Success Stories: December 4, 2024

Glencoe church of Christ, Alabama: Keith Ritchie (evangelist) reports, “Two more people placed membership yesterday (Sunday). A prospect returned for a third Sunday in a row. His mother has agreed to meet us. We request prayers for this effort to bear fruit. Ted and Angela Brooks are also engaged in a Bible study. Rob and Nicole are prospecting several families. Glencoe is looking ahead and planning many evangelistic outreach efforts. We are excited to sow and grow in the Kingdom.”

Central church of Christ, Saraland, Alabama: David Dixon (preacher) reports, “One of our newest contacts suffered a terrible tragedy this week. This lady showed initiative in looking for the truth. She visited with us last Sunday and indicated that she would be returning regularly because she observed that we keep the Lord’s Supper every Sunday, just as the Bible instructs. She had been caring for her mother, who was suffering from dementia, and she had expressed some frustration with some of her other family members because they were not helping as they should. Her mother unexpectedly passed away this week. We have not even had the chance to have a Bible study yet. She has agreed to it, but now it is on hold. She is not a contact because her mother passed. Her mother’s passing was an unforeseen event in the life of someone who was already a contact. We are trying to be as involved as possible, even though we still hardly know this family. We continue to send out about 25 cards a week. In nine months, we have had 12 baptisms, at least three restorations, and two new converts marrying each other. It is an exciting time for the Central church of Christ in Saraland, Alabama. We pray that every congregation that uses the House to House program experiences the same success we have.”

West Huntsville church of Christ, Alabama: Paul Owen (associate preacher) reports, “I have an update on our ongoing evangelism efforts, particularly with our Bible studies. We continue to have several Bible studies, providing a wonderful opportunity for spiritual growth among our members. I am particularly excited to report that one couple from our prospect list has expressed their intention to attend our services this coming Sunday. This is a significant step, and we look forward to welcoming them warmly as they explore what to do to become a Christian. Moreover, through our ‘One Mission’ evangelism initiative, we have made observations regarding our participants. It appears that soul winners have emerged from those who are introverted, demonstrating that regardless of personality traits, everyone has the capacity to share their faith and the Gospel of Christ.”

Highland Park church of Christ, Muscle Shoals, Alabama: Andrew Myhan (deacon) reports, “We had another good week through the holiday. Due to the holiday, we decided to take a week off from doing compassion cards. We will start back up next week with some new prospects. Several couples visited on Sunday, and members took them out for lunch to have an opportunity to get to know them better. Some have recently moved to the area, and all were present due to members’ invitations. One came after two meals in the home. Some have already expressed interest in finding a church home. We appreciate prayers for these prospects.”

Hatton church of Christ, Alabama: Chris Miller (preacher) reports, “This week, a wayward member returned to worship after receiving compassion cards. Also, a recipient was so awe-struck by the number of cards he received that he said he would be visiting with us. He said he would be sending a card to every single person who sent him one. Compassion works! We had our mission Sunday meal this week and assigned more visits. To God be the glory.”

Petersville church of Christ, Florence, Alabama: Adam Richardson (preacher) reports, “The Petersville church had a good worship day Sunday after the Thanksgiving weekend. We had several visitors with families from the congregation. We sent 14 compassion cards. We will deliver fruit baskets to several shut-in families next week, and our Breakfast with Santa outreach is this Saturday.”

Malvern church of Christ, Arkansas (remote): David Burruss (preacher) reports, “We continue to send compassion cards and will be doing transition visits next week. I am also working to arrange a Bible study with the young man who has been visiting with us recently. Since we began, we have had 10 former members starting to come back.  We are currently preparing to host a community supper next Monday.”

Rison church of Christ, Arkansas: Keden Shrum (preacher) reports, “Care Team A met Sunday evening to work on compassion cards. We are sending cards to a young lady from the community who recently suffered a house fire. We hope to contact her and see if the church can assist her at this time.”

Windsor church of Christ, Colorado: Lucas Stephens (member) reports, “Windsor has eight prospects, and we are sending 80 cards out throughout the week. We are continuing our studies and are through the blue book of Back to the Bible. We had one baptism two weeks ago! Praise God!”

