Success Stories: October 2, 2025

Welcome White Bluff church of Christ, Tennessee: We want to welcome the White Bluff church of Christ to the House to House/Heart to Heart School of Evangelism.  The elders reported a higher-than-average attendance and solid member support to begin the congregational training.  We are praying for souls to be saved.

Glencoe church of Christ, Alabama: Keith Ritchie (preacher) reports, “The Glencoe church of Christ continues to have a steady stream of visitors as well as excellent attendance. One of our visitors came as a result of an invitation card given to her. We still have three ongoing Bible studies, with one of them moving locations for the ease of the student. Sometimes this is necessary. Another Bible study has been set, and when this begins, we will have four studies. The congregation delivered new mover’s baskets on Sunday after the second service. We had a large number of members taking part in this effort. Last week, we fed a High School football team and conducted a fifteen-minute devotional. After the devotional, the coach said he was planning to bring the team to a worship service at Glencoe. This evening, we will once again be feeding one of our local High School football teams. This will present the opportunity to have a devotional with the team and coaching staff. These are just a few of the evangelistic works going on at Glencoe. Opportunities abound, and we should all take advantage of them as God’s people. As always, to God be the glory!”

Central church of Christ, Saraland, Alabama: David Dixon (preacher) reports, “To wrap up September, which we at Central designated as Evangelism Month, we preached through the Does It Matter? booklet. The response was overwhelmingly positive. It isn’t just Bible study prospects who need to understand that the differences matter, but also every member of the Lord’s church. We are looking to finish out the year strong. We have had 11 baptisms this year. We would love to add a couple more. Most of our new converts seem to be thriving and participating. Now, being 18 months into the program, we are beginning to see things with eyes towards the future. We understand that if we just keep our shoulders to the plow, God will provide steady results. It is our prayer that we please Him in our efforts to reach the lost.”

Cedar Grove church of Christ, Andalusia, Alabama: Josh Holloway (preacher) reports, “We have shifted gears to prepare for our Fall Festival. We are trying to get as many contacts as we can. We have been door-knocking and handing out flyers for this event. We had a discussion as a congregation on how we can grow this event. We will utilize social media, we have called House to House to advertise in our mail out, some members are taking flyers to community boards, one of our members will be announcing it on the radio, one of members is having the info placed in the newspaper, and some of our teacher members have gotten it approved to send our flyers home which children in three different schools in Covington county. We plan on having gift bags for families that are similar to our visitor bags. We will have a chili cook-off, hayride, lots of games, and prizes. We will hand out candy bags that also have church information and a pack of the new Bible cards from Apologetic Press. We plan on taking pictures of costumes and delivering pictures to the families for potential contacts (similar to the VBS idea in our school of evangelism material). Even though we are in full Fall Festival mode, we still continue with our evangelistic plan. This week, we had a wonderful study with Mrs. Terri on Monday afternoon. We had supper and a study with Nena on Monday night. On Tuesday night, we had a study with Michael. Thursday night, we had a study with Lontae and Casheria. On Saturday, we went to several homes for transition visits. I had a great visit with a man named Daryl for close to an hour. He really opened up about his faith. He has agreed to start studying with me. Please pray for this effort and all the current studies in which we are participating. January-April (prior to us enrolling in HTHSOE), we did 15 Bible studies and had three baptisms and two restorations. We were not keeping up with our visitors, the visits that were being made, or the cards being sent. April-September (after starting the HTHSOE) we have had 85 visitors, 212 visits made, 2,197 cards sent out, and 64 Bible studies. We have had a total of five restorations and 10 baptisms. We have now met our salvation goal of 15 in just 5 months in the program.”

Hatton church of Christ, Town Creek, Alabama: Chris Miller (preacher) reports, “We’ve had a busy week, a lot of behind-the-scenes work going on among members to encourage contacts.  But in addition to those, we have a friend from the community who was diagnosed with cancer, and several will be helping that family move with One Mission in mind at all times.  There’s also a young couple who have been visiting, and we are working to set up a study with them as well.”

Creekwood church of Christ, Mobile, Alabama: Tucker Presley (preacher) reports, “We’ve had a couple of young men visiting several times, and both are prime prospects for a Bible study. In fact, one of our members has already done some studying with one of them. We still have one Bible study ongoing. Visits are being made to those on the prospect list. We’ve been promoting Trunk or Treat online and have sent postcards out to last year’s attendees as well as this year’s VBS attendees. We have more to send out, too!”

Fayette church of Christ, Alabama: Josh Taylor (deacon) reports, “Our Gospel Meeting is upcoming. With that, our House-to-House mailouts have been sent out to our community. Yesterday, we had a couple attend our services who had recently moved from Pennsylvania to Alabama. They attended both our Sunday morning and night services and stayed for our scheduled fellowship meal after the evening services. They told us the House-to-House mail-out is what intrigued them to attend services with us. Please pray for these souls that they will continue attending services with us.”

Petersville church of Christ, Florence, Alabama: Adam Richardson (preacher) reports, “Good morning! The Petersville congregation sent 67 compassion cards this week. The family we have finished two studies with is traveling extensively for work, but we are eager to finish the study when they return.”

