Success Stories: August 6, 2025

Welcome West Sparta church of Christ, Tennessee:  We welcome the West Sparta church of Christ to the House to House/Heart to Heart School of Evangelism. This congregation has been served by Derrick Coble and his family for over 21 years. They are already evangelistic but now have a model, tools, and training to make it congregational.

Glencoe church of Christ, Alabama: Keith Ritchie (evangelist) reports, “The Glencoe congregation continues to have excellent attendance and a good number of visitors. We have three Bible studies in progress with several contacts. We are planning outreach efforts, and our next-door knocking will take place within the next few weeks. The members are excited and ready to work, doing what they can to help the church grow. We are gaining members moving into the area and saying they are ready to work. God is blessing us with workers. We pray the excitement does not fade and the work grows. To God be the glory!”

West Huntsville church of Christ, Alabama: Paul Owen (evangelist) reports, “We had a wonderful last month at West Huntsville. There have been three baptisms, and we have started two new Bible studies. The most recent studies are with visitors who are the young professional age. The majority of our conversions are coming from visitors and friends of our members. We appreciate all prayers for these studies, hoping they will culminate in conversions.”

Fayette church of Christ, Alabama: Josh Taylor (deacon) reports, “We are looking forward to our mission Sunday next Sunday. We have gained a few contacts, and we plan to send cards to them and prospect further. We have had a tenth-grader who has been eager to learn about the church, especially baptism. She went to our congregation with her grandparents for many years, but she stopped coming. Now she has returned and is enjoying her time with us. She has asked one of our deacons, Carson Nichols, to study with her. That study will happen tonight! We pray that this planting of the seed is fruitful! We appreciate all prayers and encouragement.”

Central church of Christ, Saraland, Alabama: David Dixon (preacher) reports, “This month we are going to reorganize teams and efforts. We are excited to implement some needed adjustments for our situation. Our new converts continue to be the biggest source of new contacts/prospects, and through it all, I am realizing just how difficult it is for the preacher to be the one who oversees and organizes everything. This has not happened with us, but I can see how it might at other congregations. It would quickly lead to burn out. I am so thankful for the organization suggested by the School of Evangelism, and I am thankful for our elders who are committed to making it work here.”

Hartselle church of Christ, Alabama: Justin Smith (preacher) reports, “Our young people are evangelists. Over the last few years (and weeks) we’ve had young people bringing their friends to church and some being baptized. Our teens do not typically conduct the Bible studies, but there are new Christians in our building simply because our young people want their friends to know Jesus and asked them to come to a service with them. That’s one reason why at the beginning of each school year we bring all our kids on stage to be prayed over. Not just to pray for safety and a good year, but for them to be lights in a dark place. This week I’ll be reminding our whole congregation to look to their example of being inviters.”

Hatton church of Christ, Town Creek, Alabama: Chris Miller (preacher) reports, “Last week, a group of our members worked with the Coweta church in Oklahoma. During the campaign, we knocked doors, and now the church there is following up with 28 contacts. While we were there, Alyssa Moore was baptized, and a study with Carter Crumpton using Back to the Bible led to his obedience to the Gospel. Back home at Hatton, we had our mission meal this past Sunday.  We currently have two people who are really close to obeying the Gospel.”

Creekwood church of Christ, Mobile, Alabama: Tucker Presley (preacher) reports, “We had two baptisms last week! One baptism was a young lady whose family has attended Creekwood for years. The other baptism was a young man with whom we have been studying for several weeks; he was baptized on Wednesday! We completed the booklets in another Bible study, but there is still some hesitation on being baptized. David is continuing the study. Compassion cards are still being written every week, and we have great participation with that. We are on our second week of writing to 20 families of VBS visitors.”

Highland Park church of Christ, Muscle Shoals, Alabama: Andrew Myham (deacon) reports, “Please be in prayer for our ongoing Bible studies. We especially ask prayer on behalf of April. She has had one Bible study so far, but she has recently been admitted to the hospital.”

Petersville church of Christ, Florence, Alabama: Adam Richardson (preacher) reports, “We sent 12 compassion cards last week. One ongoing Bible study has completed the first two lessons with great success. Adam, our minister, is also starting another Bible study this afternoon with a very eager student.”

Cedar Grove church of Christ, Andalusia Alabama: Josh Holloway (preacher) reports, “This week has been great for our congregation in the transition visit category. We completed approximately 20 visits. So many people were thankful for the cards they received from us. One of our prospects plans to buy a big frame and make a collage of the cards so she can put it in her classroom (she is a teacher). Our cards and visits have led to multiple Bible studies. We have a Bible study scheduled for everyday this week. God has been blessing us tremendously in Andalusia, Alabama.”

