We had two baptisms recently. Several months ago, my son Joshua Hutzler said that it was difficult being a Christian at work because of all the bad influences. He also said that people his age would be reluctant to obey the Gospel due to all the worldliness. I told him to remain steadfast. There are people everywhere who have good and honest hearts; you just have to look for them.
Instead of being influenced, he started to influence others. He invited Corbyn Wade (a co-worker) to church a few times. Joshua asked him for a Bible study, and he said yes. After several Bible studies, he was baptized into Christ this afternoon for the remission of sins. This is the first-person Joshua has led to Christ, and he wanted everyone to know that Corbyn is a good person, friend, and now a brother in Christ. He is 17-years-old and did very well throughout the Bible study reading Scripture and answering questions. Please welcome him as a brother in Christ. To God be the glory!
I appreciate Joshua for asking him to come to church and setting up the Bible study, for Alex and the youth group for getting to know Corbyn, and for the entire congregation who welcomed him. Please never forget Mark 10:27!
Welcome Cary church of Christ, North Carolina: We welcome the Cary church of Christ to the House to House/Heart to Heart School of Evangelism. They are currently hosting our American Mission Campaign. The congregation is engaged and learning more about evangelism. We will feature them next week in a full report on this mission.
Glencoe church of Christ, Alabama: Rob Whitacre (member) reports, “Jon Butler is a sales representative for a local print company in Birmingham. We have developed a relationship with him over the past few years. Recently he began eating meals in our home after deliveries. We asked Glencoe to send compassion cards as we knew he was having a hard time with his mother’s health. This opened the door to begin Bible studies. Just before we left for AMC, Jon said, “I cannot wait until you come home. I am going to visit with you at Glencoe on Sunday, and then we can do the second study. Please keep him in your prayers.”
Fayette church of Christ, Alabama: Josh Taylor (deacon) reports, “As we discussed in last week’s report, we continue to progress with our plan. Now that we have identified our roles on the compassion card teams and added benevolence to our plan, we are ready to develop our special forces team, which includes two of our members. Last Sunday, I presented a bulletin article that outlined our plan as well as current needs. We will have a Mission Sunday next Sunday to prepare packets for our door-knocking campaign for VBS.
“Last week, I visited a prospect who has completed one study. Due to various setbacks, we have not been able to have a second study, so I wanted to encourage her to continue. My wife cooked a chicken casserole for her, we talked about her religious past and studied a few passages. Our plan is to continue that study soon.
“For our other prospect, we scheduled the third study for next week. We pray that this study is fruitful, and God will give the increase. We appreciate all prayers.”
Winfield church of Christ, Alabama: Jerry Spann (member) reports, “Thanks to coordinators Jerry and Connie Self, we wrote 100 compassion cards on Sunday night; we will mail them this week. Participation in our Compassion Card Group is at 60 percent. We collected 20 contact cards Sunday morning for erring members who were on the members’ bookmark lists. The Evangelism Table is set up and functional. I have noticed that members are taking literature from the table. We are close to turning two contacts into prospects.
“We are training assigned greeters for the four zones of the auditorium. We hope to implement this work next week.
“We are seeking names/addresses from New Movers, HTH and other sources. We need advice about making the congregation aware of the need to be our eyes and ears in their neighborhoods.”
Hatton church of Christ, Alabama: Rob Martin (elder) reports, “We recently had one restoration as the result of our evangelistic effort. We also began VBS this week with the goal of finding contacts. We had two weeks of fewer contacts, mostly due to having many families traveling, but our elders exhorted the church from the pulpit this week to review our cards and increase the numbers being submitted.”
Lake City church of Christ, Florida: Jim Flegert (elder) reports, “This past week, we completed our twelfth week of our congregational evangelism program. We also had our second Mission Monday. Upon completion, there were two appointments arranged by two groups for BTTB studies.
