Reaching the Lost: A Case Study on Benevolence and Evangelism

As per the past several weeks, our focus continues to be on tornado relief. We are helping several families with rent, utilities, roof repairs, and other needs. We have been helping one man who is staying in a state park after the apartment complex he was in was destroyed. He has a brain tumor and is only 30-years-old. We were able to help him with some of his medicine, and we are currently trying to help him find a place to move. We have gotten halfway through book 2 with him. We are having to break up the sessions. We plan on finishing book 2 this week. We also continue to help one family who lost everything. They are trying to rebuild. They are also in a state park and will be needing a place to stay while they rebuild. This family gives me hope for a Bible study, and they are great prospects. They are focused on rebuilding right now, but we are there helping them and building a great relationship with them.

We are also helping another gentleman who was displaced and is staying in the next town over, Paducah. He found a place to rent. We were able to help him with some of his down payment and electric bill. We have stayed in contact with him, and we are supposed to visit him this week. We reached out to Adam Faughn with the Central church of Christ in Paducah, and he has agreed to go with us and help build this relationship. Since Central is closer to him, we hope they can make a great contact here.

One man we met early on had roof damage. He was unable to get assistance on repairing the roof. We agreed to cover that cost. We have visited him every week since the tornado. Last week he agreed to study God’s word. One of our deacons and I met him at his house to start book 1. Once I started asking him the questions, he stated that he did not believe in God, or at least he had major doubts. His reasons were ”Why do children die of cancer? If there is a God, why would He let this happen?” Also, he had “some bad experiences with religion in the past.” We talked for about an hour, just listening to his concerns. We asked if he would be okay with a study on why God exists and why His word is inspired. He agreed. We plan on going back this week to start Believe the Bible with him. We continue to make new contacts and good prospects from the tornado relief. We know we have a long way to go, but we are focusing on winning souls!

We also continue to focus on our regular contacts and prospects. We have two great prospects right now. We are still building relationships with them, but I am confident we will begin a study with both families shortly. Our evangelism table is set up and fully stocked. We have our evangelism room set up for team meetings, and compassion cards are easily accessible. Our elders continue to push these evangelism efforts, and I also emphasize them from the pulpit. We covet your continued prayers for our efforts.

East Ridge church of Christ, Chattanooga, Tennessee: Charles Cochran (preacher) reports, “This is a picture of a recent baptism we had at East Ridge. His name is Justin Haynes. He had been taught by Mike and Melissa Frost and their daughter, Avery. Alan Pitchford, our youth minister, baptized him. We are having our first Victory Sunday this coming Lord’s Day. We are reaching out to some of our erring Christians. We also had a baptism in our work in Russia. A young lady named Marina was baptized. I’ll try and get you a picture.”

Church of Christ, Guam: Joey Treat (missionary) reports, “You may remember when we were together, I asked about translating Back to the Bibleinto Chuukese. We have a brother in prison who is doing the translating. It takes time to get the materials to him and for him to send them out, but he is steadily moving forward. We have the first lesson translated! I am attaching pictures. The approach of Back to the Bible is excellent, and I am looking forward to using it with the Chuukese people. Otherwise, we are conducting Bible studies and seeking new ones.”

University church of Christ, Tyler, Texas: Wiley Ballard (member) reports, “We have had to delay the start of our training at university in Tyler due to the fact that Covid has ravaged the congregation. Our plans are that we will begin training on February 2, Lord willing. One member was privately tutored and has used the Bobby Bates Back to the Bible lessons to teach a friend. She was baptized last evening.”

North Tuscaloosa church of Christ, Alabama: Clark Sims (preacher) reports, “We are trying to move forward but have been greatly affected by Covid with around 30 or so positive tests. Our dear brother Danny was in the hospital for over six months. This is no excuse as we have faith and trust in God. We want to establish the Golden Rule for this year as our rule. Theme of our mission: Eye on Evangelism. We were blessed with a number of baptisms last year.”

Beloit church of Christ, Kansas: Dustin Doughtery (preacher) reports, “I sent a copy of Muscle and a Shovel to a cousin of mine that is Baptist. We have discussed the Bible the before, and he said he would read it if I sent it to him, so I am praying it might lead to a study.”

Westside church of Christ, Midland, Texas: Adam Orr (preacher) reports, “We have a table made up with various tools for evangelism and look forward to adding materials for members to use. On Sunday afternoons, we have a group of 20-25 members meeting to learn how to use Back to the Bible. We are excited for Bible studies to come and to organize a card ministry and look for ways to have a bigger presence in our city.”

Lafollette church of Christ, Tennessee: Ben Shaffer (preacher) reports, “After dealing with a covid outbreak, we are continuing to pursue various evangelism opportunities. Covid has opened doors to do good. Meals have been delivered to sick people in the community, and the people have been very thankful. We are hopeful to transfer that toward Bible studies. We also have contacts from our compassion cards that we have not been able to follow up with since the need to quarantine. I am hoping to be able to visit them this week. We have also started a new Wednesday evening class that is focused on issues facing the home. We have business cards made just for the class for our members to hand out and invite members of the community. We have one Bible study that is ongoing with a young man named Justin. He is close to obeying the gospel, and we are hopeful that he will soon. Please keep him and us in your prayers.”

Siwell Road church of Christ, Jackson, Mississippi: Derek Broome (preacher) reports, “Over the past couple of weeks we have been continuing so many of our evangelistic efforts while at the same time trying to revisit and improve things that need more attention. We have recently been stressing the importance of our bookmarks and contact cards—trying to continually remind each other about the importance of contacts. Our card groups are continuing to work well, and more people are utilizing our evangelism table and materials. We still have a few more improvements to make, but we are so excited about the efforts going on and looking forward to continual growth as we work to serve the Lord.”