Margaret Street church of Christ, Milton, Florida: Troy Spradlin (preacher) reports, “We now have 20 contacts that have been moved into our “Neighbors List” (Prospects). Beginning this coming Sunday December 8, the Compassion Card teams will start meeting weekly before and after evening services. All the cards will be organized this week, and teams will be assigned to begin rotations. Most Bible studies were suspended due to the holiday, but one study of Believe the Bible began this past week. It resulted in the prospect visiting classes on Sunday morning! The eldership met again to continue implementing the Evangelism Model with a few more adjustments to fit our congregation. Our “Bringers, Teachers, and Keepers” coordinators now have access to the online curriculum and are assigning members to various areas of work. The ‘It’s Quantity, Not Quality’ lesson was preached, and during the evening service, we continued our training about visitors.  We will assign Visitor Welcoming Teams this week. Our New Converts class also began this past Sunday.”

Niceville church of Christ, Florida: Joe Palmer (preacher) reports, “This was a slow week. First, it was Thanksgiving, and with teachers’ and students’ travel and activities, studies did not happen. Second, I have been fighting back problems again, and I request prayers that my recovery continues. We did have some prospects who returned, and a new family visited us at church. We had a meeting of our New Movers ministry workers on Sunday night, and it went well. We hope to see some new studies start this week. We restarted our New Christians class, and we are working to get all our students involved in this class. Lastly, we have a young couple in our church who wanted to learn how to do Bible studies, so I am training them to teach BTTB.”

Ocoee Street church of Christ, Georgia: RE Vann (elder) reports, “We had the John 4 sermon on Sunday morning and introduced congregational contacts and the Bookmarks Sunday evening. We want to make it personal.  We are still considering coordinators. We appreciate all prayers as we continue equipping the saints for the work of the ministry (Ephesians 4:12).”

Oak Hill church of Christ, Rome, Georgia: Matt Wallin (deacon) reports, “Benji studied with Rod and me in September. He was baptized the last week of September. He asked me and Rod to study with him and let him lead the study for practice so he could better study with others. We use deep group Bible study and genuine relationships until someone is ready for a personal Bible study. Then, we move from the group setting to the individual study. Benji led two studies with his brother, and today, he conducted the third study with his friend David. The study was terrific, and we were both crying tears of joy. David was baptized! Less than two months after his baptism, Benji has baptized his first person! We baptized eight at the end of September and one in December. Some people are three studies away, and some are three hundred. We study until they get three studies away, and then we use Back to the Bible. Praise God!”

Eatonton church of Christ, Georgia (remote): Roderick Coney (preacher) reports, “We sent cards to four contacts and continued training the congregation on Growing in Christ.  In addition, we are starting Lesson 3 of Back to the Biblewith a prospect, whom we pray will soon become a new convert. Lastly, we are meeting with the brothers to review the HTHSOE Checklist.”

Woodstock church of Christ, Georgia: Matt Amos (preacher) reports, “One of the Prison Ministry’s adult students was released from jail. We are hoping to resume Bible study with her. The WCOC congregation attended the Sunday Sunabella of Towne Lake Assistant Living devotional. They had eight non-Christians in attendance. The Compassion Cards Group created and sent 21 cards. Four Christians attended the New Converts’ class. This class is to help those that were recently converted and Christians who just want to relearn the basics. WCOC had five non-Christian visitors at our Sunday morning service, and one individual placed membership. We also had one Bible study.”

Cartersville church of Christ, Georgia (remote): Charles Harris (regional trainer) reports, “For the first few minutes of our Sunday morning adult Bible class we have been going over various works that we are doing or planning to do once we implement the Evangelism Model.  We are informing the church and creating opportunities so members can participate. On Wednesday, we will finish our first time teaching of Growing in Christ for our New Converts class. Some of our new brothers and sisters will now take part in our other classes. This Thursday, our Soul Winners class will resume as we go over how to teach Book 2 of BTTB.  We are thankfully overwhelmed with contacts. We are working our way through our list and prospecting a certain number each month. Bible studies are ongoing, and they will lead to baptisms soon.”

Honolulu church of Christ, Hawaii: Tagiilima Esene (regional trainer) reports, “We continue to have studies with six souls. At this point, we have a total of 12 baptisms. Eight souls are still faithful, and the other four need encouragement. Our New Converts class is still ongoing, and one of our elders is leading the class. We just completed the evangelism seminar for the Waimea Congregation on the Big Island. Six souls attended the seminar held on Zoom. We appreciate all prayers for the Waimea church.”

