short wide face and a little bit of beard coming through sort of randomly. He wore a gray and white zip up camo hoodie and nylon black workout sweats, black sox and sandals, had some style to him. He was about my size with an athletic build. He wasn’t too interested in doing a survey so I asked if he’d want to know how to get to heaven, “the short version”. He seemed amenable so squatting beside him nearer his head I said, “Like if you died and God asked why He should let you into Heaven what would you say?” “I guess I’d say I’m a good person.” I asked if he wanted to know what the Bible said and he seemed open still, “Christianity is like a blood transfusion,” I said. “I have A+ blood so if they fill me full of B- in the hospital I would clot up and die. God wants to fill you up with His Holy Spirit but first he has to take away your sin, then you are his type and He can live inside you. Then it’s like you are the energizer bunny God is the batteries, you keep going and going and when you die it’s like you don’t die cause God’s inside.” He liked that and acknowledged everyone sinned. So I asked what Jesus had done to take away his sins but he could not think of anything. So I began to explain the Gospel and used the booklet writing down some verses. It turned out he went to church regularly. I asked if he would want to be forgiven trusting in Christ and he said he did so I offered him the prayer and explained it telling him he could pray silently and be forgiven with God inside, giving him strength to live the Christian life. I asked if he’d wanna pray and he said , “Yeah,” and prayed to receive Jesus. I also gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do writing “by the Spirit’s power”and his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I gave him a Bible study too. I showed him the survey he hadn’t done and wrote down his answer that he was good saying now he’d say, “Jesus died for me” and he agreed. I showed him the likelihood he would go to heaven was 100% because he was now trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be his righteousness. He was grateful and as he got up I was still on my knees when he shook my hand and said, “‘Preciate  you.” “‘Preciate you too,” I replied. and he headed out and I headed towards my locker.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and your heart was thankful. I had a good day on campus and Brianna prayed with me to receive Jesus today. Also a newly decided atheist, Raheem, seemed responsive. A thin guy with shoulder length dreadlocks and a mustache and goatee, dressed in all black, my height. His Haitian family turned out to be into the Black Israelite legalism cult. They claim you must keep the Old testament law and believe they are doing so. I think his atheism was in part due to the burden of the legalism of the cult. I pointed out a few things that seemed to help. One was that anyone who drove a car on the Sabbath was kindling a fire if they drove an internal combustion engine as a spark to compressed gas causes an explosion in the cylinder that moves an automobile. “Every car runs on fire,” I told him unless it was electric. “If you take a shower you have caused the electronic pilot to spark and ignite gas as you drain the hot water tank to heat more, so if you showered on the Sabbath you kindled a fire,” I explained to him. Then I explained how Jesus was your Sabbath rest based on Hebrews chapter 4. I said that the Bible says we are the temple of God and He lives inside us. So it is not that we have changed the Sabbath to Sunday and broken the Law, but that now everyday is our Sabbath rest in Jesus. We did not make the Sabbath less, we made it more as we keep it 7 days in Christ. Because we are a temple and His presence by the Holy Spirit is within us, each day we rest in Him and we praise Him in His Temple, our bodies. He said he had never heard it explained that way before though he went to church with his family each Saturday. He also had problems with all the evil in the world and I explained and talked him through that as well, saying God was working against evil but needed time to not crush us in the process. I offered him the prayer and explained the Gospel and said he should think about it and think about giving God his burden, not by claiming He does not exist and getting relief from the burden of keeping the law that way, but by claiming Jesus had fulfilled the law for him and resting in that. He agreed there was a burden. He was moved I think and said he would think about what I’d said. I gave him a hug and told him God loved him, so it was a good conversation. I am hopeful a good seed was planted there as well.

I was talking to a couple of conservative Christian guys who I bump into at school. They are affirming of evangelism and I usually try to slip some doctrine in on them and go deep on them a bit. They are pretty straight laced Baptist types. They said they would pray for Raheem and I said I’d pray for a guy, Tim, one of them had shared with in class. I was saying I had not talked to almost any people in the last 2 and a half hours or so, and one of them said there was a big “convention” in the SSC lounge maybe I could work that. I said I had seen it and walked through, but not a lot of people seemed to be sitting around. But I said it wasn’t a bad idea and I would check it out, mostly not wanting to seem like I was not taking his advice. So I worked my way over there, not really finding anyone to talk to. But it turned out to be a good idea because as walked into Starbucks at the edge of the lounge I found Brianna there sitting in the seating area, curled up in an over-stuffed brown leather chair. So I sat at her feet, indian style on the floor, and we talked.