“After Sunday night worship, Bud, who is one of our elders, announced that a young lady had completed the three BTTB lessons and wanted to be baptized. As a bonus, her mother, who had sat in on the studies, also desired to be baptized. Our congregation rejoiced as these two women were baptized and God added them to His Kingdom. That brings our total baptisms to seven this year. To God be the glory!”
Woodstock church of Christ, Georgia: Greg Garner (deacon), “Woodstock Church of Christ meets on the second, third, and fourth Sunday evenings to conduct Actively Caring Teaching Serving (ACTS) workshops (i.e. evangelism). Last week we received two contact cards. We created and sent seven compassion cards.
“The new convert class had 19 in attendance. Prison minister Larkin Cook reported that the presentation of the BTTB series went very well. The five students were given a Bible, and they were grateful.
“Andrew Perez reported that the HTH group met to discuss their goals and how to best approach people as they door knock. Two new couples were added to the group. We are in the process of planning for the 4th of July parade; we will set up a booth with HTH material and pass out water.”
Monroe church of Christ, Georgia (digital): Charles Harris (regional instructor) reports, “The culture has been slowly changing to an evangelistic one here at Monroe. I am looking forward to meeting with my elders soon about what adjustments we need to make in order to get more members involved in reaching out to the lost.”
Carrollton church of Christ, Georgia: Dave Leonard (preacher) reports, “We finished our VBS on Friday night and are following up on visitors with cards. A family visited with us on Sunday morning, and in the evening, we included them in our compassion cards. They received a visitor basket and were welcomed by many of our members. They are new to town, and a couple of our members will visit them later this week. We have five ongoing studies.”
LaFayette church of Christ, Georgia: Jesse Teague (deacon) reports, “We had 21 members last night for compassion card signing, including JL’s grandson who is home from college for the summer. It is great to have young people taking time to serve!”
Riverbend church of Christ, Dalton, Georgia: Jason Duggin (elder) reports, “Riverbend is hosting its VBS this week and will be actively seeking contacts. Our compassion card groups continue to be a great outreach tool for our members in need of prayers and encouragement as well as those we would like to reach with the gospel.”
Honolulu church of Christ, Hawaii: Tagiilima Esene (regional instructor) reports, “One of the things we do every year is a Free Giveaway for our community. We have learned that people love getting free stuff. We have a big tent out in the churchyard, filled with free things donated for those in need. This was a well-attended event by “cold contacts.” In addition to the giveaway, we also let people know about our prayer table where they could fill out a prayer card. Many showed up, but only two left prayer cards with their phone number and name. We also collected contacts by having conversations with the people that came to our free giveaway. We collected four contacts (a family of seven, a family of three, and two individuals). The next step is to invite these contacts to a lunch sponsored by one of the families in our congregation. We have an ongoing study with the family of one of our new converts (three souls total). They are very near to the kingdom. We appreciate all prayers.”
Beloit church of Christ, Kansas: Dustin Doughtery (preacher) reports, “We are working on VBS preparation and county fair preparations. These sources will be great this year because many members are involved in different aspects. It is wonderful to see the church working together.”
Parkway church of Christ, Fulton, Kentucky: Will Hester (preacher) reports, “We will have a Bible study with Colette and her husband next week. We seek prayers for open hearts and receptiveness from them. We also request prayers for Colette. She has been dealing with ongoing health issues, and she is hoping that her doctors can figure out the right medication to help her through this difficult time.”
Coldwater church of Christ, Murray, Kentucky: “This past week was good even though we do not have any conversions to report. I was able to present a lesson on evangelism and talk about getting more contacts and using the bookmark. I think this helped. We added two more people to prospect by sending cards, calling, and visiting.”
