Success Stories: April 16, 2025

Welcome Collierville church of Christ, Tennessee: We want to welcome the Collierville church of Christ to the House to House/Heart to Heart School of Evangelism. The congregational support was high. Aaron Cozort has been working to rebuild this congregation and they are now ready to evangelize. They are blessed to be aided by Justin, a resent MSOP graduate who was hired to be an evangelist.

Glencoe church of Christ, Alabama: Keith Ritchie (evangelist) reports, “The Glencoe congregation started its transitions this Sunday after services. Teams 1 and 2 went out to previous contacts and contacted them again, while Team 3 focused on the movers’ baskets. We had a wonderful week with one baptism on Wednesday. The teens and college-age members are excited, and one of our teens is an active bringer of two friends. We have added a Bible study and now have five studies in all. Nicole and Hannah have a study with Paulette this week using Back to the Bible, Book 2. Sow, Grow, and Glow! To God be the glory!”

Cedar Grove church of Christ, Andalusia, Alabama: Joshua Halloway (preacher) reports, “We have started our enrollment of HTHSOE with a bang. We had a great seminar last week with Rob Whitacre. Three come forward during that event and two more in services since. Several in our congregation are rededicating their lives to focus on being faithful and more evangelistic. This past Sunday, we passed out our evangelism seminar questionnaire. We had a great response; almost every adult in our congregation filled out one, turned it in, and volunteered for almost everything available. We have great positivity surrounding this effort. We set our official start date for April 27 (after Lads2Leaders). On the first Sunday after we enrolled in the program, we had our first restoration. He is a great man named Brent. He rededicated his life to the Lord and made a commitment to God. We had seven visitors this week. One of our elders did a great job of getting their information. Some were prodigals, some were adult children of members, and some were non-Christian wives of members (who usually do not attend). We will be following up with these individuals. One of our prospects is having a major life event this week. Several of our members and our elders are reaching out to him via cards and visits. We also finished the third Bible study of Back to the Bible with a woman named Karen. She has not yet obeyed the Gospel. Please pray for her soul. We will not give up on her.”

West Huntsville church of Christ, Alabama: Paul Owen (evangelist) reports, “Through our compassion cards, visits, and visitor contacts, we have seen an increase in our number of current Bible studies! Our New Mover Program sent out seventeen baskets, and from those seventeen, we have six good contacts.”

Hartselle church of Christ, Alabama:  Justin Smith (preacher) reports, “The seminar concluded two weeks ago, and we have a lot of behind-the-scenes work currently happening. We have a launch date of Sunday, April 27, to begin training the congregation. This past week, we conducted a congregational survey to gauge interest. The excitement is real! I receive calls and texts daily from brothers and sisters, looking forward to getting started. All for God’s glory!”

Highland Park church of Christ, Muscle Shoals, Alabama: Andrew Myhan (deacon) reports, “Our congregation has seven ongoing Bible studies at different stages. Please pray for these efforts and their souls. One has finished all three booklets but is not ready for baptism. Please remember this one as we continue to minister.”

Central church of Christ, Saraland, Alabama: David Dixon (preacher) reports, “We are not a large congregation, and like many congregations our size, most of the work is done by just a few of the members. One of our main workers, who never complains and never asks for anything, but is always there for anyone in need, came forward Wednesday night asking for forgiveness of a particular sin. He confessed he had spoken to one of our contacts in an ungodly manner. I do not know what he said or what the interaction included, but since he was so affected and felt the need for a public confession says so much about him. We prayed for him and surrounded him with love and hugs. The contact he had offended is a special case. She is peculiar, to say the least. We have been patiently interacting with her for over a year. She will visit occasionally, and she has asked for literature regarding the church, which we have happily provided. But she expects things to be done her way. We got off on the wrong foot with her a year ago, and we have been trying to smooth things over with her ever since. We have made a great deal of headway, but we have not been able to get her to agree to a Bible study yet. I explain all of this because one thing we have learned is that it can take a long time with some people. We cannot give up on them. We keep the doors open for them. I am confident she will come around. I would ask you to pray for Cheryl. On Sunday, we had three visiting families, mostly because we had an egg hunt for the kids. But there was sincere interest from all of them. We have new contacts!”

Creekwood church of Christ, Mobile, Alabama: Tucker Presley (preacher) reports, “We have about ten on the prospect list now. A good sign is that work has been started on getting coordinators. We have identified some individuals/couples who could serve as coordinators, so hopefully, the different parts of the program will get rolling soon. We are still studying with Viktoriia (new convert) on Thursdays. She has struggled to make it to worship service and Bible class due to her job, but we hope to get her involved. We have already had to order more invitation cards because members have been taking them and passing them out in the community.”

