Success Stories: March 6, 2024

Glencoe church of Christ, Alabama: David Marker (elder) reports, “We have been studying with a group of teenagers for over a year. We baptized two a couple of weeks ago, and Saturday night around midnight, we received a phone call from two more teenagers requesting to be baptized. While reflecting on those baptisms, 1 Corinthians 3:6 comes to mind: one plants, another waters, but God gives the increase. This was truly a team effort! Many have taught, encouraged, and befriended these young people and greatly influenced their decisions. More members are involved with compassion cards, visiting, and turning in contacts. We have two ongoing studies and some hot contacts for potential studies. Many of our members have been working hard, and God is blessing our efforts.”                                                   

Fayette church of Christ, Alabama: Josh Taylor (deacon) reports, “We are working hard with one of our prospects. We have sent cards for a few weeks; she visited us last week. We sent her flowers today from one of our compassion card teams, and that has continued to spark her interest. She said she will come to our Wednesday night service. We are nearly ready to talk to her about studying the Bible. She has a very tender heart. We appreciate prayers for us and for her.”

Hatton church of Christ, Alabama: Chris Miller (preacher) reports, “Our mission Sunday meal was this past week, and we had a productive meeting. We discussed the previous month’s visits and the next steps. We also reviewed the importance of asking the three questions. This month, new movers are a focus, as we have several on our list and have assigned those contacts. We continue working with several nonmembers, and we hope to be extremely close to their conversions. To God be the glory.”

Rison church of Christ, Arkansas: Keden Shrum (preacher) reports, “We continued covering John 4 during Sunday morning worship. Sunday evening, we discussed all of the materials on the Evangelism Table and continued with the training. Lord willing, we will begin compassion cards this week. We currently have three prospects who will be receiving cards.”

Lake City church of Christ, Florida: Jim Flegert (elder) reports, “Recently, a young family attended for the third week and have indicated interest in a Bible study. One of our newest members, who recently moved to Lake City, has indicated that his mother (who is not a Christian) has moved to Florida and is now living with him. She attended worship with him today and is high on our prospect list. Our mover team is excited about next week’s ten new movers receiving mover baskets.”

Niceville church of Christ, Florida: Joe Palmer (preacher) reports, “This week, we sent 32 cards and had two Bible studies. We meet with our Ambassador team each Sunday night to discuss our prospects and plan to make assignments for visits. We had ten who stayed for the meeting.  We had two returning visitors on Sunday. On Sunday night, I preached on “Fear or Faith.” I planned the lesson to encourage all members to become soul winners.”

Fayetteville church of Christ, Georgia: David Gulledge (associate preacher) reports, “Compassion card Group 1 met and wrote cards for two prospects. On Sunday afternoon, Rebecca Goins was baptized after completing our study with her.”

Lafayette church of Christ, Georgia: Jesse Teague (deacon) reports, “Group 1 met like clockwork to write our first Sunday compassion cards. Five people are on the list to receive cards. The evangelism group meeting was on Monday night. We reviewed cards from the previous month, and Ken advised us to make the needed visits.

“A few contacts were made from the two memorial services we recently had. We will make visits and then send compassion cards. We are continuing with one of the HTHSOE five-minute training videos after class and before the invitation every Wednesday night.

“The ladies have teams to hand out gift boxes to new visitors every service, which is going well. Tonight, we decided to send them the cards immediately and then put their contact information in the file for a follow-up visit. We also designated people to take visitors out to lunch; the ladies will help with a handoff to that team after they give the gift box. There is much more going on. We are continually refining and improving the tools to help save souls.”

Woodstock church of Christ, Georgia: Greg Garner (deacon) reports, “During our ACTS (Actively Caring Teaching & Serving) Evangelism Program, the Compassion Card Group created and sent 12 cards last week. Our Prison Ministry team is working with GCDC to establish the Bible Study program. The establishment of this program is very slow, but it is underway. GCDC has 2,800 beds, and we are working up to that number from 400. We had 21 in our New Converts class. The Greeter Group reported that WCOC had four visitors this week. We had one Bible Study.”