Sunset church of Christ, Nashville, Arkansas (remote): Zach Williams (preacher) reports, “We began studying with a visitor that is not sure if God exists. The Believe the Bible book have been an excellent and convincing study aid. We are already on the third book, and we plan to move forward with Back to the Bible soon. We currently have seven ongoing studies, and we are praying for more as we continue following up with our new visitors. To God be the glory!”

Rison church of Christ, Arkansas: Keden Shrum (preacher) reports, “Care Team B gathered Sunday evening to work on compassion cards. We currently have six contacts. We look forward to the return of the SOE for the upcoming Refresh training starting Saturday. We pray this will provide the encouragement and reminder needed to help us realign our focus and efforts.”

Mountain Home church of Christ, Arkansas: Joshua Adams (preacher) reports, “This past week we celebrated two baptisms! One is our first ‘connection’ baptism. Months ago, we studied with and baptized a woman who quickly started bringing her grandchildren to services. After a while, her daughter and son-in-law began attending intermittently. After we studied with the son-in-law, John, he decided to be baptized on Wednesday night! Additionally, we had our annual youth event; 511 people signed up and attended, and one of the teens from a visiting youth group put Christ on in baptism over the weekend. On Sunday night, we had 16 people stay and write 160 compassion cards for our prospects. Things are going great!”

Windsor church of Christ, Colorado: Lucas Stephens (member) reports, “We will hold our monthly men’s meeting this Tuesday to discuss the business of the church, and we will resume our weekly meeting for evangelism next week.”

Margaret Street church of Christ, Milton, Florida: Troy Spradlin (preacher) reports, “This week, we had a ‘State of the Ministry’ report on Sunday evening to share with the congregation the details behind all the numbers displayed on our Accountability Board. It is exciting and encouraging to hear and see the results this ministry has produced since we began! The church is getting more and more involved, and it is because more of our members are seeing results. These reports encourage them to give us more contacts, and they find a place to serve in the ministry as well. Our current 2025 Year-to-Date Accountability Board numbers are: 222 Total Contacts received; 62 Visitors; 168 Neighbors (Prospects whom we have loved and/or studied with); 66 Bible studies (total completed); 1690 Compassion Cards sent; two Restorations, and 15 Baptisms.”

Niceville church of Christ, Florida: Joe Palmer (preacher) reports, “This week we sent out 27 cards. We had two new visitors, and a new family placed membership. We had one Bible study. The process of changing our culture from being an active church to an evangelistic church is seen in small things. This week, a member called and asked me how to follow up with a visitor of VBS. Another member shared with me the excitement of prospecting for a Bible study. Seeing new Christians as well as long-time members becoming more active breathes life into the church. One breath at a time, the church is coming alive.”

Lafayette church of Christ, Georgia: Jesse Teague (deacon) reports, “We had three names on the compassion card list this week, and tonight, about 12 folks from Group 1 wrote cards to them. Group 2 will send cards to these same folks on the third Sunday of the month. Since several from that group will be at PTP-Sevierville, we prepared our cards early so we can fill them out and leave them to be mailed with the rest of the cards at the right time. Now for the really good news. The wife of one of our good elders has been studying with a lady for quite some time. It has been on and off some, and it required a lot of patience and diligence. This lady has resisted for quite a while; her son and husband are members at Lafayette. She is currently in a wheelchair, and the church has assisted with many of her needs. On Tuesday, she obeyed the Gospel! Since she is not very mobile, we partnered with the local city swimming pool to use their lift (after the pool closed) to make the logistics of the baptism possible. It was a true blessing to have their whole family together at Bible study Wednesday night and all services on Sunday!”

Edgewood church of Christ, Columbus, Georgia: Mitchell Deering (deacon) reports, “We had two visitors. We did not have any Bible studies. We sent 75 compassion cards. As we begin August, our primary focus is to increase Bible studies that result from compassion card contacts. We are doing well with the number of cards sent, but we need to strengthen our follow-up process to turn these contacts into Bible studies. The compassion card ministry continues to run efficiently with consistent congregational participation. We will track the number of Bible studies that originate from compassion card contacts and report progress throughout the month.”

Cartersville church of Christ, Georgia (remote): Charles Harris (regional trainer) reports, “Bible studies continue to take place, and they will lead to future baptisms. Because of the abundance of visits to make for the purpose of setting up Bible studies, we are in need of more members to make those visits. We are currently training more members for that work. This church has been excited about the work since enrolling into the school.”

