Lithia Springs church of Christ, Georgia: We thank the Lithia Springs church of Christ for inviting HTHSOE back for a reboot. Their preacher, Larry Acuff, has greatly supported our work, and we have learned much from this great soul-winner. Our fellowship encouraged us, and we prayed for them as they move forward and become more organized and efficient in reaching the lost.”
Glencoe church of Christ, Alabama: David Marker (elder) reports, “We continue to utilize all methods in our evangelism efforts. We have succeeded with the invitation cards, and our New Mover program is moving in a better direction. We will continue to work with some hot contacts, hoping that cultivating the soil will bring good results. As we review this year, we realize that we have had numerous opportunities for the brethren to participate in sowing the seed. We continue to pray for a bountiful harvest near the end of this year, and we look forward to 2024, resolving to find opportunities hidden in each new day. As we continue our work, we pray that all future contacts will see in us that Today is the best day of the year! ‘Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.’”
Hatton church of Christ, Alabama: Chris Miller (preacher) reports, “We are sending cards to several people right now who need prayers and urgent follow-ups. For example, Lisa has terminal cancer that has spread to her brain, and we are working quickly to show her love through the compassion cards. We hope that she will open her heart to a BTTB study quickly. We have focused on several erring members, hoping that sending them cards will help to bring them back.”
Monticello church of Christ, Arkansas: Josh Walker (preacher) reports, “The Lord has blessed the efforts here in Monticello. We continue our Bible studies, but we are experiencing a significant increase in visitors because of the compassion card effort. The members seek opportunities to converse with their friends, family, or coworkers. We appreciate all prayers for these efforts.”
Lake City church of Christ, Florida: Jim Flegert (elder) reports, “Out of the five new mover baskets reported last week, four were positive and indicated that they had recently discussed looking for a church home in their new community. These four names have been added to our spreadsheet, and they will be receiving compassion cards from our teams. One of our earlier recipients of compassion cards from last spring has finally agreed to have a BTTB study. We rejoice in this opportunity that God has given to us.”
Fayetteville church of Christ, Georgia: David Gulledge (associate preacher) reports, “Dave preached from Back to the Bible Sunday morning. On Sunday, Group 2 met and wrote cards to four prospects.”
Woodstock church of Christ, Georgia: Greg Garner (deacon) reports, “We had four baptisms this week! Card Group created 15 cards Sunday night and sent 32 cards last week. The Prison Ministry Group is working on getting one previous prisoner recently baptized and two others cleared to work with and assist with Bible studies with the student in DeKalb RYDC. We had 21 in our New Convert class. The Greeter Group reported that we had six visitors this week. WCOC had three Bible studies this week.”
LaFayette church of Christ, Georgia: Jesse Teague (deacon) reports, “We had about ten saints at LaFayette knocking doors on Saturday, and we visited about 25 people. A few folks were sick, but the remainder picked up the slack. Two of the visits generated contact cards, so we will add their names to the list for compassion cards. We had a second visit from a previous door-knocking contact. She says she will be back. We hope to have more visits and a study soon!”
Beloit church of Christ, Kansas (remote): Dustin Dougherty (regional trainer) reports, “We had a good service yesterday. We had three visitors, one of them local, and we will begin prospecting them soon with some cards. This is the second week in a row that we have had visitors. We are trying to work the compassion card program locally. We will reach out to some of our number who have not attended recently. We will start a new convert/fundamental class soon on Sunday mornings. Lots of opportunities are forthcoming on the growth and evangelism front. “We love doing this work and serving our Lord and the Christians here. “
Central church of Christ, Paducah, Kentucky: Adam Faughn (preacher) reports, “Last week, one of our prospects studied Book 2 of Back to the Bible with one of our ladies. We are praying that they can study Book 3 this week. The prospect asks many questions and seems interested, so we hope for her conversion in the coming days. Last night, we studied how to interact with “cold” contacts, such as door-knocking and interacting with people in restaurants. It was encouraging to see people go directly to our evangelism center after services and get materials to have with them for such encounters. We had another card-writing team meeting, so prospecting continues. We are praying for more open doors, and we know the Lord will provide.”
Blanchard church of Christ, Louisiana: Pat Cella (elder) reports, “We mailed 62 compassion cards this week. We had a visitor who asked a question of one of our members. We took him to lunch and had a really good visit, and he said he would be back next week.”
