Success Stories: February 28, 2024

Glencoe church of Christ, Alabama: David Marker (elder) reports, “Simply stated, our results the last few weeks have been amazing. We have had two baptisms and twenty-eight new membership placements. As a result, we have added additional contacts and doubled our ongoing studies. We have introduced our evangelism program to our new members, and they seem excited to start. So, we have asked Rob Whitacre to give an overview of our various programs. I have no doubt that this review will motivate all of us. I would be amiss if I did not emphasize the importance of prayer. We have been praying for God to help us be more effective in our efforts and to send us more workers for the amazing harvest that awaits us. He certainly answered those prayers! To God be the glory!”

Fayette church of Christ, Alabama: Josh Taylor (deacon) reports, “We met Jack and Judy on a door- knocking last year.  We contacted them the next month to provide some benevolence and to invite them to services. They were once with our congregation and had left, but they have family within our congregation. Many months went by, but occasionally I would check on them so they would know I was praying for them, and I continued to invite them to services. Then, at our next gospel meeting, I made sure our door knockers went to our contact’s homes. About a month after that, they decided to start coming to worship services. They have been attending our services for about four months. Our elders, Kaleb, and I had meetings to discuss repentance with them. I had one final meeting with them last week and spent a few hours with them, and they finally recognized what they needed to do and how they needed to do it. Today, they responded to the invitation and asked for forgiveness for their sins. My message of encouragement to everyone is to not give up on your contacts, especially the ones who have a family connection in the congregation. You never know how much of an impact you have on someone with genuine and continual contact filled with love and compassion. I thank God for Jack and Judy for what they mean to me. May God continually bless them and our congregation.”

Hatton church of Christ, Alabama: Chris Miller (preacher) reports, “We rejoice this week with the baptism of Donald Kidd. So many great things are happening! Two of our young people spoke this Sunday night, and it was encouraging to hear both of them mention the evangelism efforts in their sermons. The mindset is there and continually before us.”

Rison church of Christ, Arkansas: Keden Shrum (preacher) reports, “We got our Evangelism Model poster back from the frame shop and hung it today. We covered the first part of the John 4 lesson Sunday morning and went through the introduction to the model as a congregation Sunday evening. The energy is still high; most members are on board and ready to start working. One of our deacons and his wife have already scheduled a Bible study with someone, and Lord willing, that will take place Friday afternoon.”

Highway church of Christ, Benton, Arkansas: James Hutchings (member) reports, “We have had two baptisms this year. This past week, we sent out 41 Compassion Cards. We are encouraging the church weekly. I have never heard evangelism talked about as much as now. To God be the glory.”

Lake City church of Christ, Florida: Jim Flegert (elder) reports, “One of the families that visited us last week returned today and continues to show interest. We are encouraged that they will be committing to a BTTB study soon. Our new fundamentals class started today, allowing our most recently baptized members to grow in their knowledge of God’s Word. Our members who greet visitors to our worship met tonight for encouragement, and two additional members were added to our visitor team.”

Niceville church of Christ, Florida: Joe Palmer (preacher) reports, “This week, we had one local visitor. We currently have four studies ongoing. We sent out 17 cards. I have begun setting up an HTH mailing and the New Movers program with Matt Wallin at HTH.”

Fayetteville church of Christ, Georgia: David Gulledge (associate preacher) reports, “Group 4 sent Compassion Cards to three prospects and had a second Bible study on Sunday with a young lady.”

Forest Park church of Christ, Valdosta, Georgia: Wes Hazel (preacher) reports, “We have had six adult baptisms in the last two months. A different Christian shared the Gospel with each of the six new members. That is awesome!”

Lafayette church of Christ, Georgia: Jesse Teague (deacon) reports, “We had our monthly fellowship meal yesterday. It was a good opportunity to bond with each other and to invite others so we could show them the love in the church and expose them to the gospel of Christ. Two families were visiting with us. One family was invited to visit and have a meal. One family was there due to the memorial service at our building for the niece of two of our faithful members. Both families received a gift box with a Lafayette church of Christ mug and pen, a tea bag, honey, and some literature. We hope they will be back! Every church event can and should be used as an opportunity for evangelism!”