Mountain Home church of Christ, Arkansas: Joshua Adams (preacher) reports, “This past week has been filled with encouragement for our congregation. We were blessed to welcome a new family who recently moved here from Colorado. While the father is still there finishing the process of selling their home, the mother and their college-aged daughter are already eager to get connected—especially with our young adult ministry and with the church family as a whole. In addition, we were grateful to see several visitors from the community join us. With so much happening in our culture, it seems many are seeking spiritual answers, and we are thankful for the opportunity to provide a Biblically sound voice. I am especially proud of our church family—so many of them are reaching out, introducing themselves, and making connections with new faces. Nearly every Sunday, I have multiple people coming to me to ask if I’ve met a particular visitor yet. I love seeing this spirit of hospitality at work! Looking ahead, this week we will participate in the Community Health Fair and Expo with a booth. We’ll be giving away prizes, each with a Bible, and will gather names and addresses from those who sign up. These new contacts will be receiving compassion cards from us as a way to show Christ’s love. On that note, we had 15 people stay after evening services this week to write 35 cards.”

Lake Forest church of Christ, Jacksonville, Florida: Brian Howard (preacher) reports, “We continue to grow our prospect list. I studied Book 1 with a young man yesterday who is a boyfriend of one of our members. We are scheduled to study again on Wednesday. We also had another woman place membership, which makes 16 new members this year, including baptisms.”

Margaret Street church of Christ, Milton, Florida: Troy Spradlin (preacher) reports, “We added a few new Bible studies this week, including one that has returned after several months and is about to start Book 3 of Back to the Bible. Our focus for the next few weeks will be on transition visits and setting up additional Bible studies. We’ve also had several return visitors with whom we are developing closer relationships. Our current 2025 Year-to-Date Accountability Board numbers are: 270 Total Contacts received; 72 Visitors; 222 Neighbors (Prospects whom we have loved and/or studied with); 72 Bible studies (total completed); 2,044 Compassion Cards sent; 2 Restorations, and 17 Baptisms.”

Niceville church of Christ, Florida: Joe Palmer (preacher) reports, “This week we had three returning visitors and two new visitors.  We have a new study starting this week with Tracy who visited and asked for more information. One of our sisters has befriended her and sits with her during worship. I am happy to see the ladies stepping up to study with her. Evangelism is about relationship and making disciples and that has been much of our focus the past few months. We sent out 18 cards. Our Sunday evening Evangelism meeting had seven in attendance.”

Oak Hill church of Christ, Rome Georgia: Matt Wallin (evangelist) reports, “From Sept. 5–16 Rod Selman led four young men to support Wayne and Kristi Parker in their mission work in Cyprus. These men were chosen for their potential; they are not ministers or deacons but evangelistic young Christians who need investment. They traveled to support the Parkers, aiming to secure as many Bible study contacts as possible. They held four worship services, evangelized in three major cities, made eight strong contacts (one contact introduced Wayne to ten friends), and encouraged the four young Christians on the island. Here are two amazing short stories from this trip. After playing basketball with some guys in the park to try to make some contacts, one college student in South Cyprus asked us ‘How do you study the Bible?’ We quickly got his contact information and gave him a Bible and study booklets. Second, in North Cyprus, a young man told us that he’d studied the Quran his whole life, but he reads in the Bible and Quran where Jesus will judge everyone on the last day, and he now believes that the Bible has the truth to everlasting life. He asked Wayne to mentor him and teach him. On the Brotherhood-Wide Door Knocking Day, the same young men joined our members and helped lead evangelism in Rome, GA. We had 32 members come to knock! We divided up into small teams and went out into one of four different plans. Our plans were Door knocking. The majority of our members door-knocked in areas that are currently receiving House to House in the mail. We made 10 hot contacts that have already been followed up with, including revisits to most. Second, we focused on new movers. Out of 15 homes, nine responded warmly, six did not answer. Third, we did Park Evangelism by conducting surveys about Oak Hill church of Christ, set up a table with free drinks, snacks, and Bibles, and made five contacts. We learned to create a welcoming environment by joking, playing frisbee, and inviting people in. Fourth,we sent out two teams to visit five non-attending members; three said they would attend the next day. One did and came forward to be restored. Moreover, we just got back from our fall college retreat. Last year was our first year doing this, and we had 15. This year we more than doubled that and had 34! Several of those in attendance are not yet Christians. We taught four lessons over the weekend and offered to study with anyone who was interested after each lesson. The teaching, studies, and relationships led to two baptisms! We also used the time to develop our young men. We asked them to help lead the worship times in different ways and gave them responsibilities around camp for the weekend. One young man led the Lord’s Supper for the first time, and another young man led his first public prayer. Our theme was ‘Connected.’ We talked about being connected to more than just the college group, but being connected to individuals in it, the larger church as a whole (both Oak Hill and the brotherhood), and most importantly, God. Finally, we had a 29-year-old visit on Wednesday night because they received House to House/Heart to Heart. Two of our students have scheduled Bible studies with friends this week.”

Cartersville church of Christ, Georgia: Charles Harris (regional trainer) reports, “We participated in the recent Brotherhood Door-Knocking effort. Yesterday, we had five visitors from three different homes. We will be reaching out to them, as well as the other door-knocking contacts we’ve gathered. Saturday, we baptized Caitlin into Christ. Caitlin and her husband, Darrian, recently moved to the area. He is a member of the church but had become weak in the faith. Caitlin came from a Catholic background. Our studies have helped them both get grounded in the truth.”

Woodstock church of Christ, Georgia: Matt Amos (preacher) reports, “WCOC New Mover’s Door Knocking Campaign knocked on 4 doors this weekend. The Ministry Program has obtained a volunteer clearance for a minister to help conduct Bible Studies at a medium security youth prison.  The Compassion Card Group created and sent twenty-one cards.  WCOC had six non-Christian visitors this past Sunday morning worship.”