La Plata church of Christ, Maryland (remote): Eric Sykes (regional trainer) reports, “We are making steady progress. We sent out 40 compassion cards last week. We had a family of seven visit Sunday; they are new to the area, and they are looking for a church home. They enjoyed our worship service. The members showed them the love of Christ. We offered to take them to lunch, and they took a rain check on our offer. We are starting Back to the Bibletraining for our congregation this week. Everyone is excited and encouraged to learn how to conduct personal Bible studies. We completed Lesson 2 of BTTB with a young couple who visited the congregation several weeks ago. We are scheduled to do Lesson 3 tomorrow. We completed Lesson 1 of BTTB with a young man. We have been praying for him for nearly a year. This time last year, his three-year-old daughter passed away from cancer. We would appreciate prayers as we strive to help him accomplish the two things he wants most—to get right with God and to see Imani, his baby girl, again. The elders announced that they will start appointing area coordinators soon. We appreciate all prayers.”
Southside church of Christ, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Freddie Klein (preacher) reports, “We had several studies this week and are making progress in each. Last week, we used our card-writing time to send out invitations to a Christmas Eve lunch directly following the morning worship service. We typically have a fourth Sunday potluck and a 2:00 p.m. service anyway, so we thought it advantageous to invite those with whom we have had previous contact. Two families have already responded to the invitation, and we will send out more invitations for the next two weeks. This Sunday, we continued our study on joy and showed the video on “Defer, Don’t Debate.” Additionally, someone contacted us about receiving the HTH flyer. We hope to have more information to follow on that contact.”
Looxahoma church of Christ, Mississippi: Blake Hawkins (deacon) reports, “We have four compassion card writing teams that rotate each week, so essentially everyone writes cards one Sunday a month following the afternoon worship service. This system seems to work well for us, allowing us to get cards written easily while everyone is still at the building. Then we can mail the cards on different days throughout the week. This week, we received a thank you letter from one of our contacts. It is always encouraging to receive positive feedback from card recipients. Something so small sure has the potential to make a big impact. We currently have two Bible studies ongoing.”
Samford church of Christ, Steele, Missouri: Kyle Imel (deacon) reports, “Samford has two active studies. One is with Emma, who went through some of the third BTTB book on Sunday. She is having trouble separating her denominational baptism from scriptural baptism. Pray that we have the wisdom to say the correct things to help her understand. We will study with her again this coming Sunday. Our other study is with Jess. He has been through a lot lately! He was eager during the first study in the home last week. We will go through Book 2 with him Wednesday night during Bible class.”
Foristell church of Christ, Missouri: Rod Jackson (elder) reports, “There is no golden key to unlock the door to evangelism, but we are working through a coordinated approach that produces results! This week, we will mail around 20 compassion cards, visit eight new movers, and reach out to three different families who are prospects. In prospecting, we find that different people are in different stages. There is not one approach but a coordinated approach that seems to work. We have families involved in writing and sending compassion cards. We have others visiting new movers and others inviting prospects to lunch or dinner. Through all of these efforts, the work moves forward. Many of our members are involved in these efforts. We strive for 100 percent member involvement, and it takes everyone working together to succeed. We appreciate prayers as we continue praying, prospecting, training, and teaching. To God be the glory!”
South Carthage church of Christ, North Carolina (remote): Randy Chambers (preacher) reports, “This week, the congregation conducted one Bible study using Back to the Bible, Lesson 2. The “First Principles” class is going well; we encourage and study the importance of spiritual growth using Growing in Christ and The Beginning of Our Confidence. We use the Post Evangelism Seminar Questionnaire to encourage the congregation to use their time and talent for the Lord’s work. We continue to encourage one another to follow the plan and trust the Lord.”
Cary church of Christ, North Carolina: Larry Fife (preacher) reports, “We have been writing compassion cards regularly, and we have had some Bible studies. We had a baptism three weeks ago. We have revamped our evangelism outreach model for 2024 and structured it to meet the needs of the Cary area. We will knock on doors and have a congregational training day on January 27, 2024.”
Streetsboro church of Christ, Ohio: Ralph Price (preacher) reports, “We are working through the second lesson of Back to the Bible. We are setting up our evangelism table and making our first visits from the prospect list. Our House-to-House mailings started this month, and we subscribed to the new mover list. For December we are sending them to the whole city. Starting next year, we will reduce the number to make it affordable. There are no scheduled Bible studies so far, but one visitor from the community is coming regularly and going through the Back to the Bible study with us on Sunday mornings. I have taken him to lunch and believe we can baptize him eventually.”
