Glencoe church of Christ, Alabama: David Marker (elder) reports, “You know the congregation is moving in the right direction when older members contact you with a need in the community. Dot Godfrey, who is an inspiration to all, contacted one of our Deacons, Ted Brooks, requesting help. One of the local apartment complexes had a pipe burst, and the residents were informed they may be without water for a few days. Ted purchased about 100 gallons of water at Walmart, and we delivered that to each resident, along with one of our invitation cards. Every single resident seemed to be overwhelmed and expressed their gratitude. Those good folks saw the love of Christ in action today! Many continue to help with compassion cards, visiting and handing out invitation cards. What a blessing it is to work together with the brethren to advance Christ’s cause in this area and abroad.”
Central church of Christ, Saraland, Alabama: David Dixon (preacher) reports, “While Polishing the Pulpit is always an exciting week, the first PTP held in Branson, MO, has been uplifting. I have been recharged and can’t wait to return to work in Saraland! The update I received today revealed that we have sent out 1470 cards. We have replenished our contacts for a steady stream of new cards. When I get back to “the land,” I should make about five visits. Excitement holds steady, and from the conversations I had at PTP, I know we will never lack work to do!”
West Huntsville church of Christ, Alabama: Paul Owen (associate preacher) reports, “We are currently having an evening VBS. It began Sunday and runs through this Wednesday. We have had many prospects that have been attending each night. Our plan is to send cards and set up visits.”
Rison church of Christ, Arkansas: Keden Shrum (preacher) reports, “This week has been busy with a few of us attending PTP Branson. It has been a blessing to be with so many brothers and sisters. As for the work in Rison, we have two more contacts who will begin receiving cards soon. We also have an upcoming VBS on July 27th that we hope will produce more contacts.”
Malvern church of Christ, Arkansas (remote): David Burruss (preacher) reports, “We had a great week at PTP and met so many fabulous Christians. We are still moving along with our training and evangelism efforts. Currently, we have 15 prospects. Our compassion card team sent out 40-plus cards last week. We currently have one active Bible study and two scheduled transitional visits for this weekend, and I am hopeful and praying that these will lead to new Bible studies.”
Lake City church of Christ, Florida: Jim Flegert (elder) reports, “Sunday morning, our congregation rejoiced with the announcement of the baptism of one of our elderly visitors. This lady was first introduced to our congregation in April of 2023. She was one of the first contacts turned in by one of our members at the beginning of our congregational evangelism program, which started after the evangelism seminar presented by Rob Whitacre and his team. After receiving compassion cards for a month, she was one of the first visits made by our newly formed Mission Monday team. After that visit, her name was added to our Prospect List. Within days, several of her physical needs were met, and BTTB studies were conducted shortly after. Those studies had to be postponed due to several surgeries. As the weeks passed, the studies were reinstated and eventually concluded. She continued to attend worship, and then, last week, she decided to be baptized. After worship Sunday night, the member who was so instrumental in those early days reminded the congregation of her story during the past 16 months. We praise God for this new babe in Christ.”
Niceville church of Christ, Florida: Joe Palmer (preacher) reports, “We had one new visitor Sunday. This week, we had three studies conducted. We took one visitor to lunch on Sunday. This week we sent out 60 compassion cards. We are gearing up for VBS and hope to find some new prospects to introduce to the Lord.”
Lake Forest church of Christ, Florida (remote): Brian Howard (preacher) reports, “We have been at Lake Forest for less than two months. We have had one baptism, and our prospect list is growing. I am studying with Maurice, a young man, who has been visiting the congregation. We will be studying Book 3 tomorrow. I will also be finishing book 3 with another man named Stanhope on Sunday morning. Yes, Stanhope is his first name. He is from Jamaica originally. Please be in prayer for these studies. As always, I appreciate your great work in the Kingdom! Keep it up!”
Bremen church of Christ, Georgia: Scott Broughton (member) reports, “We are preparing to begin Vacation Bible School on Sunday and will focus on gathering contacts. We have several ongoing Bible studies.”
Carrollton church of Christ, Georgia: Danny Spain (deacon) reports, “Ruth, a recent convert from Cambodia, has two studies; she is presently in Cambodia teaching friends and family for a few weeks. I sent her with study materials. I conducted two studies with a couple last week; my very close friends I have known for a long time but haven’t been able to convert. They have invited us to their home for a meal, so we plan to use Believe the Bible. We had six visitors this past Sunday and we have a total of six ongoing Bible studies.”