Edgewood church of Christ, Columbus, Georgia: Mitchell Deering (deacon) reports, “We welcomed three new visitors this past Sunday and presented them with visitor baskets, helping us make a warm and personal first impression. With 68 more compassion cards sent this week, the total for September reached 257. The congregation continues to show strong participation in both the card ministry and visitor outreach. The nine active Bible studies are ongoing, and we continue to look for new studies to begin from visitors and card contacts.”

Collinsville-Troy church of Christ, Illinois: Jason Wright (elder) reports, “Every year at the end of September (for the past 16 years), we have a men’s retreat at my property in Missouri called Mancation. We shoot guns, fellowship, and of course, eat. The manliest thing we do is conduct the worship service for the local church of Christ. This year we had brethren from 6 states. Each year, we may have one or two non-Christian guests who come. Bryce, the brother of my son-in-law, came and had been studying BTTB. He was baptized into Christ on Sunday in Big Creek. We also rejoice with two of our own young people from our congregation who were baptized last Monday. We mailed 80 compassion cards. Coordinators met on Wednesday. We conducted three Bible studies as well. We also delivered new mover’s baskets.”

Columbia City church of Christ, Indiana: Drew Reece (preacher) reports, “We are continuing to work through the curriculum. We are having good feedback from the prospecting we are doing. Lord willing, they will be Bible studies soon. We met on Monday to practice our transition visits.”

Judah church of Christ, Indiana: Joe Moon (preacher) reports, “This week we had two visitors.  This was their third week in a row.  Liz and I plan to meet them on Friday for a meal.  This past week, we sent 20 cards.”

Highland Village church of Christ, Bloomington, Indiana: Mark Stauffer (elder) reports, “Highland Village church of Christ sent 38 compassion cards in September, made three visits, had 10 visitors for worship and currently has two prospects. Jarrod Lemon, of Stop 11 Road church of Christ, preached for us yesterday. Afterward, he told us about the recent Bible giveaway that the Stop 11 Road church held. Response from the church at Highland Village was positive, and we are preparing to have a Bible giveaway here. Some of our members have been hearing from acquaintances who attend denominational churches that there is a trend toward fewer and fewer scriptures in their services. This has caused some to begin looking for more Bible-based churches. A Bible giveaway is one way to attract the interest of such people. We have a potential new opportunity to reach people with the Gospel. A large apartment complex is under construction in the Highland Village area. We plan to contact the property management to see if they will provide a newsletter or brochure for their new tenants, which we can use to introduce ourselves. We will also be checking with the management of existing apartments to see if the same opportunity is available.”

Beloit church of Christ, Kansas (remote): Dustin Dougherty (regional trainer) reports, “Good morning brother, this weekend I spoke in Agra, KS, at the little congregation I grew up in. We had 13 in attendance on Sunday.  Beloit had 15 in attendance for worship.  We are greatly looking forward to our fall Gospel Meeting next weekend with Mike Hixson.  I am using smaller flyers to invite individuals and coworkers to the upcoming meeting personally, which has led to numerous positive discussions and one individual, so far, wanting to know more.  My wife and I are preparing our next round of new mover’s baskets. Last time, we did the spaghetti meal baskets, and people loved them. This time, we are going to try the laundry basket approach.  Plans are moving forward to begin a college and young adult Bible study group in October, I look forward to beginning that and trying to reach a younger generation in our area.  To God be the glory.”

Columbus church of Christ, Kansas: Matt Fowler (member) reports, “Chris and Laura delivered two more new mover’s baskets this week. They were well received. Beth and Suzanne visited a prospect to whom we had sent compassion cards. She was not interested in a study yet, but Suzanne plans to give her a copy of Muscle and a Shovel and invite her to read it, perhaps to spark her interest. I finished the Believe the Bible Lesson B with Dom. We are set to transition to Back to the Bible in 2 weeks. We have sent 101 compassion cards this month. We currently have three Bible studies going on. Several of our members have given out invitation cards to people in passing, and we hope to see some visitors come as a result of that. Please continue to pray for our efforts, and we pray for yours.”

Flatwoods church of Christ, Kentucky: Nathan Adkins (elder) reports, “We are making small but steady progress implementing the evangelism model.  We had a planning meeting for a Fall Festival we will be setting up at, and we are making plans for our trunk or treat as well. Thanks for the idea about having a photo op as a way to get contact information.  We wrote 23 cards to be sent out this week.  We had a couple from the community visit our services on Sunday morning and evening.”

Central church of Christ, Paducah, Kentucky: Adam Faughn (preacher) reports, “This week was a little slow, but some good things happened. Sam returned to worship after a recent illness and wants to resume his study this week, which we will definitely be scheduling. Also, Marilyn returned to worship after a recent illness. We will be working on scheduling a study with her as soon as she knows her work schedule. We are seeing several guests from other congregations lately, one of whom told us that she is visiting because of our emphasis on evangelism. We pray that we are the type of example we should be!”

Gonzales church of Christ, Louisiana: Patrick Adkins (deacon) reports, “Today the AM sermon was Beginning of Wisdom, and the PM was continuing the series on Finding Jesus in Every Book, Genesis. After the PM service, we had a coordinator meeting on the door-knocking and new movers. We signed 33 cards, and we had two baptisms today.”

Beltway church of Christ, Camp Springs, Maryland: LeAndre Johnson (preacher) reports, “Good afternoon, this Wednesday will conclude our T3 classes. We currently have two studies in progress. One study is concluding lesson three today (Monday 9/29).  The second study is at the end of lesson one, and lesson two will preferably be started on this Saturday (10/4). We had one baptism on Sunday, and we will continue to work the vineyard.”

