Last July in Rome, Georgia, HTHSOE sought to reimagine mission work in the United States by launching American Mission Campaigns. For years, God blessed us to lead successful mission teams in foreign nations which God used for incredible results. Our desire to duplicate this in our own nation grew year after year, but doubts kept us from acting. In 2022, COVID forced cancelation of foreign mission efforts and opened the door to turn these doubts into faith.
Although our experience played a major role in forming this campaign, we had to reimagine how we should execute the mission. Traditional door knocking, which includes one person inviting others to church or asking for a Bible study, led to single-digit success rates. Therefore, we moved the goal posts to something more achievable. Our goal became one simple word: contacts. If we can get a contact, we have achieved success. Using a four-prong strategy that involved House to House/Heart to Heart, Prayer, New Movers Baskets, and Benevolence, the results were shocking. Success rates went from three or four percent to 35 percent. Although excited, we wondered if these results were reproducible.
On June 11, HTHSOE began a second AMC in Covington, Tennessee. During the week, there were two baptisms. Mike Rogers, the preacher, led the Bible study with Carl Knowlan, who had recently moved to the area. The same night, Rob taught Back to the Bible to a lady who had been attending the church services for years with her husband. When she realized that her baptism was not biblical, her husband baptized her. (Read Covington’s report below for more information.) Currently, Covington has four on-going Bible studies from contacts made during AMC.
On Thursday, we delivered 30 New Mover baskets to those in the area. On Thursday night, we tried a new program—compassion card night. We created a contact list and had campaigners send appropriate cards such as praying for you, thinking of you, welcome to the area, special invitation, sympathy, get well, and we miss you. We sent 1,068 cards to all the contacts that we met during the week.
Here are the grand totals for the week: Doors Knocked, 1,659; Answered Doors, 708, Contact Cards Collected (wanted House to House/Heart to Heart, had needs for community service, or asked for prayers), 245. That is a success rate of 34 percent!
Mission work starts next door. Local mission campaigns cost less than foreign campaigns because of less travel expense, and there are no passports or visas. There are no language barriers. Local campaigns have more flexibility, and, most importantly, they work! Our greatest barrier to these efforts was stated by the Lord, “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:37-38). We need your help. Go to amc.housetohouse.com and register to come to AMC-Knoxville. We look forward to seeing you!
Parkway church of Christ, Kentucky: We welcome the Parkway church of Christ to the House to House/Heart to Heart School of Evangelism. Will Hester and the elders are determined to change the culture and focus the congregation on evangelism. They plan to unveil their strategy on July 10.
Greenfield church of Christ, Tennessee: We welcome the Greenfield church of Christ to the House to House/Heart to Heart School of Evangelism. The elders are men of purpose, and their preacher is a man of passion for souls. Attendance was very good at the seminar, and they plan to begin immediately.
Fayette church of Christ, Alabama: Kaleb Hall (preacher) reports, “Sunday I preached the second lesson from John 4, and we used our bookmarks again. We assigned 21 names that needed compassion cards. The picture I sent is a social media post from one of those people. We are motivated as we work the plan.”
Honolulu church of Christ, Oahu, Hawaii: Tagiilima Ecene (preacher) reports, “Aloha from the Honolulu Church of Christ. We are now three weeks into our card ministry. We are still prospecting some of our local visitors. Please pray that they continue to come to worship with us. Our congregation will be enrolling in the New Movers program to produce more contacts. Starting the first Sunday of July, I (Lima) will be teaching the congregation how to use Back to the Bible to lead a Bible study with the lost. Our congregation has set up three main work teams, each led by an elder. The work teams will give everyone an opportunity to utilize their talents for the Lord’s work. To God be the Glory!”
Cordova church of Christ, Tennessee: Bruce Hatcher (preacher) reports, “We are extremely excited that we had 23 members show up for our first Monday Night for the Master, which is roughly one third of the congregation. We followed up many of the names that have been on our compassion card list, and new movers list. We also checked up on sick or absentee members. We have definitely made a good impression in the community and are on our way to earning a Bible study.”
