Success Stories: July 10, 2025

Glencoe church of Christ, Alabama: Keith Ritchie (preacher) reports, “For the second time this year, we reached over 140 in attendance with 141 at the Glencoe church of Christ. We had plenty of visitors and are blessed to have several Bible studies going on, as well as three planned studies. Our ladies’ day is coming up soon, and Lord willing, we will have several visitors then as well. God has blessed us at Glencoe with a strong eldership, zealous deacons, and sound teachers and preachers. Lord willing, we will continue to grow. Please continue to pray as we work hard to broaden the borders of the kingdom!”

Central church of Christ, Saraland, Alabama: David Dixon (preacher) reports, “We were not expecting a very productive Sunday this week. Between moving and preparing for Polishing the Pulpit, we just thought it was going to be a normal week for Central. We were wrong. One of our new converts brought a friend whose life was ready for a change. These two young men had been talking about spiritual things for a while, and he was finally able to attend services. It was our singing service, and Dylan was moved to tears. Since he did not know any of the songs, he read from Proverbs while we praised God. All the while, he said tears were streaming down his face. When the invitation was extended, he said he felt like it was for him. During our fellowship meal, I had the opportunity to speak with Dylan, and he agreed to study privately on the spot. My wife joined me, and Gus (our new convert) joined Dylan. He was as excited as anyone I have taught in a long time. He has no religious background to speak of, so showing him the verses was profoundly moving. He readily accepted the truth and was baptized straightaway. To say he was overjoyed would be an understatement. He will need the sincere milk of the word in abundance in the coming months, but I am convinced he is ready to feast! Besides Dylan Johnson’s baptism, I had two additional requests for Bible studies on Sunday. The Lord is working!”

Cedar Grove church of Christ, Andalusia, Alabama: Josh Holloway (preacher) reports, “We have planted and watered, and God has given us another increase at the Cedar Grove congregation. Mrs. Karen Bozeman was baptized into Christ this week! She has studied for several weeks and completed the Back to the Bible lessons. She struggled for some time, but as a congregation, we have reached out to her via cards, meals, and Bible studies. We have been working with her for a few months, but this week she decided to obey the gospel. We have had four restorations, and she makes our sixth baptism so far! We are moving forward with our programs, though some are still in the development phase. The compassion card ministry is great! We had a slow start, but we are moving forward full steam ahead in every aspect of the HTHSOE.”

Hartselle church of Christ, Alabama: Justin Smith (preacher) reports, “We are now three months removed from our School of Evangelism seminar and three months into using the new curriculum. While we are still in the early stages, with coordinators being assigned and many parts still coming together, we are already seeing encouraging results. Many members who were previously unengaged in structured ministry are now stepping forward, excited to take on new roles and opportunities to serve. There is a renewed energy in inviting others to worship services, and our number of baptisms has already more than doubled compared to this time last year. We believe the best is yet to come as our congregation continues to grow in our culture of evangelism. But even now, I am deeply encouraged by the momentum and the spirit of our church family.”

Hatton church of Christ, Town Creek, Alabama: Chris Miller (preacher) reports, “We had two baptisms this past week, so we are rejoicing with Hunter and Rayleigh for their decisions to put on Christ in baptism. We also had our One Mission meal yesterday and continue to have great participation in assigning visits and studies. We had several visitors who also stayed for the meal, and we studied with one visitor during the meal.”

Creekwood church of Christ, Mobile, Alabama: Tucker Presley (preacher) reports, “We currently have one Bible study ongoing, but another will be scheduled this week with a young man who requested to be baptized. We had several of visitors yesterday. Most were baptized believers who had moved to the area, but we did add one other in-town visitor on the prospect list. Compassion cards are being sent weekly, and we have great participation from the congregation with that. VBS begins this Sunday, and we are prepared to collect visitor information for follow-up.”

Highland Park church of Christ, Muscle Shoals, Alabama: Andrew Myham (deacon) reports, “Two prospects from the Samaritan House giveaway attended worship on Sunday. We still have a couple of Bible studies in progress, and we have two visits to make. We appreciate all prayers for our efforts to reach the lost.”

Mountain Home church of Christ, Arkansas: Joshua Adams (preacher) reports, “This past week we celebrated the baptism of someone who has been coming to church for quite some time. While this was a ‘rebaptism,’ it highlights the value of being a church that keeps evangelism and discipleship at the forefront of our hearts and minds. We have several ongoing Bible studies, three of which are from our Compassion Cards ministry. I shared with the congregation yesterday morning that in the last 14 weeks, we have sent 1,600+ cards, had 12+ people in Bible studies, and had 12 baptisms! The lesson was on Peter and a reminder that all of us are to be used by God for furthering His Kingdom. Things are going great as we plant and water, and God provides the increase. Last night, 16 people wrote 80 cards.”