Covington church of Christ, Georgia: Tate Sutton (preacher) reports, “We have been emphasizing evangelism in everything we do. One of our young men, Cody McRae, has been leading a Bible study with three of his friends. One of them, Taylor Cloer, decided to be baptized into Christ today. This was after several weeks of Bible study. Cody is still studying with his other two friends, so we ask for prayers for them as well. The young lady we baptized was unfamiliar with the Lord’s church, so once she heard the Gospel, she wanted to be added to it.”

Beloit church of Christ, Kansas (remote): Dustin Dougherty (regional trainer) reports, “We had a great service yesterday and fellowship afterward with a potluck meal, but the greatest part of the day was baptizing Natasha Kalm into Christ. She has been attending with us for several months now, coming with one of the sisters, Carol. Natasha realized that her previous “baptisms” were incorrect, and she decided to be baptized for the remission of her sins. She was just recently deemed free from her cancer by her doctors, so that was great news, too.

“We finished reviewing the SOE curriculum last Wednesday and are looking for ways to implement practices over the coming weeks and months. We will begin going through the booklets this week to continue training for studies. I began working on a churches of Christ in Kansas directory, sending letters and survey questionnaires to every congregation I can find in Kansas. It will be very useful information to use in our evangelistic endeavors here. We appreciate all prayers for that work. To God be all glory and honor.”

Central church of Christ, Paducah, Kentucky: Adam Faughn (preacher) reports, “This past week was filled with disappointment and excitement. On the negative side, a prospect completed Book 3 but was not immersed. We will continue to pray and work. The prospect was at services Sunday, so there is still a “spark” there, but much work is needed.

“On the positive side, another Bible study completed Book 2 and showed great excitement. Book 3 is scheduled for Wednesday. We also were blessed to have another prospect return to our services for the first time in several weeks and another person has been visiting with us for several weeks. Also, the couple who returned after a long time away from the church last week was with us again yesterday.

“Finally, our “community outreach” group met with our elders and gave some ideas for making contacts in the upcoming months. We pray that they help us continue to have a regular supply of names for our card-writing teams. We sent about 100 cards this week.”

La Plata church of Christ, Maryland (remote): Eric Sykes (regional trainer) reports, “Last week was great. We trained the congregation on the back door Bible study method…and our members have received 5 Bible studies…thus far. To quote brother Matt Snowden…” I asked my mom and stepdad if they would help me practice presenting this bible study material, I just learned called Back to the Bible…and they said yes…it was so easy”. One of our elders got a commitment from one of his co-workers. My sister and I will begin our study tomorrow evening. Two weeks ago, we gave the congregation a homework assignment to go out and practice the “back door Bible study” method with their friends and family. The assignments are due to be completed this Wednesday. We’ll give you the results next week. We sent out 18 compassion cards. We visited eight folks and delivered gift baskets last week. We have eight open Bible studies. (Counting the “back door Bible studies”) We completed lesson 3 of Back to the Bible with one of our teens. He said he wasn’t ready…we have a little more studying to do with him. He had 6 folks in our new converts Bible study classes. We had two visitors last week. We offered to take them out to lunch. But they decided to take a rain check instead. We have nine folks from our compassion card list to visit this week. We ask that you please keep us lifted up in prayer as we continue working to set up the congregational evangelism model here in La Plata. Talk to you soon. Take care, and God bless!”

Southside church of Christ, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Freddie Klein (preacher) reports, “We continue to study with recent converts and sow the seed. We sent out cards to new movers and several visitors. We have visited many new movers and encouraged them with gift bags. Our correspondence courses are still going strong. We appreciate prayers as we search for elders and a preacher.”

Looxahoma church of Christ, Mississippi: Blake Hawkins (deacon) reports, “We continued delivering new mover baskets after worship and had friendly interactions with those in the community. We love using this method to show hospitality, build contacts, and have a presence with our neighbors. After our afternoon worship service, this week’s team stayed to write compassion cards. The elders recently suggested that we should rework the teams to increase participation, so we will be looking at that soon to see if there is a way, we can help the card writing run even smoother.”

