Success Stories: August 13, 2025

Glencoe church of Christ, Alabama: Keith Ritchie (evangelist) reports, “The Glencoe church of Christ is having good, steady attendance plus visitors each week. The second Bible study with a prospect went great. He was excited, saying he had never been taught the things he was reading and hearing. He went on to say that he was learning more than he had ever known before. Seeing excitement in others ought to excite us to work even harder in the Kingdom. We still have two other studies ongoing. Our door-knocking efforts in August will move to different areas. The door knocking teams will then become transition teams for September. We are very excited about the outreach and evangelistic works that are planned. Plan, pray, and pursue the lost! To God be the glory!”

Fayette church of Christ, Alabama: Josh Taylor (deacon) reports, “As I mentioned in my previous update, our brother Carson Nichols studied with Raylen Webster. Raylen was eager to study, and Carson used the Back of the Bible booklets this past Monday. After a two-hour study and a couple of days more of study, she was baptized into Christ tonight at Bible study. We are thankful for Raylen. I would like to spotlight two of our young ladies who were instrumental in helping her. Maci Hall and Olivia Gant are two of our strongest young Christians. They became friends with Raylen, and that had a great impact on her. Soldiers of Christ, arise! Tonight’s baptism brings our total baptisms for the 2025 year to eight, along with two restorations. We are so thankful for God and His willingness to bless the church at Fayette. May God continually bless you all.”

Central church of Christ, Saraland, Alabama: David Dixon (preacher) reports, “I am sad because I cannot attend PTP in Sevierville this week. It is such a boost to evangelistic desire. Despite that, we are renewed in our focus at Central. Two of the most recent converts are getting married this Saturday. They have been bringing two teenage girls to church, and we pray they will soon obey the Gospel. We continue to get positive feedback on our New Converts class. This week’s sermon was on the ‘Necessity of Baptism,’ and a couple of regular visitors were not there. We hope they will watch the YouTube video, and it will prick their hearts. In September, I plan to revisit the suggested sermons on evangelism and reiterate the importance of the process. With the success God has provided in 16 months of poorly organized efforts, we can only suspect even more success once we improve our approach to the process! God be praised!”

Hartselle church of Christ, Alabama: Justin Smith (preacher) reports, “This week we have met with new coordinators in the ministries of visitors and new movers. These are two of the more exciting aspects of our evangelism model, and there is a lot of momentum from the congregation on both. This past week, our benevolence work brought multiple visitors to our Sunday worship service, and there is a Bible study ongoing with one of those visitors. We are praising God for the positive movement we are seeing within our local congregation!”

Hatton church of Christ, Town Creek, Alabama: Chris Miller (preacher) reports, “We received the report from the group that went to Coweta, which was such a great encouragement! Doors were knocked, resulting in two baptisms, and multiple contacts are in Bible studies . We also have several studies underway at Hatton and are excited that these will hopefully result in baptisms soon.”

Creekwood church of Christ, Mobile, Alabama: Tucker Presley (preacher) reports, “We are on our last week of sending cards to our VBS visitors. Next week, we will make visits! One Bible study is currently going on. We still need to get the new movers’ work rolling. The visitor work is going well. We have had several visitors over the last couple of months. Most are passing through or are family members of our members, but there have been a handful of in-town visitors as well.”

Highland Park church of Christ, Muscle Shoals, Alabama: Andrew Myham (deacon) reports, “We request prayers for our ongoing Bible studies. So often we have been surprised by the results God has produced in His Kingdom. We have learned to be optimistic about all prospects. Many times, the ones we think will not follow through are the ones that do, in fact, become open to the good news.”

Petersville church of Christ, Florence, Alabama: Adam Richardson (preacher) reports, “The Petersville family mailed 21 compassion cards last week. There are still two Bible studies set up that have not been completed, but we have high hopes and expectations for the three people involved! We are currently looking at our options to do some additional training.”

Rison church of Christ, Arkansas: Keden Shrum (preacher) reports, “We finished our refresh training on Sunday, and it was very beneficial. It helped get us back on track and hopefully moving in the right direction again. Chandra and I took a New Mover’s basket out on Thursday, and on Monday, we received a ‘thank you’ card from the family. We started sending them compassion cards this week, so we will continue to stay in contact with them.”

