Success Stories: October 2, 2024

Glencoe church of Christ, Alabama: David Marker (elder) reports, “We have had a really good September. We had over 250 visitors for the month; eleven have placed membership and one was restored. We continue to meet each Sunday to prepare compassion cards and making assignments for our new mover baskets. Jared Whitacre organized a group to help a lady move to a location that would be closer to our home congregation. She seemed very appreciative and plans to come to Glencoe. We continue to look for ways to help others throughout the community. It is encouraging to have others in the congregation offer input for additional opportunities.”

Hatton church of Christ, Alabama: Chris Miller (preacher) reports, “The Hatton congregation has officially sent 10,000 compassion cards since we began, it has been highly effective.  We had a family from our community visit this Sunday after one of our members visited and invited them.  We are hopeful to see a restoration of one who has been an erring member and hopefully convert her husband.  We will be assigning more visits next Sunday at our meal and several are really good contacts.”

West Huntsville church of Christ, Alabama: Paul Owen (associate preacher) reports, “Our door-knocking was canceled last Saturday because of rain. However, this Saturday, we will have a team of 31 members who will knock on doors in the area near our building. We appreciate prayers for this evangelist effort! We have six ongoing Bible studies.”

Highland Park church of Christ, Muscle Shoals, Alabama: Andrew Myhan (deacon) reports, “We did our third week of cards on Sunday. Because of this, we will be making a concerted effort this week to focus training on transitions of the souls we are trying to reach. We appreciate all prayers.”

Central church of Christ, Saraland, Alabama: David Dixon (preacher) reports, “God is working mightily here at Central. We had our fourth baptism in the last three weeks, with more on the horizon. We have met our yearly goal of eight baptisms within the first seven months of hosting the evangelism seminar. We had a Friends and Family Day Sunday, and I believe that event will lead to the restoration of several wayward members. Some of our new converts are engaged to be married in November, and we are doing marriage counseling with them. We knew our area was ripe for the harvest. We knew that if we could learn a method for effective evangelism, God would provide. Now we are seeing it come to pass. It is humbling to see what God can do. What amazes me the most is knowing that this never has to stop. There will be wins and losses, successes and failures, but as long as we keep doing the work, there is no reason why we cannot have Bible studies and baptisms going on perpetually. Our prayers are with all those affected by Hurricane Helene.”

Petersville church of Christ, Florence, Alabama: Adam Richardson (preacher) reports, “Petersville had one restoration to the invitation after morning worship, and six visitors. Looking forward to the next issue of House to House/Heart to Heart being mailed out. Our evangelism class continues to meet and we have one contact from the community food pantry targeted for inviting to Bible study who has visited services twice.”

Malvern church of Christ, Arkansas (remote): David Burruss (preacher) reports, “We have made the adjustments to our prospect list and compassion card program. We currently have seven prospects and will be sending 28 compassion cards this week. We also have a Bible study that is starting this week.”

Rison church of Christ, Arkansas: Keden Shrum (preacher) reports, “We had one visitor on Sunday. Care Team A met and signed cards for two contacts, one of whom was a couple who visited during our recent gospel meeting. We sent out around 34 compassion cards.”

Niceville church of Christ, Florida:  Joe Palmer (preacher) reports, “This week, we had four Bible studies, and we mailed out 40 compassion cards. Greg continues to work with one young man who has been studying for a while. He has been helping him find a job and improve his life. Greg genuinely cares about this young man. I have been helping a lady with renewing her Green Card. This week, I hurt my back again, and my wife, Leanna, did a study by herself. She is teaching a young girl in her 20s. We are going to adopt her into our lives. She is so sweet. Sunday night, Samantha hugged Leanna and said, ‘I am happy I found this church. I can tell y’all genuinely care for each other.’ What a remarkable confirmation of the church’s impact! Other people are welcoming and encouraging new people. One member connected with a visitor who was a Christian and had just moved into the community. While this lady does not need the Gospel, she does need fellowship. One of our elders is continuing to study with a new convert and his wife. I say this to remind us that evangelism is not just studies, it is relationship building. We had three new visitors, but they were from out of town. This is another picture of Charles from last week’s report.”