She had black leggings on and a long sleeve t-shirt. He long brown hair was pulled back in a hair band, she wore brown rectangular framed glasses and had a willing smile. She had a cute kind of all-American-girl look to her face. She said she’d do a survey and looked over for approval to the guy beside her. He seemed like her brother, who was not paying attention and so we began to talk. Describing herself she said, “I’m Spiritual, close with my religion.” When I asked what she would say to God to get into Heaven she said, “I would say it’s up to Him. He’s the only one to judge. You don’t have your own say. It’s just based on what you did.” She thought she had a 50/50 chance of going to Heaven. As I began to go through the Gospel she knew John 3:16 as I quoted it to her and regularly went to a community church. I told her some stories and verses and she was pretty sober as she listened and took it all seriously. She knew Jesus had died to take away her sins after some prompting. So I explained His righteousness could be to her credit, that you don’t go to Heaven because you are good but because Jesus is good and you are connected to Him. It was His righteousness that would get her into Heaven. I explained receiving Christ and asked if she would want to be forgiven for her sins with God living inside or thought something else. She said she would want to be forgiven with God inside and so I asked if when she was asking for forgiveness if she was thinking she would try harder and went to church and God would forgive her. Or did she think, “I know I’ll be forgiven because Jesus died for me.” “I know you knew the story but were you trusting in Jesus to be forgiven or hoping you’d be good enough? She thought about it and said, “I’m getting there.” I said if she wanted to ask God to forgive her and help her get there, there was a prayer she could pray (and I walked her through it) and then told her that God’s Spirit would give her the strength to do anything God was asking her to do. And I told her a story and explained living in the Spirit. So I asked if she would like to pray silently so only God could hear and be forgiven and then know she was going to Heaven. “Yeah,” she said. So she took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus closing her eyes and praying in her heart. It took a bit as every time I looked up her eyes were still closed or closed again. But she finished and so I explained living “Inside Out” by the Spirit’s power. She had a Bible that her youth pastor had given her in High School. So I gave her a Bible Study and 20 Things God Can’t Do writing “By the Spirit’s power” in the front. I also wrote her name and the date and “forgiven” so she could remember. I explained that if she would trust in the righteousness of Christ to be her righteousness, the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100%. She was happy, so I said I would see her in heaven but if I saw her around I’d just say hi. “It was good to meet you,” I said getting up to go, realizing I was getting too old to sit cross-legged that long. “It was good to meet you too,” she said cheerfully. “Have a good day.” “Thanks very much,” I said and headed out.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed.

Love ya,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and you had a sense of God’s presence. I had a good day on campus talking with students I knew, and Jerry prayed with me to receive Christ.

Jerry walked into the lounge outside the gym after seeming to have been playing some ball and worked up a sweat. He leaned on the end counter, off to one side of the base of the stairs. I was just walking down the stairs having talked to a guy for a while who’d prayed to receive Christ earlier this year. I asked Jerry if he wanted to do a survey. He asked how long it would take and then said ok. He was wearing bright blue basket ball shorts and matching leggings and a gray COD t-shirt. He had a rough top afro, shorter on the sides and some growth of beard, a long oval face and otherwise looked like a pretty average dude, but bigger and taller than me maybe 6’3″. When I asked him what he would say to God if he died and God asked him, “Why should I let you into Heaven?” he said, “Because of all the things I’ve done in life. I’m a reliable person. All the people around me, I’m their man, they trust in me.” He thought he had an 80-85% chance of going to Heaven. Going through the Gospel I explained God wanted him to believe in Him and live inside him but He had to take away his sin. He asked me, “What is sin?” I had just said, “The thing that ticks off your mom.” It’s extremely rare for someone to need a better definition than that, but I think he was looking to justify himself. “Anything that you do that damages yourself or others, your community or your family.” I clarified. He didn’t think he had done anything like that. “Did you ever tell a lie?” “Yeah,” he replied. “Lying is a sin. It hurts other people,” I replied. “You ever drive slowly in traffic on purpose? You stole time from the guy behind you.” Trying to justify lying he said. “I have told lies; I don’t lie all the time. What if the lie you tell does not hurt them? I lie to my friend, but he knows I am lying.” I said it would damage your relationship to lie. Then I continued with the Gospel since I did not want to get into an argument proving that lying was wrong. I think he knew it was or he would have let it go. Based on his original response, he had done other stuff. He was probably convicted about lying. I asked if he knew what Jesus had done to take away he sin. He had no idea.  So I began to explain the sacrifice of his sins on the Cross, the blood that cleansed him and the righteousness of God that was to his credit. All the while throwing up prayers that God would teach him, as I was not sure he was understanding. Through each point I asked if he followed as I spoke and he said he did. I explained he needed to receive Jesus to believe in His name, so, that He was God, had died for his sins and rose from the dead. “I believe in Jesus,” he said. He had gone to church some with his parents growing up, a community Church he thought.  At least he’d known something about Jesus before we spoke. So I quoted Ephesians 2:8,9 to him and explained how his good stuff would not fix his bad stuff. Finally I said there were two kinds of people in the world. I asked him if he wanted to trust in what Jesus had done to be forgiven for his sins so he could live inside him and give him the strength to live life, or if he thought something else. “Jesus inside,” he replied. So I said if he’d like to ask for forgiveness there was a prayer he could pray and I talked him through it asking if it was the desire of his heart. “Yeah,” he said. So I said if he wanted he could pray, not so I would hear but God would. I offered him the booklet “Oh you want me to pray [now]? He asked. “Yeah, just pretend I’m not even here.” He was cool with that, so I slid behind him on the counter and he prayed to receive Jesus. I gave him a Bible, putting his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. He didn’t have anything to carry it in but said he’d like one if it wasn’t too big. It had a box and he put the booklet in it with the Bible study I gave him in with the Bible, after I explained the Christian life living by the Spirit’s power and showed him the “Where to Turn” section in the back marking it with the ribbon. He stood up to go work out. “Thanks for all your time,” I said. “No problem, no problem. God bless, ” he replied and headed up the stairs to workout.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God blessed and answered my prayers for Jerry.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers and Christ,