Greenville church of Christ, Ohio: John McGiffin (preacher) reports, “Our new convert has not missed services yet. He is being transitioned into a new convert class. We are remodeling a classroom to serve as an evangelism room. We will store all our materials in this room, which is accessible to everyone. We will use this room for the new convert classes, Bible studies, and a resource room for the compassion card ministry. Our contacts are increasing each week. We will begin to focus on fallen brethren in a few weeks. One person is on the second study from Back to the Bible. We are optimistic as she seems excited to learn. I have had conversations with fellow ministers about the program. Some are excited, and some cannot comprehend the energy and work required to make it successful. Many coaches have stated things like, ‘You get only what you put into something.’ Some would say you reap what you sow. We are sowing and have only just started to reap. Our December benevolent dinner is scheduled for this Sunday. We will require participants to come to the building, have dinner, sit with congregants, and observe a shortened service. This led to a mini-Bible study last time, and we look forward to seeing if this new format is better. It now points to evangelism. We are no longer the local food bank. We are the church meeting in Greenville, Ohio.”
New Concord church of Christ, Ohio: Terry Townsend (preacher) reports, “We are mailing out our third round of compassion cards. We mailed 80 cards last week and have 80 more for this week. We are receiving positive feedback from those receiving cards. Those eight individuals (prospects) will be visited in person in the next couple of weeks. Several new contacts/prospects have been added and will start receiving cards in a week or two. Our one Bible study we set up has been postponed (the couple had a death in the family and had to go out of town). They will be back next week and will begin Lesson 1. We have completed Week 7 of our HTHSOE training, and all is going well.”
Coweta church of Christ, Oklahoma: Keno Shrum (regional trainer) reports, “On Tuesday, a young man I met a couple of years ago called me. He wanted to visit, so he came to our New Converts class that evening. He was attentive, and we had a conversation afterwards. He is having a few difficulties in life, and he recognized and readily admitted that they were because he is living in opposition to God’s word. He said his parents are devout Calvinists, but he has never really bought-in to that teaching. His grandparents had been Methodist, but they lived in a small town with no evening service, and so on Sunday and Wednesday evenings, they would attend a church of Christ. As a child, he had attended with them occasionally. Now, in his 30s, he did not feel drawn to Methodists either, but something kept telling him that if he wanted to get his life right, he needed to reach out to the church of Christ. So, when he returned Wednesday evening, Michael, John, and I went through Lesson 1 of BTTB with him. He had to work on Sunday, but he texted me and said he changed his work schedule so he can attend services Wednesday. Starting this week, he will be in service each Wednesday, and we will go through Lesson 2 afterward.
“On Saturday evening, I went through Lesson 1 with the couple from Milwaukee who had been visiting with some of our new converts over the Thanksgiving holiday. I am looking forward to Lesson 2 with them Saturday over Zoom. Sunday morning, a young man whom Jamie and I met at a restaurant in town when he served us, worshipped with us. He has no previous ties to any religious body, but he has been lonely and depressed. We reached out to him and invited him to worship with us at the time he most needed it. My lesson was based on Matthew 9, emphasizing the need to have a deeply rooted faith. Afterward, he told me he was ready to commit to Christ and walk in faith. Jamie and I will take him to breakfast Tuesday and go through Lesson 1 after. We are excited that the Lord is working through us and that the contacts keep rolling in. I pray God blesses these studies and all the work across the nation! The number of baptisms this year reported is astonishing! May God bless all who labor in His name!”
Sullivan Village church of Christ, Lawton, Oklahoma: Steven Hill (preacher) reports, “The new converts class has been up and going for about a month, and we have seen several in attendance. Even some who converted up to a year ago are attending it and finding it a helpful resource. Our congregation has fully implemented the compassion card writing effort, and most bugs have been resolved. We are efficiently writing, on average, 200 to 300 cards per week. Follow-up efforts are now gearing up and will soon be in full swing. New movers’ baskets are being carefully crafted and taken into the community, along with warm greetings and invitations to be our special guests at Sullivan Village. This month alone, our new movers list boasted 72 residents who moved into our area. This is a wonderful way to reach people; we are thankful for this open door. We are putting our focus on our visitors as well. Someone puts together visitor bags and hands them out. Several members and families stand by, waiting to take visitors out to eat when the opportunity arises. However, every first and third Sunday, we have a fellowship meal, and visitors can join us. The name of every first-time visitor will be placed on the compassion card list and receive three weeks’ worth of cards, letting them know how much we appreciate their visit.
“Yesterday, one of our elders announced that we must continue to be diligent and patient as God works with us to bring souls into His kingdom. He encouraged us not to be weary in doing good, for we will reap in due time. We installed a brand-new baptistry yesterday and are excited to put it to good use. We are grateful to House to House and the School of Evangelism for all their hard work and encouragement for so many congregations. To God be all the glory!”