Woodstock church of Christ, Georgia: Greg Garner (deacon) reports, “During our ACTS (Actively Caring Teaching & Serving) Evangelism Program, we had one contact card. The Compassion Card Group created and sent nine cards last week. The Prison Ministry Group is working with Gwinnett County Sheriff to obtain approval to expand the tablet program to include recorded and live broadcasts of church services and sermons and to allow us to initiate a live but remote individual visitation program. We had 19 in our New Convert class. The Greeter Group reported that we had four visitors this week.”

Carrollton church of Christ, Georgia: Danny Spain (member) reports, “We have great news to share.  Ruth Yim obeyed her Lord last night. She came to us as a visitor, and Lance Fetner and his wife Patsy had been studying with her using Does It Matter? She already had a copy someone had given her earlier, so they continued with it. Lance had recently been on a mission trip to Panama, so he was prepared!! I hope that a new convert class will begin soon.”

Honolulu church of Christ, Hawaii: Tagiilima Esene (preacher) reports, “Aloha from the Honolulu congregation. We continue four ongoing Bible studies. Two of them are on the topic of salvation. Members of one of our groups are sending cards out. Our greeters are doing a great job of welcoming our visitors. Almost every returning prospect mentioned how they felt welcome when they first attended. It is so vital to talk to people who come through our doors. Some of our members invite their co-workers, families, and friends to worship with us. This past Sunday, I preached a very challenging lesson on Love of the Truth. I challenged all of us to demonstrate in our actions that we truly love the Truth of God’s Word. The highlight of this past week was the Youth Bible Bowl. Tony and DoAnne, our intern youth minister and his wife, did a great job leading our youth. Our youth group is a mission field as they are the future of the work. Our youth group studied Romans 1 to answer 72 questions from the chapter. They did an excellent job in applying themselves to the Word and understanding it. When looking at the youth group and their commitment to studying for the Bible bowl, I asked myself, “What would happen if all church members had the same commitment?” I believe we all know the answer. We request continuing prayers for us.”

Beloit church of Christ, Kansas (remote): Dustin Dougherty (regional trainer) reports, “We continue to work through the SOE curriculum on Wednesday evenings. The members seem to be enjoying the material, which has led to some valuable discussions. A fair number of our members have been out the last few weeks with various illnesses, and we pray for them and their health and wellness. I will soon begin to put together a church of Christ directory for the state of Kansas. I will send out survey questionnaires very soon and compile the information as it comes back to me. We have invitation cards and will be expanding that form of evangelism very soon, and hopefully, we will be working on setting up an evangelism table. To God be the glory.”

Paintsville church of Christ, Kentucky: Zach Collins (preacher) reports, “We have many upcoming opportunities for Bible studies! This coming Saturday, Maranda and I will welcome the boyfriend of one of our young Christians in college into our home. She set up the Bible study with him, and wants us to go through the Back to the Bible lessons with him. We believe he is very close to obeying the gospel. Please pray for this Bible study! Also, we will begin a new Bible study in March with another man from a denomination. He is searching and is intrigued with the non-denominational churches of Christ and our plea for biblical restoration. Please pray for this Bible study as well! There are so many more opportunities coming our way. God continues to increase the seed we are sowing!”

Central church of Christ, Paducah, Kentucky: Adam Faughn (preacher) reports, “We were blessed to have a couple who had erred from the church visit with us yesterday due to our card writing efforts. They were blown away by the number of cards they had received, and the wife always kept some in her purse. We had a good number of guests from our community at services Sunday, and while a time has not been established yet, one visitor agreed to a Bible study with a young married couple. We also know of a study that has completed Book 2 of Back to the Bible, and the third study is scheduled for this Friday. Another study is ongoing slowly but is making progress. Due to time constraints, they are still in Book 2, but the prospect is very interested. We are praying for an increase! Finally, one of our prospects had surgery this week, and several are staying in contact and also planning to take meals in a few days (the prospect has a friend coming for one week to help and requested that we wait until that help is over). We continue to get more organized after our recent Evangelism Fair, and there seems to be great excitement. We pray that the Lord is pleased with all we strive to do for His glory!”