Petersville church of Christ, Florence, Alabama: Adam Richardson (preacher) reports, “Petersville had a great Sunday yesterday as we continue stressing how important the church is. The series entitled ‘The Church Matters 2’ contains lessons on the importance of the church to God, to the world, to Jesus, and to the church members. God’s plan to make the world a better place has always been through the church! We had our ‘Spring Bring’ to invite friends and family and had 20 visitors at the morning worship. That afternoon, we had an Easter egg hunt, and around 150 people show up, including two visiting families from the morning. One family came because our young ones did a craft last week to paint rocks and place them in public locations around town. On the bottom of each rock was a QR code for the church website inviting people to worship. A man found one of the rocks and scanned the code; then he came to church services! We also have a new tablecloth for our evangelism tables that brings fresh interest from the congregation.”

Hatton church of Christ, Alabama: Chris Miller (preacher) reports, “We rejoice as Heath Guin was restored last week, and we also rejoice with Tatiana Gutierrez, who through many studies decided to obey the Gospel this Sunday. Also, we are having many new visitors, and this is really opening doors for contacts and studies.”

Mountain Home church of Christ, Arkansas: Joshua Adams (preacher) reports, “This past week, a three-part Bible study with Back to the Bible led to a baptism Wednesday, and now we have a new sister in Christ! We have several other Bible studies ongoing and hope to have more great news to report. On Sunday morning, I preached on the parable of the Wedding Feast and how we should not limit the guest list when it comes to who we invite. That evening, our Bible class went over what our renewed visitors and greeters ministry will look like as we covered ‘do’s and don’ts’ and the Biblical imperative of showing hospitality. Our leaders in those areas are creating packets and enlisting help so that not one visitor will be missed. We had a total of 12 visitors at the morning service. After our evening Bible class, we had our first compassion card signing. We started with 10 contacts and had 25 people attend to sign cards! The coordinators and team leads were pleasantly surprised at the show of support. Many hands make light work. We now see how easily we can add additional contacts to our compassion list roster and soon will.”

Rison church of Christ, Arkansas: Keden Shrum (preacher) reports, “I met with the elders last night to discuss potential prospects. One of our elders plans to visit a man who has received cards this week. We look forward to having a refresh next month and hoping it will help us better focus our efforts on finding more contacts.”

Malvern church of Christ, Arkansas (remote): David Burruss (preacher) reports, “We are currently preparing for our upcoming Spring Gospel Meeting and Ladies Day. At present, we have three promising prospects, and we sent 12 cards last week. This week, we plan to follow up with transition visits. Additionally, there is a potential Bible study opportunity with a young man who has been facing some difficult challenges.”

Windsor church of Christ, Colorado: Lucas Stephens (member) reports, “We had visitors Sunday. We continue to work on evangelism, and as a result, we have a Bible study in the works. We are working our new movers program and have about 60 upcoming visits to welcome them to the neighborhood. As a result of our past visit, we do have one name to add to our prospect list, which is really good news. We sent out cards to our six prospects this past Sunday for our compassion card group.”

Wildwood church of Christ, Florida: Tony Clay (evangelist) reports, “We completed John 4 this week and will continue training the congregation on implementing these evangelistic strategies. We will continue building on the considerable enthusiasm among the membership and making these principles practical. The next step is establishing coordinators for each crucial part of the evangelism model and finding a place for every member to have an active role in taking this message of hope, peace, and eternal life to our community.”

Margaret Street church of Christ, Milton, Florida: Troy Spradlin (preacher) reports, “Some of the most beneficial aspects of the Evangelism Model that I greatly appreciate are the organization of contacts, the follow-up methods for our visitors, and the coordination of Bible studies. These areas were severely lacking in our previous format of the ministry. We now have coordinators for all of these areas. They are doing a great job, and no one is ‘slipping through the cracks’ anymore! We have received 110 contacts from the congregation. Some of the contacts are names of friends and family of our members. Others are our visitors, and lately, many have come from our food pantry ministry. Of that number, we have 34 prospects who are either in Bible studies, receiving compassion cards, or in our visitation rotation. We have now mailed 1001 compassion cards.”

Lake Forest church of Christ, Jacksonville, Florida: Brian Howard (preacher) reports, “We are making our way through the checklist and establishing coordinators for each area of work. Members continue to bring in their seminar questionnaires. This has been a good gauge of their desire to evangelize. We set a beginning date to pass out the bookmarks for April 27.”

Niceville church of Christ, Florida: Joe Palmer (preacher) reports, “This Sunday, we had three visitors. Two were Christians who just moved to town. I have an organizational meeting scheduled for the week of April 27.  I plan to start a new evangelism class at that time. We just had a two-week focus on contact cards, and I am hoping that stirs up the activity. A couple of our studies are stalled due to illness, and a lot of energy is being put into making disciples. We sent out 19 cards last week and hope to see new studies starting soon.”