East Flushing church of Christ, New York (remote): Clarence Jenkins (preacher) reports, “We are thankful to God we had three visitors this week, including one new visitor invited by her visiting neighbor! On our accountability board for this week, we have three prospects, four Bible studies, and 40 compassion cards to be sent out incrementally. The brothers met, examined, and discussed the HTHSOE Checklist and the Coordinators and Areas spreadsheet so we may continue to grow in focusing, tweaking, and increasing our efforts in reaching the lost. We appreciate all prayers.”

Cary church of Christ, North Carolina: Larry Fife (preacher) reports, “This past week was exceptional! I was honored to baptize a young man after studying with him for the past month. To date, we have celebrated four baptisms.

“Additionally, last week, a team distributed baskets to three new movers. One recipient expressed enthusiasm about our upcoming Friends and Family Day this Sunday and plans to attend. Our Connect Group also made significant strides, crafting 55 compassion cards and bringing our total to 242.

“This past Saturday, our ladies at Cary organized a successful ladies’ day, drawing in over 200. We are conducting four Bible studies, including one with a young lady a member recently invited. Her eagerness to learn and her numerous questions are encouraging. It is heartwarming to witness her passion and desire for knowledge. We are immensely grateful for God’s blessings as we continue to implement His plan.”

Streetsboro church of Christ, Ohio: Ralph Price (preacher) reports, “We had a visitor this past Sunday from our Compassion Card program. We had a nice visit with her. She could not stay for our potluck, but she said she would not mind a visit. We are excited to see her and her husband. One of our members passed away this past week.  As I write this, our building still has visitors who have come for the funeral. Some good contacts have been made. We will add some to our compassion card list and see where it goes.”

Greenville church of Christ, Ohio: John McGiffin (preacher) reports, “We continue to send out compassion cards and prospect identified folks in the community. We started handing out invitation cards this week. It is too early to tell if this method is effective for us. Our attendance was up this week despite several families being out of town.

“We will be conducting transitional visits this coming Sunday. At that time, we will target fallen members in our next group with the compassion card ministry. Our New Members Coordinator was assigned just over a week ago. The husband-and-wife team is reviewing the website and completing baskets. We should be fully implementing those visits very soon. Eight Bible studies are ongoing. One of our prospected folks is close to accepting a Bible study. We are prospecting 12 with over 504 cards so far.”

New Concord church of Christ, Ohio: Terry Townsend (preacher) reports, “We continue to be encouraged by the uptick in visitors (non-members) frequenting our assemblies. A family of six visited Sunday; they are looking for a “new church home.” We have had 16 visitors (area residents/non-members) in the last four weeks. Several of those visitors have come back multiple weeks. We are working diligently to make the “transition” with several of them.

“The elders met with two separate groups yesterday afternoon. One group (about 12 in all) is now set and ready to begin “mentoring.” The second group was assembled to discuss “Mission Monday” (15 in this group). We plan to begin this phase in a week. This group will meet again next Sunday afternoon to “practice” (role play). They, too, will be given their first assignment (visits to make).

“The two ongoing Bible studies have stalled somewhat. One will continue this week, while the other has been paused. Here in this area, many folks have been indoctrinated with multiple beliefs, which is proving to be quite challenging as we navigate forward. While many folks understand what the Bible says as we teach/show them, some have hard hearts. But we press forward knowing that there are folks out there who are genuinely searching for truth. We have several new contacts submitted, and we will start a new round of compassion cards with them next week.”

Sullivan Village church of Christ, Lawton, Oklahoma: Steven Hill (preacher) reports, “We had record attendance last Sunday as the visitors poured in. All the efforts of kindness, card writing, inviting, hospitality, love, and general Christ-likeness are starting to pay off. We hope for a couple of studies in the very near future. We are hopeful and prayerful about it. God will give the increase. We continue to encourage, send cards, visit, and invite friends. We are also getting better at practicing our friendliness among visitors, and they are noticing. All the ‘new’ ways are becoming our accepted ways of operating. At first it was strange and new, but it is starting to become how we operate and who we are as a church! It is so refreshing and liberating.”

