Reaching the Lost- Success Stories

Statistics
Total baptisms (2018-2022) reported from U.S. Congregations: 2,345
Total Seminars Conducted (2018-2022): 181
Congregational Enrollments in 2023: 25
Digital Enrollments for 2023: 25
Student Enrollment: 112
States Reporting: 19
Total baptisms reported from U.S. Congregations 2023: 557

Upcoming Seminars
August 4-5 College Avenue church of Christ (Enterprise, Alabama)
August 6-8 Farley church of Christ (Huntsville, Alabama)
August 16-24 Polishing the Pulpit (Sevierville, Tennessee)

COORDINATORS SPREADSHEET
HTHSOE Checklist

Featured Work: New Union Church of Christ, Manchester, Tennessee 

Editor’s Note: The New Union church of Christ is focused on the HTHSOE model and continues to develop each step. They are dear to us, being a sister congregation to our second work in Hillsboro, Tennessee. I have been impressed with their reports. Each week they consistently collect contacts from the bookmarks and begin the prospecting process. They have expanded their tool chest, and the results are starting to be seen in baptisms. We are thankful for these good brethren and pray their example will help others.

 

Consistency Pays Off
By Paul Fulks (Elder)

 

At New Union, we continue to review the bookmarks at the Sunday morning services. We ask members to submit contact cards for those who may welcome compassion cards. In that situation, we include others we know (friends, families, and neighbors). We have congregational prayer specifically for those we are prospecting. Our members have been consistent in completing and submitting new contact cards. This week we had four contact cards submitted.

We also had three couples visit Sunday morning. The greeters recorded the visitors’ names and addresses and provided them with visitor bags. Greeters add each visitor to a compassion card list so we can send cards to invite them to work and worship with us. We schedule a meal during the first week visitors attend. Card Team 5 met after Sunday evening services and wrote 75 compassion cards. Last week members made six follow-up visits and contacts, not counting phone calls and texts. We delivered several New Mover Baskets.

We completed two Bible studies during the past week, and we have four studies scheduled for the coming week. We had one baptism recently; we have been working with this individual for almost one year.

Mission Monday Meetings are held at 8:00 p.m. each week. Two elders and our preacher reviewed the compassion cards sent and scheduled additional cards and follow-up visits for the week. We contacted specific members to include them in assignments and follow-ups. A spreadsheet tracks all evangelism activities, including compassion cards received and sent, follow-up visits, New Mover Baskets, visitors, phone calls, texts, Bible Studies, and other pertinent information.

Congregational Reports

North Brevard church of Christ, Titusville, Florida: We welcome the North Brevard church of Christ to the House to House/Heart to Heart School of Evangelism. The leadership did an outstanding job preparing for and hosting this event. They are excited to focus on soul-winning in their local community.

Glencoe church of Christ, Alabama: David Marker (elder) reports, “Often we become impatient when we do not see immediate results. But if we have faith in the power of the Word, stay the course, and work the process, we can trust that God will bless our efforts. Some folks are working tirelessly, and we are starting to reap the harvest. Recently, we have had two baptisms and three restorations, and two people have placed membership. We have finished delivering gift bags to our New Movers and had a successful backpack giveaway. As a result of those efforts, we have several new contacts that we are prospecting. As we continue in this work, it is essential, as leaders, to continue to challenge and motivate the brethren, and they, in turn, will motivate us. There is always one more soul we can save!”

Fayette church of Christ, Alabama: Josh Taylor (deacon) reports, “The Special Forces Team will meet on Wednesday to assign contacts. There are 11 this time, but only two members on our team, so it is challenging. We are trying to increase our number on the team to five. We have good contacts and a great congregation that works well with most of our evangelism program. We need more laborers in the Bible study part of our program. We are thankful for the program and the direction it has taken us. We appreciate all prayers as we continue to build this program.”

Hatton church of Christ, Alabama: Chris Miller (preacher) reports, “We continue to work with several individuals. We appreciate prayers; please pray especially for John as we hope his heart is opening to the truth.”

Lake City church of Christ, Florida: Jim Flegert (elder) reports, “We are planning to start our New Movers program. We are lining up our volunteers who will deliver the new mover baskets. Before our first deliveries, we will have an orientation session to train volunteers to visit new movers. During this orientation, we will view the video provided by HTH Evangelism curriculum on New Movers. Then groups will practice meeting new movers as they pass out the baskets. We know that we must handle a new mover visit properly.”

