After Rob, Nicole, and family were with us in December 2021, the elders desired to incorporate the program and suggestions offered during the seminar immediately. First, Brandon, one of our deacons, and our preacher, Alan, were to be the sparkplugs and drivers of the program under the oversight of the elders. They immediately began laying the groundwork and designing protocols for how they thought the Crossville congregation could best work the HTHSOE model.
Instead of making sign-up lists or asking for volunteers, they brainstormed and presented to the elders the names of members they believed had the necessary talents to work in certain areas of the program. With the elders’ approval and assistance, they identified several Christian ladies who excelled at organization and attention to detail and asked them to be responsible for the Compassion Card program. These ladies graciously agreed, and in short order, by working together, a classroom was retrofitted and utilized as a card room. The congregation was divided into four groups, and a weekly list was generated and distributed to assist all willing members in participating in this program. An evangelism table was placed in the most prominent location in the foyer, and materials were supplied for the members to utilize.
Next, ten couples were selected to serve to interact with those who visit our services. A meeting with these couples communicated expectations and responsibilities. This group is already functioning, and contacts have already been made from this effort.
Two of our men work with Brandon and Alan to visit New Movers each Thursday. Because more than 100 new movers come into our area each month, we are now sharing this information with another congregation where much of this new development is occurring. They have already started making visits, and we hope to further help them with training materials and information going forward.
As expected, some members were happy to volunteer and asked, “What can we do?” A couple of members with business and marketing experience have taken charge of our visitor bags and have produced an excellent resource for us to give visitors.
Monthly meetings are held for all who want to be involved and informed on local evangelism efforts. At these meetings, visit assignments are made. Seasoned members are put with those who have less or no experience. One brother who went on a visit happily reported that it was easier than he thought, and he was already looking forward to the next opportunity to visit others.
Evangelism lessons from John 4 and Back to the Bible lessons were presented from the pulpit. The Wednesday night adult class studied “Following Jesus in Evangelism.”
We are starting to see some of our contacts turn into prospects. Some of our ladies are studying with a friend. One lady completed Book 3 last week and was immersed into Christ. We think there are several others who are close to saying “yes” to a study. One of our elders is beginning a new convert class for her, and we trust others will be joining her shortly. We have a team of “special forces” teachers, but we plan on trying to grow this number and provide further training in the months ahead as our numbers increase.
Some aspects of our program—its planning and execution, for instance—have been omitted. Names of members are omitted because someone might have been unintentionally overlooked. Everyone is filled with enthusiasm and excited to do their part in building up the body of Christ in Crossville. Prayers, personal conversations, and potential opportunities are now discussed with much greater frequency and fervor. We beg God to bless our efforts to present the saving gospel of His Son Jesus and for a great harvest of souls in this place!
Congregational Reports
Paintsville church of Christ, Kentucky: We welcome the Paintsville church of Christ into the House to House/Heart to Heart School of Evangelism. Their preacher, Zach Collins, has already sent their first report: “This morning (Sunday), we handed out the schedule for School of Evangelism and also the bookmarks. Next week, we are going challenge them to list ten people they know who live in our community that they would like to see brought to Christ. Then we will ask them to pray for those people for 60 seconds a day.
“This morning, we had a family that visited with us. I saw something that I have rarely seen before. At the beginning of my lesson, I challenged every single person to say hello to our visitors. I do not think we had one member who did not speak to those visitors! One member got their contact information. They are our first contact card. Small steps, but I can already see a change of mindset occurring with an intended mission: Evangelism.”
Towne Acres church of Christ, Muncie, Indiana: Mark Reynolds (preacher) reports, “The elders and I met and are going to launch this Sunday. I will preach the evangelism sermon, and we are going to hand out the bookmarks and hold a congregational meeting to enlist everyone for a specific role to play in evangelism. Congregational enthusiasm is tremendous!”
Westside church of Christ, Muncie, Indiana: Mike Gors (elder/preacher) reports, “Evangelism table is being set up. We are waiting on a tablecloth. John 4 sermon has been preached. People are excited. The members are writing down contacts and offering prayers. A Bible study is already set up for tomorrow at 4 p.m.”