York church of Christ, Pennsylvania: Mark Raschke (deacon) reports, “This week, we sent a second round of compassion cards to an ailing relative of one of our members. We have continued to be blessed by the regular attendance of several of our prospects. We had our annual cookie exchange at the home of one of our members, which was well attended by members and prospects alike. We recently had some good conversations and set up lunch appointments with some of our prospects. The daughter of one of our prospects has joined our Bible Bowl team. We are hoping soon to steer some of these relationships to Bible studies. We had our monthly visitation meeting to discuss the visits we recently made and which prospects we would plan to visit after the holidays.”
Union church of Christ, South Carolina (remote): Terry Hale (preacher) reports, “So far, we have had two visits with prospects, resulting in two Bible studies. One is currently ongoing. Continuing training and more visits are scheduled for this week. We are thankful for prayers on our behalf and the good news we are receiving at the Union church of Christ.”
Chapel Hill church of Christ, Tennessee: Matt Jones (deacon) reports, “We have sent out the post-seminar survey and have had over 100 returns. We will meet this Thursday to assign coordinator leaders for each area, go through the survey to begin assigning teams, and set the start date. We told the congregation to begin listing their ten contacts; we will collect them soon. I plan to organize all the boxes this week so that we are more prepared when working with the coordinators. I asked our graphic design deacon to work on getting the evangelism table set up with a table cover and poster.”
Southern Hills church of Christ, Franklin, Tennessee: Lee Glasscock (elder) reports, “Last Sunday, our third team met to write 130 compassion cards together. Children participated with the group by signing their names or drawing something. Our timeline designated Sunday morning lesson was about quantity not quality from Matthew 22. Our new converts class meets with a couple of mentors in the library. We hope we outgrow this location for the class soon.”
Covington church of Christ, Tennessee: Wayne Dalrymple (elder) reports, “Sunday morning, the Foster family visited. They had visited a few times after the tornado last spring when we helped them. We wrote them cards to thank them for their visit. We will be following up with them soon. Sunday evening, Jeremy visited. He is the husband of one of our members who has been in the hospital recently. We had sent him cards and visited him in the hospital. We will try to set up a Bible study with him soon. We plan to resume my study with Doresha next week. We will focus more on reaching out to our unfaithful members. One of those who had been away for a few months was present at our worship service Sunday. We thank God for this and will encourage him to be faithful to the Lord. We appreciate all prayers for our efforts to reach the lost.”
East Main church of Christ, Murfreesboro, Tennessee: Brad Rowley (elder) reports, “We rejoice in the baptism of Cole Walker by one of our elders, Cecil Morris, Sunday evening. Cole has been attending several denominational groups in the area. Cole stated that when he studied his Bible, it did not coincide with what he was being taught. Cole searched for internet help, leading him to World Bible School. After watching some podcasts, he emailed WBS and asked for help to find a local congregation, which led him to our website. Cole attended our worship service, and after some study, he was baptized for the remission of sins. This week, Cole will be studying with our college minister, Seth Ferguson. We received two new contact cards from last week. Our compassion card team wrote 25 cards. We delivered 15 new mover baskets and completed three follow-up contacts. We had six folks involved in Bible studies last week. Our pulpit minister, Jon Mitchell, started a new Bible study with a young couple this week. This week, the elders will discuss strategies and setting goals for 2024. Our 2024 to-do list is to revamp our website and develop an invitation card for East Main. To God, give the glory!”
Forest Hill church of Christ, Germantown, Tennessee: Scott Cain (preacher) reports, “Initial study started with one couple last week. They admit uncertainty about their salvation, but they have fundamental questions about the nature of God and the integrity of Scripture that we need to cover first. Julian, who is the coworker of a sister at Forest Hill, started studying with her son John a few weeks ago. Julian realized he needed to be baptized, but he insisted on waiting until his wife Kim had a chance to study. John studied with them on Saturday, and both obeyed the gospel on Sunday morning. This made the fourth baptism in the last six weeks. Each week, the brethren are more encouraged and more involved in identifying opportunities and taking advantage of them.”
Midtown church of Christ, Victoria, Texas: James Cammock (deacon) reports, “We have had three baptisms recently, including a husband/wife duo who visited Midtown for worship service and a young man who attends with his adopted grandmother. We continue to keep our evangelism table replenished. Our new converts class just entered a new quarter!”
Northern Oaks church of Christ, San Antonio, Texas: Mel Hutzler (elder) reports, “Great news to report. Brandon Coyle, Nico Acuna, and Spencer Johnson were all baptized Saturday night. We appreciate their decision to put Christ on in baptism, and we thank Anthony Castillo for studying with them. We have a few Bible studies ongoing. Our new convert’s class is going well and growing. We are prospecting several other contacts. Cards continuously go out, and we are visiting people on our new movers list. It is wonderful to see new converts getting involved and attending services.”