La Plata church of Christ, Maryland (remote): Eric Sykes (regional trainer) reports, “We had a great week here in La Plata. We wrote 34 compassion cards. We had two returning visitors who accepted our invitation to lunch next Sunday. We pray they will return. After completing Back to the Bible and Does It Matter? training with the congregation, we trained everyone on the “Back Door Bible Study” method. I assigned everyone homework to ask someone who is not a Christian to agree to practice using Bible study lessons. Two people are studying Does it Matter? One person is starting Lesson 3 of Back to the Bible,and another person is ready for Lesson 2. We have five gift bags to deliver. We have people in the new convert classes. We appreciate all prayers as we continue to implement the Congregational Evangelism Model.”

Southside church of Christ, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Freddie Klein (preacher) reports, “We had visitors from the community. They received HTH in the mail and decided to check us out. We will continue to contact them. Many members delivered new mover bags, and our coordinator announced the efforts made by the community. We watched a video on the usefulness of having a study program.”

Looxahoma church of Christ, Mississippi: Blake Hawkins (deacon) reports, “We are thankful for nice weather to be able to resume our deliveries of new mover baskets to those who have recently moved into the area. We delivered three baskets Sunday, along with one follow-up visit of one of our contacts. We are planning more frequent door-knocking opportunities now that winter is behind us. Each week, the congregation writes compassion cards in teams on Sunday afternoons, and we look forward to adding more prospects to our list from the upcoming door-knocking efforts.”

Samford church of Christ, Steele, Missouri: Kyle Imel (deacon) reports, “Our preacher, Tim, reviewed the method for getting contacts last night during the sermon. We have struggled with this lately, but hopefully, that will improve after last night. We also hung up our accountability board where the congregation can see it.”

Foristell church of Christ, Missouri: Rod Jackson (elder) reports, “Over the past few weeks, we hit a snag with our compassion cards. Members are not turning in names for contacts in our area. Perhaps we hit a lull; perhaps it is apathy. We are grateful for Rob taking the time to do a Zoom call with us this past Sunday to refresh us of the basics: producing contacts, reaching prospects, and using compassion cards effectively. As a result of Rob’s encouragement, we recounted the story behind a recent conversion. We explained that sharing compassion cards, along with the warmth of the congregation, genuine love, and the truth of the Scriptures, were all critical in this most recent conversion. We highlighted the blessings of sharing the gospel and emphasized being motivated in evangelism. It truly was encouraging and refreshing. We will continue to take Bible class time to highlight converts, solicit names for compassion cards, and challenge members to move names to the compassion card. We request prayers as we evangelize our area and attempt to make the greatest impact on the kingdom!”

Highway West 160 church of Christ, Missouri (remote): Marvin Hatley (elder) reports, “One Bible study progressed through Book 2 of BTTB with both prospects very receptive with proceeding to Book 3. This study is going very well, but it will have to address an issue of repentance involving a major lifestyle change. May God’s word penetrate the hearts of these two precious souls. A study was conducted last week with a prospect who had been hesitant for months. Due to the persistence of loving brethren and a life-changing event, the prospect finally agreed to study God’s word. Lord willing, this study will continue again this week. Compassion Card Group 3 completed twenty-one cards to be mailed this week, and invitation cards are in the works for further engagement of our community. Coordinator positions are being reassigned and adjusted to involve more of the congregation’s men. Several of the younger men of the congregation have stepped up and expressed a desire to become involved in making personal evangelism a priority in their lives and the lives of their families. We are thankful for the many tools and strategies for winning souls to Christ!”

East Flushing church of Christ, New York (remote): Clarence Jenkins (preacher) reports, “We are prospecting two visitors from this past Lord’s Day. Our accountability board metrics for February thus far are as follows: eight visitors, ten visits made, nine prospects, 17 compassion cards filled out, and three Bible studies conducted. We are looking forward to our numbers increasing in the future. We appreciate all prayers.”