Avalon church of Christ, Florida (remote): Preston Silcox (elder) reports, “Our Sunday morning attendance has been in the 80s for the past three weeks. We had five visitors on Wednesday night and four on Sunday. On Sunday night, we were going through Does It Matter? as a group, and two teenagers committed to Bible studies. One is a regular visitor and the other a new visitor. Presently, we have four families studying with non-Christians.”

Woodstock church of Christ, Georgia: Larkin Cook (member) reports, “The WCOC congregation attended the Sunabella of Towne Lake Assistant Living devotional on Sunday. They had five non-Christian attendees. We are working on our Friends Day for May 04, 2025. We hope to have many visitors and Bible study prospects. We had five non-Christian visitors this Sunday morning. We also had one Bible study this past week.”

Rabun County church of Christ, Georgia (remote): McKinley Pate (preacher) reports, “Rabun County was blessed to have another soul come forward and put Christ on in baptism, having her sins washed away. Carla Ligon is the grandmother of Leeland Flutcher, who was baptized last month. Carla has been studying with me and another member over the last few weeks. On Sunday, as the invitation was given, Carla came forward proclaiming that she had been deceived by religious groups and wanted to be saved the way God’s Word demands. The Lord continues to bless the church that assembles in Rabun County, Georgia. He has given an increase of four souls already this year, matching our total number of baptisms in 2024. Although we are the only congregation in the county, the Lord is making a huge difference in our little corner of the world. To God be the glory!”

Eatonton church of Christ, Georgia (remote): Roderick Coney (minister) reports, “We have three people on our prospect list. We sent cards to them. For one prospect, everyone signed the card. We are working on scheduling a Bible study with another one. We are praying that we can start the study this week. Brother Mills currently has an ongoing Bible study with the third prospect; they are ready to study Lesson 2 of Back to the Bible. We appreciate all prayers as we strive to implement the evangelism model here at the Eatonton congregation.”

Lafayette church of Christ, Georgia: Jesse Teague (deacon) reports, “Saturday was a door-knocking day at Lafayette. Every second Saturday, we meet at 10:00 a.m. and go out to make visits. We had 24 names from our new movers list. Don, one of our elders, made lists of these names and organized them by location to hand out to the group. Sixteen saints were ready to go out in teams of at least two, so we averaged about three names each. Some also made follow-up visits to former contacts. Altogether, we engaged with more than 30 people who needed to hear the Gospel. We have several upcoming events (a church picnic and a youth/family get-together), and we are encouraging the congregation each week to be sure to bring someone who needs help getting to heaven. Once they meet the Lafayette family, they will be encouraged to make that good decision to obey the Gospel!”

Cartersville church of Christ, Georgia (remote): Charles Harris (regional trainer) reports, “We had two more restorations. Please pray for Linda and Johnna. Bible studies are ongoing. Most of our visitors in the past couple of months have been the result of our evangelistic efforts. In June, we will have been working with HTHSOE for a year. We are in the process of swapping evangelistic works with various members and getting others involved.”

Honolulu church of Christ, Hawaii: Tagiilima Esene (regional trainer) reports, “We continue to have studies with eight souls at this time. We continue to use our new movers program to welcome our neighbors into the community. Our card ministry group continues to send cards to our visitors. We are currently prospecting three repeated visitors through meal invitations. Our focus right now is on our upcoming family camp event, which will be an opportunity to edify and build up the families in the church. So far this year, we have had one baptism, two restorations, and a total of eight ongoing Bible studies. Our new converts class will soon be graduating. We appreciate all the prayers.”

Collinsville-Troy church of Christ, Illinois: Jason Wright (elder) reports, “We continue to have visitors on Sundays. Chris attended our food giveaway. We gave him a visitor‘s bag, and members took him out to lunch. He came back this past Sunday and is really enjoying getting to know the congregation. We delivered several new movers baskets and made some follow-up visits. We mailed 104 compassion cards and conducted multiple Bible studies. We are praying that baptisms are in the near future.
We made 30 contacts at our recent food and clothing giveaway. Our clothing closet will be open Tuesday; we hope to help the community and make more contacts. We continue to mail about 1500 House to House mailers each month. We continue to work on the plan.”

Judah church of Christ, Bloomington, Indiana: Joe Moon (preacher) reports, “We are currently sending cards to one couple and added a new prospect this week. We hope to write cards for him on Wednesday night. One prospect has received enough cards to be ready for a visit, but he will be out of town for a couple of weeks for work.”

Beloit church of Christ, Kansas (remote): Dustin Dougherty (regional trainer) reports, “We had 33 in attendance yesterday morning. At the end of the service, I asked the members to pull out their contact bookmarks, and I offered a prayer for those on our lists. I asked if anyone had someone on their list who was sick or struggling and could use encouragement with compassion cards. One name was suggested—a local lady who was just been diagnosed with cancer—so we will send cards to her soon. I will be traveling to Scott City, Kansas, this coming Sunday to speak for the small congregation there and rushing back for our evening service that night; I look forward to being with them. I also offered all 16 of my daily Bible readers a personal Bible study.”