Woodstock church of Christ, Georgia: Larkin Cook (member) reports, “The WCOC congregation attended Towne Lake Assistant Living devotional Sunday. On July 23, 2025, we had seven non-Christian attendees. We had 42 in attendance; eleven of those were non-Christians, and two Bible studies were scheduled for this coming week. On July 23, 2025, the New Movers Door Knocking Campaign had seven volunteers who knocked on 13 doors. Six prospects received welcome baskets. We left door hangers for seven houses where prospects were not at home. The Prison Ministry Group conducted a Bible Study class of five students at a local Regional Youth Detention Center (RYDC) for the week of August 3. WCOC started an Evangelism Class for Teenagers. We had approximately twenty individuals in attendance. The Compassion Cards Group sent nine compassion cards for week of July 23. WCOC had eleven non-Christian visitors for our two Sunday mornings worship services and conducted eleven Bible studies during the two weeks. We rejoice and welcome three individuals to the Lord’s family.”

Collinsville-Troy church of Christ, Illinois: Jason Wright (elder) reports, “We mailed 203 compassion cards this week. Our visitor numbers are down, so we will need to look into that. Summer is vacation time, so we are looking for better results. We conducted two Bible studies. Two studies were cancelled, so we hope to reschedule those. Our evangelism training continues in-house every month. Our hands-on training saw us packing new mover’s baskets. On the evening of August 15, we will deliver new mover’s baskets and make follow-up visits, just as we do every Tuesday and Wednesday.”

Lincolnway church of Christ, Columbia City, Indiana: Drew Reece (preacher) reports, “We got our first round of contacts from the members on Sunday, and we are excited to start prospecting. We have also been working on getting a building near by to alleviate our space problem that we are going to use for classrooms especially for our new convert’s class.”

Highland Village church of Christ, Bloomington, Indiana: Mark Stauffer (elder) reports, “The totals for July are 69 compassion cards sent, four prospects, six visits made, and one Bible study. We had four unique visitors. We have had one baptism so far this year. Our goal is three. Congregational training about the ten levels of evangelism continued this week, covering Level 7: Facilitator. The sermon Sunday was on the topic of thankfulness and included being thankful for the opportunity to share the Gospel with others.”

Beloit church of Christ, Kansas (remote): Duston Dougherty (regional trainer) reports, “We had a great Vacation Bible School last week. We had help from nine members of the Covington church of Christ in Tennessee. We are so thankful and grateful for their help on their campaign here in North Central Kansas. For VBS, we had a decent turnout with 15 kids and at least that many adults. Many were multiple year attendees. We used the Apologetics Press VBS material “Truth Hunters” this year; it was great, and I pray that many seeds were planted.”

Madisonville church of Christ, Kentucky: Russell Kline (preacher) reports, “We had 12 visitors on Sunday. We sent out 16 compassion cards. We have two active Bible correspondence courses and no active in-home Bible studies. We are also making visits. We appreciate all prayers for the work.”

Central church of Christ, Paducah, Kentucky: Adam Faughn (preacher) reports, “Last Thursday, after studying Book 3 of Back to the Bible with a sister in Christ, Angela Cronch was baptized into Christ, and we rejoiced with her. Angela had lived in Paducah as a little girl and actually attended Central with her grandmother. For many years, she had not been back—nor had she attended any church of Christ that we know of where she lived–for many years. When she moved back to Paducah to help take care of her other grandmother, she visited at Central and agreed to a study. She soaked in every word! We are so grateful she is now our sister in Christ! In addition, we started a study on Thursday with Sam, who agreed to study due to our work at the recent county fair. The study was more of finding out background information, and we will start with Book 1 this week. We also made contact with Brian, who has agreed to a study. He had a family emergency out of town over the weekend, but he said he is looking forward to getting started. We will follow up with him this week. Tori returned to services yesterday, and one of our couples is working on a time to study with her. We are very excited about how things are going, and we are praying for God to give the increase!”

Gonzales church of Christ, Louisiana: Patrick Adkins (deacon) reports, “The morning sermon was on Psalm 103 and the blessings of God. The evening sermon was Book 3, Part 2 of Back to the Bible. We signed 27 more cards; we have sent a total of 287. We have five studies ongoing. The best news to report is we have had three baptisms this week! This brings us to a total of 11 baptisms, with a goal for 15 in 2025! We appreciate all prayers as we continue to work!”