Bremen church of Christ, Georgia: Scott Broughton (member) reports, “We had our door knocking on Saturday, which is always a great way to get out into the community and meet people. We started our Gospel Meeting on Sunday with Phil Sanders. There was one baptism, Corinne Stephenson, on Sunday.”

Eatonton church of Christ, Georgia (remote): Roderick Coney (preacher) reports, “The congregation watched the compassion card training video this week and delivered one gift basket and received a very positive response. The recipient said, ‘Nobody has ever treated me so nicely.’  We hope to have a Bible study with him soon.  We have one open Bible study that is ready to start Book 3 of Back to the Bible.”

Cartersville church of Christ, Georgia (remote): Charles Harris (regional trainer) reports, “We have assembled our first batch of new movers’ baskets and will begin delivering them this week. Soul Winners, a class to help us carry out our One Mission, will begin this Thursday. On October 5, we will door-knock around our church building. We will use this opportunity to offer prayers and seek souls that need encouragement. We are looking forward to our Gospel Meeting with Brother Jeff Archey during October 13-17.”

Lafayette church of Christ, Georgia: Jesse Teague (deacon) reports, “We had another good week. A fine lady who has attended with her husband for many years had a denominational background.  A recent death and consistently suitable lessons on kingdom-living have pricked her heart. She was uncertain that her baptism was valid and wanted to be sure she was a member of the Lord’s church—the one you read about in the New Testament. She was baptized into Christ for the remission of her sins last week! We have a Gospel Meeting next week, so we are busy inviting folks who need to hear the Gospel.”

Woodstock church of Christ, Georgia: Matt Amos (preacher) reports, “The New Movers Group had 17 volunteers who visited a total of 29 doors. We left door hangers at 16 houses for those who were not at home. The volunteers connected with 13 contacts and left basics for each one.  The Prison Ministry Group has begun working on obtaining contact information for a member’s wayward son who is in jail in North Carolina. Our Evangelism class has 22 participants. WCOC had four non-Christian visitors at our Sunday morning service.”

Collinsville-Troy church of Christ, Illinois: Jason Wright (elder) reports, “We continue to see good results from compassion cards and community service. We sent out 96 cards this week. We have received calls thanking us for the cards, and some said they plan to visit our congregation once their health returns. We helped a lady with yard work and now have an ongoing Bible study with her. A couple of studies have stalled because of car trouble. We will continue those studies soon. We have 11 studies in progress with another one to start this Sunday. We continue to make follow-up visits and hand out new movers’ baskets. We have some who want us to call and check in on them. We are slowly building relationships. SOE training continues the first and third Sundays, with visits on the second and fourth. We have a food giveaway and Trunk or Treat coming up and will undoubtedly take an evangelistic approach. It is all about making contacts!”

Highland Village church of Christ, Bloomington, Indiana: Matt Stauffer (elder) reports, “Since completing the SOE on September 13, we have had the first two lessons from the Preaching/Training schedule, distributed bookmarks to the congregation, and begun appointing coordinators. This week, we will set up the Evangelism Table and Accountability Board, start tracking the evangelism numbers, identify prospects, mail compassion cards, and Lord willing, begin one or more Bible studies.”

Judah church of Christ, Bloomington, Indiana: Joe Moon (preacher) reports, “We are arranging access to the online curriculum for all the men in our congregation. I believe everyone is now on the website, and we have laid out all the supplies in the basement and started working through them.”

LaGrange church of Christ, Indiana: Wayne Poe (elder) reports, “We are training our first coordinator for sending compassion cards and hope to start the process this coming Sunday.  Sermons are going well, and everyone seems excited to get to work. We are grateful for continued prayers.”

West Hammond church of Christ, Indiana: Robert Webster (preacher) reports, “The ladies class sent out 23 cards last week and prepared 18 visitor packages. Four studies were conducted, including one on Zoom. We are organizing the congregation to hand out the HTH magazines and other materials. We plan to begin the preaching/training on Sunday.”

Beloit church of Christ, Kansas (remote): Dustin Dougherty (regional trainer) reports, “I visited the Ransom church of Christ in Ransom, Kansas, this weekend, where I taught the morning class and presented the lesson during the worship hour. I enjoy visiting with them; their congregation is small but amiable. After preaching there, I returned to Beloit for our Fifth Sunday singing yesterday evening. I am considering implementing some new things and reworking a few locally to aid in our evangelism efforts. To God be all honor and glory.”