Riverbend church of Christ, Georgia: Austin Fowler (member) reports, “This week I had a Bible study with George. One of my elders, Ernie Sanders, was my silent partner. George’s wife is one of our members. I have been prospecting him for a while by cutting his yard and taking them dinner after his recent surgery. The study went well. I am going to be gone all week, and then we have our gospel meeting next week. So we tentatively have the Thursday after the meeting scheduled for lesson two. Last night, our elders introduced our new evangelism program—SALT (Speaking, Aiding, Living, and Taking the Gospel). This is to help refocus our compassion card groups and encourage visitation with visitors and other prospects. I am excited to see how these groups help with the prospecting step in the evangelism model.”
Rogersville church of Christ, Tennessee: Ethan Tate (preacher) reports, “The congregation has begun to learn how to use Back to the Bible in our morning worship services. Even the visitors we have been sending cards to are coming back to take part in the study! The material is easy to make into faith-building lessons, and everyone is involved. Our teen class on Wednesdays has started to work through Back to the Bible as well for children we only see once a week, so they can be a part of learning the process too. We have had one family reach out to take part in a personal Bible study, so we are scheduling and arranging a time and place for them. We are also planning a community Egg Hunt event to bring in families and friends (which means more contacts!) to the building. While we are still working to arrange our evangelism room, we ask for your prayers as we continue to grow into an evangelistic culture.”
East Main church of Christ, Murfreesboro, Tennessee: Brad Rowley (elder) reports, “Our visitor program is effective in producing contacts. We are thankful for members that participate. We are going through some growing pains to catch all the visitors and obtain information. We are brainstorming some new ideas to improve. The new contact cards have improved the flow of information.
“Our compassion card ministry is the most exciting program we have. We meet every Sunday afternoon to write cards for that week. We have great attendance. During March, we averaged 56 cards per week. Our volunteers are excited to participate, and the cards have opened up opportunities for some in-home visits.
“We scheduled eight in-home visits in March. We are still waiting on feedback from six of these visits. Two of our visits went well, which resulted in an opportunity for two new Bible studies. It is exciting to see how effective the HTHSOE program is!
“We still struggle with catching folks at home to deliver our new mover’s baskets. We are curious what other congregations feel is the best time of the week to deliver the baskets. Cecil Morris (elder) is working on setting up some door knocking sessions for the month of April or May.
“We handed out the contact bookmarks one Sunday morning in March. Mark Isenberg (elder) asked each member to write down ten folks on the bookmark, look for opportunities, and pray for those on the list. Mintie Welchance (administrative assistant) made a condensed copy of strategies for building contacts from the handbook. We are praying that our members will produce new contacts.
“Jon Mitchell (pulpit minister), Wayne Lankford (associate minister), and Mark Isenberg (elder) meet every Monday morning to discuss new contact cards. They also discuss the next steps of action for contacts that are in process. We now have a good system set up, and it seems to be working well. Davie Brown (elder) and Chris Taylor (deacon) have our mentor/discipleship program now in full swing. The volunteers have been assigned to work with one person each. This is such an important part of evangelism.
“East Main continues with several on-going Bible studies. One new study is the result of our visitor program, and Seth Ferguson (college minister) is handling the study. Jon Mitchell continues to work with several of our members who desire to build their Bible study skills.”
University church of Christ, Tyler Texas: David Westbrook (preacher) reports, “The University congregation is working diligently to make our evangelism program extraordinary. We have put together our new move-in baskets and printed up new material for our visitor packets. We gather after Sunday evening worship to write cards. We have mailed more than I can count. We have received positive feedback from our efforts. Our ladies’ class is going back over all three Back to the Bible books. They are practicing on one another to perfect their skills of evangelism. That is extremely commendable! They want to be ready! The enthusiasm is high here at University. We know it will take time to build our evangelism program. We are committed to success.”
Peninsula church of Christ, Hampton, Virginia: Ben Phillips (preacher) reports, “The Peninsula brethren went door knocking again this past weekend, making a few more contacts. One member started a study with a young man who has been visiting with his grandmother. We spent time this past Sunday reminding brethren to be praying for the names on their evangelism bookmarks and looking for opportunities to move those names to contact cards. Attached is a picture of the group that went door knocking.”
