Featured Work- Riverbend Church of Christ
When the congregation put names on the prospect bookmarks in November of 2021, one of the first names I wrote down was George Mizzell. I was always trying to think of how I could get into a Bible Study with him. In March of 2022, George had to have back surgery, and I knew that would be my opportunity to prospect George. I called him and said, “George, what do you need done around the house?” He replied, “Well, my grass is getting a little high.” I said, “Do not worry about it. I will be there tomorrow to mow it.” Dad and I mowed his lawn. The next week, I took dinner for him and Mrs. Linda. The next week, we cut his yard again. A few days later, Ernie, one of our elders, and I visited George and Linda. I told Ernie that I was close to arranging a Bible study with George. During the visit, I asked George if he would be interested in knowing more about the Bible. He said, “Of course.”
The first appointment was postponed because George had a second back surgery. I continued to show him the love of the church. Once he felt better, we had our first study. I noticed George was struggling to see the letters in his Bible, so the next week I brought him a large print Bible with tabs. He loved it! Study two went well. He had some questions about using instruments of music, but he saw what the Bible said concerning it. After the second study, Mrs. Linda gave me a bigger hug than normal and said, “Thank you.” She knew the objective of this study.
The third study was on Thursday night. I knew that George would have a hard time accepting some of it. I used the Mark 16:16 chart. It helped him to see the truth concerning baptism. I also used the chart for Acts 22:16 to compare what he had done with what Saul did to become a Christian. By that time, George was asking good questions about the thief on the cross, whether the majority of people will be lost, and what happens to someone who just believes. I followed the principle of “Show Do not Tell.” We went to Bible verse after Bible verse, letting George see what the Bible said about his own questions. I asked George what he thought he needed to do. He said, “I love you, and I need to do this to be complete before God!” George threw some humor into it by asking if we would go to the creek, and I said we would just go to the church building.
After that, he went to gather his clothes. We called members of the church to invite them to see George become our brother in Christ. I am thankful to God that Rob taught me how to take someone who had sat in our pews for over 20 years and teach him the gospel. To God be the Glory!
Canal Heights church of Christ, Demopolis, Alabama: Bryan Cook (preacher) reports, “Sunday we finished the sermon series on John 4 with the woman at the well. There were still stragglers who did not get their bookmarks, so we passed out bookmarks at the beginning of the sermon. I had also shared with the congregation that their preacher had filled out the contact card and then lost the card. Last week, I noticed that the number one and two contacts on my list live just a couple of miles from Deerfoot church of Christ in Clay. It was interesting to see them heading up last week’s reports for the churches.
Everyone is still excited and ready for the next stage. Several have mentioned that they are seeing people more as souls to be saved instead of just another interaction. Our tally of those on our contact cards had grown by an additional 37 people by Sunday night. This places us well over one hundred. We are praying for our contacts and starting to look for opportunities that God provides. We can see God already working in our small group of disciples. This is the most excited we have been in a long time. God bless you all in your evangelistic efforts.” Bryan Cook
Forestview church of Christ, Memphis, Tennessee: Tim Roland (preacher) reports, “What a blessing it was for me to worship with and preach to my church family at the Forestview Church of Christ! We had an amazing day with 56 in Sunday School and 93 in our worship assembly (surpassing two of our attendance goals)! We were blessed with an amazing number of visitors (26 in all)! And to top it all off, many of our guests stayed for lunch at our first Sunday Fellowship. I am hoping that many of these visitors will become members. It is great to see the Lord’s church at Forestview growing. To God be the glory! I preached the second part of the John 4 sermon: Jesus the Politically Incorrect Evangelist!”
Highway church of Christ, Benton, Arkansas: Steven Ford (preacher) reports, “Yesterday was another great day of building. We started the training process in Sunday Bible class. Our newly appointed training coordinator introduced the Back to the Bible booklets and started Book One. During the worship hour, we thanked the congregation for their fantastic participation with writing last week’s compassion cards, and we also prayed for the people on our bookmark lists. Yesterday we studied the third and fourth installments of the John 4 Evangelism Sermons. They were both well received, and we were all challenged to ‘GROW AND GO!’ After worship, we all worked together to fill out compassion cards for eight friends, family members, and neighbors. We are expecting our cover for the evangelism table this week and will be making our first contact card visits by Friday. We are all quite eager as we anticipate our first studies and conversions.”
Shiloh church of Christ, Florence, Alabama: McKinley Pate (preacher) reports, “We had a wonderful week. Plans were made and coordinators were assigned to the different areas of our evangelism effort. We have divided the congregation into four compassion card groups and are sending cards to three contacts that were turned in today. We are working on filling our card rack. Pictured are Bobby and Amy Roberson with our card racks. They are coordinators over the compassion cards. To God be the Glory!”