Poole church of Christ, Kentucky: Andrew Wynne (preacher) reports, “Our Gospel Meeting and campaign was a great success. We knocked on well over 700 doors for the campaign days and planted many seeds. Please pray the seeds will be watered. We plan to continue our evangelism efforts by teaching Back to the Bible, sending out House to House, delivering our new movers’ bags, and writing cards to wayward members. We had one that showed up yesterday. I got her name and number. Hopefully, we can get a study scheduled.”

Madisonville church of Christ, Kentucky: Russell Kline (preacher) reports, “The Compassion Card program continues to go strong. We are about to reach out to the April new movers. Currently, we are conducting one Bible study.”

Central church of Christ, Paducah, Kentucky: Adam Faughn (preacher) reports, “This week, I am reminded of the Biblical phrase to ‘not grow weary in doing good.’ In last week’s report, we mentioned
Rachel and felt she was very close to baptism. Long story short, she was not. We are not sure we can study with her again anytime soon. We will continue to pray, but this sudden change was very discouraging. However, in good news, we are in the middle of a four-part series of sermons meant to refocus our efforts on evangelism as a congregation. So far, it is being well received. We also are making certain to be more intentional in our training, and we are praying that it helps us both short- and long-term in our efforts. We had two new guests Sunday, including one who is an ordained Baptist pastor! We pray for several who have been visiting more lately, and we believe we are getting much closer to being ready for a Bible study. May God give the increase!”

La Plata church of Christ, LaPlata, Maryland (remote): Eric Sykes (regional trainer) reports, “Due to inclement weather, we had to reschedule our New Mover’s Door Knocking campaign. We have put together 15 gift baskets, and we plan to deliver them this week. We still have five open Bible studies, with two folks who have said that they are ready to be baptized. We request prayers for their baptisms to take place soon. Our advanced teacher training team is entering Chapter 4 of How to Close a Study today. The eldership has decided to teach Growing in Christ to the congregation as part of the Wednesday night Bible study class starting this week. This upcoming weekend, we’re having an Easter Egg Hunt for the kids. For the first time, we will try to make it evangelistic. Please keep us lifted up in prayer in this effort.”

East Flushing church of Christ, New York (remote): Clarence Jenkins (preacher) reports, “We had one visit during last week for worship service, and we had three visitors. Our metrics for April thus far are 30 compassion cards, seven Bible studies, and 13 prospects. We appreciate all prayers.”

New Concord church of Christ, Ohio: Terry Townsend (preacher) reports, “We had four ‘first-timer’ visitors on Sunday. One is new to our area and had received a visit and a new movers basket a few weeks earlier. All four visitors were given a welcome gift, and each one filled out a visitor card. We will send compassion cards to each of them this week, and we will make follow-up visits. Our annual ‘Golden Agers Day’ was a success. We did have one lady (one of our member’s mothers) attend. She recently lost her husband, and we sent her several compassion cards. She does not attend anywhere but spoke highly of the New Concord congregation with an indication she might start attending. We continue a Bible study with a man who is active in a denomination (although he has attended with us the last couple of weeks). We are on Book 3 of Back to the Bible. One of our elders has been working on new visitation assignments and will be giving those out this week. This is the one area (transitional visits) that we are struggling with. Further training is necessary. It seems that many brethren lack confidence in making personal visits and setting up Bible studies. This is a bit of a challenge, but we can navigate it!”

Whispering Hills church of Christ, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma: Matt McBrayer (preacher) reports, “We try to take every opportunity to get contacts. Recently, we maximized our efforts at our annual ‘Swap.’ Every spring, we bring our unwanted items to the church building instead of taking them to Goodwill. Several of our ladies sort the items, and then we invite people from our community to take the items they need for free. Approximately 300 people come through the doors Saturday, and we gathered contact information from several. We had a registration sheet for everyone to fill out, and we got about 65 contacts out of the event. My wife Autumn hand-wrote 59 cards on Saturday, and yesterday, the entire congregation signed cards to send to these attendees. We are going to start prepping for next year to be able to get more contacts from this event. In addition to our efforts on Saturday, we had 12 visitors on Sunday, and we sent out 43 compassion cards. The work continues to grow, and we are starting to see the fruits of our labor with visitors placing membership. We continue to seek Bible studies.”