I hope your day was blessed. I had a good day on campus for seed planting anyway. I went through the Gospel with a Muslim from Iraq Sudais, and agnostic whose father was agnostic and mother was Roman Catholic, named Ryan, we talked for a while apologetically and I hope I said something that registered. He was pretty hard however. The most promising, if I had to guess or hope, was Julian in the PE building. I went through a skeleton version of the Gospel giving him the booklet at light speed. He had to study for a test he was taking in half an hour. But he had just started becoming interested in things of faith so I gave him Bible Promises for You. Luke seemed close. He had been raised Jehovah’s Witness but realized the church was corrupt. I explained the Gospel to him. He’d had a Christian girlfriend for a while that made him interested in going to her nondenominational church. I gave him a Bible Study on the Deity of Christ.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry, I was grateful to be able to go through the gospel with several students and I’ve prayed it will bear some fruit.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope ya had a good day walking with the Lord. I had a good day on campus. A guy I’ll call Z and Thomas prayed with me today to receive Jesus. I also encouraged some Christians in faith who said they believed. Z was the first guy I came across today on the third floor of the BIC. I walked past him and he looked up and made eye-contact, so I turned around to ask him if he would do a student survey. He asked how long it would take and I said 6 minutes, which is true if you don’t begin to ask a lot of questions and we get sidetracked. But Z. did. He was wearing a kind of worn out looking, kelly-green workout jacket that zipped up the front had a shirt on under it and jeans. He had a mustache that stopped at the edge of his mouth and a beard on his jaw line, a conservative hair cut and strawberry blonde hair. He described himself as stressed and kind of lost. So I was hoping the Gospel would reach him from the beginning. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “I’d like to meet my family again.” I said I thought that was interesting, “I’d like to meet my distant family, like great-great grand parents.” I asked how likely it was he would get into Heaven. He said, “That depends on how strongly [He grades] on the sins.” I began to go through the Gospel with him and said God had to take away his sins to live inside him. He knew Jesus had died for his sins. We talked a bit then and he asked if God could forgive the 7 deadly sins, “If someone committed all of them.” I said I believed He could. Everyone had committed all of them, and that the Bible says if we break even one law we were guilty of them all, but I was not sure I could name them as I wasn’t Catholic. But I tried. I got sloth, envy, gluttony, wrath, and greed (turned out I was missing pride and lust). He asked if I ever watched “Sponge Bob Square Pants.” I said I hadn’t, but I knew who he was. He said that the show was an example of the 7 deadly sins and then told me three characters who were examples, He’d just found that out and thought it was strange. He then asked if one of sins was murder. “I don’t know, maybe,” I replied. “Do you think God can forgive murder?” he asked. I said the Bible says that David was “a man after God’s own heart” but that he went into Palestinian villages and killed everyone even women and children and animals and burned them to the ground, but God forgave him. I pointed out Paul held everyone’s coats while they stoned Steven. Paul was on his way to arrest others in the Holy land when God got to him. He was going to arrest Christians, even women. The Bible does not say he killed anyone but he set some up to be killed, “So it’s just as bad.” He agreed. “Because that is what I did, I killed someone,” he said. He said he went on trip to Tennessee and was in a bar and a guy was trying to pull a girl into a rest room to hurt her. Z. punched the guy a few times and then blacked out from adrenaline and he can’t remember much. The guy he hit hemorrhaged and died. He didn’t look anything like a bar fight guy, though he was a thicker dude than me. (I wondered later today of the story, as it sounded like when someone gets set up for something they did not actually do. They black out, maybe have a seizure, they are from out of town and others lay the crime on them. But I’m glad it did not come to me in the moment to complicate things. Maybe I’ll see him again to talk more.) He said the Judge was understanding and gave him 45 days and 3 years probation which had just ended. The sentence seemed light. Talking more about murder he was wondering again if he could be forgiven. I went on to say David had also had Uriah killed after sinning with Bathsheba and God forgave him. He remembered the story. I said I think that was why God put murderers in the Bible to show He could forgive anything. I said Jesus had died a terrible death to pay for terrible things.  I finished going through the Gospel and I encouraged him saying he could be forgiven and he wanted to be. I walked him through the prayer for forgiveness and said God could live inside him and give him the strength to have self control, when he said he feared he could do it again. I said his probation was over and he had a new start. He should begin with God’s power in him to help him begin again. I asked if he would he like to pray, “Yeah,” he replied. “Just pretend I’m not here,” I said. “Can I have it?” he said, taking the booklet from me. I gave it to him and encouraging him I said, “Give it a shot.” He prayed to receive Jesus then and said something like, “I like that.” “Amen?” I said back and he nodded. I explained living “inside out” by the Spirit’s power transforming him and gave him 20 Things God Can’t Dowriting his name and the date and “forgiven” on the inside along with “By the Spirit’s Power.” I gave him a Bible study and he thought he’d like to come to ours. “Well I gotta study,” he said and was thankful. I said no worries and headed out. He went to a UCC church growing up so hopefully he’ll hang out with us at Bible Study. Please pray for Z.