Jackson church of Christ, Missouri: David Selvig (elder) reports, “This has been a good week! We are still having meetings to tackle the steps and implement all aspects of the plan. On Sunday, we had Lesson 1 in the BTTB book 3 with Jaxon, our new pulpit minister, who gave an excellent presentation.  We have had three baptisms since we started this and look forward to more studies and more positive results.”

Aberdeen church of Christ, Mississippi: Jonathan Hagar (preacher) reports, “We had a baptism this past Sunday!! This brings us to five baptisms this year. After the invitation a young man came forward who had been studying with me and his parents. We are so proud of his dedication to Christ, and his willingness to be an example in front of the whole congregation. I know many are shy and would like a private baptism, but having someone come forward in the middle of the service in response to the invitation is a great encouragement to the church. Everyone loves to see a baptism! We had two visitors this Sunday, and they said they were looking for a church home. We took them out to eat, gave them a visitor packet, and we will be sending cards their way to keep in touch with them! I have three Bible studies set up this week; pray with me that they go well. We have been trying to keep up with our transition visits, but it has been a challenge getting to their houses at the same time as when people are home. We hired a new youth minister this past Sunday, and he is excited to get started. He wants to use the Growing in Christ book for his first lesson series.”

Iuka church of Christ, Mississippi: Sam Glover (preacher) reports, “We are still sifting through and working on follow-up from door knocking. I’m handing off three sets of cards to send out today, and that’s only counting people I spoke to personally during the campaign. The family I mentioned last week was present again for worship and seemed to be locked into regularly attending and serving alongside us. We’ve had several visitors over the past couple of weeks.”

Concord church Of Christ, New Hampshire (remote): Shane Belanger (member) reports, “This past Sunday was quite a blessing! The fields were white for harvest! We had multiple visitors and as a result, we were able to set up Bible studies with five individuals in the week to come. One of those studies was with two individuals who began today in the Back to the Bible lesson one. It went great! Both individuals learned a tremendous amount and were intently involved in the study throughout the whole time. We had lunch together, and the study was about two hours long. It appeared as if they could not get enough Bible. We plan to get together this coming Saturday evening to encourage and rally the congregation. We are excited for the work that is taking place here in Concord and look forward to our next study on Thursday.”

East Flushing church of Christ, New York (remote): Clarence Jenkins (preacher) reports, “Sunday we had six visitors. Our metrics thus far for and through the month of September are six baptisms, 46 visitors, 27 prospects, 12 Bible studies, and two in a new convert study. We appreciate all prayers.”

Welcome Glendale St. church of Christ, Newton, North Carolina (remote):Dayle Taylor (preacher) reports, “Brother Terry Hale introduced HTHSOE to the congregation while visiting family and met with us on 7/13/25 to talk with us about enrolling in the school of evangelism. He conducted a motivational talk during our evening services on 9/7/25. Last Sunday (9/21/25), Brother Keno Shrum conducted the Evangelism Kickoff for us. Brother Terry Hale was in attendance. We have five members who have completely filled out their contact target lists. Two Bible Study classes began on Wednesday night (9/24), with 1-visitor, Cameron, and the wife (Laken Little) of a member of the congregation. Sister Denise Taylor has taken the lead of the compassion cards. We will start sending compassion cards on Monday (10/6) and the days following. Visitor gift bags are assembled and ready for issue.”

Alkire Road church of Christ, Ohio: Tony Dunnagan (deacon) reports, “We had seven visitors on Sunday. We filled out 123 compassion cards.  We currently have two Bible studies.  We have a Zoom meeting scheduled with HTHSOE on Thursday.”

East Sparta church of Christ, Magnolia, Ohio: Andrew Masterson (preacher) reports, “We had nine new visitors and five recurring this past Sunday. Our New Convert’s class is going well. We sent 25 compassion cards last week and plan to send 26 more this coming week. We currently have two transitional visits this week.”

New Concord church of Christ, Ohio: Terry Townsend (preacher) reports, “We had a great Lord’s Day and had a big crowd, including several first-time visitors (all of whom received a welcome gift). After morning service, we had a luncheon for all our new converts and new members. A couple of our young college-age people have been studying with Lacie Ross (using Back to the Bible), and she obeyed the Gospel Sunday afternoon (picture included). Thirty-three compassion cards were signed and will be mailed out this week. We currently have two Bible studies going on with a total of three individuals. Both studies will complete Booklet Two of Back to the Bible this week, and possibly Booklet Three. We are hopeful that these three will see the need to repent and be baptized very soon!  We have been doing a Wednesday night fellowship (meal) before our evening Bible study for a couple of years (it was focused solely on a group of siblings who have had a difficult upbringing). Those kids have now moved to another state, so the group who’d been working with them has decided to open it up to the entire congregation, with the hopes that members might bring friends so that new contacts can be made. We hope that it too will help bolster our Wednesday night numbers. I have also included a picture of our number board (out numbers through the first three quarters of 2025).”

Owasso church of Christ, Oklahoma: David Combs (elder) reports, “We have a new sister in Christ! Annaston Wiseley was baptized this past Tuesday following her study of Back to the Bible with our minister, Dan Schnell. Yesterday we had a great lesson for our mission Sunday, followed by an evangelism effort update and a prayer for its success and for the ones on our bookmark cards.
On Sunday evening, a member came forward to ask for prayers and forgiveness of sins.
Following the services group 4 met, 14 card writers wrote 135 cards.”