Cary church of Christ, North Carolina: Larry Fife (preacher) reports, “Sunday kicked off our week on a positive note. Our connect group successfully penned 48 compassion cards, bringing our total to 187 for the year. This week, our church members are set to deliver welcome baskets to five new households in the area. The first Bible study session originally planned for last Wednesday has been moved to this Wednesday. We will complete Lesson 3. We look forward to hosting a Friends and Family Day on March 10.  We are encouraging our congregation to extend invitations widely. This event serves as another chance to connect with our community. We remain uplifted by the blessings we have received from God.”

Lake Milton church of Christ, Ohio (remote): Mike Bisson (preacher) reports, “We have had more visitors for the last two weeks. Responses to mailing House to House are good. One person has come back to the Lord.”

Streetsboro church of Christ, Ohio: Ralph Price (preacher) reports, “We continue to work the program. We are meeting weekly to send out compassion cards. Many transition visits have been made. Though some of our visits have been encouraging, we still have not set up any Bible studies. The new mover basket program has resulted in some very nice visits, and we are sending cards to those who seemed receptive. We will probably time the cards for the week before our monthly potluck to get folks to visit and share a meal with us. We are still looking for good and honest hearts willing to sit down and study with us.”

Greenville church of Christ, Ohio: John McGiffin (preacher) reports, “We have had five visitors, 12 prospects, 504 compassion cards, eight bible studies, and one baptism for the year. We have completed Sunday AM training and have one more for the PM. One of our prospects attended last Sunday with her two children. One of our retirees has preached and taught in several congregations. He stated he had attended many congregations in his lifetime. He is grateful for the House to House School of Evangelism because it involves everyone. For the first time, he has noticed excitement about reaching the lost. He noticed that EVERYONE, is involved, including the children. In past congregations, he noticed that people felt the minister and elders should shoulder the burden of evangelism. He has had difficulty in convincing congregants of their duty to be active also. Most seemed content with warming the pew.

“Now he feels that HTHSOE has given us the infrastructure to do what we should have been doing all along. Training for evangelism has given many the confidence to reach out to their neighbors. Yes, we could have and should have been doing much of this. The truth is we were not.  We didn’t because we didn’t have the tools readily available.  We did not because we did not have the training. We did not because we lacked focus and structure. We did not because we were piecing it together. In other words, we never transitioned our visits, benevolence, fair booth, or food giveaway to prospecting. Although the concept is simple, it would have taken great effort to devise an effective plan. HTHSOE has given us the structure, confidence, focus, and unity needed.

“He further stated that we continued to try even if we do not baptize a single person. It will not be from a lack of trying. Even if we do not baptize a single person, he stated we need to evangelize. We have baptized two people as a direct result of using this method in the last six months.” We would not have reached them without this program.”

New Concord church of Christ, Ohio: Terry Townsend (preacher) reports, “Four people visited our services on Sunday morning and two more on Sunday night. These two visitors had received compassion cards. There is no doubt about how effective this tool is in evangelism. Follow-up visits will be made this week. We sent 58 compassion cards this week to six contacts. Our mentors are being trained and are ready to go! Two Bible studies are ongoing. All four individuals are struggling to let go of denominational error, but we are trying hard to teach them the truth. Our Mission Monday has been delayed for a few weeks but should be in place soon! In the meantime, some of us are doing all we can to keep up with every contact, hoping to make the ‘transition’.”

Sullivan Village church of Christ, Lawton, Oklahoma: Steven Hill (preacher) reports, “Sullivan Village is working hard to reach our visitors, and they keep coming. We are very close to studying with a lady from our community. We are still working out the bugs of our new movers’ program, and many are ready to get involved. One of our elders is having health complications, and we would appreciate extra prayers. We are looking forward to the fruit. We know it takes time, and we are in this for the long haul! God is good, and we know He will bless our efforts.”