Collinsville-Troy church of Christ, Illinois: Jason Wright (elder) reports, “New Mover’s basket, $8.00. Two gallons of gas, $6.00. Time spent at the door, 15 minutes. A saved soul is priceless. Two ladies visited Chad on a recent New Mover’s basket delivery. He had lived at his house for many years, but his brother had recently moved in. After a lengthy conversation, Chad agreed to a Bible Study. Weeks later, on this past Wednesday evening, Chad became a brother in Christ. He joined our New Christian’s class this Sunday morning. We are thanking God for Chad! We are learning that the more we work, the more we have opportunities to impact people’s lives. We mailed out 149 compassion cards this week. This past Sunday, Renn, our minister, continued training on our transition from prospects to Bible studies. This coming Sunday, during our Servant of Souls evangelism period, we will hand out contact cards for follow-up visits. We do this each second Sunday of the month. One such visit was recently made to Margaret; she is a widow with cancer. She loves the cards and wants more. We will be taking her a holiday basket next week. It is just another way to connect with someone who needs Jesus. Never let the holiday slow you down; keep sowing!”

Highland Village church of Christ, Bloomington, Indiana: Mark Stauffer (elder) reports, “We have begun training our new converts in the HTHSOE model as well as how to use the bookmarks and contact cards and training the congregation how to make visits. Our elementary-age Bible students have grown in number, and another member has stepped up to help us by teaching. Conversations about prospects and those who need encouragement are more frequent. God is blessing our efforts! Our accountability board has 13 prospects, 398 compassion cards, one visitor, five visits, one Bible study, and two baptisms.”

Judah church of Christ, Bloomington, Indiana: Joe Moon (preacher) reports, “We realized this week after talking with you the other day that we had missed a few training cards. We began trying to sort that out and get back on track. I finished teaching Book 1 of Back to the Bible this past week.”

Beloit church of Christ, Kansas (remote): Dustin Dougherty (regional trainer) reports, “We have been planning and working behind-the-scenes to prepare for near future efforts and local outreach. I had forgotten to report that we have recently had a member return to the Beloit congregation who had been absent for many years.  It is so great to have sheep return home. To God be the Glory.”
Madisonville church of Christ, Kentucky: Don Killough (deacon) reports, “After sending out 135 compassion cards the first week, we sent out 150 cards this week for the new month. We have one Bible study set up for this week.”

Central church of Christ, Paducah, Kentucky: Adam Faughn (preacher) reports, “We rejoice that Mikel Hutchison was baptized on Sunday. He had been studying his Bible in jail and could not understand why people kept telling him that baptism is not essential for salvation. Upon his release, he came to us, kept studying, and knew what to do. It was beautiful to hear him say that he would do just what the text says! He was immersed immediately and warmly welcomed. We are setting up at least two Bible studies with prospects—hopefully, this week—and cards and guest bags continue to be utilized regularly. Great things are happening!”

La Plata church of Christ, Maryland (remote): Eric Sykes (regional trainer) reports, “Last week, we sent out nine compassion cards. We had three visitors, and we took two of them out to lunch after service. They were body members, but they might be looking for a new church home. The other visitor decided not to take us up on our offer for lunch. We rescheduled last week’s Bible studies for this Wednesday with the young couple, and we finished all three BTTB lessons. We are starting Does It Matter this week. We are finishing training for our advanced teacher’s class on lesson two of BTTB. The group is practicing by doing one-on-one mock Bible studies, and they are loving it! Two families moved onto our street, so we added them to our New Movers list. We plan to visit them this week.”

East Main church of Christ, Tupelo, Mississippi: Barry Kennedy (preacher) reports, “We are still working the compassion cards and sorting through the contacts we made from our Ginny’s House clothing giveaway. We are praying God will open the door of opportunity for studies soon. To God be the glory!”

Shady Acres church of Christ, Sikeston, Missouri: Keith Olbricht (preacher) reports, “The third week of mailing compassion cards has begun. We have received some back-channel feedback on some of the cards that are indicating good things. We have started distributing invitation cards and are continuing training. We are having visitors from the community and enjoying the opportunities that creates.”