Coweta church of Christ, Oklahoma: Keno Shrum (regional trainer) reports, “This week I received a much-welcomed text from a young man I had studied with that converted about five years ago. Through various circumstances in life, he fell away two years ago, and I’ve been unable to make contact with him since then as he changed his phone number. A few nights ago, I received a text from him. We had a great visit, and he indicated he wants to come back to God. We have dinner and a restoration study planned for this week. Please keep him in your prayers. We have also been sending compassion cards to our door-knocking contacts. One of them is a hot contact. We will start making transition visits this week.”

York church of Christ, Pennsylvania: Mark Rashke (deacon) reports, “This week in York, we had a slightly larger crowd, as more of our members and regular attendees were in town and in attendance. It was especially encouraging to see a larger-than-usual crowd at our evening song service. We did not have any visitors or send any compassion cards this week. We will make a plea to the congregation on Sunday regarding the need to fill out contact cards for those in the community whom we know have a need. We will be posting on social media about coming to hear a message about Jesus, the Prince of Peace, in light of recent events of violence in our country. We also have a number of members who are interested in helping with an AMC campaign in 2026, if we can work out the details.”

Covington church of Christ, Tennessee: Wayne Dalrymple (elder) reports, “We are seeing good results from our door-knocking efforts. Robert is an erring Christian we met. He said he had been thinking about visiting with us. Those who went to his house must have provided the encouragement he needed because he was at our assembly the following Sunday with his granddaughter. The two who met him at his house made a connection with him. I think they will be able to help him be restored to the Lord. Theresa has visited with us the past two Sundays. We helped her and her family with some groceries. She has agreed to a Bible study. We will start this week. We have had several other visitors over the past couple of weeks. One of them is Savannah, who is the teenage daughter of a couple who attend regularly. The wife is a Christian; the husband is not. They have not made their daughter attend with them, but she came last Sunday. We have several on our prospect list this week. We are sending cards and making visits. We pray God will give the increase.”

Rome church of Christ, Lebanon, Tennessee (remote): David Oxley reports, “We met this week for our advanced class.  We are sending cards this week to three prospects and are planning three visits.  We will also meet for our New Convert’s class on Monday.”

Stuart Creek church of Christ, Smyrna, Tennessee: Caleb Wisterman (member) reports, “We are continuing to plan for our upcoming Fall Family Festival on November 1st. We had a meeting to discuss the plan and engage with our congregation on the different jobs/roles that we needed to fill to make this event a success. We had a large number of people willing to sign up and participate, so we are feeling encouraged and excited about this. Beyond the planning, we are focusing on getting the word out to our local community and friends/families who are not church members. We have started sending compassion cards to two college-age members who have been unfaithful and are focusing our college and teen members to send cards to these prospects. We have conducted five visits to other prospects and are currently planning four to five more visits over the next week or two. New mover baskets have been slowly getting delivered, but we are receiving positive feedback from those we visit. We have also had several visitors over the last few weeks, whom we are engaging with as well. We were blessed last weekend to have four baptisms! Three were college or teenage attendees of our Fall Teen Retreat, and one was an adult who had been visiting with us for a few months. This Wednesday, I will be leading our evening Bible study, and we will be reviewing our progress with the Evangelism process, identifying areas where we could use more help, and concluding with a short lesson on ‘The Temptation of Laziness’ within God’s church.”

White Oak church of Christ, Chattanooga, Tennessee: John McGiffin (preacher) reports, “Three weeks ago, we had a visitor during our Family and Friends Day event.  He had attended the congregation with his uncle when he was 10 years old.  He has not been back to any kind of church for over 30 years.  Following the visitor program, I have kept in contact.  When I found out he had car troubles, I sent another member to help.  Between the two of us, he promised to return to service.  Each week, I would check on him.   This past Sunday, he responded to the invitation.  After 10 minutes (I wanted to make sure he knew why), we baptized him into Christ.  He had been studying at home and is now dedicated to worship with us every Sunday.   This is the third baptism for the calendar year. Additionally, my wife and I sent 50 postcards to past contacts about our upcoming trunk-or-treat event.  On Sunday, I received a text from one of the contacts I had been texting, stating they would be attending services this Sunday.  Our next potential Bible study!  We have another scheduled study this week, as mentioned in our Facebook post. This past week, we have sent 25 emails, 50 cards, seven texts, one Bible study from an original Facebook post, and one baptism (total 3 for the year).”

Freewill church of Christ, Gainesboro, Tennessee (remote): Andrew Scott (preacher) reports, “We had returning visitors last night, that we helped with benevolence. We continue to flood prospects with cards. We have a Bible study scheduled for tomorrow using Back to the Bible Book 2.  We are praying for you all as you travel.”

Cookeville church of Christ, Tennessee: Joshua Kennedy (preacher) reports, “We have just sent out another round of compassion cards (roughly 20). We also have two active Bible studies and are hopeful for their outcome! We are also just about to send out another round of new movers’ baskets. Praying all continues to go well with y’all!”

Ocoee Street church of Christ, Copperhill, Tennessee: R.E. Vann (elder) reports, “Our primary focus this month was to increase member engagement with our transition visits and to increase Bible studies from our compassion card contacts. So, last week we centered our door knocking efforts toward our active prospects. Mission accomplished as we had 16 members making transition visits. But more encouraging, two our neighbors (prospects) requested a Bible study, ‘Would you like to know more about the Ocoee Street church of Christ?’ Both completed Lesson 1, BTTB. The studies went well and Lesson 2 has been scheduled a few weeks out because of various conflicts. Our prayers are with all your evangelistic efforts. To God be the glory.”