Windsor church of Christ, Colorado: Lucas Stephens (member) reports, “Windsor had a few visitors this Sunday for worship. We greeted them and worked the process with a visitor bag and invitation to lunch. We sent encouragement cards to ten members and families in need. We will continue to send compassion cards next week. Additionally, last week we held our monthly men’s meeting and will pick up our evangelism meeting this week.”

Margaret Street church of Christ, Milton, Florida: Troy Spradlin (preacher) reports, “Some of our Pew Greeters are starting to come through! Yesterday, one of them greeted three families and got contact information from all of them. They were truly focused on the task and achieved considerable success! It has been a painfully slow process to train and help our members understand the method and purpose of greeting visitors in the pews. While it may seem easy to explain and comprehend for many of us, it just takes a while for some to change their habits or get out of their comfort zone. I consider it an absolute joy when the proverbial lightbulb comes on and brethren begin to grasp the principles of evangelism! Our current 2025 Year-to-Date Accountability Board numbers include the following: 189 Contacts received; 47 Visitors; 129 Neighbors (prospects whom we have loved and/or studied with); 55 Bible studies (total completed); 1569 Compassion Cards sent; one Restoration, and 13 Baptisms.”

Avalon church of Christ, Milton, Florida (remote): Preston Silcox (elder) reports, “This week began with two baptisms! Doug and Jenn have been attending our recent Bible studies, as well as participating in services and other events we have hosted. Because one of our families reached out and connected with them and other neighbors, their small neighborhood now has three families that are members of the Lord’s church!”

Niceville church of Christ, Florida: Joe Palmer (preacher) reports, “This week we have a big community outreach event scheduled—VBS. We have prepared several projects and are putting on the final details. We are also currently advertising a ladies’ 12-step class taught by my wife. This has been a very popular class with our ladies, and we believe it will be a great prospecting tool. This week we had two studies and mailed out forty cards.”

Edgewood church of Christ, Columbus, Georgia: Mitchell Deering (deacon) reports, “Our metrics include the following:  Visitors (Week): 4; Bible Studies Conducted: 4; and Compassion Cards Sent: 152 (total of 285 cards for July so far; 133 previously + 152 this week). Program Notes: Matt is developing a follow-up team to reach out to prospects, which will enhance our ability to maintain contact and encourage ongoing studies. The compassion card ministry continues to see excellent participation, with strong engagement from the congregation. We will assist Matt in organizing and launching the follow-up team and continue conducting Bible studies with new and existing prospects. We will be tracking responses from compassion cards to measure impact and plan future outreach.”

Lafayette church of Christ, Georgia: Jesse Teague (deacon) reports, “Group 1 met last night. Seven souls received compassion cards. We pray the seed will reach these hearts. We had our monthly evangelism meeting tonight. There are seven people who are on the cusp of a Bible study. We will pray that all of them will be obedient to the gospel. Our Sunday morning new member class is about to wrap up, and the class members want to continue with another study; they are hungering and thirsting for the word! Our Wednesday night evangelism training class continues to meet and grow in knowledge of how to reach the lost.”

Cartersville church of Christ, Georgia (remote): Charles Harris (regional trainer) reports, “We met Michelle from our New Movers work, and after attending services a few times, she agreed to have a Bible study. Normally, when I study with a female my wife is with me. However, at the time of study with Michelle, my wife would be out of town. I reached out to the church for help; Jim and his wife Rebecca filled in. After a few studies, Michelle was baptized Sunday.”

Woodstock church of Christ, Georgia: Larkin Cook (member) reports, “The WCOC congregation attended the Sunabella of Towne Lake Assistant Living devotional on Sunday. We had eight non-Christian attendees. The Prison Ministry Group is working with the local RYDC to schedule Bible studies. Classes will begin in August. The Compassion Cards Group sent nine cards this week.  WCOC had nine non-Christian visitors this Sunday morning. We also had three Bibles Studies last week.”

Collinsville-Troy church of Christ, Illinois: Jason Wright (elder) reports, “We were going door-to-door as we do every Tuesday and Wednesday. We were delivering new mover baskets. We knocked on the door and Ellie answered. She was so excited to see us because she had been receiving compassion cards. Her husband and son had died in the last year. We had knocked on her door during AMC. Kim and I did not recognize her until we heard her name. Then we knew all about her due to the cards we had been sending. She was not a new mover; we were four years too late for that. In reality, we were right on time as God’s providence shines again! We asked her the three questions starting with, “What do you think of the church of Christ?” Her answer was as you would expect. We now have a Bible study scheduled. The method is simple, and it works. We currently have ten Bible studies in progress. We delivered several new mover baskets last week and made some follow-up visits. We mailed 213 compassion cards last week. Tyler, whom we baptized last week, was in the New Christians’ class this Sunday. Finally, we delivered a new mover basket to Ron; we were 28 years too late. He invited us in. We sent him cards and made a follow-up visit. Guess who showed up for Wednesday night service–Ron. Never let the negative people or things derail you. Keep working! The blessings just keep coming!”

