York church of Christ, Pennsylvania: We welcome the York church of Christ to the House to House/Heart to Heart School of Evangelism. We really enjoyed reuniting with their preacher, Fred Nowell, and his wife Pam. They are served by three elders. The congregation is ready to get to work. We look forward to watching them develop the HTHSOE model.
North Meadville church of Christ, Pennsylvania: We welcome the North Meadville church of Christ to the House to House/Heart to Heart School of Evangelism. They were very hospitable, and the attendance was outstanding. Their preacher is Bryon Shultz, and they are served by two elders. Bryon reports, “We just had a meeting to introduce some of what we will be organizing as we plan the schedule. We also passed out the contact list cards.”
Sunrush church of Christ, Chillicothe, Ohio: Jeryl Webb (deacon) reports, “We started a weekly flyer last week. It is called, ‘Sunrush Evangelism News,’ and we are using it to keep our members encouraged and informed. We started a weekly toolbox section in the flyer to highlight specific evangelistic tools. This week’s tool was the evangelism bookmarks. We also started using the Back to the Bible lessons in our teenage class.”
Covington church of Christ, Tennessee: Wayne Dalrymple (elder) reports, “It has been another productive week at Covington. I assisted Neil and Ashley as they studied with Cody and Brenda on Sunday afternoon. We completed book 3. Cody was baptized into Christ at around 12-years-old at another congregation. He has been astray for years. He wants to recommit his life to Christ. His wife, Brenda, has a background in the church of God. She thinks her baptism was for the forgiveness of sins, but she is uncertain. We stressed the importance of understanding that baptism puts you into the one church. Please continue to pray for these two.
“Eric and Dale Presley are still studying with Alan and Debbie. They are from a Mormon background. They also believe their baptisms were for the forgiveness of sins, which the Mormons teach. Again, we are trying to help them understand the importance of knowing about the one true church at baptism.
“Also on Sunday, three people placed membership. Robert and Debra Brownlee just moved to Covington from the other side of the county and want to work under our elders. Judy Burrow just moved from Texas a few weeks ago and has decided to work with the church here. We will be finding ways to get them involved immediately in the work of growing the church.
“Each Sunday morning, Jerry Gatlin, one our elders, has been reminding the congregation of the life cycle of the church; he used the slide you sent. He is also encouraging us to fill out our bookmarks and select some to add to our contact list.
“We also delivered the rest of our new movers’ baskets from June’s list this week. We will be assembling baskets for July’s list in the next few days. Our new converts class continued Sunday. It is great to see how full it is! The Lord is truly blessing us with growth.”
Parkway church of Christ, Kentucky: Will Hester (preacher) reports, “We have started the process of putting people into Compassion Card teams. Our evangelism table is not fully complete, but it is coming along nicely. We will order a table liner, and we will hang the poster (final picture coming). We will begin sending out cards next week in concert with the third lesson of the John 4 series.”
University church of Christ, Montgomery, Alabama: Austin Faires (elder) reports, “This Sunday morning, we had two more families who placed membership at the University Church of Christ. In the last two years, we have been blessed to have more than 20 families/individuals to place membership with us. We are encouraging our new members to work in His kingdom. From January through May of this year, 70 families/individuals have moved into the 36109-area code, and we have knocked on 70 doors. Our New Movers Ministry is bringing us many new contacts. The leaders in the Evangelism Program are planning to meet before school begins so that we may reorganize some of our efforts and recruit more workers. We continue to have many local visitors. We are doing our best to keep track of these visitors so we may visit with them. The Good News of the gospel is only good if it gets there in time. Press on.”
Greenfield church of Christ, Tennessee: Clint Monroe (elder) reports, “We had our second evangelism meeting on Sunday evening. The elders and preachers discussed how to align our service groups to our evangelism groups. We discussed group leader assignments as well as ongoing Bible studies and potential new Bible studies. Brent, our pulpit minister, delivered the first part of a powerful sermon entitled “People reaching People.” At the family devotional, Brent also encouraged our young people to talk to their friends about God and what He has done for us. Several contacts were made during our VBS. We will be following up on them in the upcoming weeks.”
Fayette church of Christ, Alabama: Kaleb Hall (preacher) reports, “We did book 2 of Back to the Bible on Sunday, and we are continuing to prospect 28 contacts through our compassion card teams as we work the plan. I have at least five more contacts that we have not prospected yet just because we cannot do any more right now. As soon as the four weeks are up with these 28 contacts, I will add more. Our folks are turning in names like crazy!”
Deerfield church of Christ, Birmingham, Alabama: Richard Harp (preacher) reports, “Jeffrey’s study with the Peachtree Residents has been on hold due to a Covid surge. Pam Duke is planning to study with Richard when she gets out of hospital. Melvin is still studying with his friend. We have several members who have left the books with family members. At the end of the month, we will have a back-to-school drive, and we are praying that this will be an opportunity to gain contacts and prospects.”