New Hope church of Christ, Middleton, Tennessee: Cole Wade (preacher) reports, “Things are great. We baptized two this past week. It only took one study with them. They really wanted to obey that night! This couple has a young boy, and we are so happy for them. Earlier this past week, we had a call from a lady who wanted to be baptized, so that is what we did! The progress is continuing, and our new converts class is continuing also. We have had six baptisms since the seminar!”
Northern Oaks church of Christ, San Antonio, Texas: Mel Hutzler (elder/preacher) reports, “Wonderful news: Krystal and Angel Villa, sister and brother, were both baptized Saturday evening. Matthew Montgomery, one of our deacons, studied with Angel, and Katherine Montgomery, our secretary, studied with Krystal. We are so happy they decided to put Christ on in baptism. Our evangelism program is going well, and Bible studies continue. We hope to see more baptisms in the future.”
Covington church of Christ, Tennessee: Wayne Dalrymple (elder) reports, “Things are going great at Covington following the American Mission Campaign we hosted. We have been following up on all the contacts we made during door knocking efforts. Including the week of AMC, we have sent at least 2,000 compassion cards. We have visited several of those who expressed interest.
“The first fruit of the campaign is Jedidiah Allen. He was baptized into Christ last Wednesday after studying with our associate minister, Jeff Phillips. We have several Bible studies going currently. I finished book 2 with Charles Wolfe on Monday. We have scheduled our next study of book 3 for today since I will be going out of town tomorrow. Charles said he really learned a lot. He seemed to have no trouble understanding the unity, worship, and name of the church. I think he is close to the kingdom.
“Jeff’s study with Eric and Dale is progressing well. Neil Bringle, one of our members, has been studying with Cody and Brenda who have been visiting with us for a couple of weeks. Brandon and Jill Matlock are trying to set up a study with Cheyeanne soon. We also have had other visitors from the community either because of door knocking or by invitation from some members. The Lord is truly blessing our efforts with visible results. The harvest indeed is plentiful. The enthusiasm has never been higher!”
Jeff Phillips (preacher) reports, “The first week after AMC has been rather busy. I have been involved in seven studies and know of two others ongoing and two more scheduled. Prospecting continues as well. The bus ran Sunday and picked up a few. As of Sunday night, everyone who came to the hand-off meal has come to church! We are working through the contact lists and following up on visits and work done.
“I have been to two studies accompanied by a deacon named Chasse who confided in me his reluctance to participate in the door knocking. He said he was going to participate in AMC because the elders said we were having it, but he was going to avoid door knocking at all costs. More recently, he said, ‘I am on fire! I am so excited, and my wife and I are thinking of going to AMC in Knoxville, but only if they have the door knocking. The seminar is good, and I am sure I would learn some more, but I want to go knock doors.’
“On Friday night, he called me from a restaurant to ask if I had time to talk to someone. While he and his wife were eating with the couple with whom they were studying, they had met a lady who is ‘lost.’ She said she needed to speak with a preacher. I went to the restaurant, and Chasse and I got home at 11:15 PM after talking with her and taking her to the church building to get her a Bible and show her where to meet us Sunday morning. We gave her several copies of HTH and the DVD.
“On Sunday a man named Jedidiah pulled into our lot. He was spotted and greeted in the parking lot by an AMC attendee and brought straight to me. We had a good talk, and he said he wanted to know more about the church. He had studied with someone in Detroit and in Marion, Arkansas, before the pandemic had shut down the studies. We agreed on Tuesday morning at the IHOP.
“He had picked up all three books of BTTB while at church Sunday and arrived to our meeting with the green book completed. We reviewed it and went right into the blue book. Upon completion, we set up for Saturday morning to meet again. I will be at camp next week, and he did not want to wait. He asked if it would be presumptuous to start on the red book. Remembering how well he did on the green book, I told him he could, but since I had done the religious experience survey with him, I knew he was going to have some challenges. I explained to him that the red book would challenge his beliefs and raise many questions. I told him to call me if he needed help or had questions.