Towne Acres church of Christ, Muncie, Indiana: Mark Reynolds (preacher) reports, “Group 1 of our compassion card groups met yesterday to write cards to everyone on our contact list. I preached the first sermon in a series of “Jesus, the Politically Incorrect Evangelist” from John 4. We have three ongoing Bible stimulus activities, and we are planning a Friends and Family Day on June 5 with an emphasis on restoring erring brethren and inviting all those on our contact list.”
Westside church of Christ, Muncie, Indiana: Gary Reynolds (elder) reports, “I am excited about what we have going on. Our ladies’ Bible study group is focusing on erring/absent members. They are calling and sending cards. Recently, two ladies who had not been coming to church have returned to worship and Bible study. Others have lines of communication going. A group of members signed cards today, writing personalized notes in each card. We collected over 100 cards for eight individuals. We have one personal Bible study going and one that is ready to start. I am excited to see our sisters again. One has not been around for 20 years.”
Paintsville church of Christ, Kentucky: Zach Collins (preacher) reports, “We are excited, as things seem to be picking up momentum! A few weeks ago, we had our first study after the evangelism seminar. The young woman continues to attend services, and we pray that she will obey the gospel soon! In regard to another lost soul, one of our members told us about a response to the compassion cards that were sent to one who just received a liver transplant. His wife cried all afternoon after receiving the cards. She is so thankful and appreciative for everything. This couple definitely will be receiving cards again in two weeks. Please pray that this will result in a visit and Bible study with this wonderful couple! Keep praying for us as we evangelize to the lost and pray for the hearts of those in our community to be good soil for the seed of God.”
Jacksonville church of Christ, Alabama: Keith Ritchie (preacher) reports, “Jared and Hannah have a Bible study set up with Dennis. Robert and Juanita have a Bible study set up. Marie Couch is currently in a study. We continue to seek contacts from the congregation and make visits to develop more studies.”
Riverbend church of Christ, Georgia: Austin Fowler (member) reports, “Our SALT groups began last night. We sent out 138 cards to people in our community. It was a great first meeting with a great number who participated. One members, Debra Doler, showed me a text she got this week. It said, ‘Please put Pat on your prayer list at church. Riverbend sent more get-well cards than any other church. She will have surgery Monday.’
Sunday morning, we had one of the biggest crowds that we have had in a long time—140 people! That number is even higher than pre-COVID numbers. We have several members who are prospecting to set Bible Studies. Ernie Sander, an elder, is working on his cousin who has Parkinson. He brought him to church on Sunday. We added him to our compassion card list. Another elder, Jason Duggin, is doing study two with a friend this week. He also took two visitors out to eat Sunday afternoon. He said it went well, and hopefully we will have a Bible study with them soon. Our congregational contact list keeps growing. Members continue to ask about people we are prospecting. It is a very exciting time at Riverbend!
Wednesday night is going to be an awesome night! Our boys’ soccer team is going to be playing in the state championship on Thursday. I called the coach on Saturday and suggested that the church could feed the boys on Wednesday after practice and have them stay for the devotional at church. He agreed immediately! When I announced it at the church last night, people volunteered and asked how they could help. I am excited about this opportunity and look forward to updating everyone next week!”
Coldwater church of Christ, Murray, Kentucky: Luke Puckett (preacher) reports, “We have recently worked on making new visitors’ bags, including a notepad with the church’s info on them. When they are ready, we will send pictures. We continue to send compassion cards and ordered new ones today. These have been well-received by our contacts. We continue efforts with the tornado victims. We have been able to help some more families recently as they rebuild and refurnish their homes. They are grateful for the help of the church. We pray that these efforts will bear fruit.”
Corinth church of Christ, Portland, Tennessee: “I had to delay my study for the last two weeks because I have been working in early voting. I will start back tomorrow night. Steve and Cody are still doing their study one day a week!”
Deerfoot church of Christ, Birmingham Alabama: Richard Harp (preacher) reports, “There have been many studies going on here lately. Steve Putnam, one of our deacons, and Jeffrey Howell, studied with Frank Salumn, and they finished the third book. He is Catholic and wants to speak with his priest as he realized that his baptism was not scriptural. Please pray. I completed the second study with Pamela Duke but have not been able to get together for the third yet. Sol Godwin, one of our shepherds, is planning to study with a visitor named Jim McDonald. He will begin on Wednesday. We also have had success with our new converts class (picture included).”
New Hope church of Christ, Middleton, Tennessee: Cole Wade (preacher) reports, “Our attendance is growing, and two families of our new movers have started visiting church! Bible studies are soon to come! A lot of positive energy is at New Hope. It seems that souls are just showing up at our doorstep with all of the service we are doing.”