Warner Robbins church of Christ, Georgia: Daniel Stearsmen (preacher) reports, “I just returned from a mission trip. We have revamped our congregational prospect list with the elders. We have around 30 people to prospect, and it is good to have a plan. We have VBS for five nights this week, and that means more contacts!”
Honolulu church of Christ, Hawaii: Tagiilima Esene (preacher) reports, “Aloha from the Honolulu congregation! This week we hope to start two Bible studies with souls that we have been prospecting. Our shepherds are currently working with our secretary and preacher to go over our yearly calendar and implement new works as necessary. We will also refocus some of the work we do yearly. The goal is to ensure that we have an evangelistic focus in all our works. Thank you, Church, for sharing great and encouraging news from other parts of our country. May God bless us all as we faithfully serve Him. Mahalo, Lima.”
Aberdeen church of Christ, Maryland: Will Brown (preacher) reports, “This week the card team is sending cards to the first group of contacts that are sick. On Sunday, we received contact cards for families that are struggling. The church is beginning to understand what contacts are and how to prospect. We are encouraging members to set up Bible studies with their contacts. Training continues on how to use each Back to the Bible lesson. This week at VBS, the children will bring a different item each day to place in welcome baskets for visitors and new movers.”
New Hope church of Christ, Middleton, Tennessee: Cole Wade (preacher) reports, “We recently delivered meals to 175 people! We had over half of our church attendance take part in preparing and delivering, and it was very encouraging! The growth of this ministry has added numerous contacts and prospected many souls. Yesterday afternoon, we had several reach out to us, expressing their appreciation for the New Hope congregation. God is providing souls for us to help, and we are excited about His providence!”
Northern Oaks church of Christ, San Antonio, Texas: Mel Hutzler (elder/preacher) reports, “We had another baptism. Anthony Castillo had several studies with Vince who was baptized into Christ Thursday. We also had 177 in attendance for our Summer Youth Night, and we have VBS coming up this Saturday. We have cards continuously going out, contacts being prospected, and Bible Studies being conducted. We hope to have more baptisms in the future.”
Siwell Road church of Christ, Jackson, Mississippi: Derek Broome (preacher) reports, “This week we had our annual Health Fair and Clothing Giveaway, which always gets a great response from the community. Events like this give us a wonderful opportunity to meet and talk to new people. As of Saturday, we have set up 18 Bible studies and correspondence courses. It was a great day, but to make it even better, Hope Jamison was baptized into Christ Saturday evening. It was wonderful to be able to celebrate another soul obeying the Gospel. On Sunday, we had numerous visitors. The whole congregation did a wonderful job making sure each visitor felt welcome. One of these visitors indicated a desire to study with someone. Yesterday, we assigned the 19 Bible studies and correspondence courses to various ones who are willing to teach. We are looking forward to hearing how each study progresses as we pray continually for ongoing studies and open doors.”
Linville Forest church of Christ, North Carolina: Kelly Brown (preacher) reports, “We are still working with two different couples. One has been out of town this past week. We have four new contacts and are working on making them prospects. We pray that will happen soon. These contacts are young couples, and our younger couples are working with them. Keep us in your prayers as we continue to work on these contacts.”
Coweta church of Christ, Oklahoma: Keno Shrum (preacher/elder) reports, “The study we had this past week went well. We worked hard to stay focused as the prospect asked many questions that were off topic. However, we steered him back to the study and stayed on track. Overall, the study went well, and we will be doing lesson 2 next week as he travels out of town for work every other week. We also took some new movers’ baskets out this past week and welcomed some new people into the community. One new couple to our area visited our congregation on the recommendation of a minister about 80 miles from here. I have never met this minister, but he told this new couple that if they were looking for a working, sound congregation, they would find that with the Coweta church of Christ. It is encouraging that those around this area recognize our congregation as one that works in spirit and truth. Please keep us in your prayers as we continue to bring glory to God and share the gospel message.”
Highway church of Christ, Benton, Arkansas: Steven Ford (preacher) reports, “We are prospecting a few contacts and working to get to study with a couple of individuals. Cards are going out, and many have contacted us with gratitude for the love expressed through the compassion cards.”
Eastridge church of Christ, Chattanooga, Tennessee: Charles Cochran (preacher) reports, “We had a baptism yesterday. Joel Sawyer was baptized. Steve Plemmons baptized him and will follow up with Bible studies. I visited a correspondence course home and gave a Bible to the daughter of the lady who is doing the study. We also had a contact through our benevolent work. We will follow up. Our benevolent workers went to help another congregation in our area. They gave assistance to 51 people. A young person was baptized in Bible camp. Allen Womack and his wife went to Panama to plan a mission trip in November. The trip will include a building campaign, a ladies’ seminar, and an evangelistic campaign.”
Towne Acres church of Christ, Muncie, Indiana: Mark Reynolds (preacher) reports, “Shannon Light was baptized into Christ after several weeks of studying with Norman Light, one of our elders and Shannon’s father-in-law. Our compassion card groups continue to send cards each week, and we have two ongoing studies taking place.”