Marshall church of Christ, Missouri (remote): Charles Reid (preacher) reports, “I drove to Marshall, a 140-mile round trip. At noon in McDonald’s, I visited with Markus, a member of the church. He and his wife recently moved from Kansas. Then I visited our premier 90-year-old ‘door –knocking’ soul winner. Three weeks ago, he had his second stroke this year. Every once in a while, he cannot find the right words when he is talking, and that frustrates him. Otherwise, he is doing well. His daughter-in-law, who has not been to worship in years, brought him to worship yesterday. Henry, Diana, and I will have our second ‘new convert study’ with Jason and his wife Katy this Thursday at 4:00 p.m. Dan, an older member of the church who has been visiting with us for about a month, preached for us last Tuesday night. He did well, and one of our senior ladies sent him an encouraging card with a ‘good sermon’ note written inside. He called her, crying with joy about the card.”

Samford church of Christ, Steele, Missouri: Kyle Imel (deacon) reports, “We are sending one compassion card to an individual who posted on Facebook that she was looking for a church home. Visits have been made from previous recipients of compassion cards and some show promise; we will follow up with them this week.”

East Flushing church of Christ, New York (remote): Clarence Jenkins (preacher) reports, “After worship service, we watched the HTHSOE YouTube video, ‘Introduction: Redeeming the Time.’ For the brother’s Bible study that afternoon, we provided the ‘HTHSOE Training Cards Contacts: Visitors and Prospect: Meals’ to be distributed to the congregation in the future. We also watched the HTHSOE YouTube video, ‘Contacts: Visitor Training Cards,’ and had a discussion.  At worship service, we had a visitor from Florida in town; she is grieving. She was with us the Sunday before last, and she came to last Wednesday’s Bible class and stayed for a Thanksgiving fellowship meal after. She expressed the love, comfort, and warmth she received; to God be the glory. We took her home and gave her the BTTB, as she would return to Florida soon. She later sent a text asking if there was a church of Christ she could attend in Florida. After investigating the website, glory be to God, it was a church of Christ a mile from her home. We are praying that she will be able to connect with that congregation as we continue to help her obey the Gospel of Christ. We also have one long-time visitor. We appreciate all prayers.”

Cary church of Christ, North Carolina: Larry Fife (preacher) reports, “As we approach the end of the year, we know that we have been truly blessed by the Lord. This year, we have had ten baptisms, mailed over 1,500 compassion cards, made 46 visits, and connected with many visitors to our congregation. We have also enjoyed seeing several individuals restored in their faith. It has been an amazing year of growth and service for the Kingdom, and we are so grateful for all that God has allowed us to accomplish. We look forward to building on this foundation and continuing to serve with renewed dedication in the coming year.”

New Concord church of Christ, Ohio: Terry Townsend (preacher) reports, “The congregation was encouraged to submit new contacts. Two Bible studies continue. A new round of compassion cards will go out soon. The elders and I met with Rob via ‘Zoom’ on Sunday afternoon. It was good to discuss openly the evangelism model and those areas we believe need some attention. Rob helped us to understand better those areas and how to improve our efforts. He walked us through some of the tools that are easily accessible via the website. It was good to revisit some of those areas and have them explained in more detail. We plan to sit down as the church leadership in the coming weeks and improve those areas that we believe are lacking, as well as further solidify our strengths.”

Sullivan Village church of Christ, Lawton, Oklahoma: Steven Hill (preacher) reports, “At Sullivan Village, we had two visitors yesterday. One of them has been coming, and this was his third or fourth visit. After service, one of the elders spoke to him, and we set up our first study with him this Thursday. We appreciate all prayers for this study. The man’s name is Fred. The name of the other visitor is Will. He was visiting for the first time and said that he moved to our area from California. He said he went to a church of Christ long ago but was never baptized. He said he wanted to be baptized and wanted to place  membership, so we are setting up a study with him immediately, and we are hopeful that he will be converted soon. We are still working with our other four new converts, studying with them weekly and encouraging them all the more. We appreciate all prayers.”

Coweta church of Christ, Oklahoma: Keno Shrum (regional trainer) reports, “Last Sunday evening, we sent out more compassion cards and will follow up on them once they are received. I would like to ask prayers for Erin and her two young siblings. I do not personally know them, but Erin dates the younger brother of one of our new converts. She is a teen, and her siblings are under 10. Their grandfather brought them home Sunday afternoon, and the kids discovered both of their parents were deceased from a murder-suicide here in Coweta. We are going to reach out to the family with compassion cards and support as they navigate through this and prayerfully use the opportunity to bring them into Christ, where they can find the peace they need. It is often through tragedy or other life-changing events that people are the most reachable with the Gospel. These are opportunities for us to do what God put us here to do—evangelize. We will use the tools and training we have learned through the HTHSOE to accomplish this.”

Union church of Christ, South Carolina (remote): Terry Hale (preacher) reports, “One of the Book 3 prospects went out of town to spend Thanksgiving with family. In another study, we really focused on the ‘unto salvation’ part in Book 3 leading to Ephesians 1:3 and Galatians 3:27. Also, we have scheduled a big training day for Thursday.”

Hillsboro church of Christ, Tennessee: Shelby Moorman (preacher) reports, “We have had a lot of excitement recently. Four different coworkers who were invited to church services attended. We will add them to our card list and follow up in the coming days. We also continue to encourage and look for an opportunity to study with Scott Smith. We also have a couple of contacts from the most recent new movers for a total of seven contacts at the moment. We still need to do better on the follow-up after writing cards.”

Cookeville church of Christ, Tennessee: Jonathan Medley (deacon) reports, “We are continuing with our training lessons. We discussed the evangelism table last night and what each item is used for (Attached picture of our table). We added a new prospect to our list this week.  One of our members knows a family who recently lost their unborn child. They do not attend church anywhere. We are going to shower them with cards and love for a while. We appreciate prayers for a door to open so we can help them.”

Rivergate church of Christ, Madison, Tennessee: Doug Tooley (preacher) reports, “We had three visitors on Sunday morning and two on Sunday night. Two visits were made last week. A door was opened for Bible discussion with someone I have on my list. I see him regularly and am prayerful about this situation. He is a young man with several kids. I know of one person that I believe to be close to baptism.

White Oak church of Christ, Chattanooga, Tennessee (remote): John McGiffin (preacher) reports, “We invited two families to come to Wednesday night Bible study and receive a Thanksgiving dinner. Only one family appeared, but we now have a Bible study scheduled for Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. with the parents. I drove around the neighborhood and noticed a family of three teens and one pre-teen. I asked what they were doing for Thanksgiving. The grandmother just passed away, and the grandfather was staying with them for a bit. They just arrived at 2:00 a.m. that morning and could not plan anything for Thanksgiving. I offered them the other meal. They were extremely thankful. I was able to spend a few minutes inside with them. We will follow up this week. We were glad to turn a negative into a positive. Instead of getting depressed about the family who did not come, we found another family to bless with compassion. One door closes, and another opens.”

New Union church of Christ, Manchester, Tennessee: Paul Fultz (elder) reports, “We had four visitors on Sunday. Our Compassion Card team prepared 20 cards. We made two transition visits. Our New Converts class has two in attendance.”

Hillcrest church of Christ, Springfield, Tennessee: Tim Taylor (associate preacher) reports, “We have now sent a total of 375 compassion cards. We are praying for growth from the seeds that have been planted and the contacts that we have made. We have two ongoing Bible studies in progress, ready for Book 2. Our new mover’s routes have been adjusted to cover more areas that are in closer proximity to our congregation, encompassing some of Greenbrier.”

Mountain Creek church of Christ, Chattanooga, Tennessee: Michael Tomshack (elder) reports, “We are delighted to announce the baptism of Edward Lee, a new member of the body of Christ. Jesse Neal, our Deaf Minister, and Terry Cox, our Deaf Deacon, are eager to share this news. For many decades, Mountain Creek has been committed to reaching our hearing-impaired community. We are encouraged to witness this ongoing commitment as our congregation continues to engage with the community in various ways, sharing the message of Christ through personal encounters, online platforms, and shared meals.”