Niceville church of Christ, Florida: Joe Palmer (preacher) reports, “We launched our HTHSOE on July 30.  We handed the bookmark contact cards to the congregation and did the Make it Operational training that evening. We had no visitors and distributed no gift bags. We have one evangelistic Bible study already set up for this week. We plan to launch the New Movers program soon, and we have already handed out some visitor bags. We will continue training each week to develop our leaders and workers.”

Warner Robins church of Christ, Georgia: Daniel Stearsman (preacher) reports, “We had a fruitful mission campaign in Costa Rica with the San Jose South congregation. Andrés Coto and Steven Morales are doing great work there. We took 16 missionaries from the United States and evangelized by knocking doors, shared Spanish House to House, preached, had Bible studies, and continued multiple campaigns. There were five baptisms and one restoration.

At home this past week, Tiffany Morris responded to the gospel. She started visiting after connecting with one of our long-time members, Annie Pearl Allen. Tiffany is a caregiver for her sister who noticed that Tiffany was very kind-hearted. She invited her to services and asked if she wanted to study the Bible. Daniel and Katrina Stearsman, along with Annie Pearl, studied Back to the Bible together. We worked through the first half of the third book during the congregation’s VBS class. Tiffany did not want to wait any longer! She wanted to be added to the Lord’s church immediately. She put on Christ in baptism. She expressed that she had wanted for so long to figure out how to be right with God. She had been reading through her Bible and repeatedly explained how helpful the Back to the Bible series was in helping her see clearly how to obey God. She is full of joy and zeal and so thankful that Annie Pearl cared enough to ask. We praise God for His life-transforming gospel!”

Woodstock church of Christ, Georgia: Greg Garner (deacon), “We have three Bible studies in progress. The prison ministry conducted eight Bible studies and gave five Bibles to the new students. We have eleven Bible studies in total. Our new converts class had 17 in attendance.”

LaFayette church of Christ, Georgia: Jesse Teague (deacon) reports, “We have four or five new contact cards so far (from visits / follow ups / new requests). Group 1 will meet after worship Sunday evening to send compassion cards to the new contacts. A recent convert, Lara, was married last week, and we encouraged her and her husband Kris, a relatively new Christian man, with a money tree from members during our monthly fellowship meal.”

Monroe church of Christ, Georgia (digital): Charles Harris (preacher) reports, “Carolyn Coleman was baptized a few weeks ago. She has since faced much opposition. We continued to visit her and send her numerous compassion cards. Sunday, she made the difficult decision to attend services. She was lovingly welcomed and was thankful to be a part of the Monroe family. We had another family place membership, and a sister who recently moved into the area placed membership as well. We gained a new deacon a few weeks ago, and we hope to have another elder by next Sunday. Many other Bible studies are taking place in the area, and others are in the works.”

Riverbend church of Christ, Dalton, Georgia: Austin Fowler (Regional Trainer) reports, “Tomorrow, I will have a Bible study with Randell, my grandmother’s brother. I went through Does it Matter with him before I left for Costa Rica, but he wanted to wait. I did several close methods with him, but he still wanted to wait. He agreed to continue to study. We will use Back to the Bible Lesson 1 tomorrow.”

Honolulu church of Christ, Hawaii: Lima Esene (preacher) reports, “We are currently prospecting some of our local visitors. Please pray that these souls will soon be in a Bible study. I am happy to report that our church is growing in various ways. We are growing numerically through our efforts in sharing the gospel one soul at a time. We have 13 new converts in the new converts’ class. We are growing in zeal for the work of our Lord. We have motivated members because they see the results of what we are doing. We are growing in leadership. Our shepherds have come a long way and are still learning. I especially enjoy seeing our shepherds leading their groups in performing their tasks for the overall mission. We are growing in our vision. We have joined forces with the Covington Church of Christ to put on a mission effort to reach more souls and to train members regarding soul winning. Oahu is one island, and the goal is to cover the entire island. Then we will do mission work on the other islands. Hawaii is not just our home; it is our mission field. We appreciate all prayers! To God be the glory!”

Jerseyville church of Christ, Illinois (digital): Jake Medford (preacher) reports, “We had our VBS last weekend, and it brought contacts, connections, and opportunities for us. We found where we need to improve and grow on events like that. (It was our first one.) We hosted a 4th of July cookout, and a family of four from that event visited with us this week. We got their information, and they are now on the compassion card list. The July House-to-House just hit mailboxes, so we are waiting to see what that brings. Each time it goes out, we get a few responses. Two other prospects are coming over Thursday for a meal and a fun visit with my family. We are praying that they will ask for a study sometime. Two Christians from other congregations moved to our assembly this week. They both seem enthusiastic about being with us. We are adding them to the card list to encourage and welcome them to our congregation. We are still growing with our learning. We are now training on Believe the Bible in our Wednesday class.”