Cartersville church of Christ, Georgia (remote): Charles Harris (regional trainer), “Last Thursday, Keith Hicks was baptized into Christ. I met and studied with Keith because of HTHHTH’s New Movers Program. We had several visitors on Sunday and Maci Walker was baptized. Maci has been brought up by godly parents, which allowed the opportunity for our preacher, Corey Barnette, to study with her. Sunday, week 2 of our Compassion Card work took place. We signed 120 cards. We finished working through BTTB as a church. For our Bookmarks, we’ve emphasized the wayward; next week, I’ll begin some classes concerning reaching out to the erring.”
Lafayette church of Christ, Georgia: Jesse Teague (deacon) reports, “This was the 2nd Saturday, so our new-movers door-knocking group met to go out and find new souls to spread the seed too! We always meet before the group goes out and discuss our purpose. This week, we reminded ourselves that even if the house we visit isn’t a “new mover,” there’s no such thing as going to the “wrong house.” If someone is there—it’s the right house to visit. We knocked on about 40 doors and got several new contact cards filled out for compassion cards and future follow-up visits. We had our “new member” lunch after worship on Sunday. About once a quarter, our lady’s group organizes a meal and invites all the newest members. We enjoy time together introducing the new members to the elders and talk a little about what the focus of the church is and how they can participate. We also have an icebreaker- where the emcee asks questions about where you live, family status, etc.- for fun and to get to know more details about each other.”
Woodstock church of Christ, Georgia: Matt Amos (preacher) reports, “Our ACTS (Actively, Caring, Teaching & Serving) Evangelism Program received two contact cards. The monthly HTH Door Knocking ran this weekend. Nine volunteers took part in the door-knocking. We completed nineteen follow-up visits. Out of the nineteen, two contact cards were filled out. Prison Ministry received a request from Snellville CoC Elders, Deacons, and Jail Ministers to meet with WCOC’s key players in Snellville on Wed, July 31st, to show them how to conduct a virtual Bible Study. The Compassion Cards Group created eleven cards for delivery. Eighteen of us attended the Pre-Convert / Evangelism class. WCOC had four non-Christian visitors. We conducted nine Bible Studies this last week.”
Eatonton church of Christ, Georgia (remote): Roderick Coney (preacher) reports, “We did another advanced video this past week and discussed the categories of prospect levels, which we probably need to go over it every week because I am not sure if everyone understands the concepts, so that we can put forth the right process with the right individual. We also are trying to get used to incorporating evangelism in every Sunday sermon or Bible Study.”
West Hammond church of Christ, Indiana: Robert Webster (preacher) reports, “Last week we mailed out 19 cards, conducted five studies that include two restorations. Also, as a continuation of the HTHSOE outreach effort, we will have a community giveaway on the 3rd of August.”
Collinsville-Troy church of Christ, Illinois: Jason Wright (elder) reports, “Our minister, Renn Ferguson, continues to preach on John 4. We are in week two with the bookmarks. It will take our church family some time to get used to this contact maker. This week, we sent out 235 compassion cards. On Tuesday morning, we plan to make some follow-up visits. We scheduled an appointment to take someone from the community to the doctor, and then he plans to study with one of our shepherds. As elders, we met with our ministers to ensure we were all on the same page and working on the plan. We continue to have visitors, and this is exciting. We will meet with the coordinators in the coming days. Community service is starting to come together. Being busy is one thing; being busy in a soul-winning way is quite another. It truly takes planning, organization, and congregational involvement. We continue to work on all three. May God be glorified!”
Beloit church of Christ, Kansas (remote): Dustin Dougherty (regional trainer) reports, “What a great week this has been attending my first of hopefully very many Polishing the Pulpit events in Branson, Missouri. This week was so spiritually uplifting and encouraging, and I’m already looking forward to next year. The messages and lessons I heard were top-notch. I’m ready to get home and get back to work evangelizing my local area. Congregationally, we have several big contact-generating events coming up very soon after I return. We have the local county fair at the end of July, where we will have a booth and pass out free water during the fair hours. It is hot in Kansas, and the fair attendees love the free water. It allows us to visit with them, invite them to worship and Vacation Bible School, or offer them a free Bible if they’d like one. This week at PTP, I’ve learned several new things and made many amazing connections with people, which I pray will lead to new ideas and opportunities for evangelism and outreach in our local community and region. I am still actively seeking contact and congregational information from every congregation of the Lord’s people in Kansas to create an updated directory within our state. I pray that the work will continue and that more congregations will provide information.”