La Plata church of Christ, Maryland (remote): Eric Sykes (regional trainer) reports, “We sent 20 compassion cards, had 4 visitors, the advanced teachers Bible study class completed the How to Close the Study workbook, and our video of the week class watched and discussed ‘What About My Family’, from the advanced personal Bible study video series.”

Beltway church of Christ, Camp Springs, Maryland: LeAndre Johnson (minister) reports, “On Sunday, we finished Part 2 of Book 3; as a result we have a Bible study scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. On last Wednesday, we completed Book 1 for overview training, and we will now start teacher training with Book 1 (role playing).”

Jackson church of Christ, Missouri: David Selvig (elder) reports, “We had a Back-to-School Backpack Bash! We offered backpacks and all sorts of fun and food. This is the second year for this project, but after the Evangelism Seminar, we changed our focus and used it as a chance to make contacts (everything goes through the funnel leading to Bible studies). We gave away 97 backpacks, but more importantly, we had 23 people give us their information. Eleven of those 23 are open to a Bible study, and seven more want to know more about the church! We are thankful that the School of Evangelism and House to House are reigniting the fire in our congregation here in Jackson, Missouri.”

Aberdeen church of Christ, Mississippi: Jonathan Hagar (preacher) reports, “We had five visitors Sunday, and we gave visitor packets to all of them. We will be sending invitation cards to all our visitors to encourage their return. We sent four invitation cards last week. We had more this past Sunday at our monthly fellowship meal than all the previous months this year. I just finished preaching Lesson 2 of BTTB. I likewise taught the secondary sermon, ‘The Three Stages of Salvation.’ We finished with one Bible study, but the man was not baptized, so I gave the man leading the study another Bible study that I made called ‘Convicted’. It provides more examples of the teachings of salvation. I personally have two Bible studies lined up this week. Another lady has been doing Bible studies online with a Baptist Sunday-school teacher. When I announced on Facebook this past week that the church here will be creating a new satellite campus for the Magnolia Bible Institute, many people from across the country responded! Many are interested in enrolling and helping out in the new Bible school in Aberdeen hosted by the Aberdeen church of Christ. I pray this effort will bring new converts and new members to the church!”

New Concord church of Christ, New Hampshire (remote): Shane Belanger (member) reports, “The baptisms that the church had last week provided us with two new prospects. The church went to work and wrote greeting cards to those prospects. By last Saturday, we had mailed the second batch of cards. The remaining cards will be sent out this coming week. Two current Bible studies are on hold due to health issues and busy schedules with the prospects. We look forward to the opportunity when the studies will become available to us again. We also had another visitor with us this past Sunday, and he expressed an interest in a personal study. More lessons and training have continued in the past week as we become better prepared in our evangelistic efforts.”

East Flushing church of Christ, New York (remote): Clarence Jenkins (preacher) reports, “This past Saturday to the glory of God, we had a ‘Back to School Giveaway.’ We praise God for the 111 students who received school supplies. Approximately 60 contacts were generated, which we will prospect, Lord willing. We had eight visitors at worship service Sunday. After worship service, we watched the video ‘Growing Church: One Soul at a Time.’ Then we wrote 34 compassion cards. Our metrics thus far for and through the month of August are four baptisms, eight visitors, 14 prospects, five Bible studies, and one study with a new convert. We appreciate all prayers.”

Mountain Island church of Christ, Charlotte, North, Carolina: Clyde Gilbert (elder) reports, “We resumed three Bible studies this past week. Two more studies are ongoing, and one of our teenagers was baptized into Christ this past Wednesday!”

New Concord church of Christ, Ohio: Terry Townsend (preacher) reports, “We had five first-time visitors on Sunday, one of which made the decision to obey the Gospel (picture included). His name is Kenneth. His mother is one of our members (an elder’s wife). Kenneth was brought up in the church but had never obeyed. He made the decision today to give his life to the Lord. Our prayer is that we can begin studies with his wife and teenage children. We signed 60 compassion cards; we will mail them this week. One of our sweet dear sisters (currently in rehab at a local nursing home) made a contact with a resident there (a lady she knew years ago), and I visited with them and set up a study with her later this week. I have asked the congregation to pray for this lady named Shari, and I asked the five members who currently live at the facility to love and encourage her every opportunity they had. The member who knows her and introduced me to her will assist in the Bible study. No matter where we might find ourselves, God can still use us to lead others to Him! All-in-all, our evangelistic efforts are going well. There is still so much to learn and work to do!”

Alkire Road church of Christ, Grove City, Ohio: Tony Dunnagan (member) reports, “We have two contacts, two prospects, and three Bible studies. We also have had four baptisms. I will be discussing ‘Contacts’ with the elders this week. We are working on the transition visits and setting up the Monday Night for the Master or Transition Thursday.”