Coweta church of Christ, Oklahoma: Keno Shrum (regional trainer) reports, “Last week we studied Lesson 2 with Jessica. Lesson 3 is scheduled for this week. I anticipate it will end in baptism because she has been very receptive. On another note, Jamie and I have been working for about three years on a couple we met several years ago through a mutual friend. We first tried to get a study with them right after the basic HTHSOE seminar in March of 2021. They have not been receptive to an invitation to church services or Bible study. However, Lela, the mother of the wife was receptive, and we baptized her last April. Since then, she has done a phenomenal job of continuing to be a positive influence on her daughter and son-in-law. She brings her grandsons to church with her every week. Yesterday, one of the grandsons, a five-year-old, asked if we could pray that his mom and dad would come to church. So, when Dustin said the opening prayer in worship services, he mentioned that. Three hours later, Charlie and Genesis told Lela, that they were coming to church with her last night. How amazing! After the worship services, Charlie came to me and said that his family needs God. He said that nobody in his family believes in God, but he does, and it is time for him to lead his family in that direction. He appreciated hearing a lesson straight out of the Scriptures. I once again offered a Bible study, and this time, he accepted. So they are coming over this week for dinner, and he and I will study. Genesis is still somewhat resistant, but he is ready to go. He said he recognizes his duty to lead his family to God. So, he and I will study alone and then work on leading her. This has been an answer to prayers for sure! I would remind all RTL readers that we must not give up if the seed does not start to grow immediately. This effort took three years, but now he is ready. Praise God!”

Carthage church of Christ, South Carolina (remote): Randy Chambers (preacher) reports, “This past week, we conducted one Bible class using BTTB 1; we did not finish but are scheduled to continue this week. We had a Bible study using “A Few Minutes with Some One Who Loves You” with a prospect who has not obeyed the Gospel after using BTTB and other closing studies. The prospect does not appear to be interested in the Truth now; we are leaving the door open while the Word works on his heart, and we will continue to seek other ways to reach him. We did have one wayward member return as a result of mailing out the compassion cards for four weeks. Someone reached out and met with him; now he is part of our First Principles class with the hope of grounding him and his family in the faith. We continue to pray and encourage all members to follow the plan, trust the process, and glorify God in the work!”

Union church of Christ, South Carolina (remote): Terry Hale (preacher) reports, “We have a new sister Diane Dawkins. She has been coming for a few months and was baptized yesterday after Bible study.  We had a great study using Back to the Bible with another prospect, and her son is up to six Bible studies.”

Barberton church of Christ, Tennessee (remote): Blake Mayfield (member) reports, “I am pleased to report another baptism this morning. Avery, age 18, has a grandfather who is an elder at a nearby congregation, but she was not raised in the church. Recently, she started visiting Barberton on her own after coming sporadically with her parents as a small child. She was baptized at a young age but stated she had no clue why she was baptized; she was simply following the crowd. Avery attended CYC with us this weekend, and, after some further study and conversation, decided she wanted to be baptized for the remission of sins before heading in to work this morning!”

Madison County church of Christ, Jackson, Tennessee: Steven Sprouse (preacher) reports, “Our visiting couple returned again Wednesday night and again to both services on Sunday, bringing the man’s mother. They have now gone to lunch with two families and relationships are developing. We have also added three additional names to the compassion card list.”

McKenzie church of Christ, Tennessee: Randy McAdams (elder) reports, “The McKenzie congregation is currently in the second week of mailing cards to nine contacts.  The contacts are now coming from our weekly prayer lists made by our members. Last week we received a nice letter from one of the contacts from last month, thanking us for remembering her in this way. One item that we are monitoring with our group members is to always write a sincere, pertinent note on the card and always to sign it to make it personal. We are also currently working on ordering the small business cards that Rob is advertising, which we think will be a great tool for all our members. All glory to our Lord.”

Brushy church of Christ, Centerville, Tennessee: Kevin Johnston (preacher) reports, “I am overjoyed at the congregational attitude toward evangelism. Last week, we delivered two new movers’ baskets, which were both very encouraging, and we have two more to deliver this coming week. The team leaders for the compassion cards met and were trained on how to use the compassion cards. We will send cards to at least five people this coming Sunday. We pray that they receive them and feel the love of Christ!  It has been a slow start, but I am thankful for our progress in His kingdom!” We appreciate all support.”