Nearly an half-hour later I came across Thomas in the science building. He was  from Africa, slight accent, good looking oval face, jet black, he wore a silver ski vest and twill knit sweats tight at the ankles and his long sleeve shirt was similar material. Big dude though probably not much taller than me. I asked him if he “wanted to do a student survey what he thought about God and stuff”. He wasn’t interested saying he was a Christian. “You wanna answer the big metaphysical question?” I asked. He kinda half said Ok. “You are 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?” He said something like, “Because I keep His keep his statutes.” “Do you keep them perfectly?” I asked. ” “No, but then I do good things [to make up for it]” he replied. I explained God was just and said, “He owns everything right?” He agreed. “So when we sin we damage His stuff. So we owe him for it. How does God get paid?” I also asked. He said he did good things and I said, “Yeah that’s not what the Bible says. You wanna know what it says or you don’t care so much?” “No, I mean OK?” (I think the “no” was responding as to if he did not care, since I’d asked 2 questions at once.) I began to tell him Christianity was like a blood transfusion where God has to make you His type to transfuse His life into you so He can live inside you with His Holy Spirit. So He has to take away your sin. “So what did Jesus do to take away your sin?” Thomas didn’t know. So I said “This is how it works” and began to show him the Gospel, using a page in the booklet and writing Bible verses in addition. I explained that His blood cleansed us and His righteousness was to our credit. I said, “You don’t go to Heaven because you are good, but because Jesus is good and you’re connected to Him.” “Oh I get it,” he said then realizing. Then I said He rose from the dead, reading 1Corinthians 15:3-6 and that we had to receive Him by faith (John 1:12 Eph. 2:8,9) and that your good stuff cannot fix your bad stuff, giving him an example. But that God could turn our bad stuff into good stuff, quoting and writing Romans 8:28. He leaned in to see the verse as I wrote it, very interested now. I asked if he wanted to be forgiven for his sins with God inside then or thought something else. “Be forgiven with God inside,” he replied. So I told him there was a prayer he could pray and walked him through it and he read the last of it with me out loud. I asked if he’d like to pray it silently and he took the booklet and silently prayed. I said he could keep it and showed him the verses in the beginning to help him remember some of what I had said. I explained living “inside out” first asking God to transform us soon the inside then we become good men and do good things on the outside. I gave him a copy of 20 Things God Can’t Do and showed him verses in the back and gave him examples of how we should ask God to give us the power to do everything. And I gave him an example of an Uncle who helped him, better then God was our Heavenly Father and lived inside us. Everything He was asking us to do He would give us the power to do by His Spirit. He gave me his email to send him some things and said he’d like to check out Bible study. He was grateful and I laughed and said, “Ha you said you were a Christian but I got you,” He gave me a big warm grin at that and we shook hands and I headed out. He was happy.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance. God truly blessed and had good work for me to do guided by your prayers.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope you had a great day and felt the presence of the Lord. I had a long, slow day on campus, but after nearly 2 hours there I finally found someone who would talk to me. And though I had talked to them before, Mari and Dorien each prayed with me to receive Jesus.