Central church of Christ, Paducah, Kentucky: Adam Faughn (preacher) reports, “In last week’s report, I failed to mention the great work done recently by our youth group. At their Fall retreat, they made bags for our local Head Start (right across the street from our church building). The bags included goodies and a book about friendship from World Bible School. Each person also wrote a short invitation to church. These were given to every student at the school (well over 200)! We are grateful the school allows us to do things like this occasionally sometimes, and we pray for more opportunities.

On Sunday, we welcomed a new member to our congregation, a sweet Christian lady who has been visiting us for some time. We also had Jeff Archey with us because we support the excellent work of International Gospel Hour. It was a great reminder of our efforts in various places. Studies are resuming, and our new conversion work will be underway this week (we had to cancel last week due to sickness). Cards are being sent, and good things are going on. This past Thursday, the elders and minister met with Rob via Zoom and received valuable information and reminders. Our elders then went to a leadership retreat in Henderson, Tennessee, and we look forward to hearing how their ideas help us be even more efficient in our efforts. To God be the glory!”

LaPlata church of Christ, Maryland (remote): Eric Sykes (regional trainer) reports, “We have been sending compassion cards to a young lady, Allison Pauole, who passed away last week. One of our elders, Dave Bradshaw, and his wife Michelle, attended her memorial service; they were co-workers. Dave said Allison’s husband was very emotional. He hugged them and thanked them through many tears. He said the cards moved him, his wife, and their children before she passed. We will contact their family over the coming weeks and comfort them.  They are not very religious people, but I believe they will come to visit with the saints at LaPlata soon.

We appreciate prayers on their behalf. We had three visitors this week and invited them to our fifth Sunday fellowship meal after worship. We postponed this week’s compassion card-writing and door-knocking event until next Sunday. We have been prospecting 45 people, and now we are adding them to our list to receive the HTH/HTH newsletter. We also placed them on our list of folks we will visit next month. Seven people attended our new converts training classes this week. In our advanced teacher training class, we started having mock Bible studies using Back to the Bible. Six people attended.  Sixteen members attended our video-of-the-week training class via Zoom. We taught ‘Lessons Learned from Job.’” The Cumberland and the Culpepper congregations  have both completed their first week of remote HTHSOE enrollment training. We appreciate all prayers as we strive to serve the Lord and implement the congregational evangelism model here at the LaPlata church of Christ.”

East Main church of Christ, Tupelo, Mississippi: Barry Kennedy (preacher) reports, “We have been focused on wayward members recently. I am supposed to study with one of the ladies we showered with cards. She has visited services twice, and the second time, I mentioned the subject of ‘once saved, always saved.’ She asked me to help her understand why we think that topic is not biblical. I was excited because she was not combative but genuinely interested. I also set up a study today with a response from the TV program we sponsor.”

Samford church of Christ, Steele, Missouri: Kyel Imel (deacon) reports, “We held a prayer service Sunday night for the contacts we received while door-knocking last weekend. We gained six contacts from our door-knocking efforts. We are hopeful to earn studies with these contacts.”

Marshall church of Christ, Missouri (remote): Charles Reid (minister) reports, “We went through the first lesson in our remote training. We plan to do a second lesson next Sunday during the worship hour. We went door-knocking on two Saturdays for about three hours each. I continue preaching evangelistic sermons.”

East Flushing church of Christ, New York (remote): Clarence Jenkins (preacher) reports, “During our worship service, we heard an evangelistic message based on the principles of Rob Whitacre’s lesson, ‘Being Friends with the Outcast,’ that I heard at Polishing the Pulpit. After the worship service, we watched the HTHSOE YouTube video, ‘Prospects: Card Cultivating.’ We discussed the video and continued to fill out compassion cards. We reminded the congregation of the numbers on our accountability board.  To date for this month, we have had eight prospects and eight Bible studies. We prepared 30 compassion cards, a total of 147 thus far for this month, and we had three visitors, of which two are regulars. We appreciate all prayers.”