Lincolnway church of Christ, Columbia City, Indiana: Drew Reese (preacher) reports, “We had our evangelism seminar June 29-30. We are planning to start the Curriculum this coming Sunday, and last week we did post a seminar survey handout. It is apparent that it has had an impact on our congregation and their enthusiasm for evangelism. In the week and a half since Rob left, we have had five baptisms. Four were the children of members who had studied with their parents, and the fifth is a man who was a contact made by one of our younger members, with whom we conducted a study and then baptized on Sunday. This brings our total up to 12 for 2025! Praise God! The tools Back to the Bible and Does It Matter work!”

LaGrange church of Christ, Indiana: Wayne Poe (elder) reports, “We sent compassion cards to ten families during our VBS, and one family came back on Sunday. We hope to schedule a study with them. There are three studies happening right now. Things are starting to head in a good direction, and activities are slowing down to really start concentrating on the evangelism program.”

Highland Village church of Christ, Bloomington, Indiana: Mark Stauffer (elder) reports, “Our final numbers for June were 107 cards sent, five visits made, three prospects and eight visitors at our services. We have set the date for our SOE for October 25-26. We continue training the congregation about the importance and urgency of reaching the lost. We encourage daily prayer for our contacts, and we demonstrate how each of us can contribute to our evangelism efforts.”

Beloit church of Christ, Kansas (remote): Dustin Dougherty (regional trainer) reports, “We have made a lot of preparations for two and a half very busy weeks at the end of this month. I am preparing to be in Branson for PTP, then home for one day before we begin our community outreach and VBS advertising for the county fair, followed immediately the next week with our VBS program. These are two of our biggest community evangelism events for the year. It will be a very busy month, but so worth it. We will have a men’s Bible study on Saturday morning, and the ladies have increased their studies from bi-monthly to monthly as well. I am waiting for the new mover contacts for the month, hoping I can visit some of them before I leave for PTP. I also started the text-a-day reading through the New Testament again on July 1. We will have 17 people reading this time.”

Paintsville church of Christ, Kentucky: Zach Collins (preacher) reports, “To God be the glory! He is blessing us with Bible studies. One of our elders, Johnnie, secured this Bible Study through golf with an old friend. After completing all three books of Back to the Bible, plus an additional fourth study, we welcomed a new brother in Christ! Thom is excited to begin his new life in Christ. This morning, I received a call from another member who has secured a Bible study with his co-worker. She has visited with us the last three Wednesdays and Sundays. We request prayers for this study, and we also pray that God continues to place good, sincere, and receptive hearts in our path!”

Poole church of Christ, Kentucky: Andrew Wynne (preacher) reports, “We continue to send out compassion cards. We are currently conducting one study with a woman who has been very receptive to the truth to this point. We ask for continuing prayers for our evangelism efforts. We currently have three prospects. One couple has been attending with us since December. I have tried to set up studies numerous times with them, but each time, they have something going on. In our current study, we plan to go over who God is for two weeks; we will include topics such as the Godhead and the deity of Christ.”

Madisonville church of Christ, Kentucky: Russell Kline (preacher) reports, “We had eight visitors on Sunday. There was one restoration (a woman we contacted through the Compassion Cards program). We had no baptisms. We sent out 15 Compassion Cards. We still have two active Bible Correspondence Courses. We do not have any active home Bible studies right now, but we continue to seek and reach.”

Central church of Christ, Paducah, Kentucky: Adam Faughn (preacher) reports, “We had two Bible studies this week, both with prospects who are in a little longer-term studies. However, both went quite well, so we are praying fervently for harvest. One of the prospects, April, came to both services on Sunday for the first time (she had previously only come on Sunday mornings), so we see that as a sign of maturity and interest. We had a couple of local guests on Sunday; one just moved to Paducah and the other is only here for the summer to play for a minor league baseball team. We will follow up with both this week. Good things continue to occur through the busyness of summer!”

Gonzales church of Christ, Louisiana: Patrick Adkins (deacon) reports, “The morning sermon was ‘Can We Understand the Bible Alike?’ The afternoon sermon was on evangelism in our events and involving the community. We had an invitation card training session at 2:00 p.m. Group 1 met to write 43 compassion cards, getting July off to a fast start. We are encouraged by so much participation, and we request prayers.”

