A Memorial to the Maller
During the past couple of months, two men whom I evangelized with in Minnesota passed away. First, there was Rick Keenan in July. Then earlier this week, Bob Lutsey died.
Born and raised in Minneapolis, Bob was a drug user until he came to know the Lord in 1990 after experiencing a powerful dream of him preaching. Before becoming a full-time minister, Bob was employed at the Star Tribune for 32 years. The newspaper once published his testimony that he later used as a tract. From his workplace, Bob could see the Metrodome where the Twins and Vikings played their home games. Bob often prayed that the stadium would be used to preach the gospel. Billy Graham held a crusade there in 1996. After U.S. Bank Stadium was built in its place two decades later, it hosted other Christian events.
I met Bob in the mid-1990s at Living Word Christian Center. I had become active in the church’s evangelism ministry. Bob often ministered by himself in malls (earning the nickname “the Maller”). We first evangelized together in 2000 at the Minnesota State Fair. The Holy Spirit definitely flowed through us as a team. When I saw people I sensed Bob should talk to, he approached them a second later (and vice versa). Almost every person Bob and I approached prayed to be born again. Near the end of our outing, a police officer told us to stop handing out tracts because we were on private property. We continued talking to people as we walked to the parking lot. We saw 88 people receive salvation.
Over the next few years, Bob and I occasionally crossed paths when I made return visits to Minnesota. It wasn’t until 2016 when we ministered together again. In August of that year, I got a ride from Bob to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He was on his way to share the gospel at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. During a McDonald’s stop in St. Peter, Minnesota, we each led someone to the Lord. Later, I was dropped off in Sioux Falls to take a bus to Omaha, Nebraska.
The following year, the Lord led me to minister in Sturgis myself. Instead of riding with Bob, I rode a bus with a group doing a free bike wash. They allowed me to do street evangelism in the evening. During one of those nights, I ran into Bob who was harvesting souls with the Christian motorcycle group Chariots of Light. Over the next few years, Bob and I often met up with Rick to evangelize at various county fairs in Minnesota.
In January of this year, Bob traveled to Florida and ministered at various malls. He stopped in Tampa for a few days to stay with me at Alcance Misionero. During which, Bob bought me a birthday dinner, plus gave me $50. He also handed me a confession sheet that would put God’s angels to work regarding finances. Around that time, donations to my ministry had decreased. Using the confession sheet helped turn that around.
The last time I saw Bob Lutsey was when we went to Rick’s memorial service. Due to health issues affecting his speech, Bob had moved into an assisted living facility. At the time, I temporarily lived with another missionary in St. Paul who let me use his car. That enabled me to pick up Bob so both of us could pay our last respects to Rick.
A few weeks later while I was in Virginia, Bob called me about his plans to make a missionary trip to Tokyo. He offered to pay my airfare if I went with him. I didn’t have peace about accepting his offer. Nevertheless, Bob asked for my help to find lodging and people to minister with since he wasn’t computer savvy. I found the website of a ministry there he could possibly work with.
Earlier this week, I had thoughts of contacting Bob to see if his Tokyo trip came together. He never made it there. This past Wednesday, I received this text from Bob’s cell number: “This is Paul. I’m one of Bob‘s friends – I was picking him up to take him to the airport for his Tokyo outreach but the Lord had other plans. Bob went home to be with the Lord.” He would have turned 72 this past Friday.
Bob’s passing came as a surprise to me since he was believing God for a miracle with his health. Nevertheless, we can rejoice that the Maller is in heaven after leading multitudes of people to spend eternity there as well.
“Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.” - Matthew 25:21
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