Owasso church of Christ, Oklahoma: David Combs (elder) reports, “I attended the New Converts class and heard the discussion on elders and deacons. The class is great, especially for the way new converts are introduced to the leadership in the church. Before morning worship, we passed out invite cards to our membership. These were bundled in packs of ten to be handed out when we receive a service from someone in the community. Following evening services, Team 1 met in the annex to write compassion cards. Fifteen card writers wrote 150 cards to be mailed out to 10 prospects this week. Our Prospect Timeline includes the following order: six are on Week 3, one is on Week 2, and 3 are on Week 1. We currently have six Bible studies in progress.”

Sullivan Village church of Christ, Lawton, Oklahoma: Steven Hill (preacher) reports, “The congregation is organized into three teams that rotate every week to write compassion cards to our contacts. We have gift bags in the foyer for first time visitors, and new mover baskets are going out on the regular schedule. Our New Converts class has been growing, and we could not be more excited. One of the couples here was taking a new mover basket to a man who recently moved into our area, and that man visited the church. He has been coming for the last two weeks on Sunday and Wednesday and has indicated a desire to place membership. After being told we need to study with him, he is also desiring to study. We are hoping and praying that he will become a Christian soon. If we send out a thousand new movers baskets and get one convert, it was all worth it! One soul at a time.”

York church of Christ, Pennsylvania: Mark Rashke (deacon) reports, “We had a large number of visitors at the York congregation this week. A number of them had been traveling to attend a nearby Gospel Meeting, but we also had a few first-time visitors from the community. We gave them a visitor bag and collected contact information from them. They stayed for our fellowship meal after services. A group of members sat with them and had a great conversation. The high-school-age son said that he might join us for an upcoming youth fishing trip. Additionally, we have plans to have a movie night at the building in two weeks, showing the ‘Samson’ production from Sight and Sound Theater. We will include an intermission with food and information about the church. We have mailed invitations to all our prospects. We appreciate all prayers for a good turnout!”

Union church of Christ, South Carolina (remote): Kent Thompson (member) reports, “We had one Bible study, and we have four who have agreed to a study. We have one study scheduled tomorrow. We are trying to do God’s Will. We appreciate all prayers for us.”

Fayette church of Christ, Tennessee: Steve Jefferson (elder) reports, “We had our ‘First Saturday on the Square.’ We are thankful for members who set up, took down, and worked our booth. We had about 20 members who worked in shifts. They were inviting people to join us for Bible study and to our worship services. They also gave away 32 Bibles and 24 study books along with information about who we are. Also at this time, we have several members who are conducting seven Bible studies.”

New Union church of Christ, Manchester, Tennessee: Paul Fulks (elder) reports, “We had seven visitors this past week with one new contact card submitted. We wrote 19 compassion cards. We made four visits and had two in our New Converts class.”

Cookeville church of Christ, Tennessee: Josh Kennedy (preacher) reports, “We have four studies this week that are active, and we are sending out compassion cards to six folks as well as finishing up our latest new movers baskets!”

Grundy Street church of Christ, Tullahoma, Tennessee: John Summers (preacher) reports, “Anderson Judd continued our study from Back to the Bible,Lesson 1, which went well. We had a workday on Saturday; we are organizing a room to be our Care Card (Compassion Card) room—this will be where all the materials are stored and also where we will gather in groups to write the Care Cards that we will send to those on our Active Outreach (Prospect) list. For the remainder of this month, we will focus on preparing for our Summer 2025 Friends and Family Day (August 31st). We have workdays scheduled for each Saturday this month to prepare for that event, and we are using that as a launch point for identifying a significant number of contacts—our visitors are going to be our first category to receive our Care Cards and follow-ups. We plan to continue with the implementation in ‘bite-sized’ chunks—adding a piece and assimilating and absorbing it before moving on to the next.”