The number of students in attendance is down at school and there really are not many people sitting around. There normally would be fewer by this time in the semester after you can drop a class while passing. By the time I found Mari (Pronounced Marie) the rest of the lounge she was in in the MAC arts building was empty and she sat in the corner alone. As I walked up to her, I recognized her face as someone I had talked to before (who I think is someone I’ve been praying for) early in the fall. (She is a pretty petite Latina with bangs and a small cute face, sharp nose and a couple pretty freckles, wearing a hoodie, jeans and jacket.) She thought that was when we talked and said I had explained things to her. But I had not given her a book so I knew she hadn’t prayed to receive Christ. At first I thought she’d said her name was Maya, who had prayed to receive Jesus (but she did not look like her). As I got her name squared away, I asked her if I could give her a book and gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do so I could explain trusting in the Spirit’s power. I asked how she was doing and she said she had gotten pregnant. I asked if the guy was still involved with her and she said yes. I asked if she might marry him. She thought so, and said, “He gave me a ring.” She had recently stopped working in a clothing store saying she needed to make more money. Her boyfriend Rodolfo was working trying to save money and his family was supportive of them. I realized in talking to her she had not remembered the Gospel. She believed God would always forgive her but did not know why. So I explained the Gospel to her, that Jesus had died for her and if she trusted in His work He could live inside her and give her strength. She wanted to trust in Jesus ( I think her situation had changed to make her more interested in dependence on God). I offered her the prayer she could pray. I explained what it meant and said she could pray it right now quietly so only God could hear. She took the booklet and looked up and said, “Can I pray out loud?” “Sure,” I said and I bowed my head as she prayed. When she finished I explained more of the Christian life to her living “Inside Out” asking God for strength and we talked about how God could make all things work together for good. She was hoping in that. She hadn’t been going to Church and she and Rodolfo were looking for one. She had a slight accent so I asked if she spoke more Spanish or English and she said she spoke more English but Rodolfo was more fluent in Spanish. I got a card from my backpack for the Spanish service at the Wheaton Bible Church and gave it to her. She thought she knew where the Church was and said he and his parents would be more comfortable (with a Spanish service) so they might check it out. She did not have a Bible so I said I would give her one. Then I got sidetracked offering her a Bible Promises for You book she seemed like she really wanted to read some Bible verses and get into the scripture and was excited about it as she had been about the 100 Bible verses in the back of 20 Things God Can’t Do. I gave her my contact information. I had left my wallet in my coat saying I felt like I should give her something (I almost never have done that). But she said not to worry. She thanked me a few times and I gave her a Bible study to read and headed out. I figured I would return to my locker on the other side of the BIC, the building next to the one I was in, connected by a tunnel. I had some money a supporter, Joe, had given me. So I prayed that if she was there when I returned with it, it would be God’s providence to help her and give her $20. Then half way back I remembered I had forgotten to give her a Bible. Pretty bad form, I’ve been pretty exhausted (worked too hard over Spring Break on projects) but God is compensation for my weakness. So I began to walk fast and got my coat and money and returned to give it to her and she was still there. So that was great. I gave her two $10 bills and she said “Oh you did not have to do that!” and I gave her the Bible. I showed her the “Where to Turn” section and explained Jesus words were in read. I wrote her name and the date and forgiven in the front. She thanked me a few more times. “I just think God wants you to know He cares about you today,” I said. “Thank you,” she replied emotionally, and I headed out.

I headed down the hall back in the BIC and I was not looking up but a black guy, I just caught his voice, crossed the end of the hallway. He hollered out to me but I’d missed his face so I just hollered “Hey Brother,” back and kept walking towards where he had been (I call every male at school “brother.” I think I picked it up from watching “Lost” on TV). When I got around the corner he was waiting for me. He had a bright blue satin sports jacket on and a t-shirt, sweats that gathered at the ankle. It was Dorian, who always says hey to me when he sees me walking around. He had his hair shaved on the sides and curly braids out the top of his head. He wore a beard that was still short but he pulled on the corner of his chin curls giving it a wizardry look as we spoke. Real good looking black guy about 6’3″ tall, lean and athletic, played football. There are a dozen or so of the athletes that are always friendly to me through the year after I have gone through the Gospel with them, even if they didn’t receive Jesus by praying. Thinking back he had been sitting with another guy I had gone through the Gospel with, Malcolm, who had received Jesus. Dorian confessed Christ (saying he was a Christian already) but I wasn’t sure he’d heard all the Gospel as I was mostly talking with Malcolm. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do then though because he wanted a book. Anyway he said wanted to come to Bible Study but when he’d walked by the study going on he didn’t know if he could just jump in and I said for-sure he could. I’d run out of cards for the Bible study but I took out a booklet as it had my email and the time and day and location on the back. I got his name again as I was having a senior moment. I had prayed for him a bit but didn’t put him on my list of peeps that had not received Christ as he said he believed. Many students say they are already Christians and since I am praying for about 280 students each day now (kids that received Christ with me this year and last year.  If they say they are saved I do not pray for them. I pray for an extra unsaved list, but not every day.)  Anyway I started chatting him up and he could not remember what he had said about why God should let him into Heaven. “I think I said I didn’t know,” he laughed. He prayed often and thought God forgave him. I explained God’s justice and how everything belongs to God so when you do something bad you damage His stuff, “Like if you sleep with your girlfriend before you are married, that damages her and since she belongs to God, even though you hurt her you owe Him for it.” I explained that God had to be paid and nothing you could offer God was perfect in payment so Jesus had to pay. One drop of his perfect blood was worth an infinite amount to pay for his forgiveness.  I asked who his favorite player was, “NFL?” he asked I said yeah and he told me. “Say he autographs a football and we go to sell it on eBay. We’d get a lot of money but if I put my name on a ball I just wrecked it, it matters who does the work it is worth more if Jesus does it.” That worked to explain things and he got it. I said it was not enough for him to just believe God forgave him, he had to trust in Jesus’ payment for him on the Cross. I said there was a prayer he could pray and walked him through it and he prayed to receive Jesus as we stood together in the hall. He remembered some of what I had said before and I added to it. His Christian girlfriend was involved at her church and had been working on him. Maybe that lined him up so he could hear. So that was great. We said goodbye and I hope he’ll come to Bible Study.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance. God truly blessed yet again in His good time.