Beloit church of Christ, Kansas (digital): Dustin Dougherty (regional trainer) reports, “We have had our first night of VBS. We had 20 kids and probably that many adults. A father and daughter were there, and we invited them to the fair. They are new to the area, and they are looking for a church to attend, so we have a hot contact right out of the gate. I immediately began building a rapport with him. He said he enjoyed the lesson tonight, and I answered several questions he had about the presentation.”

Blanchard church of Christ, Louisiana: Pat Cell (elder) reports, “A couple visited us two months ago after we first met them during a new mover visit. We visited them again last week and invited them to our singing service and our end-of-the-month fellowship meal. They not only showed up for services on Sunday but also stayed for the meal, and we enjoyed getting to know them better. We continue to go through the Back to the Bible training videos on Wednesday night, and Sean continues to preach the importance of evangelism from the pulpit. This week he brought a message from Matthew 25 and the parable of the talents.”

LaPlata church of Christ, Maryland (digital): Eric Sykes (regional trainer) wrote, “Welcome our new sister in Christ, Katrina Groeger. She is Gail Malnati’s care giver. We baptized her at the house after worship service and the fellowship meal. We sent out six compassion cards, each with 15 signatures. We need to work out how to combine the fellowship meal and compassion card writing on the fifth Sunday. The compassion card groups meet next Sunday. We added two names to our prospect list, bringing the total to 12 active prospects. We still have two open Bible studies with two close prospects. We appreciate all prayers. God is good!”

Southside church of Christ, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Freddie Klein (preacher) reports, “We continue to make our way through the BTTB booklets in our sermon series. In the afternoon, all card groups met to pass out New Movers bags in the community. We had several good interactions. Card Group 1 will meet next week to start the card-writing process all over again.”

Looxahoma church of Christ, Mississippi: Blake Hawkins (deacon) reports, “Today we began going through Back to the Bible Lesson 2. The preacher leads us through the study following the afternoon worship service in a Bible class format. We are hopeful that the additional time spent taking the entire congregation through the study and giving pointers for conducting a Bible study will be a lasting benefit. The congregation has four compassion card writing teams, and our Team 2 wrote cards today. We are staggering the mailing process by allowing one of our ladies to mail them each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We have received several positive responses from the cards, which encourages us. They are making a more significant impact than we can even realize!”

West Hwy 160 church of Christ, West Plains, Missouri (digital): Marvin Hatley (elder) reports, “Members are engaged in three personal Bible studies and prospecting about ten souls at differing points in life. A recent convert who is active in bringing God’s truth to his family is conducting a study now in Book 3. The second study is on hold due to scheduling conflicts, but the prospect is still willing to study even though Book 3 has been completed. (Never close the study.) The third study is progressing into Book 3. We appreciate prayers for these lost souls to be receptive to the truth. The congregation’s compassion card group 2 completed 74 compassion cards for this week. We continue to be blessed with members who are actively seeking contacts/prospects using the HTHSOE model and training.”

Samford church of Christ, Steele, Missouri: Kyle Imel (deacon) reports, “We have one active study. We will go through the red book in the coming weeks. Our community VBS and backpack giveaway is this Wednesday. Please be in prayer for both outreaches.”

East Flushing church of Christ, New York (digital): Clarence Jenkins (preacher) reports, “We thank God for the visitors who are continually coming every Sunday. We had a Bible study with one after every worship service. We took him out to eat, and we are praying that he will put on Christ in baptism soon. We wrote 23 compassion cards and are sending them out. We appreciate all prayers.”

Linville Forest church of Christ, North Carolina: Kelly Brown (preacher) reports, “Matt Hare has been studying with Jackson Aydelette for the last few weeks. Jackson decided to be baptized Sunday evening. We rejoice that another soul has been added to the Lord’s church.”

Carthage church of Christ, North Carolina (digital): Randy Chambers (preacher) reports, “This week the congregation conducted one Bible study using Back to the Bible, Lesson 2. The lesson went well. We spent a little more time going offer critical points to ensure the prospect grasped the teaching about the church and its authority before the next study. Two studies scheduled were rescheduled for this week. Compassion cards will go out this week, and we are receiving feedback for cards that went out this month. One contact is curious about the folks that sent all these cards, and the member that is a friend of the contact will follow up. I had one visitor today who enjoyed the service and the fellowship; we are sending cards and will follow up with this visitor. We completed our BTTB Series Training and began the Believe the Bible book today; the members were intrigued and saw the importance of having this tool available in our soul-winning efforts. We thank God for all the workers in His vineyard.”

Cary church of Christ, North Carolina: Larry Fife (preacher) reports, “Our members are currently conducting four Bible studies. On Sunday, we are having a training/organization meeting with the deacons and me. We will go over areas of responsibility and begin training our members in specific areas of outreach. Our members continue to be excited, and we continue to give God the glory.”

Coweta church of Christ, Oklahoma: Keno Shrum (elder) reports, “We are trying to schedule a study of Believe the Bible with the daughter and son-in-law of a current member. She was baptized a few months ago. Her daughter and son-in-law are not necessarily atheists, but they are not believers. However, they seem willing to go through at least one session of Believe the Bible, and we will see their thoughts when they finish the first book. I hope they will be open-minded. We are praying that their hearts will be softened by what they hear.”

York church of Christ, Pennsylvania: Mark Raschke (deacon) reports, “We continued to prospect. We wrote compassion cards, and some ladies followed up with care package visits. We would appreciate prayers for my barber, a former coworker, and a former member with a troubled family past. I am focusing on all three in my personal work and my prospect list. One recent convert, who originally visited after receiving House to House, studied and was baptized a few months before our seminar with Rob. Unfortunately, he had fallen away since then. However, he reached out to us after the passing of his brother, and we were able to preach a gospel message at his funeral to many who needed to hear it. We pray that our brother is restored and that the seed of the word falls on some receptive hearts. On our prospect list is the mother of a recent convert. The mother has been suffering from medical conditions, and this week, her mother passed away. We will pour out love and compassion on both the son and his mother, hoping we can retain and win souls. We will continue to send cards to our recent visitors from last week and other prospects on our list. This week, we will also finish our visitation for July. We will present a full report to the congregation in August, with tallies of the numbers of cards, visits, studies, and baptisms that have occurred through our evangelistic efforts. Then we will have our monthly visitation meeting to plan which members will visit which prospects in August.”

East Main church of Christ, Murfreesboro, Tennessee: Brad Rowley (elder) reports, “Saturday, East Main had our backpack drive. We thank members who worked so hard to make this happen. One thing we did differently this year was electronic registration. We have a few bugs to work out; however, we will continue to use this in future outreach to the community. We are excited to say we have nine potential Bible study contacts. These contacts will be given to our Bible study team follow up. We have four contacts that are looking for a church home.  To God be the glory!”

West End church of Christ, Knoxville, Tennessee: Adam Wilson (member) reports, “The church did a second annual School Supply Drive and giveaway at the building. In preparation for the event, Jeremy Weekley (preacher) led a team of door knockers in the area where we are mailing House to House. Over 100 people showed up, and the church equipped them with backpacks filled with school supplies. The recipients were asked if they wanted cards, a visit, or even a study as part of registration. Five studies and ten visits were requested! West End’s eldership will be leading the way on the contact follow-up. A member will join each elder and visit or study together. By modeling how to reach out to the lost, we believe that all members will be less intimidated in the future because they will have experience and an example to follow.”

McKenzie church of Christ, Tennessee: Randy McAdams (elder) reports, “We are finalizing our contact list for August card mailouts. We will visit those contacts who received cards during July. Our shut-ins that we have included in our card mailings are enjoying getting them.”

Covington church of Christ, Tennessee: Wayne Dalrymple (elder) reports, “Those of us who traveled to Hawaii to help the church in Honolulu with their VBS have returned home. While we were gone, a couple we met during AMC at Covington last year visited our worship service. This Sunday, Joy visited with us. Her daughter needed community service and thought about us because she knows Jeff, our associate minister. She said she was between churches. She enjoyed the service and felt welcomed by everyone. We gave her a visitor bag and got her contact information. She said she will visit again next Sunday. We agreed to help her and her daughter. We hope to set up a study with her soon. I am still studying with Thomas. We have finished BTTB, so we will go into Does It Matter? next. We will resume our new converts class in September. We will have several in the class. We are still prospecting several other contacts. On Monday evening, we had a prayer session. We prayed for many people, including erring members, prospects, Bible studies, and new converts. It was an emotional night. We appreciate all prayers for our efforts.”

Dellrose church of Christ, Tennessee: Mike Hovis (member) reports, “We prepared 14 cards. We have one new contact this week. We had a virtual meeting with Rob and discussed some challenges. We look forward to making a few changes and pushing forward to reach the lost.”