“He called me at 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, saying, ‘You did not tell me I was not saved.” I asked him what made him think he was lost since he had told me he was saved and described to me the exact moment and everything about it. Then told me, ‘I asked Jesus into my heart and was later baptized, but that is not how it is done in the Bible.’ We talked a lot about walking in the newness of life and what it meant to repent. He said, ‘I am embarrassed that I thought I was okay; what can I do?’ I told him he could be baptized. He asked when, and I said, ‘How about now?’
“He asked one more question: ‘How many sins does it take to separate us from God?’ I asked what the scripture reference was, and he said Romans 6:23. I told him that the answer is one. He said, ‘Really!?’ I asked him how many sins did it take for Eve and Nadab and Abihu and Annanias and Sapphira in Acts 5? He said he did not know about the last two, but he guessed just one!
“So, Jedidiah Allen died to self and was buried, and born again. He was added to the Lord’s church and had his sins washed away about 10:00 Wednesday morning.”
Rogersville church of Christ, Tennessee: Ethan Tate (preacher) reports, “This past week we had a couple of Bible studies that will continue this week. We are praying for these souls right now and working hard to save them. We have a small community ice cream supper this coming Sunday after evening services, and we are expecting some visitors to come to this event. Please pray for these opportunities as we work with them and also for opportunities that are opening for us right now to help save others.”
Aberdeen church of Christ, Maryland: Will Brown (preacher) reports, “We have created a check list to make sure all the teams will have what they need to start their effort. We will have our first new mover basket given out this week. The elders and I are meeting later to clarify the evangelism schedule and fine tune our next steps in the process.”
Forestview church of Christ, Tennessee: Tim Roland (preacher) reports, “We are continuing our evangelistic training from the pulpit as I preached my third sermon on The Restoration of Evangelism! We have set up our Evangelism Table with various HTHSOE materials and compassion cards. Five Visitor Bags were given out Sunday morning, and a total of 105 Compassion Cards were mailed out by our EMT. We continue to encourage the congregation to complete their lists of ten prospects and pray daily for them!”
Southwest church of Christ, Texas: Cody Westbrook (preacher) reports, “The fruit from our Back to the Bible camp continues. We baptized Lucas Young on Sunday.”
Coweta church of Christ, Oklahoma: Keno Shrum (elder/preacher) reports, “I have not been able to finish any Bible studies except for with some new members who are already Christians. They want to get involved with the evangelism, so we are going over the seminar on the DVD and then familiarizing them with the books.”
Wewoka church of Christ, Oklahoma: Gage Coldwater (preacher) reports, “It has been a busy week at church camp (Camp Ida). We came home last night after delivering our kids to foundations camp at MSOP in Memphis. We had a busy but great day here at Wewoka. We had two Bible studies today, and both went well. We had one study late tonight with a young couple here who are not married, but we are working with them. The young man is a Christian, but she is not. We went thru the first study tonight, and she really enjoyed it. We will do the second study toward the middle of the week. Things are going well here.”
Paintsville church of Christ, Kentucky: Zach Collins (preacher) reports, “This is a big week! We have our annual OATH Conference taking place, which is a great opportunity to evangelize our community. We did our first door-knocking for this great event! It was successful. We expect many visitors and are anticipating a wonderful opportunity to evangelize. Please pray for good soil!”
Siwell Road church of Christ, Jackson, Mississippi: Derek Broome (preacher) reports, “Currently we have several members in the middle of Bible studies. Most are on their second or third studies. We have numerous people involved with studies through correspondence courses. We are continuing to pray for opportunities and open hearts.”
Riverbend church of Christ, Georgia: Austin Fowler (member) reports, “Last Wednesday, I received a text from one of my former softball player’s parents asking me to baptize her. Of course, she needs to know more, so I asked her if she would be willing to study. She agreed and had a few questions about the study. I explained that it would be three lessons, and they would last an hour each. We plan on meeting Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. I am going to provide dinner and then do lesson one of Back to the Bible. My study with Terry Smith had to be postponed again. I am hoping we can get together Wednesday or Thursday.”