In His Great Love,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope ya had a good day walking with the Lord. I had a god day on campus and Danni prayed with me to receive Jesus today,

Danni was sitting in the PE lounge where I had felt led to do when I got to school, across campus from where I came in, she was upstairs. There is a seating area outside the workout machines and she was waiting for a friend and said she’d do a student survey. She was Latina and had long brown hair and an oval face, pretty. She wore navy blue leggings and a low-cut neck blue shirt with a blue jacket. She went to church regularly and seemed kindhearted. When I asked her what she would say to God if He asked, “Why should I let you into Heaven?” she said, “That’s hard… I don’t know,” Then thinking about it for a moment she said, I make mistakes, God should be able to forgive me no matter what, all this, that He has forgiven me [in this life] He should do that.” She thought she had a 60% chance of going to Heaven, to her I think that meant it was likely. She listen attentively to the Gospel and when I asked her what Jesus had done to take away her sins she said, “He died,” a bit tentatively. “Right He died for you,” I said in agreement. I explained how His blood cleansed her so He could live inside her and his righteousness was to her credit. “So in God’s eyes you get an A,” I said after explaining it was like extra credit in a class. “Nice,” she said enthusiastically. I explained she needed to trust in that by faith and that her good stuff couldn’t fix her bad stuff but God could change the trajectory of bad things she had done or had happened to her into Good things quoting Romans 8:28 to her. I explained she could trust in what Christ had done to be forgiven. “So that’s basically the last question would you want to be forgiven for your sins or do you think something else?” “Forgiven,” she said nodding. “It seems like you hadn’t quite put all this together before though right?” She nodded in agreement. So I explained there was a prayer she could pray to trust in Jesus and walked her through it unsure she would want to pray since her friend (also named Danielle) had come and sat just a bit across from us on the half circle couch. But I asked if she wanted to pray to be forgiven silently and she said, “Yeah,” and she took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. I gave her a Bible then as her family had a big Bible but she did not have one of her own and wrote her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do explaining how she could just ask God for the power to do anything He was asking her to do or she thought she should do. I wrote “By the Sprit’s Power” in the front. I said since she was now trusting in the righteousness of Christ to be her righteousness the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100%. “Nice,” she said again. I gave her a Bible study and offered her friend a booklet, after she told me they had the same name, (she didn’t go by Danni much though she explained) to read on her own which she took, she also appeared Latina. I got up to go and Danni said “Thank you.” “Yeah sure, I’ll see you in Heaven. Well you guys have the same name and you’re both pretty girls,” I said offhandedly. “You got the whole girl power thing all going on.” And they both laughed at the compliment and I headed out.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed walking’ with the Lord. I had a good day on campus and Ariel, Dawnnetta each prayed to receive Christ today. I ran into Matt in a first floor BIC lounge who said he would pray that night, (this was before spring break). I greeted him and he was friendly and as I headed away down the hall I thought I could turn back and ask him if he had prayed. Walking back I said, “Hey you’re Matt right and we talked up on the third floor in the glass walled lounge?” He said that was him and I asked if he’d prayed the prayer in that booklet I’d given him. He said he had and it was sitting right on his desk. So I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do and a Bible Study and told him I would keep him in my prayers. And he was grateful for that so that was great to see some fruit on time delay.