Chalmette church of Christ, Louisiana: Scott Russell (member) reports, “We sent out cards to some of our members who are new Christians as well as other members who need encouragement. We also followed up on a few prospects we met while door knocking during our VBS.”

La Plata church of Christ, Maryland (remote): Eric Sykes (regional trainer) reports, “We completed 35 cards this week. I am going to the church building to prepare the baptistery. Sister Cynthia is entering Lesson 3 of Back to the Biblewith a prospect, and she just texted Sandy, asking for baptismal garments. We are heading to the building just in case. Sandy and I are conducting Lesson 3 of Back to the Bible tomorrow morning with one of our granddaughter’s co-workers. We ask for prayers for willing hearts; we may add two more souls to the kingdom this week.”

Beltway church of Christ, Mayland: LeAndre Johnson (Minister): “I just presented the sermon for Part 1 of Back to the Bible, Lesson 2 ‘The Church.’ The congregation was very receptive. We will complete Part 2 this coming Sunday.”

Aberdeen church of Christ, Mississippi: Jonathan Hagar (preacher) reports, “We had two visitors this past week and the congregation received them well. We appointed our new coordinator for visitors and meals. Those two things seem to go hand in hand, so we had the same leader for both. He is very excited about creating a visitor team. I preached my sermon on the compassion cards, and we will start writing cards next Sunday morning. We have been working our bookmarks each week, with new contact cards being filled out every Sunday. I have two Bible studies scheduled this week. The first one is with a married couple, and we will be starting Lesson 1 on Back to the Bible. The second is my final study with a mother and daughter. We have been studying for over a month, and the mother has been hesitant, so I request prayers for a good closing of the study.”

Iuka church of Christ, Mississippi: Sam Glover (preacher) reports, “Two new families have been visiting with some frequency. Both have expressed solid interest in coming back regularly. We followed up with them regularly by sending four sets of cards over the last week and making two in-home visits. July presents exciting opportunities as we not only have our monthly food giveaway but also our Saturday VBS at the end of the month. The congregation is full of team players who are always willing to pitch in to make events like VBS work.”

New Concord church of Christ, New Hampshire (remote): Shane Belanger (member) reports, “Last week was productive. We continued studies with two new Christians using the Acts workbook from the evangelistic program. One of those in the study brought a friend with him who was from a local denomination. We hope to involve him in the Back to the Bible lesson series. Last Wednesday we finished Book 1 from BTTB with a man who belongs to the Mormon denomination. It was a great study for him to see whether or not his doctrine was lining up with the Bible. We look forward to studying Book 2 with him this Wednesday before our Bible class. I am including pictures of some of our training on approaching visitors that took place a few weeks ago. God bless.”

East Flushing church of Christ, New York (remote): Clarence Jenkins (preacher) reports, “We had one visitor during the week. After worship service, we went out into the community and delivered flyers and invitations to our Vacation Bible School this week. We have visitors who have stated they are coming. We are praying that the gospel will be obeyed by a precious soul this week. We appreciate all prayers.”

Lake Milton church of Christ, Ohio (remote):  Mike Bisson (preacher) reports, “We are getting a lot of visitors. We are working with two on Bible studies and praying that all goes well. We continue working on evangelism. All glory to God.”

Alkire Road church of Christ, Grove City, Ohio:  Tony Dunnagan (member) reports, “We sent 15 cards to each of our nine prospects. Of the nine prospects, three were on the ‘few’ board. The prospect list of nine includes people who were at the meal on June 27 or at worship on June 29. I believe three or four Bible studies were started, but only one is ongoing. The others discontinued due to marital situations. I will study the third book of BTTB tomorrow with Angelia. I am confident that she and her daughter will obey the gospel after the study. We appreciate all prayers. We have not created any new contacts yet. Tim taught the AMC chart on Sunday evening, and now we are going to start implementing the training.”

New Concord church of Christ, Ohio: Terry Townsend (preacher) reports, “We had some first-time visitors on Sunday. They received a welcome packet, and one of the elders and his wife took them out to eat. They plan to be back! Our New Mover teams have received their new assignments and plan to make those visits in the coming days. Currently, we have one ongoing personal Bible study. We are gearing up for our annual ‘Family Bible School’ (VBS). We will have a float in the annual village parade on Saturday, advertising the event. We hope to have new contacts from this! The couple that visited yesterday are members who recently moved into our area. They checked out another congregation for the last two weeks (a more progressive congregation) and told us they want to make the New Concord congregation their home.”