Coweta church of Christ, Oklahoma: Keno Shrum (regional trainer) reports, “Last week, we finished Lesson 3 of Back to the Bible with Jessica. She recognized her need to be baptized and wanted to do so immediately. She lives 45 minutes from the Coweta congregation, so we took her to the Crosstown church of Christ in Tulsa and used their baptistery. Crosstown is approximately three miles from her house, so she will likely attend there rather than Coweta. Brother Marcus Elliott, minister at Crosstown, has her contact information and will stay in touch with her and mentor her, as will we.

“This week, we plan to begin studying with Charlie. We will likely start with Believe the Bible and then move into Back to the Bible. We appreciate all prayers for this study.”

Carthage church of Christ, South Carolina (remote): Randy Chambers (preacher) reports, “This past week, we had three home Bible studies using BTTB. We are preparing new movers’ bags to deliver in the next few weeks. We had two visitors this past week with whom we established a good relationship, and we hope it will lead to a Bible study. We continue to train and encourage the brethren to work the plan and trust God’s gospel power to save the obedient souls. We are grateful to God for all the brethren and the encouragement in the kingdom.”

Union church of Christ, South Carolina (remote): Terry Hale (preacher) reports, “Our training showed up well yesterday. We had five visitors who received bags, and we have their contact information. They were taken out for lunch. They talked about our hospitality. Bible studies are continuing, and prayers are appreciated. After my text this morning, we visited a lady who contacted us through the House to House/Heart to Heart publication. We started a study with Book 1 of Back to the Bible, and she requested that we pick her up for services.”

Forest Hill church of Christ, Germantown, Tennessee: Scott Cain (preacher) reports, “What is the difference between a speedbump and a pothole? The only real difference is that speedbumps are deliberately set in place for safety or scenery to give travelers a better perspective of their surroundings. In contrast, potholes result from time, wear and tear, and neglect. Churches face speed bumps and potholes.

“February felt like a pothole. Great momentum had been gained at the close of 2023 and the beginning of 2024: Bible studies were going well, a half-dozen new souls had obeyed the Gospel in under three months, and members were involved in sharing contacts, showing compassion, and strengthening connections with souls on our Outreach List. Then February hit: scheduling conflicts abounded, resulting in a month with fewer Bible studies and no baptisms. Thankfully, the members maintained their focus on sharing contacts, showing compassion, and strengthening connections. Again, it felt like a pothole.

“Then, on March 4, the congregation met for Connecting Compassion (transitioning into Bible studies by discussing a plan of action for each soul on the Outreach List for four weeks or longer). The first Connecting Compassion had some 70 members in attendance and was a great boost to the efforts and overall morale. February’s Connecting Compassion could not happen (again, it felt like a pothole).

Thankfully, March’s Connecting Compassion was another boost. Some 55 members attended (the arrival of a new baby and travel schedules kept at least 15 away), and we were able to arrange a plan of action for almost all 45 names on the Outreach List. More progress had been made in February than was previously realized. One couple is about to begin their second study with three souls, a married couple and the wife’s mother. This is the first time for the couple doing the teaching to conduct a personal Bible study of this nature: YAY!

“One lady has asked to be removed from the Outreach List.  After further discussion, we learned that her major concern is that her husband works at night, and she is worried that daytime visitors might disrupt her. We can make an adjustment without giving up contact! Another gentleman is undergoing cancer treatments. Although he is having a miserable time with the meds, he welcomes visitors and is responding extremely well to every effort to connect with him. Some of the contacts are promising but will likely result in studies being arranged with members of the congregation who live closer to them, which is still a win!