Ariel was sitting on the third floor of the SSC lounge looking out over the area (a floor below) where we meet for Bible study. She wore plaid pajama pants and a light green tie-dye hoodie with a Teenage Ninja Turtles emblem. Her once brown hair (judging by the quarter inch roots) was dyed kind of a bright orange. She had a cute, wide baby face. She said she’d gone to Catholic Church when she was young but hadn’t been there for a while. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she struggled for a while first laughing as she thought, “Because,” she began then laughing again almost nervously. She finally settled on “Because I love you.” She said as if she was sure she did but not sure if it was a good answer. She thought she had about a 90% chance of going to Heaven. When I asked her what Jesus had done to take away her sins she knew he had died for her. I began to go through the Gospel and she remembered Jesus had died to take away our sins. She listened closely to the verses and I said the Bible teaches, “You are to be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” She replied, “That’s why I only said 90%.” I agreed with her that if you had to be perfect n your own everyone would go to Hell. When I finished explaining that Jesus had died for her and His righteousness was to her credit. I explained she needed faith to be forgiven and her good stuff couldn’t fix her bad stuff. I asked if she would want to be forgiven and she said, “I would.” So I asked, “Do you believe Jesus is God He died for your sins and rose from the dead, do you think that’s true?” She said she did so I said if she’d like to be forgiven there was a prayer she could pray. I walked her through it asking if it was the desire of her heart and nodding she agreed it was so I said she could pray and God would hear her and forgive her. “Wanna do it?” “Sure,” she said taking the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. I explained living the Christian life “Inside Out” to her and how everything God was asking her to do He would give her the power to do by His Spirit. I said if she was trusting in Jesus righteousness to be her righteousness the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100%. “Cool!” she said smiling. She didn’t have a Bible so I gave her one and showed her the Messianic passages in the back and the “Where to Turn” section to answer questions. I also wrote her name the date and “forgiven” in the front and gave her a Compass Church card to watch sermons on line. I gave her a copy of 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote “By the Spirit” in the front. She had to go then so I said “Nice to meet you,” standing up from my seat at her feet on the ground and shaking her hand. “Nice to meet you too,” she replied. “God bless you.” “Bless you,” she said.

I chatted up some peeps I knew and had a god apologetic discussion with a guy Trent who finally said he had time to talk after a few times when he had work to do. Then I came across Dawnnette (who pronounces her name don-ette). She was sitting in the hallway of the BIC waiting for her class to begin. She said she’d do a survey so I closed the door to another class leaving it ajar only 3 inches (it lock peeps out if the door closes) and began a survey with her. She’s African-American, social, a nice kid, a bit short, long eyelashes. She wore a black leather jacket with a mock turtle showing, and torn skinny jeans, her hair was straightened and she had it in a bun on top pulled up from the sides (straight down in back) full features, cute with a nose ring, bright smile. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she struggled with an answer though she said went to church faithfully every week. She finally answered in slang, “I say like ’cause I really obedient towards God.” Then not really satisfied with that answer she said, “I guess ’cause I… I don’t know…” she trailed off. She thought she had a 50/50 chance of getting into Heaven. I began to go through the gospel with her and she could not remember what Jesus had done to forgive her sins. “He forgives you,” she replied when I asked. I asked again trying to rephrase it but she could not think of anything else so I just began explaining how her sins were paid for and the righteousness of Christ to her credit and that Christ’s blood had cleansed her so God could live inside her. I skipped the review I do in the middle as she’d gotten a call in the middle and seemed anxious to call them back before class. But she wanted to be forgiven for her sins and so I simply said there was a prayer she could pray and walked her through it saying she could pray it silently like I wasn’t there. “Wanna do it?” I asked. “Yeah,” she said firmly and prayed then to receive Jesus. I gave her the book 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote her name and the date and forgiven in the front. I gave her a Bible Study and explained living by the Spirit’s power “Inside Out”. Then I explained that if she was trusting in Jesus righteousness as hers, the likelihood she would be forgiven was 100% and she was happy for that. She said we were across the room from her class, so I said “God bless you,’ getting up to go. “Thank you, God bless you too,” she said happily. And I headed off down the hall.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your weekend has been blessed so far walking with the Lord. I had a good day on campus Friday and  Xavier prayed with me to receive Jesus.

When I first got to school I prayed for God to lead me to someone. Then though I was walking North down a hall I turned around when I felt like I was supposed to go to the PE building. I headed around the corner toward the tunnel leading over to the lounge outside the Gym. I tried a couple peeps on the way (walking the length of the BIC) with no success at getting a conversation going. When I got to the PE lounge saw Xavier sitting at the long study table they have set up by the stairs. He was sitting across the table from a guy I had asked to do a survey earlier in the week–who in a friendly way said God wasn’t important to him right now. I’d been cool with him and he did his own thing and let Xavier talk with me after helping with the first question “3 words to describe yourself” saying, “He’s funny!” So Xavier used that as one of his words. Xavier was shorter and didn’t seem as big as a lot of the guys that come to COD to play sports, from Missouri, where he said he went to a Baptist church. He had perfect skin, young face, short afro, good looking guy with a mustache and chin beard. He wore a gray t-shirt and gray sweats. “When I asked him what he would say to get into Heaven he said, “Because I ask for forgiveness for all my sins.” He was 100% sure he would go to Heaven. Ask I went through the Gospel with him he knew Jesus had died for his sins but he was really focused on everything I taught him enjoying the Gospel. When I asked him if he wanted to be forgiven for his sins or thought something else he pointed at the circle with the Spirit of Jesus living in him and said something like ‘forgiven”. So I asked if he’d been trusting in that, saying as I often do that I knew he knew the story but asking if he’d thought God would forgive him because He was good. He agreed that he hadn’t been trusting in Jesus and repeated that He’d just been thinking God was good and forgiving. I said then that there was a prayer he could pray, holding the booklet open between us on an angle up where he could see it and I explained what it said to him. I said he could pray it silently. He didn’t answer but just began to pray and I could see his eyes go back and forth reading. He visibly finished and I said, “Amen?” “Amen!” he said with a big grin. I walked him through the Christian life and asked if he had a Bible. He didn’t so I gave him one and showed him the “Where to Turn” section for answers to life questions he might have and the Messianic passages section showing prophecies Jesus had fulfilled. I wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” under it on the presentation page and gave it to him he was really happy with it. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do and put his name and the date and forgiven in that too, by habit kinda half forgetting I had just written it in the Bible but he thought it was great to have the date in two places so that was fine. I gave him a Bible study and got his email. then before I headed out I told him a fiction story about how everything God is asking him to do He would give him the power to do by His Spirit inside him [Ephesians 3:20]. I got up to go and he asked, “What was your name?” “Bob” I replied. “Bob, nice to meet you,” he said enthusiastically shaking my hand. “You have a good day.” I said, “You too, I’ll see you in Heaven and you can tell me how things went,” and he laughed and I headed out.