Hillsboro church of Christ, Tennessee: Chris Sliger (member) reports, “Hillsboro’s highlights for the week included the initial visit of four of the prospects created from compassion cards. All four prospects seemed receptive and thanked us for the cards. We may be following up with a few of those prospects in the coming weeks. We continue to be visited by an Indian man and his young daughter; they are new to the community.  We were able to deliver dessert to his house and have also ordered a Bible in his native language (Gujarati). We sent compassion cards to eight contacts and have phone verification from one of those prospects to visit us this upcoming Sunday. We continue to grow and learn and pursue receptive hearts. God is good!”

Mountain Creek church of Christ, Chattanooga, Tennessee: Michael Tomshack (elder) reports, “Gary Massey, elder and minister, continued the lesson series outlined by the School of Evangelism.  Sunday, our Compassion Card Team 2, led by Cindi Arendale, met to write cards for the week.  Our Greeters Team, led by Jose and Andrea Hechavarria, went live officially after encountering a good problem. More guests came than anticipated for the Pew Greeters meeting; therefore, on-the-spot additions occurred. We will increase the number of weekly Foyer Greeters, triple the number of Pew Greeters, and incorporate the youth as “runners” for gift bag retrieval. I underestimated the number of workers needed for our Pew Greeters to converse with guests and obtain information for the contact card in a very tight time frame. I also did not factor in the normal fellowship that occurs within the congregation. With this new process, our Greeters will need to focus on the guests and not the members. This is a delicate balance as the Greeters also need fellowship with other members.  We do not want situations where we appear to ignore the fellowship needs of current members to satisfy the needs of the greeter process. This is part of managing the process; we will make the necessary adjustments and pray that we need to triple the Greeters again in a few months. The Lord will provide if we do our part in serving Him.”

New Union church of Christ, Manchester, Tennessee: Paul Fulks (elder) reports, “We review the bookmarks at the close of Sunday morning worship services to add names to our list of contacts.  Five contact cards were submitted; we have congregational prayer specifically for those we are prospecting. Our members have been very consistent in completing and submitting new contact cards. We recorded three visitors and gave them visitor bags. Greeters add each local visitor to a contact card list. They are sent cards inviting them to work and worship with us, and we schedule visits for first-time contacts. Card Team 4, led by Butch Lawson, wrote 56 cards.  Three New Mover Bags were assigned or delivered. Ten follow-up visits were made. We have one Bible study ongoing. We have one person in the new convert class.”

Chapel Hill church of Christ, Tennessee: Matt Jones (deacon) reports, “We continue to receive a steady flow of visitors each Sunday. We have been averaging three or four new visitors each Sunday. All of our visitors will receive compassion cards. We are also helping three families with benevolence efforts. One of our ongoing Bible studies is with one of these families. Our first round of transition visits (mostly erring members) has been completed, but no Bible studies have been generated from the visits yet. We are still following up with two families.  We have completed the necessary information with HTH and are reviewing the door-knocking edition, which we plan to use in our new movers’ baskets. Our new converts class is still being well attended. Reaching the lost is our focus!”

East Main church of Christ, Murfreesboro, Tennessee: Brad Rowley (elder) reports, “Last week East Main received two new contact cards. We have six people in ongoing studies and one new Bible study. We delivered three new mover baskets and had one follow-up visit. Our college ministry set up a booth at CYC to give us some future contacts. We will report more on this next week.”

Covington church of Christ, Tennessee: Wayne Dalrymple (elder) reports, “The angels are rejoicing over Covington this week! Sunday morning, Linda visited. She said she was formerly a church member in Covington but had not attended since 1967! She stated her desire to come home. I will meet with her this week to assist her in doing that. Sunday afternoon, Doresha became our new sister in Christ. She has been visiting with us for several months, and we have been studying for the past few weeks. We had to take it slow to ensure she understood everything we were studying. When she saw in the Scriptures that baptism is necessary to be saved and is how one is added to the one true church, Doresha was ready. We baptized her just before our evening worship service. We also met Sunday afternoon to write several cards to more prospects. We appreciate prayers for more doors to open for teaching the gospel.”

Bridgewater church of Christ, Katy, Texas: Doug Suggs (deacon) reports, “At Bridgewater on Sunday evening, our evangelist Wade Webster spoke on Prayer in Evangelism. We need to pray for the prospects to whom we have sent cards. Prayer is an important step, and we must be diligent. Andre, one of our members, has been studying with a young man and prays that he will be converted soon. Our compassion card team number one will be meeting Sunday evening to address cards to our visitors and those who need encouragement.”

Crosby church of Christ, Houston, Texas (remote): Jon Wheeler (elder) reports, “A follow-up visit was made with a food box to a lady who has a granddaughter in the hospital. A prayer was offered to her while there. We delivered 15 baskets to new movers in the area. A new member who has been coming regularly was taken to the hospital for an inpatient operation. The ladies provided meals for her and her family during her recovery—two good examples of compassion. A new Bible study using BTTB will be started this week with a couple; one spouse is not a Christian. Two other Bible studies will continue; one is in Book 2 and the other in Book 3. This week the youth minister will be following up with teenagers who have visited recently.”

9^th and Main church of Christ, San Angelo, Texas: Bryan Braswell (elder) reports, “We had our second baptism since our seminar. We are working to assign coordinators. Active meetings are ongoing to set these things in order. We have selected greeters and keepers. We are sending cards every time we meet, and we compile the replies to our letter recipients and beginning to create plans for visits. We are assembling visitors’ bags, new movers’ bags, and care bags. The morale is high and the focus is set. We begin this Sunday morning by teaching an evangelistic question about our materials based on Does It Matter?We want our people to be grounded in the fundamentals that we are using daily to help seek and save the lost and keep our saved, saved!”

Buda-Kyle church of Christ, Texas: Ronnie Scherffius (preacher) reports, “Things are progressing well at Buda-Kyle. Deric Merz has been encouraging the church regarding our Bookmarks/Contacts weekly. This Sunday morning, we activated three contacts to our prospects list, and Sunday night Deric taught our Compassion Card training class. We will begin actively sending cards Sunday morning.”

Southwest church of Christ, Austin Texas: John Garza (regional trainer) reports, “Recently, our evangelism program has had much success. Two weeks ago, the elders preached the concept of writing cards to our erring brethren.  The plan is to write four cards to our wayside brethren. Since then, we have had two returns to worship with us (of which I am aware), and there are further plans to strengthen them. Additionally, last Sunday, a visitor who has a brother in ICU returned to Bible class. Because we sent compassion cards, she returned to Bible class with us on Wednesday, worshiped with us today, lunch with a couple of our women, and now, they have a Bible study set for Wednesday. Finally, the students and I delivered new movers’ bags last Wednesday and Thursday, and from that work, we had one prospect agree to attend worship with us! To God be the glory in the many works of reaching the lost.”

Southwest School of Bible Studies, Austin, Texas:  Brandon Aguilar (student) reports, “I talked to my mom and tried to make her realize how church was becoming important to my dad before he passed. I made the point that he would attend church right now if he were still here. I asked if she would like to study BTTB. After three weeks of study and going through the third booklet, she realized she was not saved and understood what she needed to do to be saved. She decided she needed to obey the Gospel.”

Graceton church of Christ, Diana, Texas: Johnny Williford (elder) reports, “Scott, our preacher, finished the last sermon using the supplemental lessons ‘Believe the Bible,’ and ‘Christ, Who Is He?’. Our Mission Monday group will meet tonight to plan our next round of home visits to the compassion card recipients and the new mover to our area. Group C met Sunday afternoon to sign 80 compassion cards for seven individuals. Our ladies continue their planning for the annual Graceton Ladies Day. I will start a Bible study tomorrow with my nephew, who is visiting for a few weeks from Alaska. He is in the Air Force. We appreciate prayers for a successful study. A young lady named Laura Brown placed membership with us yesterday. We also had three visitors attend Sunday morning worship services, and we have their contact information. We always pray for all the efforts to bring the lost to Christ and to help churches evangelize their communities.”