Sycamore church of Christ, Tennessee: Jackson Erwin (preacher) reports, “We now have about 23 prospects and have sent out about 500 cards. Things are moving along!”
Arlington church of Christ, Tennessee: Brandon Tibbits (preacher) reports, “On Sunday, we had a visitor for the first time since we started our evangelism program. She is the daughter of one of the members, so we took the family out to eat. We are also working to develop opportunities for several prospects. We have also sent out over 500 cards. We have one ongoing Bible study. I can see the fruit coming, and I know if we continue down this track, we will grow.”
Chapel Hill church of Christ, Tennessee: Matt Jones (deacon) reports, “We have a couple of Bible studies actively going. I will have one continuing tomorrow. We are halfway through the second book of Back to the Bible. He has been very receptive so far, even on topics that are sometimes stumbling blocks for other denominations. We are praying for all of our studies. We also hope to follow up with several prospects. We continue to stay focused on reaching the lost and misguided in our community.”
East Main church of Christ, Murfreesboro, Tennessee: Brad Rowley (elder) reports, “We rejoice in the baptism of Annlee and Paige Sanders; they were baptized by their father, Jason. Jason and Michelle are very involved with East Main, including evangelism. Brennan Borras was baptized by his father Ethan. Ethan is one of our deacons; his mom, Jen, is involved with East Main, including one of the core planners in our community outreach. We are very thankful for our parents who are raising their children in the Lord. The family of Ryan Ritt was a friend of one our deacons, Chris Taylor. We added the Ritts to our compassion cards. After some visits and communication, they agreed to a Bible study. They studied with Chris and one of our elders, Cecil Morris. Jeff and Rhonda Tenpenny have been bringing their grandson Luke to East Main since he was young. They have been working with him to assure his understanding. Luke was baptized by his grandfather, Jeff Tenpenny. We have already been in contact with his mother to sit in with Luke in future Bible studies. We had three additional folks from our mission trip who were baptized: Alberto, Roxana, and Marlene. During the month of July, we had 11 new contact cards, four new Bible studies, and 11 on-going Bible studies. We also delivered 17 new mover baskets and wrote 75 compassion cards. We accomplished several visits during the month from our VBS contacts. Our quarterly community outreach is scheduled for August 9. Hillary Broome, a member of the church, is hosting a Medicare training seminar in the annex. After the seminar, we will have an opportunity to offer the attendees some refreshments and talk to them about East Main. It is our prayer to obtain a good number of contacts from this outreach and give us an opportunity to study with them. Elijah Mayes, our family and youth minister, is setting up a booth to hand out bottles of water during concert events on the square. Our 214 House is located only a couple blocks from the square. The bottles of water have a unique East Main label. We will also tell each person about East Main and hand out invitation cards.  Jeffery Smith, our college minister, is currently studying with Dominic, one of MTSU’s students. Jeffrey set up a booth at the Greens Lake Youth Day and gave out some merchandise along with cards to educate them about our college ministry. East Main is blessed with hard working evangelistic members planting the seed. To God give the glory!”
Blackman church of Christ, Murfreesboro, Tennessee (remote): Brian McCord (elder) reports, “We will send out around 15 cards this week. We lost three members this week. One decided to go to another congregation with parents. The others are moving to another town. Please pray. We are struggling. Bible Bowl kick off is Sunday. We are trying to advertise as much as we can. We delivered 16 new movers in July and are sending cards to the good visits but have not had any visits from it yet.”

Mountain Creek church of Christ, Chattanooga, Tennessee: Michael Tomshack (elder) reports, “I remember reading about the importance of displaying the baptismal area as a place of significance and use, not a seldomly used closet of junk (my very liberal paraphrase). After the renovations we made to our facilities in October through December 2024, we took a serious look at our area. Our eyes were opened when, during a baptism in December, the young adult mentioned that the water was freezing. Our heater had a mind of its own. The changing room had not been updated in at least 25 years. It had old dark wood paneling, ceiling tiles covered in water stains, light fixtures that did not function, carpet that clearly showed age, a storage closet, a baptistry that weekly required skimming to remove dust buildup, and the earlier note regarding the cold water. Therefore, we decided to upgrade the area that was recently completed. The project was not inexpensive, as it had been neglected for such a long time, and we found unexpected structural issues, including wiring. Now at last, it is bright, modern, clean, and truly dedicated to showcasing the baptismal area and changing area as important components of our facilities. I encourage other elderships to examine their baptism areas critically. Do they reflect the same level of care as other public areas of your facilities, or are they neglected and resemble junk closets?”

Ocoee Street church of Christ, Copper Hill, Tennessee: R.E. Vann (elder) reports, “‘On this one I will look: On him who is poor and of a contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word’ (Isaiah 66:2b). One of our own who was baptized years ago knew in his heart that he was baptized for the wrong reason. This past week, Tracy Green put Jesus on in baptism and washed away his sins. To God be the glory. We had another favorable response from our new movers contact, and we pray for future Bible studies and continued Kingdom growth. Our 2025 year-to-date metrics are as follows: 176 visitors, 41 Love Our Neighbors (Prospects), 595 compassion cards sent, 30 transition visits made, three Bible studies, four baptisms (our goal is five), and one restoration (our goal is nine).”