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

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed today with all good things coming down from the Father of Lights.  I had a good day on campus and  Mike and Matt each prayed with me to receive Jesus. I got a good seed planted with a guy named Aaron in the hallway of the BIC who took a copy of the student edition of The Case for Christ and with another guy named Mike who said he would probably pray later. This second Mike is was a Roman Catholic who I see in the PE lounge every so often who never wants to do a survey. But I got through the Gospel with him today and he was close. 121 students have prayed to receive Christ this school year since August after hearing me tell them the Gospel.

Mike [the first one] was sitting in the Hallway up on the third floor of the BIC. His family was from Ecuador though he looked more of the European lineage than that native to that region. He said he’d like to visit family down there. He was wearing a bright blue hoodie and shorts and went to Christ Church. He had a superman style hair cut, light brown hair and a day’s growth of beard. I asked him what he would say to God if he died and were asked why he should be let into Heaven. “D— that’s a deep question.” he said, then thinking some more, “Honestly I lived the best life I could in the way I knew how.” He thought he had a 50/50 change of going to Heaven. When I asked him what Jesus had done to take away his sin so God could live inside him and know him, he knew Jesus had died. So I continued to explain the rest of the good news that His blood had cleansed him and His righteousness was to his credit. In the end he wanted to be forgiven and so I said, “If you’d want to put your trust in what Jesus has done to be forgiven and not just hope you were good enough and not be sure there is a prayer you could pray.” I walked him through it asking if it was the desire of his heart and if he’d want to pray it so only God would hear and be forgiven. “Yeah,” he said. And he took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. That was great. I asked if I could give him a book and he said, “Sure,” enthusiastically. So I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date and “forgiven” saying he could remember and he was grateful for that. I also wrote “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front explaining how everything God was asking him to do he’d give him the power to do. I explained if he’d trust in the righteousness of Jesus the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. I said maybe I’d see him in Heaven and got up to go and he said “Thank you.” “Have a good one man,” I said in response. “You too,” was his reply and I headed out.

Matt was sitting outside the cafeteria on a row of chairs where I talk to a lot of people who are waiting there for a ride or pausing before heading out the door for some reason. He was at the end of the row and when he agreed to do a survey I sat on his right at his feet. He was kinda a classic good looking guy with a military haircut and a short beard grown to match, kind face. He wore blue nylon sets with stripes down the side and had on a hooded jacket. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “Gosh–tough…” and then, “I generally try to help other people.” He went to a catholic church pretty regularly. “I’d like to say 90%,” he said of his likelihood he’d go to Heaven. As I went through the Gospel with him he knew Jesus had died for his sins and as I explained he needed to trust in that and went through the rest of the Gospel the light was dawning on him and he was getting a new perspective. I asked him if he’d want to be forgiven trusting in what Jesus had done to forgive him and live inside him he said. “My first instinct would be seeking God with God living inside me.” He went on to say  more or less that this is what he thought he had learned growing up but he had not applied it and was just trying to be good and this would be a shift in his thinking. I said he could pray to receive Jesus and walked him through the prayer asking if it was the desire of his heart and he said, “I think it does, yeah.” So I said he could pray it silently and he said, “Sure.” He prayed then to receive Jesus. I explained living by the Spirit’s power then “inside out” and that the Mass could be a time he remembered Jesus had died and so he was forgiven and he could just say, “thank you.” “This was a good message,” he said. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front and “By the Spirit’s power” and also explained that everything God was asking him to do He would give him the power to do. I gave him a Bible study to read and got his email. He stood up to go and said, “What are the odds,” I think meaning that I would have caught him at the door and his perspective on Jesus would change. “Thanks Bob,” he said as he walked away and I nodded. “See ya around,” I said and he headed out into the sunlight.

So Thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob