When we began the House-to-House School of Evangelism, we knew we needed to provide congregations with an evangelistic strategy. For the men it is called, “Let’s Make the Application,” and for the ladies it is called, “Recipes for Evangelism.” Over the past three and a half years, the strategy has been tweaked and modified to provide the best and most up to date evangelism training.
Recently, we put together a new lesson titled, “Let’s Get Started.” This has evolved from the private leadership training we typically do at the end of a seminar. During our first attempt to teach it, an elder at the University church of Christ in Montgomery said, “Rob, you took a plan and made it operational!” Brother Ed Redman is a former B-2 Stealth Bomber pilot who now teaches others how to fly. His words resonated with this fellow pilot!
A plan is nothing if not operational. The Xs and Os on a drawing board do not score touchdowns. To reach goals, we must take the plan and put it into play. This requires having the right people in the right place with the right training and equipment. This is why HTHSOE exists!
The HTHSOE evangelism model revolves around six words: “Contacts, Prospects, Bible studies, Baptisms, New Converts, and Growing churches.” For these six steps to produce results, they must become operational. Each step requires personnel with training and tools to ensure efficiency. Paul said, “Now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body” (1 Corinthians 12:18-20).
I truly believe the church of Christ in the twenty-first century is on the cusp of turning the corner and growing. God has given us everything we need and is waiting on us to become operational. We do not need endless planning, meetings, and conferences for the church to grow. I fear that some suffer from analytical paralysis because they question, and debate constantly but never come to a working knowledge of the Truth. HTHSOE is field tested and ready to come to your congregation and train an army of soul winners.
Please continue to pray for as this works grows and reaches more congregations each month!
Ellijay church of Christ, Georgia: Please welcome the Ellijay congregation to the House-to-House/Heart to Heart School of Evangelism. The elders and preachers were very impressive in their preparation and participation of this seminar. We truly believe they have an opportunity to make a huge impact in Georgia reaching the lost. Please pray for them.
East Ridge church of Christ, Chattanooga, Tennessee: Charles Cochran (preacher) reports, “I did have a visit with a compassion card contact. Hope to follow up. Luke Griffin is in Kansas helping a small church he used to attend. I hope to go out there to help sometime next year. We are planning a fall festival in a couple weeks. We invite neighbors to come. We have had several the past few years to come. My wife and I along with Luke Griffin are hoping to receive invitations to go to Russia in 2022. One of our elders and his wife, Allen and Dot Womack, are going to Panama to plan a building campaign next year. They leave soon. I am sending Bible Correspondence courses to several, including prisoners.”
University church of Christ, Montgomery, Alabama: Ed Redman (elder) reports, “Randy preached a very good sermon Sunday morning, and we passed out the bookmarks with instruction to write down ten names, begin praying for them.”
Coldwater church of Christ, Kentucky: Luke Puckett (preacher) reports, “We are continuing to create contacts and send compassion cards. We sent 40 cards this past week to two contacts. Also, we began training how to use Back to the Bible on Sunday.”
Peninsula church of Christ, Hampton, Virginia: Ben Phillips reports, “This card pictured means a lot to us. It is from a member of our community who allowed us to pray for her when we went door knocking. We have been sending her cards and she responded. This week we will follow up with a personal visit. We are working our contacts and building prospects. The plan is working, and the congregation is excited to see the progress.”
Wewoka church of Christ, Oklahoma: Gage Coldwater (preacher) reports, “We had a great week here in Wewoka despite the struggle of Covid hitting six families in the church. We have one Christian woman in our congregation who is working so hard to spread the gospel. She has had Bible studies with three different individuals! She is so zealous. I have a second Bible study on Wednesday morning with Barbara Hail. She came to both morning and evening services yesterday. Our ladies at church went above and beyond to make her feel welcomed and even took her to lunch. I am so proud of our congregation!”
Chase Park church of Christ, Huntsville, Alabama: This past week we had our three-month virtual meeting with the elders. This congregation is doing an incredible job implementing the strategy. Pat Cowden (preacher) reports, “We had our Fall Festival this past weekend and made a lot of contacts. We had 63 families from the community come and had several express interest in spiritual matters. We also distributed two more new mover buckets to folks new to our community. We had two visitors on Sunday from the community who are searching for church homes and with whom we are setting up Bible studies. Our children’s ministry is helping out by making more compassion cards to send to prospects. We have several studies that should conclude within the next week or so. Please keep us in prayer and be persistent in trying to reach out to those around you, it will be eternally worth the effort.”
