Why not point them toward verses that actually apply to them? There are TONS of verses that tell us God loves us and Christ died for us. If you offer the promise of Jeremiah 29:11 just to any average unbeliever, you are misapplying the verse. That promise isn't for unbelievers. It isn't even primarily for believers, though the principles are there for believers elsewhere in Scripture, and the verse expresses those promises beautifully. We don't assume God has promised to give us land in Israel, or to make our descendants as numerous as the sand of the sea, just because those promises are in the Bible. They were directed at specific people or groups. SO WAS THIS ONE.When that question is posed to me, I tell them that God does not hate you, as a matter of fact, God has thoughts of peace toward you, not evil.
Why automatically assume that the new version is wrong and the old version is right when you find an possible descrepancy? To me, the sensible course would seem to be personal study to see why the two verses differ. I'd start by pulling out my concordance and finding out what the Hebrew words actually mean. If I was still confused, I'd either check out a few commentaries or ask my pastor.
But neither version presents error in this verse, and this hypothetical "average joe" who picked up the Bible and read the verse would not read anything wrong about God whether he read the King James Version or the New International Version.