Sullivan Village church of Christ, Lawton, Oklahoma: Steven Hill (preacher) reports, “Sullivan Village started the School of Evangelism about a year and a half ago. Shortly after getting the program going, we lost one of our elders, which took a huge toll on the congregation and slowed the process of evangelism to a crawl. Since then, we have re-established a new eldership and have become stronger. We are scheduled for a refresher course in about a month to get things going once again! But about 3 weeks ago, we had a lady visit who got an H2H publication in her mailbox and decided to visit us. We have since studied with her and baptized her. She is our newest convert, and we cannot be happier. Her name is Barbara Perkins, and we covet your prayers for her and for our congregation going forward.”

Porter church of Christ, Oklahoma: Nathan Boyd (elder) reports, “During our Sunday evening class, Nathan (one of our elders) presented a lesson on ‘Making the Visit/Mission Monday.’ In addition to the slide show, the congregation read through a scenario sheet of prep work, supplies, conversation scenario, and how the five different visits hypothetically went. We had our second compassion card night. We wrote 220 cards and mailed out 72 for 13 households to be delivered over six days. Eighteen from the Group B Compassion Card team showed up ready to show their faith through their works, and five from other groups also stayed. Thank you to the members of the congregation. The metric board numbers are up for April.  We had eight visitors, 400 cards, two Bible studies by Preacher Dan, 42 prospects, and one baptism. Rylin C. was added to the Lord’s church on Monday, April 7.”

Coweta church of Christ, Oklahoma: Keno Shrum (regional trainer) reports, “Jamie and I, along with several other members, have been reaching out to Kennedy for quite some time. I have asked her numerous times over the past several years to have a Bible study with me. She attends a Greek Orthodox church. She has politely declined all Bible study invitations. On Friday, she texted me and said she would like to take me up on that offer. We have a study scheduled for Tuesday evening and will go through Lesson 1 of Back to the Bible.

On Sunday, Jamie and I spent time with the Crosby, Texas, church of Christ to conduct a refresh. Jamie worked with their Compassion Card Coordinator and the wife of one of the elders to improve the setup and execution. They are a great congregation and are positioned and equipped for successful evangelism. A congregational refresh relights the fire. Continued education helps develop congregational evangelism. Successful congregations never give up.”

Aberdeen church of Christ, Pennsylvania: Will Brown (preacher) reports, “This week, we are building a new prospect list. We have three ongoing Bible studies and an active new Christians class, and we are building our Bible study team to help with the growing Bible studies. We continue to maintain and update our evangelism table and accountability boards. We are successfully supporting new Christians, and, as a church family, we are helping them grow their faith and become grounded. Please continue to pray for our ongoing Bible studies.”

Stewarts Creek church of Christ, Smyrna, Tennessee:  Jon McCord (member) reports, “We have prepared 10 new mover baskets to go out this week. We should be kicking right into our training on the 20^th, with Jayse Pruitt conducting some of the classes.”

Philadelphia church of Christ, Lebanon, Tennessee (remote): Alex Graves (associate preacher) reports, “We watched the video ‘Let’s Not Argue About the Method’ yesterday and began with contact cards for prospecting. We had many people ask for the contact cards, which was very encouraging! One member is trying to find time to study with someone to help her reach her husband with the Gospel.”

Rome church of Christ, Lebanon, Tennessee (remote): David Oxley reports, “We will meet this week for our advanced class. We are sending cards this week to four new prospects. We will meet on Monday night for our new converts class. We have a Book 2 Back to the Bible study scheduled for this week along with some prospect visits.”

Blackman church of Christ, Murfreesboro, Tennessee (remote): Brian McCord reports, “We continue to send out 30+ cards per week. We have signed up for the New Movers program and will start with that in May.”

Hillcrest church of Christ, Springfield, Tennessee: Tim Taylor (evangelist) reports, “We had a baptism yesterday! John had some concerns about his baptism at a young age and wanted to feel secure in his salvation. Appropriately, after his baptism, we sang ‘My Name Is Written There.’ What a great day at Hillcrest!”

Chapel Hill church of Christ, Tennessee: Matt Jones (deacon) reports, “We had the opportunity to meet and get to know several visitors. We were able to set up a Bible study with one, and we plan to continue to follow up with the others. There are at least three other Bible studies ongoing by other members as well. We are also summarizing and distributing the results to our coordinators from our recent survey to make sure we are keeping everyone engaged and where they are best suited.”

