House to House/Heart to Heart produces more contacts than any work in the brotherhood. Yet many congregations do not know how to use it to its full potential. We would like to help current users of HTH improve its effectiveness. The following ten questions have been developed from field testing by our School of Evangelism to help you create more contacts.
- Do you have current and working contact information listed on the front of HTH?
- A working phone number that reaches a live human being 24/7
- An email address that is checked daily with a response time under 24 hours
- Website URL and Social Media information
- Do you advertise free transportation in the services-offered section on the front page?
- Do you advertise free community assistance (benevolence) in the services-offered section?
- Do you offer Bible classes for all ages, VBS/Bible camps/youth devotionals for youth, and similar activities in the services-offered section?
- Do you personally respond to and physically deliver all requests for materials?
- Are you utilizing the back page to promote events that would attract visitors?
- Do you keep sending HTH to one area for at least two years?
- Are you sending HTH monthly? Sending HTH monthly to a smaller area is better than bi-monthly to a larger area.
- Have you knocked on doors using HTH as a conversation starter?
- Do you mail HTH to all current and past prospects who are not in the mailing area?
If you would like to make changes in how you use House to House/Heart to Heart, please contact the HTH staff. We would be glad to help. The HTH School of Evangelism also offers onsite training and a full 52-week curriculum to create an evangelistic culture in your congregation. The results have been incredible. Please let us know how we can serve.
Congregational Reports
Wewoka church of Christ, Oklahoma: “Hey brother, the work of evangelism is growing in fervor and power every day. Our members are conducting multiple studies even today. We had one baptism, and his daughter-in-law has agreed to study with us next week. I know there were three Bible studies held this week, and everyone is working to get more studies set up! Please pray for Shane Azlin as he grows in Christ.”
Foothills church of Christ, Searcy Arkansas: Jason White (elder) reports, “We are getting contacts, organizing and setting up teachers.”
North Jefferson church of Christ, Mt. Pleasant, Texas: Kris Groda (preacher) reports, “Please keep Anna Eberhand in prayer. We completed study #1 of Back to the Bible last night with next study on Tuesday. In addition, after providing some benevolent help, a lady agreed to study the Bible. Two of our sisters studied with her using Back to the Bible on Monday. There were six Bible studies this past week, and I think seven are scheduled for this week.”
Chase Park church of Christ, Huntsville, Alabama: Pat Cowden (preacher) reports, “We have had a very active week with our evangelistic outreach. We have completed all the sermons for the three Back to the Bible lessons. We have had over 200 compassion cards sent out to our prospects and have started our follow-up with those prospects. We had two new students in our new converts class, and those studies are going well. We studied with nine people in the last week, and several of those studies are nearing the end.
“Five of our members have been helping with the Bible studies and we started a new study with a neighbor of two of our members. We have also studied with one of their cousins and his daughter and are ready to start Lesson #3. They are really excited about how the studies are progressing. There is a real air of excitement in our congregation surrounding our local evangelistic efforts.”
Beattie Road church of Christ, New Albany, Georgia: Charles Harris (preacher) reports, “I’m all about learning from the experience of my brethren. I have a list of names of New Movers who have been card bombed and have received a New Movers basket. I’m now in the process of making a follow up visit with them, hoping to focus more on scheduling a Bible study. In addition, we baptized Nevin Kauffman today. He is the brother of Daren Kauffman who was baptized last week.”
Deerfoot church of Christ, Birmingham, Alabama: Richard Harp (preacher) reports, “We began our Back to the Bible study from the pulpit using the booklets. It was such a blessing seeing people nodding in affirmation of its simplicity. Our prayer is that our momentum will continue.”
Eisenhower church of Christ, Odessa, Texas: Allen Weakland (preacher) reports, “The Eisenhower congregation is super excited about the recent conversion of Ms. Elaine—she came out of the Mormon belief and just before she was baptized, she said, ‘I just knew the truth was out there, and I’ve finally found it.’ Starting in the month of September, Eisenhower has embarked upon a series of lessons entitled, “Jesus, a Politically Incorrect Evangelist.” This series has been impactful, and we are only two weeks into it. The congregation is eating it up. We have brethren bring visitors, and we are writing names down on our bookmarks. Please pray for Julia and Caleb. They are so excited about seeing a church using the Bible as its standard of authority. Please pray for Steven. His wife is a member, and he has been attending Bible class and worship for the past two weeks straight. I’m super proud of him.”
Cowetta church of Christ, Oklahoma: Keno Shrum (preacher) reports, “It’s so encouraging to hear of the baptisms taking place every week. We are continuing to work on Bible studies with one couple and trying to get studies started with a few others. We have had an increase in visitors lately and have gone through quite a few visitors’ bags. We are also working the new movers list. We have ordered 500 of the special editions of HTH for the door knocking in October. We thank you for your prayers and continue to pray for your work as well.”
Oak Hill church of Christ, Rome Georgia: Steve Murdock (elder) reports, “This past week we experienced a lot of good things. We had four baptisms, and one person, who had been restored, placed membership. We also had 169 pulpit trainings by our minister on Book 3 of the Back to the Bible series, and various members held four personal Bible studies. Our Compassion Card ministry is in full force and 50 cards were sent out to contacts in our area. God continues to bless us.”