Blackman church of Christ, Murfreesboro, Tennessee (remote): Brian McCord reports, “We have sent 130 cards in September. We have made several new mover visits. One has become a viable prospect. We had visitors yesterday who expressed interest in joining the membership. We will have a discussion with them as soon as possible and hopefully set up a study. Another study is scheduled for two weeks out with a family.”

West Sparta church of Christ, Tennessee: Justin Turney (deacon) reports, “We began our compassion cards this past Sunday! Currently we have 17 prospects and five Bible studies. We have a second study scheduled tonight with a couple who were very excited after the first study. It’s exciting to watch this plan continue to grow!”

West Fayetteville church of Christ, Tennessee: Steve Jefferson (elder) reports, “Good afternoon from the West Fayetteville congregation. We are always thankful when we have visitors attend on a regular basis and who are willing to study God’s word. Van Massey has been teaching our 1st principal class and has about 13 in attendance. He has been conducting additional studies with Paul and Rosie Blevins over the past few months. We rejoice in reporting that yesterday morning, they both responded to the Lord’s invitation and were baptized into Christ. We welcome them with open arms and are thankful for their desire to serve our Lord and work with us at West Fayetteville.”

Grundy Street church of Christ, Tullahoma, Tennessee: John Summers (preacher) reports, “Visitors- three, Active Outreach (Prospects) – 13, Care Cards (Compassion Cards) – 208, Visits Made – 0, Bible Studies – 1, Baptisms- 0 (for the month, 4 this year), Baptism Goal – 12. We continued well in our Care Card program with Group 3 last week.  This past week, group 3 sent about 210  cards, and again, everyone on the list received at least 2-3 cards each day. The elders and I also met last Wednesday to focus on our next steps as we continue to implement the SOE curriculum.”

Arlington church of Christ, Tennessee: Brandon Tibbits (preacher) reports, “This week we visited some of our prospects. We had no Bible studies this week but one of them I’m still working on. I took him out to lunch to get to know him, since he was the husband of one of the members. I will invite them over and try and set something up. We had a few visitors this week. A lady who had visited brought her daughter and grandson. We were happy to have them. We are working on a list of unfaithful members to prospect and are getting ready for the new movers as well. We are also preparing for our campaign with MSOP near the end of this month. Things are going well, and we know if we keep going the way we are God will give the increase.”

Chapel Hill church of Christ, Tennessee: Matt Jones (deacon) reports, “We continue to work toward reaching the lost. We have several in the congregation with ongoing Bible studies. Many in the congregation are seeing the need and command to organically be involved in the work of soul winning. It’s so refreshing to hear of a member who has begun a study on their own with a coworker, friend, etc. We have many prospects on our list that are receiving cards or will be visited soon, so we are looking forward to what doors God will continue to open!”

Mountain Creek church of Christ, Chattanooga, Tennessee: Michael Tomshack (elder) reports, “Reaching out to those who were once active for many years but now provide excuses regarding attendance has been a part of our evangelism efforts. The elders established a course of action about two years ago to track worship attendance with a purpose, not just a numerical count. When a person or family misses the assembly, our ‘Where You Been’ team coordinator, Angie Chambers, reaches out to them through various soft touch means, such as a text message or a brief phone call. This action has yielded positive results, as many members inform one of the team members or an elder when they will be absent or send a text message explaining their absence. The second week in a row of missing attendance prompts a more direct inquiry into the missed attendance. The third week is referred to the elders for a call. These actions were implemented because in the past, individuals would disappear, and six months later, someone would inquire if they had seen them, which was too late. Those who continue to miss without reasonable explanations become a restoration effort. Technology that allows the streaming of classes and assemblies is beneficial for those who are truly isolated or serves as a teaching platform for future reference. However, when members claim to be worshiping online for several months, we provide them with instructions that online worship is not a Biblical substitute for a worship assembly. Lord willing, these efforts will once again awaken hearts and bring about repentance.”

McEwen church of Christ, Tennessee: John Jones (preacher) reports, “We currently have 10 individuals in Bible studies, eight of these are from a local lineman school. We have until December to teach them the Gospel and hope to send them back to their homes (Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Memphis) to attend their local congregations. Please pray for this effort. We had one visitor last night. We got her contact information and will be having her over for a meal soon. Things are looking up!”

Collierville church of Christ, Tennessee: Justin Evergarden (evangelist) reports, “This has been another blessed week in our evangelism efforts here at Collierville church of Christ. We sent 34 compassion cards to six individuals this week, bringing our year-to-date total to 281 cards since we began this systematic outreach on May 4th. Our consistent approach of showing Christ’s love through regular contact continues to open hearts and doors in our community. Our New Convert’s class held its second session on Sunday and continues to be very well received with high attendance. It’s encouraging to see our new members engaged and growing in their faith journey together. Speaking of growth, we have wonderful news to share – several people have recently placed membership with our congregation! What a joy it is to see our evangelism efforts truly bearing fruit as new families are added to our church family. Our ongoing Bible studies with interested individuals continue to progress well, and our teachers and study partners are doing excellent work in sharing God’s word with seeking hearts. We’re also making regular new movers basket visits to welcome families who have recently moved to our area, following our proven approach of showing genuine care and hospitality from the very first contact. We are truly seeing the fruits of our labor, as read in Isaiah 55:11 – ‘So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please.’ Our focus remains on maintaining this momentum while ensuring every contact receives the love and attention they deserve. We’re grateful for the 10 active evangelism volunteers who make this work possible through their dedication and faithful service. Please continue to pray for the hearts of those receiving our compassion cards, for our new converts as they grow in faith, for continued opportunities to share the Gospel in our community, and for wisdom and strength for our evangelism team. Remember that every member is encouraged to reach out to at least one non-member this week, and as always – we never go empty-handed! Thank you for your continued support and prayers. Together, we are fulfilling the Great Commission in Collierville and beyond.”