Cookeville church of Christ, Tennessee: Jonathan Medley (elder) reports, “We had a great week, and it was very interesting. Sometimes all it takes is having the courage to ask a question. We have six prospects on the list this week. One is a lady who has visited our services three weeks in a row. She was hesitant to share her address, but she completed a card this past Sunday. We are starting compassion cards to her this week. However, we will only do one card per week since she seems a little hesitant. Fortunately, several members have already met her, and they are getting to know her. When I arrived for our evening service, one of our widows (93-years-old) had a young lady with her we had never seen before. The young lady lives in apartments across the street from our building. When our widow arrived at the building, she saw the young lady walking her dog, so she walked over and told the young lady she should come to worship with us. The young lady said she had been thinking about visiting and that she would love to. So she did! She was very open to talking to everyone, and we learned some of her back story. Some of us invited her out to eat after, but she was heading to work and could not go. She said she plans to be back, and we are working out a day to study with her. Keeping the evening interesting, three young Indian women approached the front door as everyone was leaving. There was a slight language barrier, but we determined that they were in town for a few months for school working on doctorate degrees. They saw our building and wanted to know if they could come in and pray. We took them inside. Several got to meet them, and then I sat and talked with them for a few minutes. I prayed with/for them for a few minutes about their safety while visiting in the United States and for opportunities to study the Gospel together. I am not sure that is what they had in mind when they came by, but that is what happened! We gave them information about the congregation, and they said they may be back Wednesday or Sunday. We are praying that we continue to have contact with these four young ladies.”

McEwen church of Christ, Tennessee: John Jones (preacher) reports, “We are still going at a good pace for our congregation, trying to get people on board. We are writing cards every Sunday evening and still receiving some contacts. Soon we will begin an outreach to the unfaithful. I have just been given a long list of folks who used to attend here, so we will send them compassion cards! Our Bible studies have slowed down, given bad storms two weeks ago and a Gospel meeting last week, but we hope to pick them back up today and throughout this week.”

Birdwell Chapel church of Christ, Cottontown, Tennessee: Kerry England (elder) reports, “This past Sunday, we passed out 13 new movers cards with plans to visit and deliver new movers baskets in the next couple of weeks. We are pausing the sermon series to concentrate on the aspects we are implementing now: new movers, greeting our visitors, and the compassion card ministry. We plan to get these areas off to a good start and then resume the series with the lessons on using Back to the Bible. We continue to have several visitors with whom we are building relationships, and hopefully, we can begin studies soon. We appreciate all prayers for open hearts that we can reach.”

Ocoee Street church of Christ, Copperhill, Tennessee: R.E. Vann (elder) reports, “Three of our prodigals came to worship service and midweek Bible study, but we have had no restorations yet. We will continue with our responsibilities in restoring the unfaithful (Galatians 6:1-2). Several transition visits are planned for the week. One of our shepherds will begin teaching our new converts this week.”

Rivergate church of Christ, Madison, Tennessee: Doug Tooley (preacher) reports, “We had four visitors on Sunday morning. We had two visitors on Wednesday night. One was taken to lunch on Sunday.
Two visits were made last week.”

White Oak church of Christ, Chattanooga, Tennessee (remote): John McGiffin (preacher) reports, “Several people helped us pass out door hangers with our upcoming Gospel meeting information. It is the benefit of being a Christian. We titled it ‘Why Should I Be a Christian?’ Four hundred were handed out in the community. The same message was sent in a Facebook advertisement, and 9,152 people have viewed the ad so far. One hundred forty-six clicked onto our website page for the congregation. We spent $50.61. Visitors returned for a second week in a row. These four people are members of the church but are ‘unchurched’ at this time. They recently moved. We implemented the visitor program last week, and they were overwhelmed by our hospitality. I have scheduled a lunch date with both of the husbands to get to know them a bit better. In addition, we noticed many people walking by the building in the evening. One person stayed one night last week and offered free water to anyone wishing to respond. Many avoided him, but we keep trying to give out the ‘living water.’ We examine new ways to find contacts in an aging congregation with limited physical abilities.”

West Fayetteville church of Christ, Tennessee: Steve Jefferson (elder) reports, “We have been blessed to have 13 in attendance for our Sunday morning ‘First Principles’ class. This class is made up of ten members. Three are visiting and are currently in separate Bible study outside of the class. They are ready for Lesson 3. Please pray that they will obey the Gospel. Yesterday, Team 3 sent compassion cards out to three contacts. We each wrote about 20 cards for a total of 60.”

Mountain Creek church of Christ, Chattanooga, Tennessee: Michael Tomshack (elder) reports, “Gary Massey, Elder and Minister, has organized two ongoing Bible studies and has set up a study with a young couple who have been visiting for several weeks. As previously mentioned, our congregation is known for its warmth and welcoming atmosphere towards visitors. The simple act of remembering their names consistently made a positive impression. Gary and Michelle Massey invited the couple and their children to lunch, which led to further exploration of their background and the opportunity to establish a Bible study. On Sunday, a visitor attended worship services because her mother is temporarily residing in an assisted living across the street. Although she is a Baptist, she desires to worship. She shared with Deena Hixson, our Greeter servant, how friendly and welcoming everyone was when welcoming her to the assembly.”