Paintsville church of Christ, Kentucky: Zach Collins (preacher) reports, “This past weekend was busy! We were preparing for VBS 2023 and started on Saturday with a door-knocking campaign. We had 16 members of our youth group who door-knocked over 300 doors in our community! Purpose, preparation, and prospects resulted in increasing numbers through the first two nights of VBS. We gave our members and visitors the challenge: everyone needs to bring one friend with them! We have set our attendance goal for 200 on Tuesday night. This has been a wonderful week, as we have seen many new faces and many old faces. We had many spiritual conversations and new contacts! We appreciate all prayers for our efforts this week and in the future!”
Blanchard church of Christ, Louisiana: Pat Cella (elder) reports, “Erin just got home late last night after visiting with us. We had a wonderful time with her and her five-year-old daughter, who was just a blast. Her cousin was picking up her mail, and so far, she has a total of 238!”
LaPlata church of Christ, Maryland (digital): Eric Sykes (regional instructor) reports, “Last week our third group sent out 24 Compassion cards. We are still working on the kinks in the program. All of our groups have been through the card-sending process, and we have received several suggestions on how to make the process flow more smoothly. We have one more week of sending compassion cards to our current list before our teams go out and personally visit the prospects.
“We appreciate all prayers for this endeavor. After next week, we will add the family members who have not attended worship services in the last few months to our compassion card list. We prayerfully encourage some of our brothers and sisters to return to the fold before it is eternally too late.
“Father’s Day was great; I was definitely uplifted. I have been writing about Gail Malnati for the last couple of weeks. After service, she came up to me with tears in her eyes and said, “Brother Sykes, I need to give you a hug.” I thanked her and said, “Ms. Gail, I can always use a hug from you. Is something wrong?” She said, “No, I just wanted to thank you for the beautiful Bible you gave me. It is my first one.” She is 89-years-old. Then she said something that brought tears to my eyes: “With the giant print I can actually read it; I have never read the Bible before, and I cannot put it down!”
“She wrote a check for much more than I paid for the Bible. It took me a few minutes to convince her that I could not take her money. I told her it was a gift because I wanted her to have it so that she could study the word of God on her own. She finally put her check back in her purse. I wish everyone felt that way about the word of God.
“The sisters sat down with Gail and her care giver Katrina this afternoon and completed Lesson 1 of Back to the Bible. It went well; they are all excited and looking forward to Lesson 2. We appreciate prayers for them. I believe it is just a matter of time before Gail and Katrina become part of God’s family. We have five other open Bible studies, and we appreciate all prayers for these studies.”
Edgewood church of Christ, Maryland (digital): Mitchell Bennett (associate preacher) reports, “We had one baptism yesterday. This was a result of using BTTB. We are thankful for Joseph Payne, our new brother in the Lord.”
Southside church of Christ, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Freddie Klein (preacher) reports, “We had a midweek meeting on Wednesday and filled in our coordinator roles as much as we could. We announced our bookmark this Sunday. This coming Sunday, we will pray for prospects from our bookmarks.”
Looxahoma church of Christ, Mississippi: Blake Hawkins (deacon) reports, “Last week we introduced the bookmarks and encouraged members to be praying for the people on their list. This week we announced after worship services that it was time to begin collecting contact information based on certain topics to create our current prospect list. Members turned in contact cards following the afternoon worship service. Everyone in the congregation has been placed on writing teams, and Team 1 will begin writing cards next Sunday. We will be organizing cards between now and Sunday to make sure we have done all we can to help the effort run smoothly. We are trying to keep everyone excited and encouraged to begin this next phase in the evangelism model, and we are eager to keep building!”
Iuka church of Christ, Mississippi: Robert Wimbish (elder) reports, “We have better news this week! The elders at Iuka met Friday at lunch to watch Mikey eat an awful lot of Mexican food. Then we went to my house and met for several hours to lay out our strategy to get our evangelism ministry up and running. Lance preached his second sermon from Back to the Bible this morning by finishing the green booklet. We had a short but highly motivational devotion this afternoon, and then the elders asked all members to go to work.