“One young lady who has been attending regularly was absent Sunday. Still, she was watching online during the sermon, “A Bible Baptism,” and she had loads of open and honest questions when she saw a member who works with her the next day, which is extremely promising! Then there is the message that arrived the morning after Connecting Compassion. One couple seemed to be showing little interest and perhaps even wanted to be removed from the list, but then the husband sent a message to a member indicating that he had worked his way through the first Back to the Bible study by himself (not ideal, but, hey . . .), and he is interested in getting together to move forward in learning more: WOW!

“February felt like a pothole, but in retrospect, it was a speed bump. It put some things into perspective, and it certainly helped us to get a better view of the scenery and appreciate the opportunities and progress that are continuing. God is good!!”

Hillsboro church of Christ, Tennessee: Chris Sliger (member) reports, “Hillsboro’s highlights for the week included the initial visit of five prospects created from Compassion Cards. We had positive feedback from these visits and expect to follow up with them (and the contacts from the previous weeks) over the coming days. An Indian man and his young daughter who are new to the community continue to visit us. We could write him welcome cards in his native language (Gujarati) and get him a Bible in Gujarati. We sent compassion cards to four contacts, and one of our members created children’s bags (pencils, crayons, and coloring books) for any visitors with young kids. We continue to discuss this evangelism program in our Sunday morning class and are in the early planning stages for a community event.”

North Bradley church of Christ, Cleveland, Tennessee: Keith Wilson (preacher) reports, “Taylor Gobble, one of our elders, has been actively studying with some of his son’s friends who have been attending for the past year and a half with us. He has baptized both of them in the last couple of months; their names are Cash and Cael Coates. Cael was baptized just a few weeks ago. Also, Taylor has been studying with Cooper Cantrell, another friend of his son. Taylor has been using Back to the Bible with them and is currently in Book 3 with Cooper. On my end, we have used the first part of the year to jumpstart our evangelism program, particularly with our visits. We have started a “Service Sunday” at the end of the month. A large group visits those who have received our cards in the community. A lot of our members have actively contributed to our baskets and visits. Also, with another member from our congregation, my family has begun a Back to the Bible study with a couple attending with us. We have had a good couple of months.  We have been blessed!”

East Main church of Christ, Murfreesboro, Tennessee: Brad Rowely (elder) reports, “We rejoice in the baptism of Josie Hancock by her father, Chris. See the attached picture of Josie with her mom, Lydia, and her dad, Chris. Josie attended CYC in Pigeon Forge and decided to be baptized when she returned home on Sunday.

“Our compassion card team wrote 55 cards. We delivered two new mover baskets. One of our new converts, Cole Walker, and another of our college students, Jeffrey Smith, started a new Bible study last week with a student at MTSU. They had three study sessions; she attended our college devotional, Sunday worship, and Mission Day. We had two ongoing Bible studies last week.

“Mike Weeks, one of our deacons, is responsible for assigning and documenting our new mover baskets. Mike and his wife Angela met folks in the lobby after worship services Sunday with the baskets. We assigned 28 baskets to 22 folks! Mike presented this idea at Mission Day. Angela determined we have 140 “family units” at East Main. Our HTH new mover list averages 40 baskets a month. We will meet our goal if each family unit takes one basket once every quarter. “We met with a new member Sunday who wants to be identified with East Main. She commented on how she was greeted, taken to lunch, received cards, and had a couple of visits. She said, “You have a system here at East Main that works!” To God, give the glory!”

Karns church of Christ, Knoxville, Tennessee: Spencer Clark (evangelist) reports, “We have had a busy year. We just hit ten baptisms yesterday for 2024. That is one third of the baptisms in 2023, and we are not even one third through this year yet! We look forward to more teaching from the Southwest Institute of Bible Studies in August.”

Freewill church of Christ, Gainesboro, Tennessee (remote): Andrew Scott (preacher) reports, “We just concluded our gospel meeting with brother Don Blackwell. We had several visitors and put our training to work. We sent visitor cards to those who are lost or have fallen away. The lessons were well received, and we hope our efforts from this meeting will go far into the future.