Soddy church of Christ, Tennessee: Joe Mallory (preacher) reports, “We are continuing to see fruit from the congregational efforts of inviting friends and family. Many on our prospect list have been added through the efforts of each member. This week, our Bible studies will continue to be conducted with friends and community members. A host of compassion cards will be sent out this week with prayer and love. We are praying for open minds and hearts as they consider the truth in God’s Word, resulting in Gospel obedience. May we reflect the light of the Son in all ways as we live our lives in Jesus Christ!”

Philadelphia church of Christ, Lebanon, Tennessee (remote): Alex DeGraves (associate preacher) reports, “We are continuing to send out cards for some people and have a few others who we have finished. We have had a couple of weeks of door-knocking, and we are hoping that we may get some responses from that.”

Hillcrest church of Christ, Springfield, Tennessee: Tim Taylor (evangelist) reports, “We have a benevolence contact that has been with us the past two Sundays.  We are hopeful that this interest will continue and bear fruit. We have an ongoing Bible study that is ready for study #3 that looks promising as well. Katie, one of our sweet young Christian ladies, responded Sunday, seeking prayers and restoration.”

Birdwell Chapel church of Christ, Cottontown, Tennessee: Kerry England (elder) reports, “We had several visitors again this week. Some who are attending most Sundays and some who visited for the first time. We continued to mail compassion cards and visited new movers this week. Plans are being made for a Trunk or Treat event at the end of next month. It will be for our children and an outreach program in the community.”

New Union church of Christ, Manchester, Tennessee: Paul Fultz (elder) reports, “We had seven visitors and four new contact cards.  We prepared 29 compassion cards to being mailed throughout the week.  We made three transition visits.”

Rivergate church of Christ, Madison, Tennessee: Doug Tooley (preacher) reports, “We had one restoration/prayer request last week. We had three visitors on Wednesday night. We had homecoming on Sunday morning. We had about 25 visitors. About twenty of them stayed for the meal afterwards. Also, two visits were made last week, and I have been engaged in a Bible study over the phone. I’m hopeful to get face-to-face with the man at some point.”

Southwest church of Christ, Texas: Bryce Mayfield (preacher) reports, “The past two weeks have been good here at Southwest. We are catching more visitors, sending cards, and delivering new mover baskets. We also have one ongoing study and are trying to set up another. I’m also continuing to preach through the evangelism model. However, the best news of all is baptisms. We had two here at Southwest last week. Joe Rodriguez was baptized for the remission of his sins. His wife was converted last year, and after persistent compassion and Bible Study, Joe was ready to be added to the Kingdom of God! Also, Angelina Arias was baptized for the remission of her sins. Her grandfather is a deacon in our congregation, and we are all so proud of the decision she made. We know God is glorified, and we praise Him for these two new souls!”

Bridge Avenue church of Christ, Weslaco, Texas: Braulio Carvajal III (preacher) reports, “We are up and running at Bridge Avenue.  Our elders have designated our administrator, communicator and educators. We preached the first sermon from John 4, both in English and Spanish. In addition, contact card bookmarks were distributed to the congregation. At our PM service, we preached on ‘My Neighbor’ and explained more details on how to complete the contact bookmarks. We set up two evangelism tables, one featuring Spanish materials and another featuring English materials. We have hung an accountability board in our auditorium as well. Surveys were collected, and we are reviewing the information. On Wednesday night, we had 11 prospects in attendance at our mid-week Bible study. Friday night, we had a BBQ at our building and had 13 visitors who joined us. On Saturday, we sent out over 90 compassion cards. We had six ongoing Bible studies, and two visits were made during the week.  On Sunday, 11 prospects attended services, and five new visitors were in attendance. Each visitor completed a contact card and was provided with a visitor bag. We have been blessed!”

Eisenhower church of Christ, Odessa, Texas: Allen Weakland (elder) reports, “As the work continues here at the Eisenhower congregation, we are ramping up toward our Fall Festival.  These efforts have produced several restorations and several contacts which have led to Bible studies and conversions.  We have already been contacted by a number of people in the community to see if we have our date fixed for this effort – this was a surprise to us, but it also encouraged the congregation.  Some of our new converts have expressed that they will be deeply involved this year and have already invited some in the community. The congregation was blessed with visitors this past Sunday- more than usual.  We greeted them, and a number of our members offered invitations to these visitors to join us in our monthly potluck.  Most of the visitors stayed and spoke to us concerning our friendliness and how open we were to answering all of their questions. This was exciting to hear, and we pray that it continues- we will be reaching out with compassion cards this Wednesday evening and Sunday evening as well. It is our prayer that these contacts will become prospects in the near future.  In another note, Tim visited again.  It was good to see him – we are still striving to sit down with this young man. Pray for a soft heart. As we close, it is always a great honor to inform you of the bounty of the Lord.  May we be ready to receive God’s increase.”