Southwest church of Christ, Austin, Texas: John Garza (regional trainer) reports, “A few weeks ago, David Hopkins (SW Elder) asked Rick if he would like to do a personal Bible study. Rick agreed, but he said he would be out of town for a couple of weeks. Remember, Rick’s wife, Vikki, was baptized at the beginning of this year, so Rick has been attending with her for some time. When he returned last Sunday, David extended that invitation to study again, and they agreed to Tuesday. The plan was to study with him through Book 1 of Back to the Bible, but Rick desired to know more and more. Therefore, they studied all three booklets in one sitting, and David had this to say about the study: ‘As we started the study, he believed he was saved already, but as we went through it, he realized that he was not, and he wanted to correct that.’ After a couple of days of thinking, today we rejoice with Rick Rodriguez because he decided to obey the gospel of Jesus Christ by being baptized for the forgiveness of his sins and added to His body. With great excitement, his wife said, ‘Now I can go to heaven with him.’ Once again, we praise God for the honest and noble hearts willing to hear, examine, and obey the Word of God. Additionally, thank God for elders who watch out for, care for, and lead the flock at this congregation, but especially for leading lost souls to the truth of His word.”

Granbury Street church of Christ, Cleburne, Texas: Ryan Cowan (deacon) reports, “The church in Cleburne continues to be completely dedicated to seeking and saving the lost. Brethren are working side by side, excited to be actively involved in fulfilling the Great Commission. Wednesday, we wrote 252 compassion cards. Currently, ten Bible studies are taking place. Another 37 prospects have received at least 35 cards and will soon be ready for a member to ‘walk in the door.’ One of the best examples I have seen is one member who accepted the challenge of meeting a benevolent service request of a prospect. As this need is being met, a second member has contacted this same soul for a Bible Study. Several visitor bags have been prepared, and a team of members has been assigned to welcome visitors respectfully and kindly, helping them find a seat, giving them a gift bag, and gaining their contact information. Great things are happening at Granbury Street in Cleburne; we have just begun!”

Northern Oaks church of Christ, San Antonio, Texas: Mel Hutzler (elder) reports, “I have a Bible study with a couple on Tuesday, along with some marriage counseling. We are prospecting a family by bringing them food. We have door-knocking coming up for our gospel meeting. The evangelism class and new converts class continue to go well. We have two other contacts who are in a study or about to be in a study.”

Bridgewater church of Christ, Katy, Texas: Doug Suggs (member) reports, “The pictures accompanying this report show Group 2 filling out compassion cards. We are starting to receive more contacts from our members. We have several visitors from the community, and the church is welcoming them. I am always amazed at how this congregation responds to those visiting us. No visitor can ever complain that ‘no one talked to me.’ Multiple members flock to them to welcome them. Linda Boatright, one of our members, invited a friend to visit. She came to a service and wanted to know more about the church. Linda, Wade, and I have had two studies with her and will have a third one tonight. We pray she will respond to the gospel message and commit to Christ tonight.”

Graceton church of Christ, Diana, Texas: Johnny Willeford (elder) reports, “We had a wonderful Family VBS on Saturday. Our members stepped up and made the day a success. Operation Creation was our theme. We had several children and adult visitors. We have their contact information and will look at them as prospects. Our compassion card Group C signed 126 cards for 12 individuals. Our Mission Monday Group met Monday night to review our home visits from last month and receive our assignments. There was an excellent discussion on what worked and what did not—we are always training to improve. Our new converts class will start this Sunday. We will have six recent converts attending the class that need the Bible training; we are using the Back to the Bible material for new converts. Two families also visited us this past week.”

Eisenhower church of Christ, Odessa, Texas: Allen Weakland (elder) reports, “The Eisenhower congregation held our Vacation Bible School. The attendance was encouraging with 127 on Monday, 145 on Tuesday, and 145 on Wednesday. Though these numbers encouraged us greatly, the follow-up struck a cord. We had invited every family that attended VBS to come to services last Sunday. Some families came and even brought others with them. The congregation provided a meal, and we took that time to express our desire to get to know them. We have been praying that God would bless us with more contacts, and once again, He opened His blessing upon us. We appreciate prayers for these families and our efforts as we plant and water. To God be the glory.”

Central church of Christ, Martinsburg, West Virginia: Robert Veil (elder) reports, “Allison and Wendy, recently baptized, have now graduated to the new converts class on Wednesday nights. That class continues weekly. A weekly Bible study with Jeff and Dottie has commenced and is continuing. They are bringing their two granddaughters Wednesday evenings. Fundamental evangelistic sermons continue on Sunday evenings; we had 127 in attendance this week, which is excellent for us. We encourage our people to bring visitors on Sunday evenings to hear these basic Bible sermons.”

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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