Central church of Christ, Paducah, Kentucky: Adam Faughn (preacher) reports, “We were scheduled to have three Bible studies this past week. Only one ended up happening, but another was rescheduled for this week, and the prospect is excited to get started. We are praying for both studies. In addition, one of our new converts brought a friend with her to worship Sunday morning, and the friend is very excited to begin learning about the Bible. There will be a study set up with her, likely this week. We also “formally” introduced a new family as members. They bring their four children and four other children they are helping to raise, so we have many new kids around! The work is slow but so exciting. To God be the glory.”
Paintsville church of Christ, Kentucky: Zach Collins (preacher) reports, “The past couple of weeks have been busy! We have been immersed in two Bible studies. The first Bible study was with a young man looking for peace in his life. He has had a lot of struggles the past year and was searching for Christ! One evening, he showed up at the building and said, ‘I want to know more about the Bible.’ After one of our elders and I studied with him, Jacob chose to put on Christ in baptism. The other Bible study is with a couple attending the LDS church. Recently, they started attending our services on Sunday evening and asked if we could answer their questions about the church. This past Tuesday, we went through lesson one of Back to the Bible and had an appointment to study lesson two with this couple. Please pray for this Bible study and that they choose to become New Testament Christians!”
La Plata church of Christ, Maryland (remote): Eric Sykes (regional trainer) reports, “This week in La Plata, we delivered 5 new mover gift baskets and wrote 39 compassion cards. We ran into a snag in the Bible study with my twin sister. They both agreed that the Bible doesn’t give us authority to use mechanical instruments of music. But they like using them and they don’t want to give them up. We’ve taken them through evangelism visualized, and they got it…but again, they don’t want to give it up. And so, we haven’t been able to move forward to lesson three of BTTB. Keep us in prayer that we can get past this. We had a family who attended our VBS a couple of weeks ago return. Thanked us for all the compassion cards we sent and thanked them for visiting. We have a lot of members traveling this week, so we only had three new converts attending the new converts training classes this week. Please keep us lifted up in prayer as we strive to do the Lord’s work and implement the evangelism model here in La Plata, Maryland. Love you all…keep us in your prayers as we do the same for you. Take care, and God bless!!!”
East Main church of Christ, Tupelo, Mississippi: Barry Kennedy (preacher) reports, “Work is moving forward here at East Main. We are continuing to work on teaching and motivating members to get involved. Our first compassion card meeting went great, and I am looking forward to the next meeting on Wednesday night. The elders are looking to find where each member can find their place as we develop a congregational evangelism culture. Therefore, we used the questionnaire and will analyze the results this week. Then, we’ll be able to begin finding a place in the work for each member. To God be the glory!”
Looxahoma church of Christ, Senatobia, Mississippi: Blake Hawkins (deacon) reports,” After holding VBS last week and so much preparation going into that event, we are hopeful we can leverage the participation to see it can be carried over into our ongoing evangelism efforts. We need many more contacts and prospects from the congregation through personal relationships and new mover basket deliveries. We are hopeful VBS energized everyone so they will be more eager to continue reaching out to the lost in our local community.”
West End Blvd church of Christ, Cape Girardeau, Missouri: Jared Scaggs (preacher) reports, “We’ve got one Bible study going on this week. We are looking at about six prospects. We are sending compassion cards out to three people at the moment. One of which is a family of four that I believe will be willing to do a Bible study. We’ve had six baptisms this year and six converts in our new converts class.”
Samford church of Christ, Steele, Missouri: Kyle Imel (deacon) reports, “We are having a gospel meeting this weekend with Joe Wells. We are ending Sunday afternoon with a VBS and back-to-school giveaway. We have advertised and hope to gain several contacts from the effort.”