Mountain Home church of Christ, Arkansas: Joshua Adams (preacher) reports, “Our visitation team completed the second round of compassion card visits. We continue to build connections and share God’s love. Last month, 12 people received in-home visits. Already this August, another 12 have been visited, with three more on the way! Several of these visits have opened the door to ongoing Bible studies, deepening relationships, and discipleship. After last night’s service, 18 people stayed to sign an incredible 145 compassion cards that will be sent out this week. The steps of the HTHSOE program are working together in beautiful harmony—and the impact is undeniable!”

Windsor church of Christ, Colorado: Lucas Stephens (member) reports, “Around 70 folks attended worship, and a few were family visitors. We signed compassion cards after worship, so we will be sending encouragement and get-well messages throughout the week. We have paused our weekly evangelism meetings and will reconvene in September at our monthly business meeting to discuss the way ahead for our evangelism program.”

Margaret Street church of Christ, Milton, Florida: Troy Spradlin (preacher) reports, “Is there any moment sweeter than seeing a loved one put on Christ in baptism? You would be hard pressed to find one. Daniel Musk, the fiancé of our sister-in-Christ, Savanah Smith, obeyed the Gospel and had his sins washed away. After studying BTTB for the past several weeks and learning what the Bible says about salvation, we came to Romans 6. I asked him to compare what the Bible stated so clearly to what he had written down earlier about his own salvation experience. They did not match. He knew he needed to get right with God, so he obeyed! Now, the happy Christian couple will soon be married. Indeed, there is no moment sweeter than seeing a precious soul being added to the Kingdom. Our current 2025 Year-to-Date Accountability Board numbers are: 227 Total Contacts received; 65 Visitors; 168 Neighbors (Prospects whom we have loved and/or studied with); 68 Bible studies (total completed); 1750 Compassion Cards sent; two Restorations, and 16 Baptisms.”

Lake Forest church of Christ, Jacksonville, Florida: Brian Howard (preacher) reports, “We had a good mission trip to Tanzania with lots of preaching, teaching, and evangelism. Six souls were added to the Lord. Locally, we continue to grow our contact list. We have had 14 new members this year.”

Niceville church of Christ, Florida: Joe Palmer (preacher) reports, “We sent out 20 cards. Two people promised to return to visit us this week. In both cases, the follow-up has made a difference: cards, contact, and kindness. A prospect asked to place membership this week, which led to an opportunity to study since this person is from another religion. On Sunday, my wife and I went out to eat. In the process, we visited a new convert. That relationship, coupled with the fact that it was a slow night for this restaurant, resulted in a future study promised with our waiter. Prospecting is not that hard in such a setting. It starts with conversation. I usually next put out a feeler in the form of a question or an invitation to something that might interest them. In this case, I invited him to a young adult Bible study. He told me he had wanted to study the Bible for the first time. I offered to teach him one-on-one. He voluntarily exchanged numbers with me. Be bold; prospects are everywhere.”

Rabun County church of Christ, Georgia (remote): McKinley Pate (preacher) reports, “Our youngest son Gunner, a high school senior, has been friends with a classmate named Jaden for several years now. Jaden has spent the night at our house on numerous occasions. Our rule at the house is that when someone spends the night on Saturday, he or she must attend services with us on Sunday morning. Jaden has attended numerous services not only on Sunday but also on Wednesday nights. Last Sunday night, I received a text from Jaden wanting to talk to me about being baptized. He said that his father wanted to talk to me as well; his father had told me in the past that he was skeptical of ‘modern’ religion. I gladly met with them both on Monday, and we had a very long study over the need for baptism after a quick study on the all sufficiency of the Bible. After our study, Jaden’s father, Joshua, said that they wanted to go home and study on their own, which they did. Late Tuesday night I received another text from Jaden wanting to meet at the building again on Wednesday. At this meeting, Jaden’s Mom came as well as his Dad. When they arrived, Joshua said that he had spent the last couple of days in deep study, and he realized that he was told a lie about the sinner’s prayer. Knowing he was still lost, he was also ready to be saved in the watery grave of baptism. Seeing the opportunity, we studied some more with Joshua’s wife, Janine, and Jaden as well. After the study, Joshua and Jaden were baptized into Christ. Janine later sent me a text and asked if she and her daughter Jazzlyn could study with me sometime Sunday. Of course I said yes. The entire family was at church services Sunday. We presented Joshua and Jaden with new Bibles and baptismal certificates along with the book, The Beginning of Our Confidence. After services, I studied with Jazzlyn as Janine said that Joshua had been studying with her and that she was ready to obey the Gospel. After a study with Jazzlyn, Janine and Jazzlyn were baptized into Christ. Four souls were brought to the foot of the cross by a teenager simply letting his Christian light shine. To God be the Glory!”

