May 13, 2026
Dear Friends,
This week five men prayed with me according to the pattern of Luke 18:13 & Romans 10:9.
The first was a man who wrote claiming that he did not believe in the resurrection, that he was “in search of inner peace,” and that one of his friends had encouraged him to reach out to me. He is in his 60s, disabled, and has only a 3rd-grade education. His disability gives him a short attention span, with difficulty reading, so I kept the message to 35 minutes in total. He was wonderfully open to receive and was delighted to pray. I set him up with Chuck Lloyd for Bible study, and Chuck is already enjoying working with this simple man. Chuck wrote, “I am having fun with _________. He has a lot of disabilities but that’s OK. I can and am working with that. The desire to grow is there.”
The message of the gospel impacts everyone, from the simplest to the most sophisticated.
The next was a man in his 50s, running a hedge fund, who “wants to believe in the resurrection.” Some of what he wrote is here:
I often spend my free time contemplating life with regards to God, and I find the evidence for God much more compelling than the evidence for the physical resurrection of Jesus, which I struggle with, but I would love to become a believer. I am sure Dr. Tour is very busy and maybe you could point me to someone else that I could speak with first that would take an evidence based approach? As I become convinced, my goal is to convince others…. and I am trying to find the best way to go about it. Or maybe it is best if I schedule with Dr. Tour?
The ones who want to believe almost always quickly end up believing, in my experience. He said that he was very science-minded, although he has a financial-based career. He readily received the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus and went directly into the prayers noted above. He assured me that we would follow through on the daily Bible reading program and the 13-week one-on-one Bible study. He even said that such an assignment “is not hard” and he thought it would be easy to follow through. I left it to Chuck Lloyd to assign a mentor.
The next was an engineer whom I hired to work in my lab about 3 months ago. He’s in his 30s. After I hired him, he started watching my YouTube channel. He has no religious background. He started asking me questions about my denomination and how I became interested in these things. All these were signs of readiness. So I invited him to lunch at the faculty club. After 1.5 hours, right there, he prayed the above prayers aloud with me. He did not own a Bible so we returned to my office and I have him a Bible and a copy of “Growing in Christ” 13-week Bible study. Another in the lab, Justin Sharp, gladly agreed to be his mentor for the 13-week Bible study.
The fourth is a young software engineer from Ireland who heard John Lennox mention my name on the Alex O’Connor podcast. He wrote:
“Dr. Tour, I am reaching out after hearing about you through John Lennox. I am a non-believer, and I don’t believe in the resurrection. Or at least not in the conventional telling of it, I think some aspects of the story are highly plausible but I don’t believe Jesus rose from the dead. I like to think of myself as open minded, I generally try to seek truth even when it falls outside my preconceptions (easier said than done of course). I hope that we get a chance to speak, I think at the very least you will improve my historical knowledge, perhaps maybe even revive my belief. Kind Regards, _________”
He readily received the message and said he would certainly try to follow through on the daily Bible reading and Bible study. Chuck Lloyd assigned a mentor for the 13-week study.
The last is a radiologist and professor at a medical school on the West Coast, in his 40s. He wrote:
“Subject: Request for conversation about resurrection
Dr. Tour, I hope that you don’t mind my reaching out. I’m in the middle of a theological journey. I’m currently a physician and an Associate Professor… I’m chronicling my journey through a plateau of epistemic humility and calibrated uncertainty. I’m agnostic about the bodily resurrection of Jesus. If you’re open to it, I’d love to have a conversation with you about your theological insights on the resurrection. Thanks very much, Best regards, _________”
Just like that, the gospel message hit its intended mark. He assured me that he would follow through on the assignments, and Chuck assigned a mentor.
I am always delighted to see how that works. From the 3rd-grade educated, to the hedge-fund manager, to the engineers, to the professor of medicine. The Holy Spirit breaks right through to the hearts.
Mark 16:15 “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” Thanks to social media and virtual meetings, the entire world comes to us.
1 Timothy 2:3–4 “…God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
Romans 10:12–13 “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for ‘WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.’”
Acts 13:48 “…and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.”
God bless,
Jim Tour