Carthage church of Christ, North Carolina (remote): Clarence Jenkins (preacher) reports, “We had our coordinators meeting Sunday, discussing and tweaking our program to the strength of our members. We want to maximize our talents, time, and resources to enhance our opportunities for success to the Kingdom’s glory. We mailed out fourteen compassion cards, and five were sent to new members. We delivered five new movers’ baskets this past week and encountered a good receptive environment. We pray that we will be able to continue building a relationship that will lead to more prospecting and Bible studies. We continue praying, educating, and encouraging the congregation to use the tools and work the plan.”
Cary church of Christ, North Carolina: Larry Fife (preacher) reports, “We’ve had a wonderful past several weeks. Due to our VBS and the holiday, our connect groups didn’t meet to write compassion cards. However, our connect group wrote 40 cards yesterday, bringing our total to 873 cards for the year. This week, we will be delivering ten new mover baskets, and we are praying for open and receptive hearts. We are grateful for the continued opportunities that God provides us.”
East Flushing church of Christ, New York (remote): Clarence Jenkins (preacher) reports, “We had two estranged members of the Body of Christ of which we have been prospecting at worship services. We pray that they will return to the fold. We had three visitors, one of which was doing the Spanish Back to the Bible studies. We are praying that they will start studies again, and two of which we had not seen in a while. We are praying that they will start their studies. We still have several ongoing studies. We appreciate your prayers.”
Greenville church of Christ, Ohio: John McGiffin (preacher) reports, “We have narrowed our search for a preacher. We will further question the top candidate to ensure they will be active in the community and prioritize evangelism. We sent three teens to church camp. One was a prodigal, and another was a new attendee. We hope this opens the door for further study. I have had the opportunity to share our success with others at PTP. I will be bringing back some new ideas to present to the congregation.”
New Concord church of Christ, Ohio: Terry Townsend (preacher) reports, “We had a successful Family Bible School last week with several new contacts being made. Cards will be sent to each of them this week. We had five new visitors from the community at services on Sunday. Each of them was given a welcome bag. Follow-up visits are continuing, but we have found it difficult to get folks to commit to a Bible study. The “soil” here is a bit harder than in other places, but we press forward, sowing the Seed everywhere we go.”
Streetsboro church of Christ, Ohio: Ralph Price (preacher) reports, “We are sending cards to four prospects. We have one Bible study ongoing. Two of our members are doing it, which I’m very excited about. They had the first study with her mother and father last week, which went well. They are scheduled to study again this week. Our visitor from last week, who heard about us through the HTH mailings, returned a second time. He is one of the prospects we are working on right now.”
Cheyenne church of Christ, Oklahoma (remote): Nathan Brewer (member) reports, “Two of my kids and I spent a few hours Saturday morning putting more paint on the walls of the rooms opposite the baptistry to continue trying to bring them into the 21st century. On Sunday, I preached “Jesus—The Perfect Evangelist,” part 1 and part 2 from John 4. I also spoke to the congregation about the prospect list.”
Coweta church of Christ, Oklahoma: Keno Shrum (regional trainer) reports, “Jim first went through BTTB a couple of years ago with Jamie and me. He felt his baptism in his early 20s in the Wesleyan church was valid and that he was saved. Over the past couple of years, through lessons and Bible studies, he started to doubt that he was indeed saved. We learned more about it and that it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to be baptized in truth while being taught a lie. Sunday night, he came forward ready to be baptized scripturally for the remission of sins!
“We had a great time at PTP last week. We met many new friends and saw many old friends. I had the honor of speaking while there, and one of my topics was how to evangelize to family members. This is an uncomfortable area for many Christians, so I am sharing a few tips that might help.
1) Be An Example- If you want your family to come to Christ, they must see Christ living in you.
2) Defer, Don’t Debate- This is one of the points you learned in the HTHSOE. Debating a family member about speaking in tongues, miraculous healings, powers of the Holy Spirit, and so forth will not lead to a conversion. Instead, strive to get them to sit down for a Bible study.
3) Be Vulnerable. Let your family see that you could be better. You make mistakes, but your God offers forgiveness, peace, hope, and comfort. He carries you through each day.
4) Be Clear—We never want to “trick” someone into a Bible study. Be clear that you intend to teach them about God. You love them, and you want them to know about Christ.
5) Don’t Act Superior—We never want to act “better than” or superior simply because we are already in Christ. Being a Christian demands that we humble ourselves.