Cary church of Christ, North Carolina: Larry Fife (preacher) reports, “The past few weeks have truly been a blessing for us! This past Sunday, we celebrated Friends and Family Day and were blessed with several visitors, many of whom were invited by our members. We gathered several contacts from this event, and we will follow up on them within the coming days. We also rejoiced last Sunday after our morning worship with a baptism! A young man has been visiting with his family for several months. Our efforts to send compassion cards and make follow-ups are continuing. We are faithfully working on our plan, and God continues to bless us abundantly!”

Carthage church of Christ, North Carolina (remote): Randy Chambers (preacher) reports, “This past week, we were able to resume our three personal Bible studies. We had two visitors during our worship service. We knocked on doors and invited the community to join us during our upcoming Gospel Meeting. We received a thank you card from a prospect who received compassion cards while recovering from an accident. I am staying in touch and hope to have a Bible study soon. We continue to teach and encourage the brethren in the Lord’s work. We thank God for all the brethren who are working for the Kingdom!”

New Concord church of Christ, Ohio: Terry Townsend (preacher) reports, “Several new contacts have been submitted and will soon receive compassion cards. A couple of follow-up visits were made to folks who were recent recipients of our compassion cards. We had one visitor from our community on Sunday. She has lived in our area for years, and her husband recently passed. We will add her to our compassion card ministry. One of our members stopped and talked to her at a local grocery store and invited her to services. She received a welcome packet as well. Two Bible studies are still ongoing. We hope one will result in baptism this week. We had one baptism on Sunday evening. To God be the glory!”

Streetsboro church of Christ, Ohio: Ralph Price (preacher) reports, “We have five people on our prospect list. We are also delivering our new mover baskets. We are coming up on our first anniversary this month. It is hard to believe that it has been a year already!”

Coweta church of Christ, Oklahoma: Keno Shrum (regional trainer) reports, “We had a great week here in Coweta. Thursday evening, we will go through Lesson 1 of BTTB with Joey, the adult son of a member. We are looking forward to getting to know him better and helping him grow.

“Last week, I had a blowout on one of our dump trucks. I called a mobile tire service. When he arrived, we talked about the construction industry in Northeastern Oklahoma. I commented that many of our customers have slowed down on new projects while awaiting the November presidential election. Donald said he does not discuss politics or religion much because it is an emotional topic for so many people. He then told me that a coworker had asked him about his belief in God, and he shared that conversation with me. When he finished, I asked him if he attended worship services anywhere. He said he used to go to the Assembly of God but had switched to a mega-church in a nearby town. But he said he is tired of so-called churches that are more interested in entertainment than the Bible. That was all I needed to hear! I asked him if he would like a Bible study taken straight out of the Scriptures—no traditions, opinions, or philosophies—just word for word straight out of the Bible. He said he would love to. This Friday, Donald and his wife are coming to our house for dinner and Lesson 1 of BTTB.

“On Sunday, I had the honor of spending the day with the Hondo, Texas, church of Christ to kick off their Remote Training with the HTHSOE. Brother Andrew Patterson is the minister there.  He is a great young man who is on fire for the Lord. Frank, Mike, and Tommy, the elders, are super excited to get started on the training. I know they will be successful in evangelizing their area! I look forward to visiting the Samford church of Christ in Steele, Missouri, on October 13 for a Reboot Sunday!”

Cheyenne church of Christ, Oklahoma (remote): Nathan Brewer (member) reports, “We paused our card sending to new prospects to consider previous compassion card recipients. We emphasized again that cards are not enough—we must visit and build rapport with these contacts. A member stopped by a prospect’s house after worship and took a gift bag we have for prospects.”

Union church of Christ, South Carolina (remote): Terry Hale (preacher) reports, “Two new studies started in Back to the Bible. Both prospects seemed very excited and learned a lot from Book 1. I hope to continue this week with all of the ones on our prospect board who are having some difficulties with the conditions left by the storm. I also presented lessons on evangelism in North Carolina, though the group was smaller than usual because of the flooding. We appreciate prayers for these efforts.”