Lafayette church of Christ, Georgia: Jesse Teague (deacon) reports, “About 13 faithful saints met on the second Saturday (as usual) to knock doors and visit new movers. The names and addresses provided through the HTH New Mover service are added with about four or five visits per sheet, and the sheets are divided amongst the members along with gift bags, tracts, and a House-to-House flyer with all the congregation information on it. Notes are made on the sheet, including how well the visit went. If the visit was well received, we fill out a contact card so that the person/family will receive compassion cards the following month. After compassion cards are sent, follow-up visits are assigned at our monthly evangelism meeting. There are so many ways to reach out to those in our community. We try to do as much as we can to get the Gospel in front of them.”

Edgewood church of Christ, Columbus, Georgia: Mitchell Deering (deacon) reports, “We have two active Bible studies in progress. No new visitors have been recorded so far for August. With 90 cards sent this week, our month-to-date total is now 165 cards. Our main focus this month is to streamline the follow-up system by creating a shared Google Doc. This will ensure everyone has the correct and up-to-date information on who needs follow-up and the status of each contact. This will improve coordination, reduce missed opportunities, and help convert more compassion card contacts into Bible studies.”

Cartersville church of Christ, Georgia (remote): Charles Harris (regional trainer) reports, “We are studying with Jalen, who is the nephew of one of the new converts. Joining us in the study is another new convert who wants to learn how to teach others. We are also studying with Alicia. She posted on a local Facebook group searching for someone to preach her mother’s funeral. My wife said I would do it. The service went well and has opened the door to stay in contact with the family. Alicia visited service Sunday. We went out to lunch and scheduled a time of study. There are opportunities to reach the lost all around us.”

Woodstock church of Christ, Georgia: Larkin Cook (member) reports, “We attended the Sunabella of Towne Lake Assistant Living devotional for Sunday. We had 20 in attendance, eight of whom were non-Christian residents. The HTH Door Knocking Campaign had three groups of volunteers to visit 40 homes. Nine of those doors led to contacts. The New Movers Door Knocking Campaign had four volunteers who knocked on four doors. Of the four doors, one was contacted and given a welcome basket, and three were given door hangers for those not home. The Prison Ministry Group is setting up a Christmas program for the local Regional Youth Detention Center (RYDC). We are working to get volunteers to have access to the RYDC for this special event. WCOC started an evangelism class for the high school group, including teenagers and adults. The high school class is on Sunday mornings. We had fifteen Christians and one non-Christian in attendance. The adult class (Wednesday night) had 40 Christians in attendance.  Our goal is to attract more prospects and non-Christians to our events. The Compassion Cards Group sent nine compassion cards. WCOC had ten non-Christian visitors for our Sunday morning worship.”

Collinsville-Troy church of Christ, Illinois: Jason Wright (elder) reports, “We continue to have visitors each Sunday. We have had a noticeable increase in overall attendance on Sunday mornings for worship, Bible class, and Wednesday evening services. We mailed 101 compassion cards this week and handed out a visitor bag. I have two booklets and two studies scheduled for Monday. There are more scheduled studies later in the week as our team continues to sow the seed. We rejoice with the angels as brother Frank was restored this past week. A lot is going on as we look to install new elders and then deacons in the upcoming weeks. Churches that work are churches that grow; what a simple concept!”

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 nearby to alleviate our space problem that we are going to use for classrooms, especially for our New Converts’ class.”

Highland Village church of Christ, Bloomington, Indiana: Mark Stauffer (elder) reports, “Highland Village church of Christ and the angels rejoice in the baptism of Tarea Hutchins after Wednesday Bible class last week. We have been praying for and encouraging Tarea for about three years. She is recovering from addiction and struggles with the physical and emotional aftereffects. Tarea is determined to reform her life and knows how much she needs the help of the Lord. Tarea is our second baptism this year. Our goal is three. So far in August, we have sent 18 compassion cards, had two visitors at worship, and have three prospects. Our evangelism training this week focused on teaching, the ninth level of evangelism, and showed how the bookmark helps us identify prospects for teaching.”