Owasso church of Christ, Oklahoma: David Combs (elder) reports, “During the morning adult Bible class, we finished our study of Back to the Bible Book 3. In our morning worship, we had a Training Card sermon called ‘Growing Church Everyone Has a Place.’ We also handed out invitation cards. These were in bundles of ten to each member to be handed out in the community for services rendered by wait staff in restaurants. Our Spark Plug, Tim Bowman, was back from vacation and gave us an update and led us in prayer for the people on our Bookmark cards. In our evening services, we continued with the Lesson 12 Evangelism Training Card, ‘Prospect Meals.’ Following evening services, Team 1 met to write compassion cards. Our metrics include eight prospects for the week, 78 cards written (3 single cards, 5 multiple cards), and 15 card writers. Our prospect timeline includes three in Week 1, one in Week 2, and four in Week 3. We currently have three Bible studies in progress.”

Coweta church of Christ, Oklahoma: Keno Shrum (regional trainer) reports, “We had one visitor Sunday. Houston took him to lunch after services to start prospecting him. Compassion Cards will be mailed, and we will follow up afterwards. Jamie and I traveled to Jamaica late last week through early this week. We worked with 9 other brothers and sisters to prepare for a large missionary trip next year, at which time we will take 50+ soul winners back to Jamaica to work with the Sandy Bay church of Christ. The trip, overseen by brothers Rob Whitacre and Mel Hutzler, was a great success. To God be the Glory!”

Cheyenne church of Christ, Oklahoma (remote): Nathan Brewer (member) reports, “We went through the second half of Lesson 3 of Back to the BibleSunday morning during worship. I plan to talk about the last three steps of the Evangelism Model this Sunday morning, which will wrap up a 9-lesson Evangelism series for us. Our converts from March were at morning worship for the fourth Sunday in a row, which is encouraging.”

York church of Christ, Pennsylvania: Mark Rashke (deacon) reports, “The Bible studies have continued, and we were blessed to see a number of spiritual births this week. Fred and Pam have continued to study with two different couples who have been attending with us in recent months. Brent and Kim originally asked how to join our church a few weeks ago. After a few Bible studies, they recognized the need to obey the gospel through baptism for the remission of sins. Erica has also been studying with Fred and Pam, and Chris baptized her this week in their presence. Chris was recently baptized himself, and shortly afterward, Fred joined Chris and Erica in lawful matrimony. I am including photos of all three baptisms, numbers 6, 7, and 8 for 2025 in York, which is not bad for a congregation that has an average weekly attendance in the 50’s.”

East Main church of Christ, Murfreesboro, Tennessee: Brad Rowley (elder) reports, “June was another exciting month regarding our evangelism ministry.  Our compassion card teams wrote 146 compassion cards.  We received a total of 18 new contact cards during the month. Fourteen of that total was attributed to our Vacation Bible School. We are thankful to those who served in advertising, door knocking and inviting others to VBS.  Our advertising method of social media by Laura Bayes played a big part.  We will continue to utilize Laura and social media to advertise for future seminars and community outreach events.  We are thankful to our runners, those who organized, decorated rooms, taught class, and served refreshments.  We had 5 new bible studies. We delivered 19 new mover baskets in the month. Our mission trip to Panama was a great success.  We knocked on 213 doors, with 208 possible contacts for the congregation there.  We had a total of 61 bible studies.  Four precious souls were baptized, and two were restored.  Our vacation bible school was well attended, with an additional 154 contacts.  We are thankful to all those who attended the trip and worked behind the scenes to make the trip possible. July looks to be an exciting month also.  We have a total of five baptisms in July.  Annlee and Paige Sanders were baptized on Wednesday, the 2^nd, by Jason, their father.  We are so thankful for our parents, like Jason and Michelle, who raise their children in the Lord.  Ryan Ritt was baptized by Cecil Morris on Sunday, the 6^th.  Kinsley and Kaylie Ritt were baptized on Sunday, the 6^th , by Jon Mitchell.  The Ritts have been studying with Chris Taylor and Cecil Morris.  Jeffrey Smith, our new college minister, has started a new bible study along with Cole Walker.”

New Union church of Christ, Manchester, Tennessee: Paul Fulks (elder) reports, “We had seven visitors on Sunday, and our members turned in two prospects. We prepared 29 Compassion Cards to be sent during the week. We completed three visits.”

Cookeville church of Christ, Tennessee: Josh Kennedy (preacher) reports, “We have two studies going on that are paused due to travel. We are sending out compassion cards to one person this week, and we have not had any responses from the new movers yet this week.”