“After a Bible study last Saturday night, I am thankful to report that three precious souls were restored to the Lord’s church. We have had nine restorations for January and February. We have five prospects, and I pray those will turn into Bible studies soon. Our new baptistery is up and running after installing a support beam under the floor. We also have our new accountability board on display, and we are keeping track of our efforts. We are so thankful to God and continue our fight for souls. God bless you all.”

Madison County church of Christ, Jackson, Tennessee: Steven Sprouse (preacher) reports, “Our visitors continue to come. We hope to study with them soon. We also had another visitor on Sunday. Compassion cards are going out. This Saturday, we are having our second Super Saturday workshop. We are practicing asking questions, deferring, and showing, not telling. We are also practicing the BTTB studies with each other and putting together new movers baskets.”

McKenzie church of Christ, Tennessee: Randy McAdams (elder) reports, “The McKenzie teams are working a new system that includes contacts from our weekly prayer list as it is updated each Sunday. This can be a little confusing for our group leaders, having to plug in new names in the middle of the four-week group cycle. This past Sunday, we also handed out a paper to our group members, which gave seven suggestions for writing a more effective card of love. It was noted that some of our members were sometimes challenged with “what to say” and “how to say it,” so, hopefully, these seven steps will help us improve our evangelistic card writing skills.”

Brushy church of Christ, Centerville, Tennessee: Kevin Johnston (preacher) reports, “We are continuing to progress. Today, we began sending out compassion cards. The teenagers stamp and place return address labels on the cards. They are excited to have this responsibility. The congregation is divided into four teams, and today, Team 1 met and sent out 63 compassion cards. Almost 100 percent of the team showed up today to be a part of this ministry! It is exciting to see the culture shift to be even more evangelistic. We continue to pray that hearts will be opened to be receptive to the gospel!”

Mountain Creek church of Christ, Chattanooga, Tennessee: Michael Tomshack (elder) reports, “This week, Gary (elder, minister) and Michelle Massey hosted the New Christians class along with Danny and Jennifer Ellis at their home for Sunday lunch fellowship. Angie Chambers organized the card distribution for the week. We adjusted the Foyer and Pew Greeter flow from insights learned in real-time and will make a few more modifications. Involvement continues with excitement as we stick with the evangelism plan, making the necessary tweaks for our congregation.

“We open our building for the use of HOAs in the neighborhood, with Friday nights as a reminder to those attending that we are mailing the House to House monthly publication (we just upgraded from bi-monthly to monthly). On Tuesday, the elections are held at our building, and another HOA will use our facilities, each allowing a reminder of our service to the community. Lord willing, when House to House arrives in their mailbox, they will read it because they know us.”

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 would appreciate compassion cards. We have three new contacts. Fifty-one compassion cards were written. Three New Mover Bags were delivered. Seven follow-up visits were made. We have one ongoing Bible study. We also have one new convert in our Bible Learner class.”

Chapel Hill church of Christ, Tennessee: Matt Jones (deacon) reports, “We are continuing to work through the process and making adjustments where needed. We paused our card writing for a week to make a few needed adjustments. We expect this to help us focus on the quality of our cards. We had our congregational spring retreat this weekend, and several of our newer converts attended; it was a great time to connect deeper with them. Our benevolence efforts are continuing with several families. We have several prospects who have been regular visitors, and we expect to start Bible studies soon.”

Covington church of Christ, Tennessee: Wayne Dalrymple (elder) reports, “This has been an encouraging week at Covington. Wednesday evening, Chris Maness responded, asking for prayers for strength. Friday evening, I took Charles, one of our new converts, to visit Oscar. Oscar is a man who visited us several months ago with a friend who is a Christian from Nashville. We offered him some community service and a ride to our services. He is receptive to our prospecting.

“We began our Gospel meeting with Mark Posey on Sunday. He is doing an excellent job of preaching the word of God. We had several non-Christian visitors at our morning worship assembly. One is Mark, the father of one of our new converts, Zach. Mark has been very dissatisfied with the denominational group where he has been attending. He has visited our services three times in the last month. We hope to do more prospecting with him and begin a study soon.