Beloit church of Christ, Kansas (remote): Dustin Dougherty (regional trainer) reports, “I have been busy trying to catch up on things post-VBS; there just are not enough hours in a day. I have been sending Bob, our new convert from Branson, a daily video from WVBS to help him in his walk. I am trying to get an organized college Bible study, targeting the students at our local technical college this fall after school starts. “

Columbus church of Christ, Kansas (remote): Matt Fowler (member) reports, “We are new enrollees to the School of Evangelism. We began this year in January with an average attendance of 17 on Sunday mornings. My wife and I came across videos of an evangelism seminar that Rob had done. We loved it and ordered some materials and started working on it ourselves to begin with, based on what we could understand. After using Back to the Bible to study with a couple, which resulted in them being baptized, I reached out to Rob to tell him the good news. He encouraged me to get in contact with Keno, and we set up a date to learn more about how to better execute the model. We are very excited. We have three prospects currently. We had two Bible studies this past week. One resulted in a baptism and a new brother in Christ. The other one is scheduled to do Lesson 2 of Back to the Bible this next weekend. So far this year, we have had six baptisms. We are getting into the material and information, and we are excited about the possibilities for growth.”

Central church of Christ, Paducah, Kentucky: Adam Faughn (preacher) reports, “This week, we were blessed to study with Sam. We studied most of Book 1 and have a time scheduled this week to finish the last part of that book and also do Book 2. Sam has been at services and also came to our monthly men’s breakfast last Saturday, so we believe this is a good sign. A study is also being set up with Tori, who has visited the last few weeks; she thoroughly enjoys coming to Central. She is a little hard to pin down for a time to study, but we are working on it! We had one new guest on Sunday from our community, and we plan to follow up with him this week. Good things are happening in Paducah, and to God be the glory!”

Chalmette church of Christ, New Orleans, Louisiana: Scott Russell (member) reports, “We have one visit scheduled for this evening, and possibly one other for today or tomorrow. The last two weeks have been good for visitors (I think that number is around eight), so we have new prospects there. Some have already received cards; others will follow.”

Gonzales church of Christ, Louisiana: Patrick Adkins (deacon) reports, “The morning sermon was from 1 Corinthians 12 about growing your church and finding your place! The evening sermon was Part 3 of Book 3, Back to the Bible. We signed 19 more cards, and we had four visitors. We had a meeting to plan our door-knocking. Last but not least, we had a fourth baptism in the past week! Hunter was baptized after listening to GBN and the Authentic Christian podcast. He reached out to Aaron Gallagher to find a local congregation, sat down to study, and then we realized he was ready to be added to the church.  We are at 12 baptisms in 2025, which is 3 short of our 15-goal target! We have a problem; we are running out of room. That is a great problem to have! To God be the glory.”

La Plata church of Christ, Maryland (remote): Eric Sykes (regional trainer) reports, “Our VBS this weekend had a great turnout. We received one new contact card from a family who happens to be the neighbor of a member who placed membership at our congregation a couple of weeks ago. Last week was great. Brother Dave Bradshaw delivered an outstanding message on ‘invitation cards’, and then we passed out 750 invitation cards to our members. The saints here at La Plata are super excited about the cards. Multiple accounts reveal that members are interacting with the community by passing them out. Several even received promises from folks who said they would visit. It is exciting! We visited ten new movers last week and delivered four new mover baskets. We sent out 39 compassion cards. Two families (five people) visited last week. We offered to take them to lunch, but they chose to take a raincheck. We completed Lesson 3 of BTTB with a couple in North Carolina via Zoom; they did not make a decision. We are scheduling them to study “Does It Matter?” later on this week. We have been sharing the New Converts training video series, ‘Your First 40 Days in the Wilderness,’ with our new converts and several of the members. We have been communicating each morning via text message for a little over a week, and they love it. They are involved; they ask questions. I have even included a brother who has fallen away, whom I had not heard from in over a year. He responded and thanked me for the lessons. I called him and we spoke for over an hour. I pray we will be able to get together for lunch when we return from PTP. In all, we currently have 27 members in our congregation receiving text messages each morning before 8:00 a.m., including a video from the ‘Your First 40 Days in the Wilderness’ video training series. They are currently on Day 16. We appreciate all prayers as we strive to train our members to go out and teach the lost in our community.”

Beltway church of Christ, Camp Springs, Maryland: LeAndre Johnson (minister) reports, “Last Wednesday, we started T3 sessions (Train-the-Teacher) on BTTB Book 1 using virtual breakout rooms on Zoom with six teachers. Last Thursday, we started putting some overall training in action at our Farmer’s Market and Community Baby Shower (pictures attached).  On Sunday, we completed Book 3 in the worship service. I am personally aware of two individuals who are worshiping with us who were baptized in a denomination. In my lesson next week, I will counter this with the teachings we have shared, emphasizing that Christ has only one body. How can a person realistically access all the blessings in Christ Jesus when he/she was baptized into another body? Christ has only one body, which means He has only one church, so if someone was not baptized because of the teaching of that one body in church, what makes his/her baptism valid?”