McEwen church of Christ, Tennessee: John Jones (preacher) reports, “We have just started the new movers program and have already had some people very interested in visiting with us. We began sending them cards and hope to go back for another visit soon to these folks. Also, we had a family that has recently come back to the church, and they agreed to go through the Back to the Bibleseries. I think it will ground them in good teaching, and they are already talking about sharing BTTB with others. We are very optimistic about things at the moment!”

Collierville church of Christ, Tennessee: Justin Evergarden (evangelist) reports, “Training through Back to the Bible is ongoing. I was out of town for an event this week and was able to conduct two Bible studies with the staff working the event.”

Soddy church of Christ, Tennessee: Joe Mallory (preacher) reports, “The elders have recently set up new Care teams that now include each member and new converts. These Care teams have done a wonderful job of reaching out with compassion cards, with a send-out average of about 60 cards per week. We appreciate all prayers for our ongoing studies as well as the prospects with whom we hope to study!”

Hillcrest church of Christ, Springfield, Tennessee: Tim Taylor (evangelist) reports, “We just completed our Spiritual Emphasis Weekend with T.J. Kirk. ‘Falling in Love with the Word’ was our theme; it is evangelistic in nature, and it was a great refresher for our congregation as we seek to bring souls to Christ.”

Birdwell Chapel church of Christ, Cottontown, Tennessee: Kerry England (elder) reports, “The youth group hosted a Back-to-School Backpack Drive on Saturday morning. Thirty-nine backpacks full of school supplies were given away as well as three gift cards for school clothes. Contact information was collected, so we can follow up with these families. We have one ongoing Bible study each week. Three of our recent new movers’ visits were well received and showed promise. They will be receiving compassion cards to continue the prospecting.”

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

Rome church of Christ, Lebanon, Tennessee (remote): David Oxley (elder) reports, “We just finished a wonderful weekend Gospel Meeting with Robby Eversole. Two new prospects will receive cards this week. We have plans for three visits. We will meet Monday night for our New Converts’ class.”

White Oak church of Christ, Chattanooga, Tennessee (remote): John McGiffin (preacher) reports, “After talking to Keno Shrum at PTP Branson, we have re-ignited our efforts. He reminded me that in a small, aging congregation, where a few do most of the work, we have to show it works before people are convinced to participate. We have had some incredible results in contact creation in only ONE week. The Bible Lands Museum brought over 100 people from the community. We have four signed up for Bible correspondence courses. WVBS sent DVDs and some ‘Defending the Faith’ Bible for us to hand out. Those who sign up for a Bible correspondence course will receive a free Bible. All other DVDs, workbooks, and tracts were here for the taking. We had four visitors on Sunday because of the Museum. One couple walking by wandered in and came back for the evening lecture and then returned for Sunday services. They are interested in Bible study and finding a church. The other two we invited to lunch, and they stayed for two hours, talking to Bob about Bible evidence. Our second contact creator is called, ‘Next Door App.’ We are really excited about the possibilities of this app. It is FREE! Only people who sign up are included. It is a network of information for your specific neighborhood, but ONLY your neighbors. We first posted that we had some food we wanted to give away and quickly had someone in our homes discussing the church. We then posted that we wanted to meet friends in our neighborhood, and we invited anyone who wished to come to our home for dinner one evening. At this point, we have ten couples who wish to come. We are attempting to schedule them currently. The process is easy; simply download the app and fill out the information to get started. I have way too many leads at this point to do by myself, but we are working through it.”

Wheeler church of Christ, Texas: Garrett English (preacher) reports, “I had another study (over 2 hours) with the man I mentioned earlier. I was determined not to chase rabbits but stick to the Scriptures and its context. He continued to jump to different places and refused the logical arguments of authority and how God authorizes. He felt our study was futile, so I do not have another study planned, but I will continue to water the seed planted in hopes he will have another chance. I am gathering our contacts from VBS and plan to make a few in-person visits with my family before school starts.”

Southwest church of Christ, Austin, Texas: Bryce Mayfield (evangelist) reports, “I started going back through the School of Evangelism material to see ways to improve our efforts. Very quickly, I ran across the ‘quantity not quality’ section of the school. We have not been generating enough contacts. We have just been relying on people to visit us instead of getting out and making contacts in the community. I realize that starts with me, and I have been guilty of this lazy style of evangelism. This changes today! I am currently going back through the ‘Contact’ section of the school to relearn the ways in which we can generate contacts as a congregation. I will be presenting the material to the elders soon. I request prayers for this effort.”