Shertz church of Christ, Texas: Jay Steward (elder) reports, “This week our evangelism table was centrally placed in the foyer. Brother Crowley completed all of the John 4 lessons and received many positive comments. One Bible study continues with encouraging feedback. The congregation has been divided into fellowship and work groups, and we are moving forward on our outreach plan. As an aside, the Schertz ladies held the first ladies day in several years on April 2. The event received excellent feedback. Several of the ladies who spoke attended the evangelism seminar and referenced those principles in their lessons. We are excited to keep the Lord’s work moving forward.”
Warners Chapel church of Christ, Clemmons, North Carolina: Todd Hinson (elder) reports, “Warners Chapel is continuing to send out compassion cards and deliver new mover baskets. We recently received a thank you card from a new mover thanking the congregation for their outreach. We also recently had a visitor asking for a home Bible study. Progress being made.”
Shiloh church of Christ, Florence, Alabama: McKinley Pate (preacher) reports, “What a great Sunday the Lord blessed us with this past week. In morning worship, we looked at John 4 as we encouraged members to evangelize like Christ. We handed out contact bookmarks and encouraged members to write down ten contacts and begin to pray for them by name each day. This evening we looked at the Evangelism Model as we encouraged every member to take part in our evangelism efforts. We are praying that good fruit will be produced by these efforts! Pictured above is our evangelism table located in our foyer. It is a work in progress, and items will be added to it as we go along!”
Mabelvale church of Christ, Arkansas: Wendell Thompson (elder) reports, “All the adult Bible Classes at the Mabelvale church of Christ are combined in the auditorium on Wednesday nights to study the videos on how to use the Back to the Bible booklets.”
Covington church of Christ, Tennessee: Wayne Dalrymple (elder) reports, “It has been a great week at Covington! We had several visitors Sunday. One is my mother-in-law’s boyfriend. He has been visiting for the last several weeks. I want to approach him about a study soon. Another visitor just moved into the area but is a close friend of some members. His name is Carl. We hope to develop a relationship with him and prospect him to see if he will be open to a study. The other visitors are Shara and her two daughters. They are sweet people who have been visiting for the past several weeks. They stayed with a few of our families to eat lunch Sunday following worship. We intend to have them in our home soon to get to the point of a Bible study. Please pray for all of these people that they will be open to the gospel.
“I gave more details about AMC to the congregation Sunday morning. I highlighted the different ways our members can be involved through door knocking, helping with food, and hosting visiting Christians in our homes. The excitement is building as we prepare to host this great effort June 11-18. We are planting and watering the seed. We pray that God gives the increase.”
Coldwater church of Christ, Kentucky: Luke Puckett (preacher) reports, “This past week we continued going through our contacts to develop prospects. Some ladies make baskets and take them to our local cancer treatment center. They include a few things to help those receiving treatments to pass the time and stay warm. We are always focusing on evangelism. We include info with the congregation’s information on it. This past week we got a thank you card from a new patient going through treatments. We immediately put the person on the compassion card list to receive cards over the next several weeks. We hope a visit will result or that we can build a relationship. We continue to send cards and build relationships that will hopefully lead to Bible studies.”
Natalia church of Christ, Texas: Jim Word (preacher) reports, “Ginger has completed the first two studies with her prospect, but the person lives out of town, so she is having to schedule the next study at a later date than expected. She is considering doing the next study by phone and has already contacted the congregation in the town where the lady lives, so they are in contact with her as well. Angie’s study has slowed down since the woman has been travelling a lot. We have been sending cards for them as well as some people that our former deacon (currently a student at SWSBS) is studying with. His diligence is very encouraging. I wish I had more to report, but the gears are moving slower than I anticipated. Please pray for our work here.”
Cowetta church of Christ, Oklahoma: Keno Shrum (preacher) reports, “We had a good Bible study this week with the mother of the gentleman who was baptized last week. She has been attending for the past few services with him and seems to have a genuine interest in learning the Word. We will be doing the next lesson this week, Lord willing.”