Jackson church of Christ, Missouri: David Selvig (elder) reports, “God is good! The energy in the congregation is high! Yesterday, we started weekly meetings and training with our first round of contact cards.  Ten names were submitted. Last night a group wrote compassion cards, and the first mailing will go out today.”

Aberdeen church of Christ, Mississippi: Jonathan Hagar (preacher) reports, “I finished preaching Lesson 3 in the Back to the Bible books. Next Sunday, I will preach on new converts, at which time, we will introduce our New Converts’ class to the church. We did our compassion cards this past Sunday morning and added five new prospects to our list. We collectively wrote over 200 cards this past Sunday. The church will be sending out representatives this week to our prospects from last month. They have been receiving cards daily for four weeks, and now we will gauge the reception by sending people to their doors for the first time. The congregation is excited to see how our first round of cards was received. We had five visitors this past Sunday. We took four of them out to eat, and they seem really interested in studying with us. The church is excited to see new people join us.”

East Sparta church of Christ, Magnolia, Ohio (remote): Andrew Masterson (preacher) reports, “We had five visitors at VBS. We also handed out 77 invites at the local Street Fair. We had three families from the community visit this past Sunday. Twenty Compassion Cards went out last week. We had one study setup for this week as well.”

Alkire Road church of Christ, Grove City, Ohio: Tony Dunnagan (member) reports, “We located the prospect contact cards that showed who received compassion cards. This increased the prospect list to 40. We have transition visits set up to start this week. From AMC week, we have some 150 visits we need to make from compassion cards sent. This week’s numbers include 15 visitors, five of whom were children, 12 contact cards, and four baptisms this past week. We have had eight baptisms since AMC. We have 40 prospects.”

Coweta church of Christ, Oklahoma: Keno Shrum (regional trainer) reports, “On Thursday, Houston and I went through Back to the Bible Lesson 2 with Dakota and Alyssa. This week we will meet for Lesson 3. During our study, Dakota revealed he and Alyssa were living as a married couple, yet they are not married. Using the principles taught in the HTHSOE seminars, we heard and hesitated. We learned the information, but continued the study. I will address the situation in Lesson 3 when we get to the topic of Repentance. I have prepared several options to present to them that take them out of their current situation and would allow us to proceed with baptism. One option would be that they separate from their current living situation. The other is that they obtain a wedding certificate from the courthouse and allow me to marry them, which they are planning for in the near future anyway. Once the situation is resolved, I will then baptize them if they reach that conclusion. Please pray for this study!”

Owasso church of Christ, Oklahoma: David Combs (elder) reports, “We had an EXCELLENT week. We rejoice with the angels in Heaven, as we have a new brother in Christ! Jack Langford was baptized into Christ this past Tuesday by Jeremiah Schnell, who studied with Jack using Back to the Bible. An erring brother was restored Friday after studying with Jeremiah. In our Sunday morning Bible class, we continued our study of 1 Timothy. Our morning worship sermon was ‘How Inspired Is the Bible?’ taken from the Believe the Bible series on ‘Bible Inspiration.’ On Sunday evening, following services, Team 2 met and wrote 90 cards to be mailed this week to six prospects. Our prospect timeline is as follows: one is on Week 3, three are on Week 2, and two are on Week 1. We currently have six Bible studies in progress. We received a pep talk about our evangelism efforts from our spark plug, Tim Bowman, and we were led in prayer for our people on our bookmark cards.”

York church of Christ, Pennsylvania: Mark Rashke (deacon) reports, “This Sunday morning, we had one teenage girl visit with her boyfriend. We made sure to greet her, as we would with any visitor. We sent cards to the visitors who had attended the week before, and the son from a family attended the evening service. We spent a little time talking to him to make a deeper connection, and Fred and Pam will begin a Bible study with both him and his mother after they return from PTP. We spent some time preparing for the movie night that we will be hosting at the building on Saturday. This includes inviting friends and planning to pick up a community member who does not drive; he has been receiving House to House.”

Union church of Christ, South Carolina (remote): Kent Thompson (member) reports, “We have three Bible studies set up, but we only did one last week. We are praying we will get the other two in this week. We appreciate all prayers.”