Eisenhower church of Christ, Odessa, Texas: Allen Weakland (elder) reports, “We are in our annual Summer Series on Wednesday nights. We held an area wide cookout for the neighborhood, and we just finished our Vacation Bible School. Our attendance was shocking this year with the record attendance of 200 on Tuesday evening. This effort has really taken off, and we owe it all to God. It is our prayer that God will bless us with contacts due to this effort. We simply plead with others to pray for this as well. On another note, a young couple with five children, Micah and Ashley, made the decision to put the Lord on in baptism. Several of our members have been involved with them in studying both the Back to the Bible series and the Open Bible series. As a result, we now have a new brother and sister in Christ.”

Northern Oaks church of Christ, San Antonio, Texas: Mel Hutzler (elder) reports, “We used Apologetic Press’ material called Truth Hunters for our VBS. We had a great turnout with 67 children registered. Many were from our community. We offered classes for the parents, and we were able to connect with two of them and gained their contact information. We will begin our follow-up card-writing this week for all VBS attendees. We also handed out our bookmarks and taught how this will be used. We already have our first contact from handing these out. We also set up a whiteboard and pin-striped it into a grid so that we can track our contacts, hot contacts, and Bible Studies (picture included). We have three ongoing studies and four new convert studies ongoing. This week we have two follow-up visits to do, and we are working to restore a brother. We had three baptisms (Brandon, Josh, and Mitchell).”

Roanoke church of Christ, Texas: Caleb Rutherford (preacher) reports, “We door-knocked in conjunction with our Gospel Meeting. We knocked on 171 doors and talked to 63 people, and recorded five actionable contact cards. We plan to follow up with them after we send cards for a few weeks. We also are assigning transition visits this week to prospects who are ready. We are hopeful for some more studies to be set up soon!”

Bridgewater church of Christ, Katy, Texas: Doug Suggs (deacon) reports, “Three of the members of our congregation have gone to Mexico this week: our minister, Wade, one of our elders, Jim, and a member, Mike. They will be there for three days and then return. The young man from China, David, has a meeting on August 11 to try to get his visa so that he can go to the school of preaching in Austin. We have a couple of Bible studies ongoing, plus some possibilities of future ones from some people who have been coming recently.”

Howe church of Christ, Texas: Aaron Alsbrook (preacher) reports, “Our week ended with a great work being accomplished by the congregation. This is our third year to hand out supplies to the children of the Howe community. Many of our families moving into our area are Spanish-speaking, and we have members that help to guide them with translating to English. However, this year one of our members invited a married couple who are not Christians, but they wanted to help with our backpack drive, and they have hearts like servants. They were a great encouragement, as the husband also spoke Spanish, but then they attended our worship assembly on Sunday. They have spoken of a desire to study the Bible, and we will set them up soon to go through the Back to the Biblebooks. We made around 40 contacts from the Backpack Drive and will begin sending cards and making visits soon. The Howe brethren are very hard workers and love spreading the Good News of our Savior Jesus.”

Abingdon church of Christ, Virginia: Freddie Klein (evangelist) reports, “We finished Book 3 of BTTB with a community prospect and will continue to study with her for as long as we can. She still comes to our morning service. We hope she is thinking about what she needs to do to be saved from her sins. We were also able to make a home visit to one of our compassion card recipients. She invited us in, and we invited her to be with us the following day. To our surprise she visited with us yesterday. We had a good Card Group 1 meeting with 40 cards written. Two of the contacts are from our school supply giveaway.”

Williamsburg church of Christ, Virginia: Jim Bishop (elder) reports, “We conducted our VBS this week. It was very successful. Backpacks with school supplies were distributed to all those children in attendance. We made two contacts from local visitors that brought their children to VBS. Today we had one visitor, who is the sister, of a new convert. We pray that the hearts and minds of all those seeking God’s Word will obey the Gospel.”

West Side church of Christ, Salem, Virginia: Jeff Durham (elder) reports, “Our Theme for 2025 is ‘Being PREPARED.’ This week’s lesson uses the letter ‘E’ for Evangelism. The core text came from Luke 19 considering Jesus’ approach with Zaccheaus. Our small group discussions centered on each person, considering their responsibilities in seeking the lost must be: purposeful, productive, and personal. Participation in our congregational evangelism model continues to grow. More members are finding ways to do their part in spreading the Gospel to those who are lost in our community. We encourage every member to ‘raise the bar’ on themselves to do more and different things in our evangelism efforts.”