East Ridge church of Christ, Chattanooga, Tennessee: Austin Fowler (regional trainer) reports, “During the annual door knocking day (previous Saturday), we had 35 members who gathered to meet our neighbors and participate in Door Knocking Day. Not only did we door-knock, but we also delivered 19 new mover baskets with spaghetti dinners. We knocked on 182 doors, talked to 67 people, and collected 21 contact cards. In the next few weeks, we will follow up with those 21 contact cards that represent souls who need to hear the Gospel.”

Hebron church of Christ, McMinnville, Tennessee: Derrick Stiles (preacher) reports, “Hebron has suffered a great loss this past week. One of our elders, who has served for 30 years, passed away and was laid to rest. Despite the circumstances, we met on Sunday and wrote 60 encouragement cards to souls in need. We ask for continued prayer for our Hebron family.”

Rivergate church of Christ, Madison, Tennessee: Doug Tooley (preacher) reports, “We still have some Bible studies ongoing, and our Compassion Card ministry is going strong.  We had a homecoming at Rivergate on Sunday, accompanied by a potluck after services. We had a lot of visitors, and we are praying that we will have some good contacts from this. One of our visitors was a lady who had been in our program for a while. We had helped her and her husband with a benevolence issue. Then, her husband got sick and passed away. She received visits and many cards. Yesterday was the first time she has been at Rivergate for worship. We are keeping this situation close.”

White Oak church of Christ, Chattanooga, Tennessee (remote): John McGiffin (preacher) reports, “We followed up with cards to the nine contacts we made during the Family and Friends Day. We are planning our next community outreach, which is a Fall Festival. We will have a trunk and treat along with a chili cook-off. We are making door hangers to hang on the doors of the houses in the surrounding area. We are sending letters to the Bible correspondence students to encourage them to continue their studies.”

Cookeville church of Christ, Tennessee: Jonathan Medley (deacon) reports, “We are still in the kick-off phase. The congregation is completing the Post Seminar Survey, and the results are due on Wednesday.  We have two prospects right now. One has been through the first two Back to the Biblestudies. The study of the third lesson is scheduled for October 10, due to the prospect’s schedule. We have sent 12 compassion cards to the other prospect, with eight more going out this week.”

East Main church of Christ, Murfreesboro, Tennessee: Brad Rowley (elder) reports, “The Lord has blessed East Main with another excellent month for evangelism. We rejoice in the baptism of Shioko McGee, Foster DeFranco, and Ron Johnston.  Shioko has been studying with her husband, Jeff, for 30 years and was baptized by Tim Hayes. Foster is one of our college students. This year, Foster has been studying and was baptized by Cole Walker, one of our new converts! Ron Johnston has been studying with Marie Francis and Brad Rowley. Jon Mitchell baptized Ron. We had a total of 129 compassion cards written in September. We had a total of seven new Bible studies and 14 ongoing studies. We had a very successful door-knocking day with 38 people present. We knocked on 475 doors, and 195 doors answered. Seven people were interested in receiving HTH by mail, and we have 14 new contact cards.

“Jay Pugh, one of our elders, has been working on our new website, which is up and running! In October, we hope to have multiple people trained to maintain it. This month, one of our deacons, Chris Taylor, helped us run a trial to record new contacts and assign follow-up tasks (cards, visits, and service projects) through our church software, CHMtgs. This first step was very successful. During the month of October, we hope to have members enter the results of these follow-up tasks. This will save a lot of phone calls, emails, and texts in the future. Chris Taylor and Mike Weeks, our deacons, are working on a way to enter our new mover baskets into the software. Our college group, led by Seth Ferguson, continues studying on campus weekly. The college group has inspired all the members with their evangelistic efforts.”

Madison County church of Christ, Jackson, Tennessee: Steven Sprouse (preacher) reports, “We had seven FHU students join us for their Servants Day. We made New Movers’ Baskets and delivered 14! All went well. Praying for good results.”

Rome church of Christ, Lebanon, Tennessee (remote): David Oxley (elder) reports, “We completed our third video yesterday and are looking forward to the fourth. We have already started a small prospect list and sent compassion cards. We believe we are close to our first Bible study.”

Nance church of Christ, Alamo, Tennessee (remote): Bill Mitchusson (preacher) reports, “We are looking forward to our leadership meeting with Charles Harris on October 5.”