Canyon Lake church of Christ, Texas (remote): Jesse Stuart and Raoul Ferris (evangelists) reports, “We continue to do follow-up work, despite having someone reject the truth after getting three-quarters of the way through Book 3 of Back to the Bible. While this was a setback, we were encouraged by our sister Wanita Faulkner, who turned from that study and went door-knocking with Jesse Stuart to seek the lost. We had lunch with a man we met in August when he was walking his dog on the church property. We hope to build a good relationship with him and set up a Bible study soon. We interacted with a couple we met through our Trunk or Treat. We asked the three follow-up questions: 1. Did you like the cards? 2. Do you know much about the church of Christ? 3. Would you like to learn more about us? They said, ‘We will visit you this Sunday.’ We have added little potted plants and new movers’ baskets to our follow-up work. Our congregation has a few who enjoy planting, making for a warm gift at the door. We continue to offer up our new converts classes and have four ongoing studies. As we work this week, we ask for prayers for our work.”
Wheeler church of Christ, Texas: Garrett English (preacher) reports, “We continue to write and send cards to more lost souls who are going through cancer treatments, surgeries/procedures, and loss of loved ones. We have heard good feedback so far from many who have received them. The process is working, and I believe it will yield good results soon! The elders have a goal to start the New Converts study in the New Year as well.”
Granbury Street church of Christ, Cleburne, Texas: Ryan Cowan (deacon) reports, “We are pleased to announce that on Sunday, December 3, Yssa Ramirez put on her Lord in baptism. Yssa is the older sister of Karolyna who was baptized about a month ago. Karolyna is actively involved in our youth group, while Yssa, a recent high school graduate, regularly attends our Foundations Class with her mom (another recent convert). Last Sunday, a woman who is originally from the Marshall Islands visited us with five of her eight children. The mother was in tears, thanking us for the cards sent to her on behalf of her husband, who was recovering from a liver transplant. We had originally identified this family during AMC in July. With the numerous contacts we made that week, we did not begin sending this family compassion cards until just a few weeks ago. Our compassion touched her, and she wanted to thank everyone for their concern. We gave her a visitor’s bag and immediately suggested a study regarding the Lord’s church. She has an LDS background. No firm study plans have been made yet, but she has clearly stated that she wants her children to be present for a Bible class. So far, she has kept her word and had her children in class at the last two opportunities. Once again, our elders have done an excellent job ensuring that all those who have been recently baptized have the opportunity to attend a new converts class, called Foundations. Through this class, Will Cammack continues to teach and help mentor these new Christians as they begin their walk with the Lord. This class now has four new converts and a few seasoned Christians. We are thankful for our recent success in our effort to share the gospel, and we look forward to our New Year beginning with even greater emphasis on evangelism.”
Graceton church of Christ, Diana, Texas: Johnny Willeford (elder) reports, “The Mission Monday group met last week to review our home visits and receive our next group of names from the compassion cards groups and the new movers group. We will be making home visits to about 12 new families that have moved into our community. Group A met Sunday evening to sign 121 cards for 15 people who will receive them this week. During our visits, we have been inviting contacts to attend our annual holiday gift exchange and game night with plenty of good food to eat. It will be held Sunday evening after services. We also have a New Year’s Eve get-together and game night.”
Bridgewater Church of Christ, Katy, Texas: Doug Suggs (deacon) reports, “Sunday evening, I met with our elders. We will all work to develop our evangelism program. I will teach the congregation material in the first quarter of the year. The elders are encouraging interest weekly from the pulpit as they make our announcements. I have had some members come to me and volunteer to help, which is great! We hope to befriend a family that attended our service Sunday evening. Some of our members are mentoring our new converts and encouraging them to continue the process of maturing. One of our new converts and his wife had a baby a few weeks ago, and he was back to our morning service. His wife came to our evening service. He said that the cards help him. In some of the churches he has attended, no one ever contacted him if he missed a service. We are showering him with cards. We are sending compassion cards to our members who have not been coming as well as the new contacts we have.”
Charles Harris (Regional Trainer): “The elders from the church in Cartersville, Georgia, want me to lead their efforts for evangelism. I will meet with them Saturday. They have a great pulpit preacher. They just want me to focus on the lost. I will give them information about the school and describe the congregational approach that they need to develop. Cartersville is where I obeyed the gospel. My parents attend there, and I have known the elders for most of my life.”
Recent Comments