McKenzie church of Christ, Tennessee: Randall McAdams (elder) reports, “We just had our second annual ‘July 4th on the 5th Block Party,’ where we invited the community of McKenzie to come out and enjoy good food, games, fellowship, and fireworks in celebrating the gift from our Lord for our great nation. It was a great success! A family of five attended both services yesterday because of that event. We started our July mail-outs yesterday with four contacts, and all four were non-members. More will be added as the weeks go by. We are planning to have a group leader meeting at the end of the month to get feedback on our program and any suggestions the leaders may have. We have discussed making new rosters of group members because we have had many newcomers to our church family since our program’s start-up.  We will do that soon, also.”

Rome church of Christ, Lebanon, Tennessee (remote): David Oxley reports, “We met this week for our advanced class. We are sending cards this week to three prospects. We will meet Monday night for our New Converts class.”

Grundy Street church of Christ, Tullahoma, Tennessee: John Summers (preacher) reports, “I preached the final of the three lessons from John 4 (Jesus, The Politically Incorrect Evangelist) yesterday, and it was well-received (all three parts were). In our Bible study class, we began to introduce more fully the Contact Card concepts (they had initially been passed out the next Sunday after the seminar in May). Anderson Judd will preach the next lesson this coming Sunday morning (‘It’s Quantity, Not Quality’), and we will look at the Contact Cards again in our Sunday morning Bible Study. Our VBS begins Sunday night, so we are not diving too deeply into the curriculum right now, but we do not want it to be completely out of the members’ minds. Additionally, the elders are scheduled to meet this Wednesday afternoon with the ladies who have been selected to drive the Compassion Card portion of the curriculum. Once the VBS is behind us, we will be in a position to focus more on implementing the curriculum—Anderson Judd and I are tag-teaming the implementation training for it this summer (especially around my external speaking engagements). Also, the elders and I continue to meet weekly for a couple of hours each Thursday night to facilitate implementation of the curriculum. Last week, we all felt that we were finally starting to understand the ways we can address the implementation challenges (mostly due to a lack of understanding of the curriculum itself—we still have so much material from the website to review). The elders are still working to assign all the roles. To assist everyone with understanding the material, I have downloaded and printed all the PDF documents from the website. I also created and printed transcripts from most of the videos (and will complete the remainder as soon as I can). I have used all these to create implementation manuals for the elders and Anderson and myself. We will be glad to share these items to help others.”

Arlington church of Christ, Tennessee: Brandon Tibbits (preacher) reports, “Many of our members are away at church camp, but we made preparations to have enough cards to last while they were gone. After this week, we are going to begin our transition visits. We have a few that will be ready to transition, so I will hold a private training with the transition team to get that moving. The meal for our prospect had to be postponed, so we rescheduled and will have lunch with the prospect on Sunday.”

Stewarts Creek church of Christ, Smyrna, Tennessee: Jon McCord (member) reports, “We have started Back to the Bible training on Wednesdays. We have sent 80 compassion cards according to the board. I am hearing we will soon have a visit with a prospect. We have five prospects we are trying to reach.”

Mountain Creek church of Christ, Chattanooga, Tennessee: Michael Tomshack (elder) reports, “We have compiled the guest data from our VBS and will now begin reaching out to them. We are asking about their interest in learning more about the Church of Christ. We currently have two ongoing Bible studies with young adult women, which are supported by the congregation’s consistent friendliness and encouragement of these individuals. We are confident that God will continue to bless these efforts.”

Ocoee Street church of Christ, Copper Hill, Tennessee: R.E. Vann (elder) reports, “The local visitor that attended worship service last week came back this Sunday. We began sending Jason compassion cards last week. On the first Sunday of each month, we have a fellowship luncheon after morning services, and he felt comfortable enough to fix himself a plate to-go. We are slowly building a relationship with love and trust. We really have a friendly congregation. We will all pray for another lost soul ‘to come unto the knowledge of the truth’ (1 Timothy 2:4). All glory to God.”

McEwen church of Christ, Tennessee: John Jones (preacher) reports, “We have a lot of visits lined up this week for all the contacts we gained at VBS. I have been out of pocket since we were visiting Miami and some missionaries we support there. Now I am back on to the work in McEwen this week! Keep up the good work in Jamaica!”

Soddy church of Christ, Tennessee: Joe Mallory (preacher) reports, “The congregation worked together to provide food and refreshments to hundreds in our community who were in our parking lot to view the fireworks show in Soddy Daisy. Throughout the evening, we invited our friends and neighbors to join us and had the wonderful opportunity to talk with them and make connections. Some of those connections allowed us to receive their prayer requests, while others mentioned looking for a church home! We prayed with many and offered our invitation to them and others, resulting in over a dozen names that will turn into contacts, as well as a Bible study that will be set up this week. We at Soddy are super excited about the beginning of our compassion card ministry. Yesterday, Care Team 1 wrote 70 compassion cards to be mailed out this week. We request prayers for our members and those who have been visiting, as we are going through the Back to the Bible series of lessons on Sunday mornings. We praise God for His abundant blessings, mercy, and grace!”