New Union church of Christ, Manchester, Tennessee: Paul Fultz (elder) reports, “We had three visitors from the community, and our members submitted five contact cards. Our compassion card team met and filled out 34 cards. We made five transition visits with two ongoing Bible studies. We also had one baptism.”

Hillcrest church of Christ, Springfield, Tennessee: Tim Taylor (associate preacher) reports, “We braved the rain yesterday with 11 volunteers and did our door-knocking event. We made many connections and added five new prospects to our compassion cards list. We have been sending cards to a couple that has fallen away and not attended worship for several years. We made a home visit last week, and they attended worship yesterday. We are praying that they will continue to attend and be restored.”

Hillsboro church of Christ, Tennessee: Chris Sliger (member) reports, “Team B met this week to write cards to seven contacts. We also had visitors during Wednesday services; they were previous contacts from our Community Event in August.”

Mountain Creek church of Christ, Chattanooga, Tennessee: Michael Tomshack (elder) reports, “Gary Massey (Elder/Minister) continues a Bible study. One of our new members invited her neighbor to worship yesterday, and she came. Our door greeter met her before Bible class, and after class, our pew greeters met her, and many members greeted her. She seems to be open to visiting again. This is an example of the influence we have on our neighbors when we develop relationships with them. May God give the increase.”

Chapel Hill church of Christ, Tennessee: Matt Jones (deacon) reports, “This past Sunday was our special mission-emphasis day. We reported to the congregation about the work we have done so far since increasing our evangelistic efforts in January. To date, we have sent over 2000 cards to the contacts that have been generated. We have had 18 baptisms. We still have several Bible studies ongoing or soon-to-be set, so we look forward to what the Lord will do throughout the year. To God be the glory!”

Stoney Creek church of Christ, Elizabethton, Tennessee: Mike Blevins (elder) reports, “We continue to have four studies. Everything is suspended here due to flood disaster. The church is active in helping with relief. Stoney Creek is taking meals to the head of the creek Thursday. One of the people we have studied with is heading up that effort. The church is serving food to the community Friday.”

Windmill church of Christ, Texas (remote): Sean Tipton (deacon) reports, “Since the last update, we have contacted six individuals through our card-writing program and have visited some of those who received cards. We had two ongoing studies that have been delayed due to availability, but the interest is still there, so we will continue them as available. Another person who has been attending recently has expressed interest in further studies. We are optimistic that the effort will prove fruitful. We appreciate all prayers as we pursue additional contacts and try to reach those in our area.”

Buda Kyle church of Christ, Texas:  Ronnie Scherffius (preacher) reports, “The work of congregational evangelism at Buda Kyle continues to develop slowly. We have implemented some key areas of the work and are putting special attention on these areas to make them more efficient and effective. We appreciate all prayers as we labor for the Lord.”

Graceton church of Christ, Diana, Texas: Johnny Willeford (elder) reports, “Group A met Sunday afternoon and will send 78 compassion cards to six new contacts this week. We had two families and two individuals who visited with us on Sunday morning. All have been with us before, and it is really good to see them again. Seeing people want to come back and worship with us after their first visit is always a pleasure. They all say that they like what they hear and see from our church family here at Graceton. Our First Sunday Fellowship meal is coming up this next weekend, and we hope to have visitors from our new contacts. The Bible studies are slow, but efforts are still being made. We continue to encourage our workers to keep pushing forward in our community.”

Colleyville church of Christ, Texas (remote): John Garza (regional trainer) reports, “Here at Colleyville, we continue to teach the members the How To’s of evangelism. This week, Chris Willcut will be teaching How To Set Up A Study, emphasizing the transition from a prospect to a Bible study. Additionally, we are continuing to send cards to those who are on our list. Unfortunately, we have a few prospects/studies that have not gone well, but to God’s glory, we have multiple studies still taking place.”

Granbury Street church of Christ, Cleburne, Texas: Ryan Cowan (deacon) reports, “We as a church are still celebrating the resounding success of our participation in the 5th Annual Brotherhood Wide Door Knocking Day. As of now, we have a total of 24 new contacts with whom to work. Of these 24, two have already visited for services and went out to eat with members. One of these contacts has already completed Book 2 of BTTB! We will send cards or revisit others in person soon.”