6) Pray- Every single day, pray for your family. Ask your Christian brothers and sisters to pray for your family. “…the fervent prayers of a righteous man availeth much.” James 5:16.
I pray God blesses your efforts to share His message with your family!”
York church of Christ, Pennsylvania: Mark Raschke (member) reports, “We have continued with sending cards, letters, and flyers to all those who are on our contact lists to announce our upcoming building move. We hope to fill the old building one last time before moving, and then invite everybody into our new building. We will follow up with everybody who comes to start or renew our pursuit of them.”
Union church of Christ, South Carolina (remote): Terry Hale (preacher) reports, “We now have eighteen on our board for visits and Bible studies with one receiving cards. Also, a family that had been away since the start of COVID-19 after being flooded with compassion cards is back. The new study began with the Back to the Bible. Thankful for the opportunities and results.”
Covington church of Christ, Tennessee: Wayne Dalrymple (elder) reports, “It has been a wonderful week at Covington! Jeff finished his study with Jackie Friday afternoon. He took lunch (fried green tomatoes and peanut butter and banana sandwiches) for them to eat (Always eat!) Another lady, Barbara, also sat in on the study. She helped Jeff close the survey with Jackie because she acknowledged that a person couldn’t be taught wrong and baptized right, which influenced Jackie to put the Lord on in baptism that day! Ironically, Barbara has not made that decision yet. She believes she spoke in tongues after she was saved, which validated her salvation. Jeff showed her how Cornelius and his household spoke in tongues before they were saved (Acts 10), but she was unconvinced. She is still thinking about it, though. We rejoice that Jackie did make that decision! Because of her cancer, the doctors have said she might only live a few more weeks. If that turns out to be true, she truly came in at the eleventh hour.
“I also had a Bible study with Travis last week and a second study today (Monday). Travis is a friend of Danny I met while driving our church bus last Sunday. By his admission, Travis has been in and out of jail often. This is a situation where I need to plant the seed and not pick it out of the way. Only God knows whether Travis will be pricked by the gospel, repent, and obey the truth. I also met Renee the other day. I asked her if she would be willing to study after I return from our mission trip to Hawaii (We leave this Wednesday and will return July 29). She said she would be willing. We thank God for these open doors and pray He gives the increase.”
New Union church of Christ, Manchester, Tennessee: Paul Fulks (elder) reports, “We had six visitors from the community. We filled out four contact cards and sent out 44 compassion cards. We met on Monday to assign visits. We have one ongoing Bible study.”
Madison County church of Christ, Jackson, Tennessee: Steven Sprouse (preacher) reports, “We have been delivering new mover baskets. We have four repeating visitors from new movers right now. One returned this Sunday after being gone for a few weeks. The other three are related to one another and dealing with illness. Cards are being sent to all of these and to two visitors from Sunday.”
McKenzie church of Christ, Tennessee: Randy McAdams (elder) reports, “We handed out our group 2 contact cards yesterday, with six cards being sent. We just added one more today, making seven for the month. We are finding that contacts surface throughout the month, which makes it a little difficult to track them into all the groups. But I have a system now that seems to help track this a little easier.”
Celina church of Christ, Tennessee: Daniel Burton (member) reports, “The congregation remains encouraged with the results of the third study with a precious soul. We have a new brother in Christ! Study three went as anticipated, and the word of God pricked this individual’s heart. To God be the glory! The simplicity of these three little books containing the good news is amazing. There have also been other areas of success. We were made aware of an individual from Sparta who watched the evangelism training on Celina’s YouTube page and used the Back to the Bible studies to baptize an individual. Also, a member at Celina gave a couple of copies of the BTTB books to a Christian friend. The friend had two Bible studies, and the result was two baptisms. The first card group meeting went well and 227 cards were sent in week one. Great work, to say the least! We have started visiting our new movers. We are averaging about ten per month. A couple of us visited a few before sending others into the field. Nothing is more beneficial than real-life experience. This experience and the information from HTHSOE will be taught to the rest of the flock. We had seven visitors last Sunday. The fields are plentiful. It’s now time to show them the care and compassion needed. All our coordinators are in place and are very happy to be involved. Every one of them is focused and ready to evangelize. We are beginning to work on the transition visit. It will be time very soon to make those visits. We will be prepared. The teaching and preaching are keeping everyone motivated and wanting to be involved. We will continue to pray for this work and for doors to be opened.”