Hillcrest church of Christ, Springfield, Tennessee: Tim Taylor (evangelist) reports, “We rejoice in the baptisms of Abby and Holley, as noted in this week’s visitor log! Abby and her husband Tyler have been with us at Hillcrest since last summer. Holley attended our VBS in June, and was baptized after completing the Back to the Bible studies with Noah. We had eight first-time visitors this past week.”

Birdwell Chapel church of Christ, Cottontown, Tennessee: Kerry England (elder) reports, “On Thursday evening, we had our follow-up virtual meeting with Rob. It was productive and encouraging. Rob gave us advice on improving programs we have already implemented. He also provided suggestions for making our upcoming VBS more evangelistic. The youth group is planning a Back-to-School backpack drive on Saturday, August 2. We are praying that these two events will provide us with many contacts in the community. We continue to mail compassion cards each week.”

West Fayetteville church of Christ, Tennessee: Steve Jefferson (elder) reports, “We have a young couple who has visited with us several times in relation to our benevolence program. They are planning to marry and are scheduled for a pre-marital counseling course with us. We pray this will lead to a deeper Bible study. This Sunday morning, we had one restoration. This gentleman was in town visiting friends and family. We are always thankful for a tender heart. Compassion Card Team 3 sent out about 12 cards to one new prospect.”

Rivergate church of Christ, Madison, Tennessee: Doug Tooley (preacher) reports, “We had three visitors on Wednesday. We had eight visitors on Sunday morning. One of these is a family with ties to the church that has visited a few times. Through Sue Crain’s work with the Walnut Academy, we recently baptized four incarcerated young ladies.”

White Oak church of Christ, Chattanooga, Tennessee (remote): John McGiffin (preacher) reports, “We have sent notifications about the upcoming Bible Lands Museum to area retirement centers and area congregations. We also posted two Facebook invitations. We have completed sign-up sheets for volunteers and have sheets to gather contact information. We plan to have newspaper advertisements the week prior. The event is scheduled to take place from August 1 to 4. We have distributed 200 postcards to the community and have printed additional copies. We also plan to ask other congregations to promote the event on their podcasts. We contacted previous attendees, sent correspondence courses, sent emails with video links, and followed up with personalized cards. I am trying to match contacts with congregants of similar interests who can reach out. We are preparing for the upcoming PTP in Branson.”

Colleyville church of Christ, Texas: John Garza (preacher) reports, “We have five Bible studies taking place. All of them are at various points. We are sending out cars to three people, and we have multiple prospects awaiting follow up. We are trying to set up meals as well as Bible studies with multiple. Finally, we plan to have a meeting at the end of this month to talk with the congregation and find those who are interested in working further in our new convert program, as well as with our prospecting works.”

Roanoke church of Christ, Texas: Caleb Rutherford (preacher) reports, “After coming back from AMC, we are immediately implementing some of the things that we learned. We scheduled a door-knocking day for this past Saturday, as a way to invite our community to our VBS, which starts this week. Twenty-seven members came out to help us knock on doors! In about an hour, we knocked on 199 doors and talked to 59 people. It was a great morning! We are hopeful that our VBS will provide us with lots of contacts. We have visitor teams in place and have trained them on what to do when visitors walk in. We always have several visitors, but one visitor in particular came this past Wednesday and also this past Sunday. He is an old high school classmate of one of our members. I plan to ask him to lunch next week (after VBS is over), to see about scheduling a study.”

Bridgewater church of Christ, Katy, Texas: Doug Suggs (deacon) reports, “This past Wednesday, Catherine, who has been coming to our worship services, began studying the Back to the Bible lessons. We look forward to her growth and pray she will obey the gospel on her completion. A young gentleman named Jim placed membership with us last Sunday. We are glad to have him as a part of the church in Bridgewater. David Hao who is from China and who obeyed the gospel last year is supposed to have a meeting this month to get his visa so he can come back to the States and attend the school of preaching at Southwest in Austin, Texas.”

Howe church of Christ, Texas: Aaron Alsbrook (preacher) reports, “We are so thankful the church continues to do her work all the way in Jamaica. We are continuing to write cards to our contacts. We were encouraged with more contacts from VBS. We will continue to pursue those, and, Lord willing, move them into Bible studies!”