Crossville church of Christ, Tennessee: Alan Judd (preacher) reports, “Our spring gospel meeting began this week. We were excited to see one family we had contacted. They came for our worship service and stayed for our fellowship meal following. We also had another meeting/training session with our visitors’ team to better define expectations and give guidance on their tasks. We have a couple of studies ongoing and are praying for the opportunity for others.”
Shertz church of Christ, Texas: Jay Stewart (elder) reports, “This week we collected our first batch of names and assigned them to our newly formed work groups. Due to the size of our congregation, we adapted the program to have three work groups, which will also be responsible for preparing meals for visitors at least three weeks of the month. Each group is a little larger and should be better suited for the tasks at hand. In all, we have six names on our list and will begin sending the compassion cards out this week. We are excited and hopeful that we are on the path to a better way to evangelize our community.”
Rogersville church of Christ, Tennessee: Ethan Tate (preacher) reports, “We are seeing small strides from a visitor who has been coming every Sunday for Back to the Bible. We talked about God’s authorized worship, and the visitor came out saying, ‘I never thought about those things before.’ He promised he would be back for the next study. As for trying to create opportunities, we are considering having a month-long VBS that would meet once a week. This would provide multiple opportunities to reach people we normally would not in a one-day VBS. Please continue praying for us as we continue building prospects to turn into contacts.”
North Main Street church of Christ, Mocksville, North Carolina: We have been studying the Bible with a friend we have had for 40 years. We used the Back to the Bible series. We started in January and always invited her to the house for a meal and a study. We had to go slowly as there was a lot of discussion (no rabbit holes). Suzanne Taplin is now a fellow sister in Christ.”
North Tuscaloosa church of Christ: Clark Sims (preacher), reports, “These dear young ladies, Lizzie Bowen and Katarina Miller, were baptized at North Tuscaloosa after engaging in the Back to the Bible study.”
Woodstock church of Christ, Georgia: Matt Amos (preacher) reports, “Bible studies are ongoing, and we had two restorations this past Sunday. We are adding more people to the teams each week. We have started the red Back to the Bible sermon series. We have organized and labeled the Compassion Cards to make it helpful in our selections as we send out cards this week.”
Siwell Road church of Christ, Jackson, Mississippi: Derek Broome (preacher) reports, “We had a really great week this past week. On Saturday, we went out and delivered our most recent new movers’ baskets. Five people from these new contacts requested more information on the church that we are delivering this week. One person on Saturday requested a correspondence course. We will be hand-delivering those lessons this week. We are praying for open hearts. We received word on Sunday that another lady in the congregation has set up a Bible study. We will be praying for this study daily. On Sunday, we announced our reorganized card care groups. We have new group leaders. We had a great response Sunday night as the new group 1 met. We are continuing to make improvements week by week.”
Beloit church of Christ, Kansas: Dustin Doughtery (preacher) reports, “I introduced the contact generator yesterday morning, giving out bookmarks and encouraging everyone to fill them out with ten names. I encouraged them to pray for those listed every time they read their Bibles. I made the point that if the 33 members present yesterday all listed ten names that would be 330 potential contacts we did not have before. We were missing a number yesterday, so the number could be higher. After a few setbacks over the last several weeks, the evangelism train is moving again. One brother had some discouragement with getting some studies. I have been there myself, so I gave him an analogy along with Galatians 6:9. I equate evangelism to having a business opportunity that will make people wealthy (spiritually), but you cannot get friends or family members to watch the intro video (Bible study), and you have to watch them struggle and struggle deeper in debt (sin) while you are waiting on unfathomable dividends to come (salvation). There is so much to offer, including life-changing information to share, and we cannot let the naysayers and negative people knock the personal evangelism train off the tracks.”
East Main church of Christ, Murfreesboro, Tennessee: Brad Rowley (elder) reports, “April was an exciting month with the baptism of Austin and Kristy Lutterloah (see attached picture). Austin is the brother of Gavin Torino who is a new convert. It is encouraging to see the enthusiasm of a new convert already bringing souls to the church. We had a total of 13 contact cards from the month of April. The majority of the contacts came from our visitor strategy. We occasionally remind the congregation to continue praying for their prospects identified on their bookmarks.
Our compassion card program continues to have great participation, which opens up opportunities. For April, we sent an average of 63 cards each week. We get a lot of positive feedback and return visitors from the compassion card strategy. We continue to deliver new movers baskets that have produced requests from several folks to be added to our mailing list of House to House Heart to Heart. We had six in-home visits in April. One visit from last month has resulted in a Bible study that we will start in May.
East Main has eight folks involved in Bible studies. Our pulpit minister Jon Mitchell has been involved in the majority of the Bible studies. Jon had three Bible study classes during the month to enhance Bible study skills with our members. We are excited to see what May has in store for East Main. We have our second door knocking day scheduled for the month of May; please pray for congregation participation and opportunities to spread the gospel.”
NOTE: 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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