West Sparta church of Christ, Tennessee: Justin Turney (deacon) reports, “We are excited to begin this evangelism journey. We have realized that over the past years we have been passively evangelizing, and we now look forward to actively evangelizing! We just completed our initial training this last week, and on Sunday night, we went over the plan again with the congregation. We have heard nothing but excellent feedback from everyone, and we can hardly wait to get started!”

West Fayetteville church of Christ, Tennessee: Steve Jefferson (elder) reports, “We had a great ‘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 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 conducting seven Bible studies.”

New Union church of Christ, Manchester, Tennessee: Paul Fulks (elder) reports, “We had five visitors this past week, and we wrote 25 compassion cards. We made four visits and had two in our New Converts class.”

Grundy Street church of Christ, Tullahoma, Tennessee: John Summers (preacher) reports, “We had another workday on Saturday and continued (among several things) with the work preparing the room to be our Care Card (Compassion Card) room. As noted last week, for the remainder of this month, we will focus on preparing for our Summer 2025 Friends and Family Day on August 31. This includes preparing the building, inviting as many as we can, and preparing to receive visitors. We have workdays scheduled for each Saturday this month. We believe that it will be a launch point for identifying a significant number of contacts. As also noted last week, visitors will be our first category to receive our Care Cards and follow-ups when we resume with the curriculum in September.  We expect to be organized fully for our care cards (compassion cards) and working our active outreach (prospect) list by that point. My lesson for Sunday, August 17, will be linked to the effort, though not part of the actual curriculum.”

Arlington church of Christ, Tennessee: Brandon Tibbits (preacher) reports, “We are getting close to wrapping up the curriculum. I am getting ready for Polishing the Pulpit, and we continue to develop our contacts. We have another mission Monday planned when I return. For the past two weeks, we have had visitors at the congregation. We have three ready for a transition visit, and three additional prospects.”

Chapel Hill church of Christ, Tennessee: Matt Jones (deacon) reports, “One of our members finished studying with a friend who decided to obey the Gospel.  We rejoice with this good news and a new brother in Christ. We still have two additional studies ongoing, and we continue to pray for their hearts to be open to the Word.”

Mountain Creek church of Christ, Chattanooga, Tennessee: Michael Tomshack (elder) reports, “Deena Hixson has taken on the responsibility of developing a new display method for our evangelism materials. As shown in the accompanying photograph, the materials have been arranged and sorted in a manner that enhances their accessibility and effectiveness. While the display is not yet fully complete, it serves as a snapshot of the evolving process within our congregation. The board contains the Back to the Bible lesson supplies, prospect card, contact card, information card, and greeters schedule for the month. The last three editions of the House to House Heart to Heart publication, which we distribute monthly to our immediate community, are included. A credenza is situated beneath the board, holding prefilled visitor bags and materials specifically designed for young children visiting the worship assembly. This arrangement is conveniently located at the entrance to the education wing, ensuring easy accessibility for all members. Furthermore, it occupies less space compared to the large flat table we used before. This initiative represents a significant step towards modernizing the building facilities to support our ongoing evangelistic endeavors.”

Ocoee Street church of Christ, Copper Hill, Tennessee: R.E. Vann (elder) reports, “We had eight visitors Sunday morning. Two were local repeat visitors. Our preacher and his wife took them out to lunch for the second time, and Bible studies are in the works. As we were making the transition visit with another local visitor, we realized that the timing was not quite right. We will just continue to prepare the soil. Do not be unwise as you evangelize. Timing is everything!”

McEwen church of Christ, Tennessee: John Jones (preacher) reports, “The congregation is going all in with the new movers program. We just started a new Bible study with some folks who have returned after being away for years, and we have another study with some visitors.”

Collierville church of Christ, Tennessee: Justin Evergarden (evangelist) reports, “If my calculations are correct, we have four family prospects currently. There are three Bible studies going on. We are gearing up for PTP, where we will be debuting our Japan gospel booth and speaking at the Saturday ‘Hurry Back’ session at 12:30 in meeting room B (‘Getting the Gospel into Japan’).”