Hillsboro church of Christ, Tennessee: Chris Sliger (member) reports, “Hillsboro has a member’s meeting @ 6:00 pm on Wed, 07/17, to discuss evangelism strategies. The goal is to encourage everyone to reach out into the community and dig deep for additional contacts, so we don’t become stagnant. Card Team C met Sunday evening to write compassion cards to six (6) contacts. New Movers met last weekend (07/06) to knock on doors, and the candidates from that door-knocking made it to the contact list for compassion cards.”
Mountain Creek church of Christ, Chattanooga, Tennessee: Michael Tomshack (elder) reports, “Our VBS begins this weekend, and we are excited to implement the Evangelism process this year. Michelle Massey will coordinate the collection of data from Saturday through Wednesday. Each family attending any day will receive, in addition to a direct invitation, an email immediately following the conclusion of VBS thanking them for attending, assembly times, and Bible study offer. Anyone requesting prayers will be assigned to the Compassion Card Team with a follow-up from the Visitation Team. Any family attending two or more nights who are not active members of the church elsewhere will be sent a card inviting them back, with those in our immediate area added to additional cards and our Visitation Team. Our greeters each night will be alerted to visitors’ needs and life events and will pass them along to our Compassion Card Team and then Visitation Team. Lord willing, we plan to intentionally reach those in our immediate area with our community outreaches this year. We have three open events, along with the Backpack Meal Program with the Elementary School across the street, headed by Stan and Becky Corbett.”
Hebron church of Christ, McMinnville, Tennessee: Derrick Stiles (preacher) reports, “Another wonderful Lord’s Day coupled with the development of new contacts and prospects as we began our Gospel Meeting with Bro. Don Blackwell. On Sunday night, we were blessed by the response of one of our young people after her parents’ work in teaching her God’s word and a lesson from Bro. Don on ‘The Frailty of Life’ she was ready to put Christ on in baptism. We are continuing the work of Evangelism this week and gaining more contacts with our meeting!”
Rivergate church of Christ, Madison, Tennessee: Doug Tooley (preacher) reports, “We had two visitors on Sunday. Both are single men, and they have visited multiple times. One of our elders has made a connection with these men. We may be close to a Bible study with at least one of them. We had three visits last week. We currently have 27 people on our prospect list. Some of those have gone through 4 rounds of cards and will be reviewed by the elders to determine the next step.”
Chapel Hill church of Christ, Tennessee: Matt Jones (deacon) reports, “We have been working hard. Cards are being written, and new mover baskets are delivered. Many visits are being made to visitors and other contacts. We have had a great response recently to our most recent visits. We have several active Bible studies and many new converts we are workinging with as they have begun their new walk in Christ. God is certainly working, and to God be the glory!”
Freewill church of Christ, Gainesboro, Tennessee (remote): Andrew Scott (preacher) reports, “Good morning, brother, so thankful for this good news and great success at Branson. We rejoice with Caleb Nelson as he was baptized into Christ this past Wednesday night. He, his brother, and his girlfriend have been attending Freewill with us for some time. Caleb was baptized at the McCoinsville congregation, where his parents attended. We look forward to having these three working with us at Freewill. We also rejoice as we had another restoration last night. We continue to make contacts and reach out again to some that have fallen away. God is good, and we give Him the glory.”
North Bradley church of Christ, Cleveland, Tennessee: Keith Wilson (preacher) reports, “Awesome! We did our visits yesterday, got out, and delivered some baskets to contacts. It went well!”
Graceton church of Christ, Diana, Texas: Johnny Willeford (elder) reports, “One week after hurricane Beryl passed over us here in East Texas, things seem to be returning to our normal weather. We started our annual Gospel Meeting on Sunday with John McCormick. He is excited about your family training their congregation in Missouri in February. Our Compassion Card Group met Sunday afternoon and will send 81 cards to 11 families this week. We had four families visit with us for worship services Sunday morning and many visitors for the evening service to attend the gospel meeting. We will be having our Family VBS in two weeks. Please pray for these two endeavors.”