Eisenhower church of Christ, Odessa, Texas: Allen Weakland (elder) reports, “As the work continues in Odessa, God continues to provide numerous contacts. David Nash has encouraged a number of his friends to visit Eisenhower on a number of occasions. The congregation has responded by welcoming them with open arms. Several of our young couples have come together to take these visitors out to eat and to provide the opportunity to gather and play board games and partake in devotionals. Overall, I am noticing these wonderful couples becoming more comfortable. We request prayers for them as they become open to deeper spiritual discussions shortly. This past Wednesday evening during Bible class, the congregation engaged in our renewed compassion cards. We presented several families to our card writers who had recently experienced the passing away of a loved one, those facing surgery, and those who had visited in the past. We request prayers for the recipients of these cards. We hope they are touched, and we ask God to provide us with an opportunity to be of service to them. Finally, two weeks ago, the eldership announced a Brisket Dinner to the congregation. We requested that the members sign up and invite those outside the Body of Christ. As a result, this upcoming Saturday evening dinner should be an excellent opportunity to reach out for the cause of Christ. Overall, God has brought numerous contacts to our attention; as a result, three souls were added to the church. God has given the increase of nine new brothers and sisters in Christ over the span of just under 16 months. That means we have the opportunity over the next eight months to continue our mission. May God be praised.”

9^th and Main church of Christ, San Angelo, Texas: Leon Martinez (evangelist) reports, “The congregation aims to look inwardly among our members’ families since we realize that not every one of them is Christians. Also, there are multiple Bible studies going on, and compassion cards are being sent out. We appreciate all prayers as we also pray for other congregations.”

Southwest church of Christ, Austin, Texas: Bryce Mayfield (evangelist) reports, “This past Friday, we conducted an evangelistic outreach here in our community. We attempted to deliver 15 new movers baskets and made contact with four of them. We also knocked on about 100 doors, and we gathered five good contacts. We will begin compassion cards and then follow-up work in the following weeks. It was a great opportunity for the Southwest School of Bible Studies students to get involved with congregational evangelism here at Southwest. We are thankful for all prayers, even as we pray for all who are trying to spread the Gospel of Christ.”

Howe church of Christ, Texas: Aaron Alsbrook (preacher) reports, “We are starting our card writing on May 4 with two groups meeting. We have had several visitors to the assembly over the past couple of weeks, and we are working diligently to put our Visitor Teams together. We continue to pray for our bookmark contacts and ask God’s favor for an increase in that effort as well as growing our contact base. The congregation at Howe has been pressing on to save more souls in our community and the communities that surround us.”

Roanoke church of Christ, Texas: Caleb Rutherford (preacher) reports, “Contacts are everywhere! We just have to be willing to lift up our eyes and look. Group 1 wrote compassion cards to four prospects last night. Transition visits are still taking place. We are working to schedule two Bible studies that are direct results of those visits. We are working on getting HTH/HTH set up, as well as the new movers program. On Friday, Kaylon and I sat down with a lady named Natassha. We originally met at a park with our young professional group. It was super random, however. We just had normal introductions, and the conversation provided the opportunity for me to invite Natassha to sit down and talk about the Bible. Unfortunately, she felt as if she was not in a place to commit to an actual study or to visit our services. However, she said she would like to stay connected with us; her schedule will open up in the future. Obviously, that is a little bit disappointing and disheartening. However, Kaylon and I left, knowing we had done our job, and that was to plant the seed (1 Corinthians 3:6). It is funny how God works; although this was not the result we wanted, He placed another opportunity in front of us just a couple of days later. On Sunday evening, after services, Kaylon and I began studying with a lady named Skye. She and her husband have been visiting for maybe a month, and they came to us from a neighboring congregation. She has been attending the church of Christ for six years, but no one has ever studied with her. She had questions about her baptism and salvation, so I jumped at the opportunity to schedule a study. She was BLOWN AWAY. In fact, in her words, as we went through the study, ‘This is epic!’ We studied for about an hour, and then it was nearing time to pause the study due to the time. Before I could say anything, she asked, ‘So when is the next study?’ We scheduled it for Wednesday afternoon. God is good, and we have the good news in our hands. Oftentimes, it is the people right in front of us that need it so badly. We should not look so far away in the distance that we miss what is right in front of us.”

Fruitvale church of Christ, Texas: Carl McCann (elder) reports, “We send Tyberius Tooley, a brother from the Fort Sam Houston church of Christ in San Antonio, Texas, back to his home congregation trained in door-knocking, contact making, and follow -up work. In addition, he has assisted with four Bible studies and has learned the value of using an organized study. He has also learned important aspects of a study, such as showing, not telling, differing the question, and not debating. We are now excited to have Joseph Groda from the North Jefferson church of Christ in Mount Pleasant joining us for several weeks to train in the same way. Ian McCann has been quite busy with compassion cards due to our community outreach and members bringing prospects to our attention. We will have to dedicate time to do follow up work soon. We continue to have five ongoing studies. Hopefully, this week, we will begin to study with another person.”