Soddy church of Christ, Tennessee: Joe Mallory (preacher) reports, “We are so thankful to have utilized the Back to the Bible sermon series and PowerPoints. It was wonderful to watch each member and visitor reading the Scripture, while filling in a Bible answer in their teacher’s edition booklets, including some whom we met from community outreach, and others whose names were written on many of our bookmarks! We are praying for many who were able to study with us as we conducted the congregational training. There are many follow-ups that bring the opportunity of further connection and study! This week, we will check in on many to whom we have been sending compassion cards. As we look forward to meeting some for the first time, we pray for receptive and honest hearts. Care Team 2 also met yesterday and wrote close to 45 compassion cards, which will be mailed out this week.”

Hillcrest church of Christ, Springfield, Tennessee: Tim Taylor (evangelist) reports, “We had six first-time visitors and one newer visitor (2-5 weeks). In addition, we have about 26 frequent visitors. We provided two welcome bags. Members of the Visitors Greeting and Hospitality Team greeted and talked to 33 visitors.”

Birdwell Chapel church of Christ, Cottontown, Tennessee: Kerry England (elder) reports, “Cards were mailed to 21 families who visited us last Saturday during the backpack giveaway. They were invited to a couple of upcoming church events, including a BBQ dinner and a Trunk or Treat event. These are annual events, but this year we are concentrating on making them evangelistic. We are working on building relationships that will lead to studies. Additionally, we sent cards to five other people. Our evangelism efforts were discussed during our congregational meeting Sunday evening following worship.”

Rivergate church of Christ, Madison, Tennessee: Doug Tooley (preacher) reports, “We had three visitors on Wednesday. We had four visitors on Sunday morning and two on Sunday night. The two on Sunday night were a product of our benevolent work. Two visits were made last week. We had a baptism on Sunday morning and a restoration on Sunday night.”

Rome church of Christ, Lebanon, Tennessee (remote): David Oxley (elder) reports, “We met this week for our advanced class. Two prospects will receive cards this week, and we are planning three visits. We will meet Monday night for our New Converts’ class.”

White Oak church of Christ, Chattanooga, Tennessee (remote): John McGiffin (preacher) reports, “We have concentrated on following up the contacts after the Bible Lands Museum exhibit. We sent out six Bible correspondence courses and called two families. One family returned to worship with us, but they left early. We have purchased a Bible and embossed it with the name of a person wanting to learn to read the Bible. We will be contacting them this week. We hope to connect with local congregations in Virginia, New Jersey, and the United Kingdom for some of our Bible correspondence students. We are searching for sound congregations that understand the model used by House to House/Heart to Heart School of Evangelism. We are currently distributing postcards for our upcoming Family and Friends Day on September 7. Don Blackwell will do a series of lessons on ‘Heaven Is a Wonderful Place.’ Last year, this brought us two new contacts and great attendance from the area congregations.”

Colleyville church of Christ, Texas: John Garza (regional trainer) reports, “We had planned to meet last week with Marissa and Ladarius Herndon, but we had to reschedule to this Tuesday. Josh Hill and Aaron Lloyd started and finished the Back to the Bible booklet.  ‘We really hammered that the Bible only was sufficient and illustrated that a bit. He also offered some of his own illustrations of that, and we joked about how ludicrous it was that some use things other than the Bible. I built up the next study, and he seemed excited about it. There were not many objections or questions. If he was iffy about something, he would just re-read it and get the answer on his own.’ Concerning our prospects, John and Cheri Wamsley-Cheri will continue to be in the rehab center for a few more weeks, so we ask for ongoing prayers for her to show her our love. Regarding Luis Ortiz, we will not meet with him immediately since he is coming back from Columbus tomorrow. We will have to wait till we get back from PTP. However, we are still communicating and hoping to make it happen soon! We appreciate prayers for all these souls, as well as any others we may be able to contact!”

Wheeler church of Christ, Texas: Garrett English (preacher) reports, “The Bible study I had with a man has stopped for now. I conversed with him on Saturday a little more to make sure the Bible’s point was clear, but it was to no avail. I will move on to other contacts to find good soil and will continue to water and till that man’s soil over time. I plan to go out in town and hand out House to House to business owners this week and do our follow-up from VBS before school starts next week. We had a baptism last night! He was a young man I studied with about two months ago. He had been thinking about it since then and counting the cost, but he was realizing that he was not promised another day. He agreed to study a New Christians study with his sister (as he is moving to Lubbock for college in a couple of weeks). It will help him remain firm and not be ‘choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life’ (Luke 8:14).”