McKenzie church of Christ, Tennessee: Randy McAdams (elder) reports, “Our Evangelism Team 1 handed out the first set of cards for December yesterday with 18 families being contacted. This large number came from the November Community Kitchen we had, where we provide meals free to the community. Another exciting event we are doing is with our youth who are ages middle school and up. We are studying the Back to the Bible booklets during their regular Sunday morning Bible class. The primary intent is to help those who are contemplating obedience to the Gospel, and secondly, to further ground those who have already put on Christ in baptism. Chance, our regular minister, and Nathan, our youth minister, are conducting the study. Yesterday was the kick-off day, with about 20 of our youth in attendance. Other than the above notes, we are steadily trying to reach out to those needing the Gospel through the compassion cards. May our Lord bless our efforts.”

West Fayetteville church of Christ, Tennessee: Steve Jefferson (elder) reports, “Good afternoon from the West Fayetteville church of Christ. Brother Steve Miller presented part one of Back to the Bible Book 2 for our morning service. We have 13 new movers’ baskets ready to be delivered this coming Saturday. We are sending compassion cards to nine contacts with two active Bible studies.”

Hebron church of Christ, McMinnville, Tennessee: Derrick Stiles (preacher) reports, “Continuing to strive to save souls! We had two sets of visitors on Sunday and have made contacts. We are working to turn those to prospects and still working to send out cards through the compassion card program. We appreciate prayers for continued success as we diligently grow Christ’s Kingdom. God bless you all, and thank you for continued prayer.”

Blackman church of Christ, Murfreesboro, Tennessee (remote): Brian McCord (member) reports, “Though we have two more videos to watch before the meeting with leadership, we have already started to apply what we have learned. This resulted in two baptisms last week. We are excited to get started.”

Chapel Hill church of Christ, Tennessee: Matt Jones (deacon) reports, “We continue to work to reach the lost. Isaac has been doing a great job with a series on the steps of salvation. We have started a new Bible study recently with a young lady. We also look forward to continuing studies that are in progress. We will make several visits soon for those who have been receiving cards. With the holidays upon us, we will be stuffing holiday buckets to hand out to many friends and neighbors that we know need encouragement during this time of year. We continue to look for opportunities to share the Gospel.”

Rome church of Christ, Lebanon, Tennessee (remote): David Oxley (elder) reports, “We continued our study of the Back to the Bible on Sunday Morning, finishing Book 1. We will meet this week on Tuesday for our advanced class. We are currently working on three prospects.”

Fruitvale church of Christ, Texas: Carl McCann (preacher) reports, “This week, most people were busy or out of town for the holidays. We had several Bible studies canceled. But we did some follow-up work, and delivered food to some needy people, which produced some visitors to worship service. Raoul was on a mission trip to El Salvador, where they trained the congregation on how to use Back to the Bible, and in doing so, they had three baptisms. To God be the glory. We continue to work on the model and follow up with our prospects.”

Buda-Kyle church of Christ, Texas: Ronnie Scherffius (preacher) reports, “We continue to focus on our cards and visits. At present, all of our contacts are coming from our visitors. We have four prospects. We hope to make several visits this week.”

Natalia church of Christ, Texas: Jim Word (elder) reports, “We have a third study with Daylon on Wednesday, and I am scheduled to have our first study with Kylie; she is Charlie Brown’s teenage great-granddaughter. He had a study with her a year ago, but she never would follow up. This time, she approached me for a study, so we request prayers for these two souls.”

Hondo church of Christ, Texas (remote): Andrew Patterson (preacher) reports, “Yesterday, we began training members on Back to the Bible. We hope that the approaching holidays inspire people to be more open to Bible studies and spiritual thinking! It is slow when we are starting out, but in spiritual farmwork, your harvest reflects your labor in the growing season.”

Roanoke church of Christ, Texas: Caleb Rutherford (preacher) reports, “We had another great week of prep and planning. Joey preached his morning sermon on ‘The Unfaithful,’ and then I delivered our first training session on ‘Making It Operational’ in the evening. We had a coordinator planning meeting in the afternoon and are slowly getting ready to roll. We started our class for new converts on Sunday. Jason Edwards (elder) is the coordinator of this effort; he began teaching a couple of recent converts who have already attended with us.”