Seagoville church of Christ, Texas: Kodie Martin (evangelist) reports, “This last week we preached the introductory lesson and introduced our bookmarks to the congregation and allowed them time to fill out names. We will pray for the contacts they wrote down and preach through the next portion of John 4 to continue to cultivate their mindset. Our evangelism and accountability tables are in the final stages of setup, and we have framed and hung posters of the H2H model throughout the building to continually display the process to people. In addition to introducing the bookmark, we already have around 100 contacts from recent events that we will be working with in the next few weeks, especially as we are beginning to introduce our card-writing teams and train them.”

North Jefferson church of Christ, Mt. Pleasant, Texas: Davin Whatley (evangelist) reports, “Reach Team 2 met Sunday and wrote compassion cards. It is now time to make the transition visit to three of the names on our list. Mr. Terry, one of our regular visitors, has agreed to participate in a Bible study with Jeff Whatley, one of our ministers. They will soon begin Back to the Bible. On October 18^th, we are going to have a fall cookout at a member’s house, and we are preparing to use this event as an opportunity to invite visitors and make contacts!”

Colleyville church of Christ, Texas: John Garza (regional trainer) reports, “Concerning our current Bible studies: Coffee went well with Josh Hill. From what I learned: 1. He is emotionally invested in his conversion experience at the Hills church. I encouraged him to align his emotions with God’s word. 2. He does not fully understand the uniqueness of Christ’s church. Emotionally, he finds it hard to believe that all those “good” people will be condemned. 3. He is not against reasoning with the Scriptures. He would like to continue to study and work through these things with me. We will be scheduling to meet again when I get back. Jessi and Lisa Puckett studied through Lesson 2 of Back to the Bibleon Friday. Jessi really enjoyed the study, and they plan to do Lesson 3 when Grant is back from Europe. Aaron studied with Miguel yesterday afternoon after services, and Larry and Lisa joined with them. Miguel really enjoyed it and he and Aaron plan to do Lesson 2 next Sunday. Miguel hopes to bring his mom and two sisters soon as well. Concerning our prospects: Brian is still very optimistic about his parents now that Cheri is out of rehab. She still is recovering from her back procedure, but she sees the church much more favorably. Please continue to keep the Wamsley family in your prayers. Luis Ortiz: According to John Garza, “Since I am away and Luis is booked— because the Cleveland Guardians clinched a playoff spot— we will not be able to meet this week. We are planning to meet soon, when things slow down for him. Finally, according to Grant & Lisa, “Marlen is a contact from Chick-fil-A that we have been talking to over the last year. She and her two-year-old son, Izzael, came over for dinner recently. We are going to TLC this Thursday-Saturday and will see what we can set up as soon as we get back. Please continue to keep all these souls in your prayers and let us know if there are any others we may be able to reach out to!”

Wheeler church of Christ, Texas: Garrett English (preacher) reports, “The visitor to last week’s Bible class was not there this week. I aim to make contact and see if she wants to study about the church. We did have a new family who visited yesterday. They had been invited by an elder. His family prepared a meal where we ate together with them. This was their first experience with a church in this area, but he and his wife aim to make the transition to a study.”

Northern Oaks church of Christ, San Antonio, Texas: Mel Hutzler (elder) reports, “Our follow-up work is going well. Although not everyone wants to learn more about the church, we are now asking all three follow-up questions. Our new mover teams are working more smoothly, and some reminders on making contacts need to be reviewed again. We assisted the Bandina church of Christ with a door-knocking. We made ten contacts with them, and they reported that two visitors came on Sunday as a result of the door-knocking. We continue to study with six new converts. We have five ongoing studies to teach the Gospel. We unfortunately had one back away from studying, and we are trying to reach her with other relationship-building methods. We will be setting up a card writing team leaders training soon as we have some new team leaders.

Howe church of Christ, Texas: Aaron Alsbrook (preacher) reports, “We continue to put the members in place in each of the roles. Our congregation is full of members who have a mindset of evangelism and love helping people. We will have another Clothing Drive upcoming to make more contacts and hopefully move them to prospects and set up more Bible studies. Our New Convert class continues to do well. We have a busy fall as well and pray for the Lord’s church to increase in Howe and around the globe.”

Abingdon church of Christ, Virginia: Freddie Klein (evangelist) reports, “We are in the planning stages for a fall outreach event, and momentum continues to build. Recently, we enjoyed a fellowship meal, and one of our regular visitors chose to stay and eat with us—another step toward deeper connection. I also made a transition visit to one of our compassion card recipients, which turned into a very fruitful discussion. The visit was especially important because the gentleman had thought the cards came from a denomination down the street. If nothing else, the visit helped clear up that misunderstanding and let him know that they truly came from us. In addition, we recently began a new program called Grief Share, and through it we have already made two new contacts. The Lord continues to open doors, and we are grateful for every opportunity to sow the seed of the Gospel.”

Williamsburg church of Christ, Virginia: Jim Bishop (elder) reports, “This week before our midweek Bible study we reviewed a video from HTH Evangelism tips. We have had one prospect return to several services and one first-time visitor on Wednesday night. Our monthly door-to-door canvassing was postponed due to inclement weather. Our prayers are for those who need to be taught the Gospel and those who are seeking to spread it.”

West Side church of Christ, Salem, Virginia: Jeff Durham (elder) reports, “We have Bible studies continuing; we are prayerful that these will soon be leading to obedience to the Gospel plan of salvation. We had another local visitor yesterday who recently attended a memorial service at our building. We’ve been emphasizing ways we can create new connections with people in our community and strengthen those we already have with friends and family. Our monthly meeting for handing our follow-up visits assignments continues to be encouraging. We exchange positives and negatives from our experiences to help one another become more effective in our efforts.”