Granbury Street church of Christ, Cleburne, Texas: Ryan Cowan (deacon) reports, “All Christians require spiritual growth. Babes in Christ need fellowship with their brethren. Our elders have worked to ensure that Granbury Street’s new Christians have been actively involved in a ‘foundations’ class taught by Will Cammack. Will has taught several subjects from works by Bobby Bates and Kevin Rhodes. In addition to this class, we have also been working on our ‘Keepers’ program. Cody Grinnell, a member, is working to ensure that our new converts have opportunities for spiritual development and fellowship. He is also trying to tie up ‘loose ends’ like ensuring that our new converts have had a tour of the building, have met all our elders, and are being developed to serve in some way. This is an important effort. New baptisms are a wonderful thing, but retention is key. Cody is working hard to meet these needs.”
Wheeler church of Christ, Texas: Garrett English (preacher) reports, “This Sunday’s sermon was on being ready for baptism. That afternoon, Mary wanted to be 100% sure that her sins were forgiven. So, she made the good confession of Jesus as Lord and Christ and was baptized into Christ for the remission of her sins (Acts 2:38) and was added to the Church (Acts 2:47). I believe her example will spur more baptisms as people consider the sermon. Another member’s daughter was baptized just last week. I studied last week with a frequent visitor and gave her the Searching for Truth book to keep studying. She is truly seeking God and a deacon plans to study with her as soon as possible.”
Bridgewater church of Christ, Katy, Texas: Doug Suggs (deacon) reports, “At Bridgewater one of our Compassion Card Teams met to address cards to prospects. The man who came from our door hangers, Pedro, has been to our services every week. Andre has been studying with some teachers he works with.”
Southwest church of Christ, Austin, Texas: John Garza (regional trainer), “Today, we rejoice with Amanda Rodriguez, as she decided to be baptized for the forgiveness of her sins and added to the Lord’s body, His church. After reading our sign every day, a few weeks ago, she decided to visit. Welcomed by the love of the congregation, she came forward that morning after hearing an excellent sermon by Cody Westbrook. Immediately afterward, Jo-Jo (one of our graduating students) set up a Bible study with her. Three weeks later, we have a new sister in Christ. Jo-Jo said concerning the final study: “This morning, we went over the last booklet, Back to the Bible. I asked her again about the certainty of her salvation. She had been baptized once before. At that time, she thought baptism was just an act she did because God wanted her to do it. She didn’t know it was for the remission of her sins. She believed that her salvation began when she ‘believed.’ As we studied, we went through the passages that emphasized, ‘be baptized to be saved’ or ‘be baptized for the remission of your sins.’ She agreed that her baptism was wrong, and it’s not something she wants to risk.”
Windmill church of Christ, Texas (remote): Sean Tipton (deacon) reports, “We have been in a transition period as Eric Tipton, who was assisting in getting the program going, has returned to full-time status at preaching school. Additionally, we have had several other coordinators move, so we will reorganize while focusing on continuing our contacts and compassion card writing. Thanks to a good group of workers, we currently have eight contacts, two Bible studies, and one ongoing new convert study.”
Clearfield church of Christ, Utah (remote): Daniel Welker (preacher) reports, “Jennifer and I have arrived in Clearfield, Utah, where I am the new minister here. The elders have a true heart for evangelism. I have my first study with a visitor named Mary today. One of the elders talked with her and got her information. She indicated she would like to learn more about the Bible. I followed up and made an appointment. The four new Christians the church has had since my tryout are still active. On my first Sunday, I was at the church through a baby shower for Angel, my best friend’s wife, who was baptized the night before my tryout sermon. Several families visit whose names are being added to the prospect list. We had a great Sunday at Wasatch Church of Christ, with several repeat visitors. We have a second Bible study scheduled for Thursday, and we will start Back to the Bible with a newlywed couple. My wife and I had lunch on Sunday when they visited the church.
West Side church of Christ, Salem, Virginia: Jeff Durham (elder) reports, “As part of our Sunday morning class, we shared stories from those currently working with prospects towards setting up a Bible study. They expressed the various hurdles they’ve encountered so far. Suggestions were offered for possible solutions to overcome those obstacles, which included offering childcare so the parents could have a date night and having someone from the congregation who has experienced similar life challenges also connect with them. Sunday evening, we wrote 78 compassion cards to be mailed this week.”
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