Wheeler church of Christ, Texas: Garrett English (preacher) reports, “We plan to deliver the Bibles this week on the “National Bring Your Bible to School Day.” We are giving the personal-size Apologetics Press Bibles to the sixth-grade classes of four schools in our county with invitations to study them with us. This past Sunday, a middle school-aged boy brought two of his friends from school that visited with us. I plan to find their addresses and send cards to them and their families. I am still reaching out to the barber, who has read some of our materials and is asking questions. She is unwilling to study, so I have sent her GBN videos relating to her questions to spark a study.”

Bridgewater church of Christ, Katy, Texas: Doug Suggs (deacon) reports, “At Bridgewater, we have an ongoing study with David, a young man from China on a tourist visa who wants to know more about God. Wade and I have studied with him using the three booklets on Believe the Bible, and we have also gone through the Back to the Bible material with him. He seems to grasp that God is our Creator and that the Bible is our authority. We are now using Jule Miller’s Visualized Bible Study Series material so he can see the picture of the Bible. Austin Fowler visited Wade this past weekend and sat in on the study with us. When David asked a question, Austin said that he would provide him with some material. We had visitors on Sunday, so we will be sending cards. One of our card teams will be meeting next Sunday. One of our members, Mark, continues to study with his son-in-law.”

Fruitvale church of Christ, Texas: Carl McCann (preacher) reports, “This week we did some follow-up work. Two ladies and some children from the congregation arranged flowers and then delivered them to several ladies who have been receiving compassion cards.  Three of the ladies visited this Sunday because of this outreach. Jesse and Ben Duke did Book 1 of Back to the Biblewith a new prospect who met them on the Fruitvale Bible Study Facebook page. Misty and Elizabeth Clower finished Does it Matter with a lady who is blind, and she wants to continue another study next week. We had several Bible studies canceled and moved to next week. We also set up a table at the local Salt Festival in Grand Saline and offered families free water and a baby changing station. Many people stopped and picked up information about the church, and one family requested a Bible, which we will deliver this week. We continue working on the model and have four ongoing Bible studies.”

Peninsula church of Christ, Virginia: Ben Phillips (preacher) reports, “Sunday was a great day at worship. We had visitors return, and new visitors joined us. One of the latest movers we reached out to during AMC who had shown interest but had never visited us before! It was our potluck Sunday, and she stayed with her two kids so we could get to know her. We are also following up with another new visitor from the community. We currently have three ongoing studies. One of them will tackle Book 3 of Back to the Bible this Friday. We are praying for fruit for God’s glory. The other two studies are longer-term projects. We think a few prospects might be near to accepting a study, and we appreciate all prayers for their response. Unfortunately, one study in progress seems to be stalled.  The couple has not been responding to contacts from our elder, who was doing the study with his wife. Unfortunately, the couple in the study visited with family for two weeks in the middle of the study. They had an exciting family religious background, and we were concerned the family influence might be too much. We are not giving up on them as we will continue to pray, and the elder’s family plans to visit.

“We are organizing our follow-up team and organizing our compassion card teams. We had delayed the compassion card teams because we had so much work to do immediately after AMC that required an all-hands-on-deck approach. Now that some hard work is done, we will transition to teams. The follow-up team is getting organized now that we have done more training. The elders, deacons, and I have been doing the bulk of the follow-up work thus far, but we are ready to incorporate other faithful workers into the mix. The work is going well, and we pray for more fruit to God’s glory! We appreciate all prayers of our work here.”

Williamsburg church of Christ, Virginia: Jim Bishop (elder) reports, “On Tuesday night, the Compassion Card leaders conducted a Zoom meeting to review the prospect spreadsheet. They discussed the upcoming layout of compassion cards for Group 5. We started the sermons on Back to the BibleBook 2 and passed out the training cards for benevolence and a number of the Back to the Bible DVDs. The new converts greatly appreciate the presentation of a baptismal certificate and a new Bible as small tokens to remind them when God added them to His church and for the new journey with Christ in their life. We have two Bible studies in progress, with one of the studies moving to Lesson 2.”