“We established coordinators for 12 evangelism activity groups according to the checklist. We set this coming Wednesday night to meet with the coordinators and give them instructions on how to address the needs of their group. We will introduce them to the HTH website and the available training materials. We plan to have spreadsheets developed by Wednesday night with members wishing to work with their groups. Several members turned in contact cards to that coordinator tonight, and we will be sending cards very soon. The ladies’ class this Tuesday will be making New Movers baskets.
“One of the men who volunteered to be a coordinator came up to me after the evening service with tears; he said this was what he had been hoping would happen for such a long time. A beautiful soul visiting from another congregation came to the elders after the service saying she wanted to be a part of what Iuka was doing. She had been searching for a congregation whose hearts were evangelistic. We had a wonderful weekend.”
Fordland church of Christ, Missouri: Josh Romo (preacher) reports, “Sherry Powell, one of our prospects, said, ‘The cards I am receiving from the members of your church are amazing. It is the highlight of my day.’ Another prospect, Sharon Graham, said, ‘I cannot wait to go to the mailbox every day!’ We have not had any baptisms yet, but we have a lot of positive feedback and two ongoing Bible studies.”
Samford church of Christ, Steele, Missouri: Kyle Imel (deacon) reports, “We have a study scheduled with a family this week. We will study the second book of BTTB. A few visits are scheduled for this week. One of our evangelism teams met last night to write compassion cards.”
Foristell church of Christ, Missouri: Rod Jackson (elder) reports, “Debbie came to worship this morning and brought her mother, her grandson, and her grandson’s girlfriend with her. We completed Lesson 3 using the time between services. Debbie preferred a private baptism, but someone must have heard that she wanted to be baptized because all who were there stayed to welcome her into the fold. It was a great day. On another note, Bruce VanHook completed Lesson 1 with his sister and brother-in-law on Saturday, and they were at worship this morning.”
East Flushing church of Christ, New York (digital): Clarence Jenkins (preacher) reports, “Glory be to God. This past Lord’s Day, we had a visitor named Gustavo. He came to the building and stayed with us through Sunday school, worship service, and a meal together. We received his contact information and scheduled a Bible study for this coming Thursday; then we drove him home. He lives at the Sanford Home, so we spoke to other residents and gave them House-to-House publications. We appreciate prayers for our Bible study with Gustavo and for opportunities to minister to the residents at the Sanford Home with the love of Christ.”
Carthage church of Christ, North Carolina (digital): Randy Chambers (preacher) reports, “Greetings, Brethren, we had a good week of training and reminding the brethren of the great commission. We have completed a study using the BTTB series, but the prospect is delaying obedience to baptism because of a busy work schedule. We continue to emphasize the urgency of the matter, and we pray for baptism soon.
“We reported last week that we taught a couple on Zoom using BTTB. I contacted the preacher in Virginia to assist with the baptism and with “teaching them to observe all things . . .” (Matthew 28:20). The couple decided that they wanted to come to Carthage on Saturday to be baptized. We tried to persuade them to obey now, and then they could still come to Carthage for fellowship and worship together. They wanted to do it in front of the congregation in Carthage. We were willing to drive to Virginia so they would not have to delay, but we were still unsuccessful. We ask for your prayers that God will grant them the time to travel safely and be baptized into Christ to start their Christian journey. We are praying that all is well with the brethren, and God’s blessings are upon us.”
York church of Christ, Pennsylvania: Mark Raschke (deacon) reports, “This week, we had low attendance on Sunday as a number of families were on vacation. However, we continued in the same efforts as every week. Some of our prospects visited, and it was nice to see some extra faces. We also still wrote cards to some new contacts and heard more lessons related to evangelism.”