Southwest church of Christ, Austin, Texas: Bryce Mayfield (evangelist) reports, “I cannot help but see God answering prayers. I continue to work through the evangelism curriculum again, but this week we hosted Servants Academy here at Southwest. During this event, we introduce high school kids to the Southwest School of Biblical Studies. While we were taking the kids out to eat dinner, a man noticed our T-shirts had the Books of the Old Testament on them. He immediately asked me about them. After a quick conversation, this man expressed his desire to study the Bible! I hope to begin studying with him this week before we leave for PTP. Also, a lady was converted here not too long ago by Brother John Garza. Yesterday, after studying with one of our members, her daughter was baptized into Christ for the remission of her sins! God is good, and He answers prayers. We are thankful for all who have prayed on our behalf, and we continue to work to become better evangelists. We pray for those reading these reports. May God be glorified in it all!”

Northern Oaks church of Christ, San Antonio, Texas: Mel Hutzler (elder) reports, “We are happy to report that we had another baptism. Dakota White was baptized Wednesday night for the remission of sins. We appreciate her decision and the three others who were recently baptized. This past Sunday, we were blessed with 13 visitors, of whom four were non-Christians. Three of the four have visited us continuously for two weeks. We were going to approach them about learning more about the church, but they had to care for older family members. Our hope is to achieve this on their next visit. We have six people to write cards to from our VBS, two from Sunday visitors, and one from our members, using the ‘bookmark’ method. We have one person to follow up with this week. We have scheduled a congregational training for this coming Saturday on ‘How to Greet a Visitor.’ One of our evangelists is offering Spanish classes for the purpose of evangelism. Our city of San Antonio is growing quickly with more and more Spanish speakers, and we need to be able to bring them the Gospel. Currently, we have three Bible studies using Back to the Bible. Another study is using Searching for Truth. We are studying with six new converts using Growing in Christ. We are offering the teens’ class a new converts study using the book God and Man. In addition, we made some tweaks to our card writing groups, and we will be looking at the coordinator’s sheet to better use more members and best suit their talents.”

Bridgewater church of Christ, Katy, Texas: Doug Suggs (deacon) reports, “Last week, three of our members went to Mexico: Wade Webster, Jim Avalos, and Mike Ezzell. They spoke to encourage the church and had a couple of Bible studies. We had a new member added to our congregation. John was restored and asked to be a member. He met with the elders, and he is now a member of our congregation. We have a Bible study with Catherine on Wednesday night. We ask for continued prayers for her. One of our card teams met Sunday evening, and we will be sending out 40 cards to the names that we had.”

Howe church of Christ, Texas: Aaron Alsbrook (preacher) reports, “We are praying for the Lord’s church and the work of PTP in Sevierville, especially that it is as fruitful as Branson. I know that my family was edified by the lessons, but more so by the obedience of our new brothers and sisters in Christ. As for the Howe congregation, we continue to press on with evangelism. We are still hard at work. Our members are continuing to make contacts, and we are sending cards and making visits to new prospects!”

Abingdon church of Christ, Virginia: Freddie Klein (evangelist) reports, “We continue to receive encouraging feedback from our card ministry. The church family is faithfully providing contact leads, and our list is growing from the connections we made during the school supply giveaway. This past Saturday, we distributed 28 new mover baskets. Some of these have already been visited with good results, and the remaining visits are planned for the coming week. In addition, we plan to make our transition visits this week as well.”

Williamsburg church of Christ, Virginia: Jim Bishop (elder) reports, “We reviewed a video from the ‘Tips for Evangelism’ series. It is a good way to spark new ideas and refine the methods we currently use. We review a video each week to keep evangelism at the forefront of our minds. We have a Reading Assistance Program that meets every Wednesday. It provides reading assistance to children of the congregation and local children. This also serves as an avenue for evangelism; we hope to build relationships with those in the community. We have a meal before Bible study, and this opens the door for them to eat with us and to attend Wednesday evening services. This week, we had one new local visitor who had just been transferred to a nearby air base and was introduced to several members of the church who are also located at the same base. We pray for all those seeking to obey God’s Word to spread the Gospel. May HE provide the opportunities to reach the lost.”

West Side church of Christ, Salem, Virginia: Jeff Durham (elder) reports, “During our bi-monthly elders/deacons/preachers meeting, we discussed our upcoming ‘Stay Fired Up’ evangelism retraining sessions scheduled with Keno Shrum in September. We want to maintain the positive momentum we currently have and build on it to increase our effectiveness in reaching the lost. We had updates about current studies, follow-up visits, card writing, and other parts of the Congregational Evangelism m
Model. Success breeds success!”