Siwell Roach church of Christ, Mississippi: Derek Broome (preacher) reports, “This week we have been continuing with our card care ministry and our new movers’ baskets. Several of our new movers requested more information on the church, and we have been following up with those requests. We are hoping to set up some Bible studies with these contacts. We had a door knocking on Saturday. We set up two Bible studies and had several interested in the church. Sunday we were blessed to have one more soul baptized into Christ. Each week more members are reaching out to friends and loved ones. Several are in ongoing Bible studies. We are excited about the continual growth.”
Subligna church of Christ, Georgia: Tommy O’Kelley (preacher) reports, “We have a young lady who has been visiting and now two of our young ladies are doing Back to the Bible with her. We will be kicking off next Sunday morning Back to the Bible study with whole congregation. Last week I sent out 87 cards and I have about that many to mail out tomorrow. One of the sets is for a family that visited today, I think five in the family, but I am not sure of their status.”
Corinth church of Christ, Tennessee: James Parker (elder) reports, “Steve is beginning a series of lessons to train the congregation in using Back to the Bible study. We are still working with the man that we have studied with over the past month or so. He has not obeyed the gospel yet, but we will keep working to get him to do so.”
East Ridge church of Christ, Chattanooga, Tennessee: Charles Cochran (preacher) reports: “Hi brother Whitacre. We are happy to say that we had 8 people come to a compassion card signing on Sunday night before Labor Day! We mailed 40 cards this week. We had a visitor from the community last night. His address was obtained, and we hope to visit. A couple will study with a new convert in their home this week. In addition, one of our members encouraged her sister and the sister was baptized. This member was visiting her sister who lives in Escanaba Michigan. I sent her the address of the local church and a Bible Correspondence Course. Moreover, we also had request for a Bible Correspondence Course through our House-to-House/Heart to Heart. We sent the lesson today. Luke Griffin and Alan Pitchford are planning the October door knocking outreach. Finally, Jared Heuter, deacon, gave an encouraging report to the East Ridge congregation Sunday morning exhorting us to continue reaching out to the lost!
Forestburg church of Christ, Texas: Mark Lindsey (preacher) reports, “Sorry, but I am terrible with pictures and have told everyone they need to help me out! Laurie Davidson has visited with us several weeks. She has a Baptist background and began listening to our lessons online. This Sunday she visited again and brought three of her daughters. I see great opportunity for a study with her. We also had a family visit with a Baptist background that has been visiting with other congregations over the past year. Several have been trying to start a formal study with them. Our Gospel Meeting is coming up the end of the month, and we have been handing out fliers and had a special edition of House to House go out. Hopefully we can get quite a few from the community. ‘What Christ Demands’ is our theme.”
Willow Avenue church of Christ, Cookeville, Tennessee: This past week, HTHSOE had the three-month virtual meeting to discuss their soul winning strategy. It was productive as they continue to progress. Jonathan Medley (deacon) reports, “It has been an exciting week at Willow. Ben Wilson, one of our young men whose family attends at Willow, decided to obey the gospel. Then on Sunday, we had two more baptisms. After some study, Melanie Cole realized that her baptism in the Episcopal church when she was 13 was not correct, and she wanted to part of the body of Christ. Then after studying, Gayla Rottering, mother of one of our members, decided she needed to become part of the Lord’s church.”
Graeber Road church of Christ, Texas: Doug Thompson (elder) reports, “Graeber Road has made strides in our outreach focus. Including previous conversions we have reported, we have an additional two recently, at least two ongoing personal studies, and four additional studies actively being pursued. In addition, we started our new converts class taught by the elders. We have also hired an Evangelism/Families Minister to aid our outreach deacon and structure our congregation’s focus. Further, we have divided the congregation into four Compassion Card teams that meet once per month. The elders are covering fifth Sundays. We are working on summarizing results from Compassion Card responses to make more effective follow-up for these contacts. Last, we are starting a Wednesday night class through the quarter focused on evangelism.”
Cordova church of Christ, Tennessee: Yesterday evening, HTHSOE had the three-month virtual meeting with the Cordova church of Christ. Bruce Hatcher and the elders are doing a great job implementing the HTHSOE evangelism strategy. Since Bruce first took HTHSOE training classes at MSOP, and later at the congregation, they have had numerous Bible studies and eight baptisms. When elders/deacons/preacher are willing to meet and focus on evangelism, great things will happen. God fights for us when we are willing to fight for Him!”
Honolulu Church of Christ, Hawaii: Tagiilima Esene (preacher) reports, “One of our new converts (Brittany) brought another friend to the Lord. Brittany had talked with Monica about salvation and shared with her the WVBS video “What Must I Do to Be Saved?” During our church hike on September 4, 2021, we had more conversations with Monica about the importance of being baptized for the forgiveness of her sins. Later that day, Monica decided to put on Christ and have her sins washed away. Praise the Lord! (Monica is the one holding the towel).
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