Colleyville church of Christ, Texas: John Garza (regional trainer) reports, “On Saturday, we celebrated the baptism of Irma and Rudy Garriga. Their story is really cool. Originally, they are from California, but they moved here about a year ago because Irma needed a kidney transplant, and in California, the wait list is over 20 years. Therefore, they looked into where it could happen sooner, and they found out that Texas, specifically in Dallas, the waitlist was years shorter, and she could get one very quickly. Therefore, they moved, and while there, they were looking for a church that teaches ‘Bible only.’ So, a few months ago, they walked into our doors, welcomed and loved; they loved the Bible preaching. As a result, Grant and Lisa Puckett were able to schedule a study with them. Shortly after studying Book 1 of Back to the Bible, a kidney was available for Irma, so she had a successful surgery. That stopped her studies for a couple of months, as she was not to have any outside interaction to make sure she was recovering. They worshipped with us once again as soon as they were able, and we resumed our studies with them. Though they were baptized in the denominations, they never understood the reason behind it, and therefore, they did not hesitate to obey the Gospel of Christ! To God be the glory.”

Howe church of Christ, Texas: Aaron Alsbrook (preacher) reports, “We are reviewing the surveys from the congregation and organizing for a start date of January 5.”

Granbury Street church of Christ, Cleburne, Texas: Ryan Cowan (deacon) reports, “Our compassion card writing efforts continue. Even with the busyness of the holidays, eight members helped write cards last week. We continue to follow up with some of our contacts from our September ‘mini-AMC.’ One of our contacts who benefitted directly from our community service efforts, Larry, has been receptive to our continued contact. For Veterans Day, we delivered cookies to Larry. I am hoping to connect with him again this week.”

Wheeler church of Christ, Texas: Garrett English (preacher) reports, “We have scheduled visits to transition from prospect to Bible study. We continue to collect contacts and emphasize evangelism.”

Bridgewater church of Christ, Katy, Texas: Doug Suggs (deacon) reports, “At Bridgewater, one of the compassion card teams met to address cards to be sent. Our new brother David, from China, is studying with Wade and me on topics to strengthen his faith, especially when he returns to China next month. Eight people, led by our preacher, Wade Webster, and one of our elders, Jim Avolos, will travel to Mexico December 13-20 to teach and evangelize. We appreciate all prayers for our efforts.”

West Side church of Christ, Salem, Virginia: Jeff Durham (elder) reports, “Our morning lesson yesterday centered around Acts 10, the conversion of Cornelius. Peter’s view of those who did not look or act like him (Gentiles) needed to be changed so he could present the Gospel to Cornelius. One of our Small Group discussions used this account to examine who we approach with the saving message of God’s Word. We need to view everyone we meet as someone needing to learn His message of salvation. Each person deserves the opportunity to decide whether or not to obey it or not. We will continue to seek and create relationships that give us this chance.”

Culpeper church of Christ, Virginia (remote): Dave Calvert (elder) reports, “The Culpeper church of Christ is continuing to share the School of Evangelism videos every Sunday morning with our congregation. We are moving slowly but steadily, and members are embracing the process. We are not yet at a point where we are creating a lot of opportunities, but we are seizing opportunities when we become aware of them. One of our members learned about a family displaced from their home due to a burst pipe discovered days later. Members reached out to them to determine what they needed. Our congregation has put them up in a hotel for several nights and donated some clothing, money, and food.  We hope they will come to worship with us once they are settled. We have sent several compassion cards; we have left spiritual tracts in community areas; and we have offered personal invitations. Members and friends who have been homebound for one reason or another have also been visited several times.”

Williamsburg church of Christ, Virginia: Jim Bishop (elder) reports, “This week, Williamsburg church of Christ continues to emphasize the evangelism process. We continue to review the use of the bookmark to identify contacts and the importance of praying for those on the bookmarks. We prepared 25 compassion cards for distribution and continue to provide for the new converts’ physical and spiritual needs. We are also reviewing the process to identify areas for improvement. Our prayers are for those who are lost, for boldness in reaching out to the lost, and for the ability to glorify God by spreading His Word to the lost.”

Peninsula church of Christ, Hampton, Virginia: Ben Phillips (preacher) reports, “Our follow-up efforts continue to be a blessing as several families are involved and doing the work. We were blessed to see one of our newer converts attending Sunday after an absence. We are continuing to try to encourage her and strengthen her. We also had a visitor from the community Sunday who is struggling with a lot of life difficulties. Several of our members showed her compassion, and we sent her cards. We are praying for an open door with her and other contacts we have.”