Deerfoot church of Christ, Birmingham, Alabama: Richard Harp (preacher) reports, “We currently have three Bible studies going on and I have one more starting tonight via Zoom with a young man named Kyle Green. He has agreed to go through the three books with me. I conducted a funeral on Saturday for a precious sister in the Faith. She wanted me to bring the gospel so her family could hear it one more time. Her son Gary Large was baptized into Christ yesterday morning, and two other members of her family are studying as a result. Please pray for our efforts. Also, we finished preaching of Back to the Bible and members are excited about the future.”
Oak Hill church of Christ, Rome Georgia: Steve Murdock (elder) reports, “The Oak Hill church continues to work diligently for God. Our minister, Michael Farris, taught 148 people from the pulpit. His message was on forgiveness. We followed up on contact cards by calling and talking to the people, asking them if they are interested in a Bible Study. The compassion card ministry is organized and sending many cards out weekly.”
Siwell Roach church of Christ, Mississippi: Derek Broome (preacher) reports, “Last week we continued to follow up from our most recent door knocking. We have several Bible studies going on right now, and we set up a couple of more the last few days. Our card ministry is continuing to provide great opportunities as well. Visitors keep coming back in greater numbers than they ever have before. This is giving us opportunities to get to know them and set up studies. So many people are getting involved in local evangelism and numerous new contacts are turned in each week.”
East Homer church of Christ, Alaska: Steve Cannon (member) wrote, “We have an applicant for a new preacher, so we had a men’s meeting and plan to interview him this weekend. We received a list of ten new movers in our area, so we plan to visit them this week as well. What kind of gift basket should we take them? We had a visitor come two weeks ago, and he has met with Robert Austin and had a Bible study. They have another study lined up next week and we plan to have him over for dinner this week.”
Beloit church of Christ, Kansas: Dustin Doughterty (preacher) reports, “Great news, our next door neighbor went with us to services Sunday morning and then we went back that night. She did Believe the Bible book A. She had been hurt by denominationalism in the past and was on the fence about what the “Higher Power, the Something” out “there” was. Now she is much more confident that it is in fact God. She wants to continue the study, so Sally and I set up a regular study with her to go through the rest of Believe the Bible and then Back to the Bible. She is planning to begin regular Sunday and mid-week attendance. She has had many struggles in her past, and when we applied the words of Jesus in Matthew 22:39 and approached her about coming with us to services and a potential study, she accepted. Now we are on the path with her, trying to show her the light.
“We have continued the post-studies with Taylor and Kay, whom I baptized in August. They are learning and enjoying our studies. Another brother, Keith, has completed book 1 Back to the Bible with his neighbor and is working on getting book 2 scheduled. He is also conducting a weekly study in a nearby town, which is steadily increasing in attendance. Several conversions have already resulted from that study. We have several others in the community and surrounding area that we have invited to services and provided materials for them. Several others have expressed interest in study as their schedule allows. Our evangelism work here is stronger and more productive than it has been in years. God is good; all glory to Him in our work trying to reach the lost in our community.”
North Tuscaloosa church of Christ, Alabama: Clark Simms (preacher) reports, “The North Tuscaloosa congregation has been blessed with many opportunities, even in the midst of times of adversity. We continue to be blessed with many visitors. We are thankful to God for these blessings. Numerous compassion cards have been written. In the recent history, we have had two baptisms, as we shared recently, along with the restoration of our dear sister, Sarah. It was a great uplift to our congregation as she came down the aisle, as well as me personally! It was early in 2021 when Rob and his family came to North Tuscaloosa. As we are now in the fourth quarter of the year, we hope to finish out this year with souls being added to the body and encouragement being given to all.”
Hillsboro church of Christ, Tennessee: Shelby Moorman (preacher) reports, “We have ongoing studies with a new prospect. I believe he is a very promising prospect. We also continue to follow up with the contacts made on 10/02.”