East Main church of Christ, Murfreesboro, Tennessee: Brad Rowley (elder) reports, “Last week was East Main’s VBS. We had a great VBS that generated 19 contacts. Between the VBS and directorial contacts, we will be busy for the next few weeks. We are thankful to those that worked so hard for VBS. Our compassion card team number 3 wrote 50 cards. We rejoice in the baptism of Braylee Cherry by her dad Brian Cherry. Braylee was in the Bible class that went through Back to the Bible a few months ago.”
Old Jefferson church of Christ, Smyrna, Tennessee: Bob Horn (preacher) reports, “We finished the BTTB lessons with the congregation this past Sunday. I hope it helps them to realize that any member can conduct a Bible study. Going through these lessons has brought about some good discussions along the way. We also had the congregation sign cards for the new movers baskets that will soon be delivered.”
McKenzie church of Christ, Tennessee: Chance Steen (preacher) reports, “Group D met to receive their cards for the week. We currently have one pending Bible study set for next week (awaiting confirmation of day/time). Wes Steen obeyed the gospel Monday evening and was baptized into Christ.”
Covington church of Christ, Tennessee: Wayne Dalrymple (elder) reports, “We are working the plan, and it is starting to produce more fruit. We continue to have several visitors to our services each week. Nikki’s mom and stepdad have consistently attended on both Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings.
“We continue to prospect several contacts through compassion cards and acts of kindness. Jeff and Jennifer had the first study with Zach last Tuesday using BTTB Book 1. It went really well. They studied Book 2 last night (Tuesday). Zach is really engaged and enthusiastic about the study! Jeff anticipates that by next week, we will have a new brother in Christ.
“I had the opportunity to take Carl (one of our new converts who had not been attending regularly) to a doctor’s appointment Monday. We had a great conversation about the importance of church family and attending services. He plans to be present for our midweek service. We appreciate prayers that these efforts are fruitful.”
New Hope church of Christ, Middleton, Tennessee: Cole Wade (preacher) reports, “A few of our teens went to camp this past week, and three of them were baptized! We discussed their baptism in our Sunday class, including the implications of what they did. During our discussion, we studied what God expects of them as new Christians and what to do when they make mistakes. I was informed that there is another teenager who is curious about becoming a Christian and has questions, so we may have more good news coming soon! We appreciate all prayers.”
New Union church of Christ, Manchester, Tennessee: Paul Fulks (elder) reports, “At New Union, we continue to review the Bookmarks at the close of Sunday morning worship services. We ask members to submit contact cards for those who may need us to show compassion. We also include friends, families, and neighbors who may need compassion.
“We have congregational prayer specifically for active prospects. Our members have been very consistent in completing and submitting new contact cards. This week we had three new contact cards. Card Team 3 met after Sunday evening services and completed 70 compassion cards. Last week, four members made five follow-up visits and contacts. We also had several new mover baskets assigned.
“No Bible studies were completed. However, we have four individuals in various stages of progress in the Back to the Bible Lessons. Two of our elders and our preacher meet every Monday for Mission Mondays to review contact cards and visits and make plans for follow-up and visits during the coming week. We also reach out to specific members to include them in assigning visits and follow-ups. We continue to use a spreadsheet to track contact cards received, compassion cards written, follow-up visits made, specific assignments, and other pertinent information such as phone calls and texts.”
Dellrose church of Christ, Tennessee: Mike Hovis (member) reports, “We are so happy to report the restoration of an erring brother yesterday. Group 1 prepared 55 cards to be sent out this week. Jerry preached a fine lesson Sunday evening on Jesus’ parable of the mustard seed. He noted that our new evangelism efforts are similar in that we are starting small, but as a congregation we can help it to grow.”
Madison County church of Christ, Jackson, Tennessee: Steven Spouse (preacher) reports, “We are working through the curriculum as part of our Sunday morning Bible class. On Wednesday nights, we are working our way through the Fishers of Men book.”
