IUP Out Reach Letter

Hi guys,

The professor I talked to was a professor of Ecology at the
University. Nice guy. He said he was Unitarian Universalist. We
went back and forth with the usual banter of him believing Evolution
to be beyond dispute and me being a Christian who of course refutes
that claim. I was able to raise some points with him that got him to
think a bit, and he also gave me some good questions.

There was a moment in our discussion, however, that was rather
extraordinary. The professor was telling me about a particular type
of mollusk that can imitate the look of a minnow. It does this so
that a large fish will attempt to eat it and when the fish gets close
enough it releases it larvae, which live on the fish, and thus the
mollusk can repopulate. Fascinating.

He was very interested in what a stunning replica of a minnow this
mollusk could create and he said "I'll be honest, I just don't
understand how that could happen by chance."

I responded "Exactly."

Then he said "But you see, that is a problem for you guys too. After
all, why would a creator worry about such detail, about such
precision?" (something to that effect)

Without skipping a beat, I said "God did that so that you would look
at that Mollusk, or any other extraordinary creation, and praise Him
for being a magnificent God."

He didn't say anything, and neither did I. I could tell he was in
DEEP thought. After a few moments he looked up and said "I've never
thought of it like that."

I did get to the Gospel and told him that if Jesus really was who He
claimed to be, that had implications on everything. Including Ecology
and most importantly, his life and eternal state. After we finished
talking, he said that I gave him a lot to think about.

In all my time of street ministry, that had to be one of the better
conversations I've had.

I also talked to a very intelligent physics student. He was a
pleasant young man who seemed to be pretty set in his ways. There's
nothing much to report of the bulk of my conversation with him. He
liked to run down a lot of rabbit trails, but I wasn't going to play
that game.

The young man, at one point, told me that he was glad to go to hell if
it meant standing up for what was right in the face of a God who would
damn others to hell. A little while later he told me that he thought
it was good for people try to attain to God's standards (i.e. the Ten
Commandments). Notice the contradiction? I did, and I pointed it out
to him. He told me that he hadn't seen that before in his thinking
and it bothered him. At that point he became very honest, telling me
that he sometimes sat up at nights and wondered if "this" (meaning the
earth) was all there was to life. I told him that God had created us
to ask questions like that and those were meant to prompt us to
diligently seek Him.

I'm not sure what kind of impact I had on the young man, but I'm
praying it was a good one. He told me that he had no religious
background before and I got the distinct feeling that he had never
been faced with these types of questions before. (Questions such as
taking him through the law in comparison to his life)

All in all, it was a good day of ministry and Indiana University of PA
heard the Gospel.

Pray for Matt (the professor) and Mike (the physics student).

I wanted to mention that much is often made of how difficult or scary
doing this type of ministry can be. I understand different people
react differently, but I want to encourage you that it is not as bad
as you think it is. In fact, most often it can be a lot of fun and a
time of good fellowship with believers. I was very blessed to be with
the Pepling's and members of my church, and other churches, today.
It's also very rewarding to see your children handing out tracts with
you and talking to others about the Gospel.

I hope everyone who is able will join us next time! God bless you all.