Canyon Lake church of Christ, Texas (remote): Jesse Stuart and Raoul Ferris (evangelists) report, “This week, we did follow-up work with past prospects on Monday and Tuesday. We set up a Bible study for next weekend with a young lady who had come to us months ago needing some help with her electric bill. We have door-knocked, visited businesses, and mailed flyers to every prospect we sent compassion cards to since August. The flyer is for our class on ‘Coping,’ which we will start teaching this week at the public library as a community outreach. Evangelist Jesse Stuart spent Wednesday-Sunday with the Hillcrest church of Christ in Coleman, Texas, teaching about follow-up visits and new movers’ baskets. Evangelist Raoul Ferris spent Wednesday-Sunday in El Salvador on a mission campaign to flip a Pentecostal church. His report is included in the next paragraph.

“This report concerns only the work in El Salvador. We are joyful to report that through the gospel being preached, the church of Christ has been established in Comalapa, El Salvador. Six evangelists from Texas joined together to preach the gospel and teach others using the organized method of evangelism, Does it Matter? in Spanish. The following men labored day and evening for five days: Noe Cortez, Sergio Silva, Federico Sandate, Carrol Harris, Jaime Harris, and Raoul Ferris.

“We finished the work that our brothers Sergio Silva and Noe Cortez started on November 23, where they taught and baptized five members of a Pentecostal-leaning church. Upon finishing our work, we baptized an additional six, including both of their preachers. To hear these men say, ‘We are a church of Christ,’ and to see them teaching the members the importance of following the doctrine of Christ, has been an humbling experience. The power of a Bible Study! Sunday marked the day! ‘Iglesia de Cristo se reúne aquí’ means ‘The church of Christ meets here.’ We are planning to return in three months to continue working with them. Till then, they will continue to use WhatsApp to teach doctrine every Thursday with Noe Cortez and Sergio Silva.” Raoul Ferris, Evangelist.

Wheeler church of Christ, Texas: Garrett English (preacher) reports, “Studies from last week did not happen due to sickness. We plan to pick up this week. I also have a study tomorrow morning with a nondenominational preacher, and we will study Book 1 of BTTB. We ask for prayers for this effort. The ladies have sent cards to many who attended the Love Supper and hope to continue to reach out for studies and visits. We have put the word out for our March Bible study on ‘The End of Time,’ since we usually have visitors then. I will report on visitors and results from that study in the next few weeks.”

Granbury Street church of Christ, Cleburne, Texas: Ryan Cowan (deacon) reports, “My wife, Kerista, and I had the opportunity to reconnect with a man named Dale, who was originally introduced to us by our daughter, Ella. Dale spends most of his days at a nursing home caring for his wife. Walking into the nursing home, a staff member directed us to Dale and his wife, Claudia. It was heartwarming to see Dale caring for his wife with such love and care, especially as he fed her lunch. Dale remembered Ella and appreciated the cards we had sent him. He mentioned that he had read each one and was touched by the handwritten notes of encouragement. I took this chance to ask Dale if he would be interested in learning more about Granbury Street church of Christ through a Bible study, to which he agreed. I will soon return to the nursing home to start studying with Dale. I am unsure of the future, but one thing is certain; our small gesture of sending cards paved the way for me to share the Gospel with Dale. I am eager to open the Bread of Life with this kind-hearted man.”

Itasca church of Christ, Texas (remote): Justin Hopkins (preacher) reports, “This has been a good week at Itasca. We sent out 187 compassion cards and made three follow-up visits. Also, two of our door-knocking contacts who have been getting compassion cards recently visited. One came for Wednesday Bible study (his second time), and another came for Sunday morning worship. A young man also stopped by and asked when we met; he said he would come. We did not get his contact information, but we are praying for him. One of our door-knocking contacts who has been receiving compassion cards called to ask about the cards. She corrected some information we had wrong and said she had been looking for a church; she thought maybe these cards were a sign. We are continuing to follow up with her.”

Charles Harris (regional trainer): “Matthew and Emily were married two months ago and have recently moved near the New Hope Road church building. They visited services yesterday and are searching for a biblical place to be. The preacher and his wife had already invited my family for lunch after the morning service. After meeting Matthew and Emily, they also invited them. We are looking forward to studying together. We will teach about the HTHSOE model here in a few weeks. I am excited about the future of the New Hope Road church of Christ.”