Midtown church of Christ, Victoria, Texas: Cody McCoy (preacher) reports, “This week, we saw an explosion of visitors. One was from our business card-sized invitation. A deacon, Lupe, met Brittney at a storage facility and used it to connect with her. Another visitor, Frances, indicated she was looking for a church home and requested a Bible study. We visited with several couples who stopped to worship on the way through. We continue to spread the word about being a Christ-like congregation, and others are taking notice. We are grateful to God for the opportunities coming our way when we shine our light in the community. “

Wheeler church of Christ, Texas: Garrett English (preacher) reports, “The study for last week with the young man is now scheduled for this Friday. I do believe it will go well. I also scheduled a second study with the pastor for the week of Easter. We will study Back to the Bible Lesson 2. There were visitors yesterday, and they were greeted warmly. I have followed up with those whom they were visiting, and I hope that it will be fruitful. I also am planning to visit this week with a man in the hospital to whom we have sent cards; he is struggling with his health.”

Southside church of Christ, Lubbock, Texas (remote): Joshua Hubbard (associate minister) reports, “We had many visitors, and there seems to be some potential in one couple in particular. One of our elders is currently involved in a study with a man who has come to services for two Sundays in a row. Also, two more families placed membership in the past month, which just adds to the number of laborers available to the congregation here.”

Granbury Street church of Christ, Cleburne, Texas: Ryan Cowan (deacon) reports, “This past Friday night, we met at the building for pizza and evangelism. About 20 members took part in attempting to reconnect with those souls who have received cards from us. My family and I met with Olga, the daughter of the man who has received our cards. Olga was very appreciative of the cards that were sent to her dad. Kerista hopes to get to know Olga better and possibly study with her in the future. Pat McIntosh and Jeff Day met with Larry. We had the opportunity to mow Larry’s yard last fall during our ‘mini AMC.’ It was great for Larry to meet with some other members. Jeff is planning to help Larry with his yard once again. We are hoping that a door for study may open soon. Justin Hopkins and his family met with a man named Leo. We first met Leo during our new movers efforts. Leo has been in a Bible study with Justin and Leah in the past, but contact was lost. Justin and Leah have made plans to meet again for a meal and a study. Pat and Jeff also met with a woman named June. June has had a connection to the Lord’s church in the past. It is possible that June might attend Granbury Street in the future. Overall, it was a great evening of fellowship and evangelism. We are hoping that another ‘in-person visit’ night can be planned soon.”

Abingdon church of Christ, Virginia: Freddie Klein (evangelist) reports, “This week, our follow-up transition visits yielded a promising Bible study opportunity. Nathan led the congregation through the Back to the Bible sermon series in the morning and emphasized the importance of unity and mission focus in the evening. The second card group meeting was well-received with considerable enthusiasm. Additionally, we convened a follow-up meeting with our visitor bag group, who have successfully fulfilled their April quota and are eagerly anticipating the next month.”

West Side church of Christ, Salem, Virginia: Jeff Durham (elder) reports, “We coordinated with the HTHSOE team to create ‘You’re Invited’ business-style cards. We will use these to share with those we are asking to attend our worship services. The card includes a QR Code for the lesson, ‘What to Expect When You Visit the church of Christ.’ We have shown this video during a devotional period, so everyone knows what the person receiving the card would be watching. One of our ministers developed the idea of making ‘Seed Packets,’ a small Ziploc pouch with ten ‘You’re Invited’ cards to be handed out. When you have used all ten, you will see him get another packet of ‘seeds.’ This is another simple way to encourage EVERY member to participate in the Congregational Evangelism plan.”

Culpeper church of Christ, Virginia (remote): Dave Calvert (elder) reports, “We are continuing with our evangelism efforts, but due to the exciting new growth that has recently blessed us, we are now channeling our focus towards our new young Christian members. This is a whole new area of concern for our congregation. With these new members, we have the challenge of providing the nourishment they need to grow to maturity. “As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby” (1 Peter 2:2). Our new focus is to make our new members feel welcome and a part of our church family. The elders have begun a mentoring program to ensure that each new member is receiving nurturing attention from one of our mature members. We request prayers for our congregation that we will be able to provide the necessary care for our new young Christian members and to help them be aware of the snares that this world will place before them now more than ever before. We now need to help them to grow and remain steadfast.”

Williamsburg church of Christ, Virginia: Jim Bishop (elder) reports, “The first-time visitors’ team did a great job revising and improving our first-time visitors’ bags. The bags were labeled with all the pertinent information visitors need for visiting again. They also received several other items, along with a brochure that includes information about the congregation and what to expect. Williamsburg is a tourist city, and a city map is included. Our visitor bags are located in the foyer at the entrance to the worship assembly area. We have several Bible studies in progress. We sent cards to the new movers and received one contact card. May God Bless each congregation and provide all opportunities to spread the Gospel.”