East Main church of Christ, Murfreesboro, Tennessee: Brad Rowley (elder) reports, “Once again last week was challenging due to so many folks out sick. We had two Bible studies last week. We finished the Back to Bible series with one of the studies. They asked several questions over the past few weeks that we had written down to answer later. We will study this week to answer their questions. We had 20 folks from team #4 at our first card writing session last Sunday. We wrote 74 cards. We are thankful for the servant attitude that we are seeing in all of our evangelism programs. We have our January New Mover list out for members to pick up and deliver their baskets.”

Crossville church of Christ, Tennessee: Alan Judd (preacher) reports, “We continue to implement aspects of our evangelism effort. Card groups are up and running. Our trial run of visitor bags is now awaiting distribution to those that visit our assembly. Studies are ongoing despite adverse weather conditions and Covid complications. Attached is a picture of a Bible study with Barbara who has now completed the first two BTTB lessons. We continue to pray for God’s wisdom and for opportunities to present the gospel to searching souls.”

Deerfoot church of Christ, Birmingham, Alabama: Richard Harp (preacher) reports, “A lady by the name of a Pamela Duke indicated to a preacher friend in Virginia that she would be in interested to study. He found that she lives in our area. I am awaiting her call, and our prayer is that we will be able to study with her. Please pray for this contact. May it be a win for social media for the gospel.”

Eisenhower church of Christ, Odessa, Texas: Allen Weakland (preacher) reports, “We finally received our table skirt, which finishes our evangelism table. Cards continue to be sent to prospects. We are inching closer to setting up a dinner with the husband of one of our members. We have had several visitors over the past few weeks. We have contacted them, and it is our prayer that God will provide an opportunity for future discussions with them. Please pray for the cause of Christ.”

Warner Robins church of Christ, Georgia: Dave Domingue (elder) reports, “Our visitation teams continue to meet each Sunday to send compassion cards to our visitors, sick, grieving, and those new to the area. Teams are also following up with personal contacts with new mover’s baskets, brethren in need, and visitors. Feedback from the compassion cards and the new mover’s basket has been outstanding. One family expressed their appreciation for the new mover’s basket, stating they intend to worship with us—opening the door to the gospel. We have several ongoing Bible studies. More opportunities to share Christ in love are on the way.”

Riverbend church of Christ, Dalton, Georgia: Austin Fowler (member) reports, “It was a good week filled with Bible Studies! Two of our elders, Jason Duggin and Barry Grider, conducted a study with a friend of Jason’s. Jason said, ‘The first study with Bob Bethel went well. He was on the same page regarding authority.’ I continued my study with Ms. Basler on Wednesday night. We did study number two. She understood the church, worship, and organization of the church. We are doing study number 3 on Wednesday night. Then Thursday night, I had my cousin and his girlfriend, Ansley, over for dinner and a study. At the conclusion of dinner, my cousin and I were discussing church. That conversation led me right into the Bible study. I asked Ansley if she would like to learn more about the church of Christ. She said  ‘absolutely.’ During the survey, she talked about her religious history and said she has never been baptized. It went very well. They are coming over again this week for study number 2.”

University church of Christ, Montgomery, Alabama: Faires Austin (elder) reports, “Here is the weekly update on our evangelism efforts:

1. After this morning’s service, I saw several families with New Movers baskets in hand. New Movers, in our area code, will be receiving a visit from our members, along with the newly prepared New Movers baskets this week. We are anxiously awaiting the results of these visits.
2. We have a new tablecloth for our Evangelism Display. I will send pictures.
3. Detailed records are being kept on all activities taking place in our Evangelism Program.
4. The visitors card ministry met for the third time last Wednesday night to send cards.”

Chesapeake church of Christ, Virginia: Ernest Benjamin (preacher) reports, “I have lesson 3 scheduled with a retired couple on Thursday. I also have a new contact that I am prospecting toward a study. Herman Wine has a study scheduled for Tuesday with a gentleman who visited on Sunday. I will have more to report soon!”

Jacksonville church of Christ, Alabama: R.J. Tracy (college minister) reports, “Our new convert studies continue with Chloe, and we are trying to get a Bible study with Kali.” We made up ten new mover baskets and have restocked our evangelism table. We had supper with Margie last week and she attended Bible study afterwards. She has been out of town visiting her children and grandchildren. We hope to complete study three next week.”

Oak Hill church of Christ, Covington, Georgia: Tate Sutton (preacher) reports, “Our ladies will be going shopping February 5 for new mover baskets. Over half of the congregation has had Covid, but we are getting back to normal. Also, we have our evangelism materials out in the foyer. Our ladies made it look nice. We have our material ready and available for our members.”

Cowetta church of Christ, Oklahoma: Keno Shrum (elder/preacher) reports, “We have two Bible studies scheduled this week.  We will study lesson 3 with one couple and lesson 1 with a young lady. So, no report for this week but hopefully will have news for next week.”

Wewoka church of Christ, Oklahoma: Gage Coldwater (preacher) reports, “Recently we contacted Rob about creating an app to track all contacts and the local prospecting efforts. This would allow everyone in the congregation to have access and coordinate the efforts. This is in the initial stages, but we hope to have something that everyone can use later this year.”

Monroe church of Christ, Georgia: Charles Harris (preacher) reports, “I was able to continue studying with Leo and Tami. We studied BTTB 2 and have scheduled our next study. I am praying that in next week’s report I can tell you about their baptisms. Still meeting with my elders concerning getting evangelistic works started. This coming Wednesday, I am starting a class designed to help us be more effective in bringing back brothers and sisters that have fallen away. There has been a great interest in the class since the subject was announced.”