“Another visitor is Kenny, who has been visiting for about three months now. He is a neighbor of one of our members, Beau. Kenny feels very welcome and comfortable with us. We hope to begin a study with him very soon.

“Another family who visited on Sunday was Erica and her two daughters. When I asked her why she decided to visit with us, she said that she is Lutheran, but there are no “kid-friendly” Lutheran churches in the area, and she is looking for a church home with plenty to offer her children. She also checked her attendance card and wanted to learn more about the church. She is a hot contact. Mark’s lesson on Monday night was specifically focused on non-Christians. He encouraged us to invite our friends, family, and co-workers to that lesson. One of those who came is Teresa, the mother of one of our members, Jill. We appreciate all prayers for our efforts as we try to reach the lost.”

New Hope church of Christ, Middleton, Tennessee: Cole Wade (preacher) reports, “Our men’s gathering for Bible Study has been going well. The newer converts have been attending, and they have been able to interact and discuss faith issues. We also have some coming who are new to church, and we are excited to study with them more!”

Northern Oaks church of Christ, San Antonio, Texas: Mel Hutzler (elder) reports, “We currently have several Bible studies going on. Most of them are moving slowly but by design. Besides that, we continue sending cards, taking visitor information, delivering gift baskets, prospecting, and sending out HTH. We had a visitor on Sunday because he received the HTH mailer we sent out. We hope to have a Bible study soon with him. We also have several others who need Bible studies, and we hope to cover all of them as soon as possible.”

Shenandoah church of Christ, San Antonio, Texas (remote): Tim Ayers (preacher) reports, “The elders and I are going through the videos and training on the website. We are learning how the program works. So far, we have had one prospect, a neighbor of one of our elders, who had surgery. We sent her compassion cards. I am going with the elder to speak with her Thursday afternoon. We are just getting started, so I know it will take a while before we get in full swing. I preached the first sermon on John 4, which was well received. We are committed to the program, and we know it will begin to bear fruit eventually. Thank you for all your help in getting us started. We pray that God will be glorified in all we do for His kingdom.”

Bridgewater church of Christ, Katy, Texas: Doug Suggs (deacon) reports, “At Bridgewater, our preacher, Wade Webster continues to preach lessons to motivate us in our evangelism efforts. Sunday morning, his lesson covered with the apostle’s doctrine and encouragement to continue in unity and love of Christ, and to be steadfast in evangelism as our Lord, the apostles, and the early church were. We also had a “Go Texan” fellowship night at our building on Saturday evening. We had visitors taking part, and some were at our Sunday morning service. Also, on Sunday morning, an evangelism volunteer form was passed out to all of our members, and they were asked to sign up for at least two areas of work. We are trying to get every member involved in some effort to sow seeds for the kingdom. One of our compassion card groups met Sunday evening and addressed cards to prospects.

Crosby church of Christ, Houston, Texas (remote): Jon Wheeler (elder) reports, “We had our third baptism of the year this past Friday. A member and his unconverted spouse went through the entire BTTB series in one week! It was so exciting to see a newly married couple now also united in their belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ. A family visited again and was taken to lunch by our minister. We are praying they will join us in the work in Crosby. We see the wisdom of having mentors assigned to new members. The mentors sit in the worship with them, eat with them at fellowship meals, and communicate with them throughout the week. We visited a member who is in the hospital. He has not been to church since Covid. He enjoyed the visit and prayer offered on his behalf.”

9^th and Main church of Christ, San Angelo, Texas: Bryan Braswell (elder) reports, “We had our third baptism as of last Friday. We have had three total in three weeks. On Saturday, we visited one of our contacts at New Movers and delivered a New Movers bag. The entire family showed up for Sunday morning worship service. We will follow up on them as we speak. We continue to share contacts and send cards every time we meet. We are getting continuous positive feedback and results.