Eisenhower church of Christ, Odessa, Texas: Allen Weakland (preacher/elder) reports: “Just finished two different series of lessons on personal evangelism. The morning series was entitled “Jesus—the Politically Incorrect Evangelist.” The evening series was based upon Rob Whitacre’s booklets concerning the Affirmation of God, the Inspiration of the Bible andJesus, Who is He? The congregation responded well to these lessons. It was topped off this past Sunday with Steven Easlon putting on his Lord in baptism. Steven’s wife obeyed the gospel several weeks ago, and it became clear that by the example of her life and dedication to Christ, Steven would one day obey the gospel. With efforts from Beth Ann, Jacob Carson (one of our deacons), Steven’s parents (Don and Nancy) and his efforts to attend Bible class and worship, Steven made the decision to do what was right. May God be glorified!!!”
Crossett church of Christ, Arkansas: Josh Kenned (preacher) reports, “We started studying with Jessie after her mom asked us to study with her and her daughter. Her mom is a member of the church, but Jessie felt as though she did not know much about the Bible and wanted to learn more. We stared Back to the Bible, and we did the first two booklets in one week. We then waited till the next Wednesday to start book three, but we were unable to finish the booklet. We called the mom and got another opportunity to study on Saturday. We reviewed what we had already been over, and she responded to the first invitation. She was baptized shortly after her confession.”
Forestburg church of Christ, Texas: Mark Lindsey (preacher) reports, “Laurie has been visiting with us off and on for a couple of months. She is a Baptist and has been frustrated with the direction of the Baptist church. She found our sermons online and started attending. One of our members went through Book 1 this evening and has the second study scheduled next Sunday afternoon, unless they can schedule it sooner. She had a hunger and wants to find the truth.”
Sevierville church of Christ, Tennessee: Kevin Ruiz (preacher/elder) reports, “We are thankful to God for the recent opportunity to serve Him and our neighbors through our door knocking effort. Nine of our members participated in the door knocking effort on 10/2 and here are some of the results:
- Four groups went into the church’s neighborhood and knocked a total of 100 doors.
- Of the 100 doors knocked, about 43 people came to the door and were greeted and offered Bible materials.
- Eight people had prayer requests.
- Some requested to be added to the House-to-House mailing list, and others expressed an interest in visiting our assemblies.
The Sunday following our door knocking, one of the individuals we met came to our morning assemblies and stayed for our potluck. He was provided a visitor’s bag and efforts are being made to set up a study with him.”
Linville Forest church of Christ, North Carolina: Kelly Brown (preacher) reports, “On Monday afternoon, October 11, Ernie Kennedy was baptized into Christ. Brother Barry Lawson has been studying with Ernie off and on for about three years. Ernie has cancer and has been in stage 4 for almost two years. Many times Ernie would have to turn down studying because he was not feeling like having company. Ernie woke up this morning and called Barry and said it was time; he needed to be baptized. We rejoice with his wife Ellen who has been looking forward to this day for many years. Ernie is in his 70s. Many prayers have gone up on Ernie’s behalf and those were answered today.”
Jacksonville church of Christ, Alabama: Keith Ritchie (preacher) reports, “We continue to prospect the contacts we made during the HTH annual door knocking day. This is card written after we delivered a travel basket to Holli: ‘Mr. Ritchie, thank you so much for praying for my family during our illness and quarantine, and for the gifts for the girls. Our daughter Lesley and her husband Adam are on the mend. Fern and Mae are back home with them now . . . Fern and Mae loved the gift basket and could not wait to show it to mom and dad. It was perfect! So very kind of you to remember us. You truly showed up at my house that day as the hands and feet of Jesus. May God bless you and your congregation richly as you serve and love Jacksonville.’”
Warners Chapel church of Christ, Clemons, North Carolina: Kevin Rutherford (preacher) reports, “The elders met with the congregation to outline the evangelism plan then asked for the members to volunteer for the specific works identified. Also, we are training of the congregation in the use of Back to the Bible. The first booklet was covered this past Sunday.”
Riverbend church of Christ, GA: Austin Fowler (member), reports, “Another great week at Riverbend! Sister Valorie conducted two studies last week. Study number two went great with Dawn. She started a new study with the visitor. They didn’t get finished with study one, but they are going to finish it Wednesday. The visitor is continuing to come to services regularly. I began my study with Leroy Epperson. We established Biblical authority and it went very well! He has some chemo treatments, so we weren’t able to schedule a time set up a study but I’m going to visit him this week to set up another time. We also adjusted our House-to-House mailing strategy, thanks to your suggestions in the newsletter. We added some services that we already offer and added a promotion for our lectureship in January for our next mailer.”
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