Corinth church of Christ, Tennessee: James Parker (preacher) reports, “We had a meal today with all the elders and their wives and invited the new family to eat with us. The Clemmons were the host! I am still having my study on Monday evening. We will be studying Does It Matter? Steve and Cody had their second study this last week.”
Woodstock church of Christ, Georgia: Matt Amos (preacher) reports, “We had two more baptisms this week. Since the seminar in February 2022, we have had ten baptisms. This week we will begin the lessons from the blue Back to the Bible booklet about the church. In addition we have the table set up for Evangelism materials in our foyer.”
Oak Hill church of Christ, Covington, Georgia: Tate Sutton (preacher) reports, “We are getting ready for our community Easter egg hunt. It is another evangelism effort! We have prepared over 2,000 eggs and have our evangelism material ready.”
Lafollette church of Christ, Tennessee: Ben Shaffer (preacher) reports, “On Sunday AM, we reemphasized the need to reach the lost. We also handed out bookmarks to accompany a lesson on bearing fruit. On Sunday PM, we went over the evangelism model to remind each other of the need for contacts and prospects. Then we began going over Believe the Bible.
“I am starting a Bible study with a family member over Zoom. This person has been away from the Lord for about 20 years. The first study went really well, and we are scheduled to resume next Monday if the Lord wills. We also have some contacts from our compassion cards that I plan on visiting this week.”
Rock Valley church of Christ, Tompkinsville, Kentucky: Jason Thompson (preacher) reports, “We have had two studies so far with Ale and Katelyn. The third study will be Friday. It seems to be going well. God is good.”
Siwell Road church of Christ, Jackson Mississippi: Derek Broome (preacher) reports, “Over the past couple weeks, we have been blessed by some great contacts that have quickly turned into studies. One of those came from two of our ladies who had shared materials with a mutual coworker. Their hospitality and faithful behavior encouraged this man to take a serious look at the word. Last week, he saw that everything they had shared with him was Scripture. He loved that he could see everything for himself. These ladies have now shared his contact with me, and we are starting a study together. In the couple of conversations I have had with this gentleman, he seems to be hungry for the Word. So many people, especially visitors, have commented that they love that everything we teach can be found in the Word. People need truth, and it is what so many desire. We continue to pray for open doors.”
Northern Oaks church of Christ, San Antonio, Texas: Mel Hutzler (preacher/elder) reports, “Last week, Rob and I had a phone conference to help us better understand how to implement the evangelism plan on a congregational level. We were missing several steps that have been hindering our success. The elders discussed these implementations and will apply them Sunday. Going forward, we will make sure all members have bookmarks, have them filled out, and will pull them out of their Bibles and pray for them. We will also have them raise their hands if someone on their bookmark needs to be added to a contact card. In addition, we will also be sending a lot more cards to prospect more Bible studies.”
Warner Robbins church of Christ, Georgia: Daniel Stearsman (preacher) reports, “Amanda’s face says it all. She was so ecstatic at her husband’s decision to be baptized. The family looked on with eager anticipation. Amanda had been seeking the Lord and found “Answering the Error” on GBN. She knew that what she had been taught about baptism and once saved always saved did not correspond with the Bible. She wanted to do what is right, so she was baptized in January. She wanted what is right for her husband too. In a “here is water” moment, Jeff put on Christ in baptism this past Tuesday. Both Jeff and Amanda have jumped into the congregation with both feet, and we look forward to the Lord doing great things in and through this family!”
New Hope church of Christ, Middleton, Tennessee: Cole Wade (preacher) reports, “Today at church I was approached by one of our friends who is interested in studying about becoming a Christian. Please pray for this study! We have been studying through Back to the Bible on Wednesday nights, and it has generated many questions. Hopefully, we will have a new member soon!”
These reports are from Christians and congregations enrolled in the House to House/Heart to Heart School of Evangelism. These emails are sent to teach and provoke one another to remain focused on the mission of Christ. Each week, we share several reports and highlight one with more details. We hope you enjoy reading them.
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