Woodstock church of Christ: Greg Garner (deacon) reports, “We have exciting news; Hartley Bridge Road Church of Christ in East Macon, Georgia, has agreed to sponsor the Macon Regional Youth Detention Center and Macon Youth Development Center and to help any newly baptized individuals stay on the lighted path. We will also help with Bible studies. Woodstock Church has agreed to teach them what they know from their experience with the pilot program at Marietta Regional Youth Detention Center. The Compassion Cards Group did an outstanding job in creating 28 compassion cards. The kids also colored pictures to be included in some of the cards. The Visitation group delivered 13 New Mover baskets within the Woodstock community. We made two visits to recent visitors. We also handed out three Welcome bags to visiting families. We are excited to hear that they will be visiting again.”
Schertz church of Christ, Texas: Jay Stewart (elder) reports, “This week was very trying for us. Scott Springer learned he had a tumor behind his eyes, but thankfully it was not in his brain. He had the tumor removed Friday. We have all been supporting him and his family through prayer meetings and physical help. The Lord answered many prayers by taking care of him. The tumor was benign, and he expects to make a full recovery in about six weeks. We had a focused prayer meeting for him at the Randolph congregation hosted by long-time friends there. Non-Christian neighbors also attended, so in a way, it was the power of our faith in action. I believe Mel was there from Northern Oaks and led a prayer. Here is a screen shot of the folks who attended. We are using the Back to the Bible material as our source for Wednesday night Bible classes in the adult class. We just started teaching the second booklet this Wednesday night.”
Monroe church of Christ, Georgia: Charles Harris (preacher) reports, “From our monthly door knocking efforts and recent VBS, there is much excitement throughout the congregation. Several Bible studies are taking place. Hopefully baptisms will occur soon.”
Canal Heights church of Christ, Demopolis, Alabama: Bryan Cook (preacher) reports, “This Sunday we started preaching through book three of the Back to the Bible series. Part of the sermon emphasized the importance that people see their need for their salvation since most people are not aware of what the Scripture states about their current spiritual condition. We had decided to focus on those that have recently been divorced as our subject of prayer and cards for those listed on our bookmarks.
“We recognized that many of our members are scared because they do not know how these individuals will react. There are concerns that prospects may be driven farther away from the faith in the case of many of our family members. I realized that these fears show a lack of faith in the providence of God and His timing. We still are at the crawling phase, but we are slowly getting the hang of how to do the card program. There are fewer cries of frustration than there were earlier, and some of the other members are now taking on the role of encourager for those who are frustrated. Continue to pray for our efforts as we pray for all of you.”
Highway church of Christ, Benton, Arkansas: Steven Ford (preacher) reports, “This week has been better than the last few. After a few adjustments, we are getting back on track. Cards are going out, visits are being made, and studies seem to be forthcoming.”
Corinth church of Christ, Portland, Tennessee: James Parker (preacher) reports, “We have three Bible studies going on. We are sending cards to new movers and have delivered two new mover packages to some folks in the area! We continue to press on!”
Coldwater church of Christ, Kentucky: Luke Puckett (preacher) reports, “We had a couple make a second visit this week. We asked them to go out to eat with us again, but they had plans. We are sending cards to them and have encouraged them to return. Some of our deacons and I have planned to visit three prospects this week, hoping we can schedule Bible studies with them. A family we have been helping after the tornado visited with us during VBS. That was very encouraging to all of us. Pray that they will be willing to study with us soon.”
Mercedes Drive church of Christ, Alabama: David Daily (elder) reports, “Two new souls have been added to the Kingdom of God! Michael and Amanda studied diligently, and last night they were baptized into Christ for the remission of their sins. Pray for these young Christians.”
NOTE: These reports are from Christians and congregations enrolled in the House to House/Heart to Heart School of Evangelism. These emails are sent to teach and provoke one another to remain focused on the mission of Christ. Each week, we share several reports and highlight one with more details. We hope you enjoy reading them.
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