Eisenhower church of Christ, Odessa, Texas: Allen Weakland (elder) reports, “Once again—to God be the glory. This past Wednesday, I received a text indicating that Michelle made it clear that she needed to be baptized. After Wednesday night services, Travis immersed her in the watery grave of baptism.  May we all thank God for Michelle and her decision to obey the gospel. The Eisenhower congregation purchased several pieces of material from Back to the Bible, and that material has been instrumental in converting the lost. Michelle explained how it affected her studies. We will be continuing our study with her, and we hope that her faith will deepen and be strengthened. As always, we praise God for the increase. Our God is not only alive; He continues to provide contacts for His cause. On another note, our preparation for our annual VBS is in full swing. We are decorating our classrooms and preparing our teaching materials with the various teachers. Our congregation knows that this opportunity is not only for teaching but also for making contacts that we pray will become prospects. We appreciate prayers for this endeavor.”

Wheeler church of Christ, Texas: Garrett English (preacher) reports, “I just had the first study with a man who came by my office last week. We worked on Book 1 but did not get very far. I told him to be patient as I laid out the biblical case. He agreed to meet with me tomorrow morning to continue. This one will certainly take some time and some effort not to get distracted by questions as I practice ‘Defer, Don’t Debate.’ I also have a study with a young man tomorrow afternoon. I am not certain what it is about, but I believe it could be about baptism.”

Abingdon church of Christ, Virginia: Freddie Klein (evangelist) reports, “We conducted our second Bible study with a visitor from the community—we request prayers for open hearts and fruitful conversations. We also followed up with some service work at the home of a prospect. These acts of kindness help plant seeds of love and trust. Our card-writing team kicked off a fresh round of compassion cards this month. These personal notes are making a real impact, reminding people that they are seen and loved. I also reminded the congregation to pray daily for the individuals listed on their bookmarks and to keep filling out contact cards as new opportunities arise. We will keep sowing the seed—God is giving the increase.”

Williamsburg church of Christ, Virginia: Jim Bishop (elder) reports, “We were blessed with the addition of another soul that God added to his church. This addition represents ten baptisms and one restoration since January 2025. In July 2024, we had our initial HTH congregational evangelism training. In the months following the training from late July 2024 to July 2025, the Lord has blessed us with 17 baptisms and two restorations. We continue to pray, consistently knock on doors on a monthly basis, send compassion cards, and focus on first-time visitors. New converts have been instrumental in contacts. Our preacher has conducted most of the Bible studies, which helped to expedite the process. Our prayers go out to all those spreading the gospel.”

West Side church of Christ, Salem, Virginia: Jeff Durham (elder) reports, “One of our elders presented a lesson titled, ‘Taking out the Trash.’ He used Matthew 5:27-30, focusing on vv. 29-30 when Jesus uses hyperbolic language to describe the need to remove sin from our lives. In our Sunday evening discussions, our group talked about helping new converts understand the need to discard old habits and to ‘throw it from you’ (ESV). The question was posed, ‘When does a thought become a sin?’ The example of David and Bathsheba was given, as well as Psalm 1:1-2, of the progressive nature of sin when we  not our thoughts in check. Removing sinful practices is only part of the equation, as we also need to fill our lives with the teachings of Christ, growing in the ‘fruit of the Spirit’ (Galatians 5:22-23).”

Marlon Retana (regional trainer) update: “It has been a while since our last report, but that only means one thing: we have been extremely busy working for the Lord through Spanish Bible School (spanishbibleschool.org)! Over the past few months, we have recorded four new Bible courses—over 50 video lessons—covering the books of Ephesians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and an in-depth study on Hermeneutics. All these lessons are now in the editing phase and will soon be available to edify Spanish-speaking brethren around the world. In addition to these courses, we have recorded several topical video lessons, including a brand-new, 5-lesson series for women titled ‘The Christian Woman.’ As with the Bible courses, we hope and pray to have them published very soon, as they deal with needs and questions that Christians and non-Christian have. Our translation work continues as well! We have recently completed several important projects, including new resources for the House to House/Heart to Heart School of Evangelism (HTHSOE)—making soul-winning tools even more accessible to the Hispanic community. One of the projects currently demanding much of our time and prayers is the planning of the Spanish sessions at the upcoming Polishing the Pulpit (PTP) in Branson, just days away. While this has kept us very busy, we rejoice in the knowledge that many Hispanic brethren will be able to experience the spiritual richness of PTP. We look forward to what God will do through this opportunity and to future occasions where we can glorify Him—no matter what language we speak. We are thankful for continued support, encouragement, and prayers. Together, we are helping the saved to teach the lost, one soul at a time.”