West End church of Christ, Knoxville, Tennessee: Adam Wilson (member) reports, “We rejoice with the Alsup family at the baptism of their teenage daughter, Allie. Jennifer and Adam Wilson (mother and son) spent Saturday morning at the hospital with Connie, a contact West End sent compassion cards to in October who is losing her battle with cancer. Previously an agnostic/atheist, Connie nodded that she wanted to be baptized at the end of the Bible study. Unfortunately, logistics for a suitable baptistery from the hospital staff and family dynamics delayed us from carrying out her wishes. Please, please, please pray for this door to remain open.”
Rogersville church of Christ, Tennessee: Ethan Tate (preacher) reports, “This past weekend, one of the students in our evangelism training class had a Bible study through Book 2 of Back to the Bible. Book 3 is in the next study! Please pray for this study with the parents of the one leading the study. Two more studies are about to begin from the class, and we gained one study from a recent visitor to the congregation. Pray that we are as wise as serpents and harmless as doves through this process and that hearts are open with sincerity and a motivated love for God.”
Hwy 95 church of Christ, Taylor, Texas: Benjamin Dossey (preacher) reports, “We will continue our new movers program this weekend. We have more baskets to deliver this month than any previous month, so we are looking forward to making some contacts. Additionally, we are preparing for our VBS that is rapidly approaching. “
Southwest church of Christ, Austin, Texas: John Garza (regional instructor) reports, “Last week, Southwest hosted our annual summer camp at Hensel, and we used the material of Believe the Bible. The session was successful because the campers were taught the existence of God, the inspiration of the Scriptures, and the reliability of Jesus Christ. This increased their belief in the One true living God, but it additionally taught them how to reason with their friends and family who may not stand firm in those areas. While at camp, we had five baptisms. Praise God because they made the decision to follow Christ.” All in all, it was a successful time at camp.”
Fruitvale church of Christ, Texas: Carl McCann (elder) reports, “Perseverance pays off. John was baptized into Christ after following the Evangelism Model. Please continue to pray for our efforts as more studies are ongoing.”
Midtown church of Christ, Victoria, Texas: James Cammock (deacon) reports, “We were very encouraged by a long-awaited baptism last week. LC is the boyfriend of one of our young ladies at Midtown. He has been attending worship consistently for a long time. One of the men in the congregation had many personal Bible studies with LC, but he was not ready to break away from his family’s religious tradition. LC graduated high school in May, and our elders, always keeping evangelism at the forefront, made the decision to include him in our graduation celebration. Our elders also made sure that LC had the opportunity to attend youth camp with some of our young members. It was during a camp devotional on Jonah that he realized he had been running from God. He made the great decision to put on Christ in baptism!”
Graceton church of Christ, Diana, Texas: Johnny Willeford (elder) reports, “We are having very good reports from our home visitation teams that have called upon the compassion card recipients. Scott is in the process of a Bible study that was a result of our compassion cards.
“Severe weather in our area has caused damage to power lines and some homes of our members. We have been out of power at the church building with power lines on the ground in the backyard of the preacher’s home. The storm hit Thursday night. We were unable to have services today. Many power lines are down, and it may be a week or more before power is restored. My parents’ home lost part of its roof, and the rainwater came pouring in. Parts of the ceiling fell in with lots of inside damage. We have been checking up on our members. Most are without power. Please keep us in your prayers.
“It is a great feeling to be welcomed into the homes of contacts, and they want to show us all the cards they received. Hopefully, we will resume with the signing of compassion cards this next Sunday night. We are concentrating this month on those who need to be restored. There are ten prospects who are receiving cards. Scott had planned to finish the congregational training on Book 1 of the Bible study today, but with no service today, we hope to get back to it next Sunday. Scott is doing a great job with the lessons and getting great responses from our members.”
Central church of Christ, Martinsburg, West Virginia: Robert Veil (preacher) reports, “We had record attendance numbers in VBS last week. We had 205 on Sunday evening, which is excellent for us. We are in the process of compiling the contacts for follow up. Two ongoing Bible studies are going well.”
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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