“We started a new Bible class this Sunday. We are teaching our members Does it Matter? by Bobby Bates. On Sunday evening, we studied and discussed our current plan of action and teams as we are building to continue this program more efficiently. Several key members are rising to the top, like cream, so to speak, to help us, and they are fired up. We are focused and committed. Morale is high. Enthusiasm is the best we have seen in years. Our brethren are committed, and so is the eldership.”

Buda-Kyle church of Christ, Texas: Ronnie Scherffius (preacher) reports, “The congregational evangelism work at Buda-Kyle is progressing well. We began our compassion card work today. Team one prepared 64 cards to be mailed this week to seven prospects. Five prospects are from contact cards, and two are visitors from today. We were well-attended for our evangelism training class this evening. Deric Merz introduced the visitor training to the class. He will be setting up “pew greeter teams” and “door greeter teams” over the next two weeks.”

Graceton church of Christ, Diana, Texas: Johnny Williford (elder) reports, “Our ladies continue to plan and prepare for our annual Graceton Ladies’ Day. Efforts are underway to reach out to the Diana community to invite the young and old to this event. They will be concentrating on Titus 2:3-5. The congregation held our First Sunday Fellowship meal this past Sunday.

“Two families visited our morning services and stayed to share the meal with us. One was a family that had received some of our first compassion cards months ago. The home visits and continuing encouragement were the reasons they came. My wife and I started a Back to the Bible study with my nephew, who is visiting from Alaska this past week. The first two lessons were very good, but the last one scheduled was not done because he had a car accident while here. We are working on a Zoom lesson for the last one. It is not ideal, but since he is back in Alaska, we will take what we can get.

“Our group A compassion card writers will send 15 cards to two new contacts this week. The Mission Monday group met last Monday to review our progress with home visits. We are currently working on adding a few new members to that group. Our New Movers group will be visiting homes in the next two weeks. We appreciate all prayers as we also pray for all the congregations and teachers who are spreading God’s word.”

Canyon Lake church of Christ, Texas (remote): Jesse Stuart and Raoul Ferris (evangelists) reports, “We are trying a method of making contacts and establishing relationships. Jesse Stuart devised this idea to host a class at the local library to make more contacts. We are using a book titled Coping, written by Steven Lloyd. The book uses the Bible to teach biblical methods for coping through various trials. Brother Lloyd was even able to come and assist us with our first class. We are looking forward to teaching this class over the next 13 weeks. We had two visitors, and several were for the first class; the rest were Christians. We continue to work on the model, have visitors from our door-knocking efforts, and enjoy fellowships together. We enjoyed the Arise lectureship held at Southwest church of Christ in Austin, Texas, this week.”

Wheeler church of Christ, Texas: Garrett English (preacher) reports, “We had a long week with the wildfires around here as we had to evacuate town Tuesday night. However, that morning, I studied Book 1 of BTTB with the “pastor” of the inter-denominational church in town. It went very well. We completed the study and have set up the study for Book 2 this Thursday. We have our first End Times class this Tuesday night, which should get us more contacts to prospect. We continue to send cards. This week, many were brought forward for us to prospect.”

Granbury Street Church of Christ, Cleburne, Texas: Ryan Cowan (deacon) reports, “Card writing continues in earnest. On average, we send out about 100 cards per week. About 80 percent of our contacts are ‘cold’ (associated with our AMC last summer). We currently have three Bible studies in progress, and three others are planned.”

Itasca church of Christ, Texas (remote): Justin Hopkins (preacher) reports, “We sent 141 compassion cards and made 11 visits, three of which were delivering New Mover baskets, which yielded one new contact. We just started follow-up visits from the campaign this week. We exchanged numbers with two contacts and are working on setting up those studies, but nothing is firm yet.”

Charles Harris (regional trainer): “We are two weeks away from our seminar with the New Hope Road church of Christ. Preparation has created a lot of excitement for this event. Several have asked me what they can do to help. That volunteer attitude, along with the direction from the HTHSOE, is going to help this small church grow for His glory.”