Westside church of Christ, Muncie, Indiana: Mike Gors (preacher) reports, “We have sent out 50 cards to five prospects, and we are planning for a day to follow-up with them. The contacts have slowed down, and we are not seeing as many bookmarks being carried around, so we are going to refresh the program.”
Forestview church of Christ, Memphis, Tennessee: Tim Roland (preacher) reports, “Bob Cooley, one of our elders, and I conducted lesson 3 in BTTB studies. We were hopeful going in, but unfortunately the lady dug in and maintained that she had obeyed the gospel as revealed in Scripture. She had stated her experience, which included accepting Jesus into her heart; she said she was saved and then was baptized a week later. She admitted she really did not understand what she did because at that time she was just following what her friends were doing. I tried to show her how Jesus taught salvation from Mark 16:16, but she insisted she was saved. We were disappointed, but on the positive side, she agreed to continue studying, so we will keep trying. Thankfully, she did not close the door to further studies. Please pray that she might be receptive to the gospel later. Sometimes the gospel seed takes time to germinate! We continue to mail out compassion cards and encourage our visitors. We are receiving good feedback and appreciation for the cards and prayers. We continue to have good numbers of visitors, and we will keep working at prospecting our contacts!”
Rogersville church of Christ, Tennessee: Ethan Tate (preacher) reports, “This week has led to a lot of follow-ups with those who have reached week 4 on our compassion card listing. We were able to have two Bible studies this week with one man starting Back to the Bible and the other going into book 2. We are currently collecting clothes to give to children who need clothing for school. VBS is scheduled, and we ask for your prayers as we are in our final preparations for the incoming visitors and for spiritual growth. We also want to thank all who reached out to us to help make VBS more evangelistic. We really appreciate your wisdom and help for us to save souls!”
Schertz church of Christ, Texas: Jay Stewart (elder) reports, “This week Schertz held our first VBS in three years. We were blessed to have children from the Guadalupe Valley and Randolph congregations. The numbers were small, but we were glad to hold the event. There was great feedback from all who participated. While not explicitly covering the BTTB material, the teachers did make references to our evangelism work. We also had a sister who updated the skirt for our evangelism table, and it looks fantastic (picture attached). We are still encouraging and training members to bring names to develop contacts and prospects for Bible studies. After our morning service on Sunday, one person responded and requested a Bible study. Brother Crowley is setting the appointment to make it happen.”
Paintsville church of Christ, Kentucky: Zach Collins (preacher) reports, “This past Sunday, we had a meeting with our elders and team leaders to plan for the events of the future. We will be scheduling our first door-knocking campaign in the coming weeks. We have set up our HTH Mailings and received our first new movers’ information. Pray for our efforts!”
Woodstock church of Christ, Georgia: Greg Garner (deacon) reports, “The Compassion Cards Group made 11 cards this week for three individuals. We have six Bible Studies in progress, with one scheduled this week. We made 21 new mover baskets and delivered nine this week. Our Service Project Group has reached out to 14 of our new mover recipients to see if they had any needs. We will be helping one need this week. We made one visit to a visitor. Our Personal Evangelism Class has started role playing with Back to the Bible Book 2.”
Riverbend church of Christ, Georgia: Austin Fowler (member) reports, “On Wednesday night, Valorie completed study number three with her sister. After the study, she was baptized into Christ! Welcome our new sister, Rhonda Elliot. Valorie is happy that her sister is now also her sister in Christ! On Sunday, our compassion card groups met. We sent 110 cards this week. Some of our team members have a plan to visit contacts in a few weeks. One is a very good contact for a Bible study. We still have several ongoing Bible studies. It has just been difficult to agree on times to study because of my travel schedule right now. Lord willing, once summer is over, I will be able to complete the studies.”
Chase Park church of Christ, Huntsville, Alabama: Pat Cowden (preacher) reports, “We continued our follow-up studies with our newest convert this week, in addition to our new convert classes on Sundays. In that study, we discussed his attempts to reach some of his family members. Between Thursday evening and Sunday afternoon, we set up studies with two of his cousins and perhaps their spouses. Please pray for these studies as well as for the hearts of those involved and for Joe to maintain his red-hot evangelistic zeal. Some of his family members appear to be interested, but some are disappointed. We need to pray that he continues to be strong and courageous in the Lord as he shares his faith with those close to him, realizing that this puts his relationships with them at risk. This is true for all of us when we reach out to share our faith with our loved ones.”
Canal Heights church of Christ, Demopolis, Alabama: Bryan Cook (preacher) reports, “I am excited to announce that we had our first visitor from the new movers’ baskets. It seems we made a connection when we visited. Also, we have had two individuals who said they want to be baptized. One is still studying through the books, and the other individual is a former member who is wondering about his original baptism. There is still excitement in the congregation, even though we lost such a wonderful worker in the death of Marie Collins. The teams have rallied to take up the slack. It is a wonderful thing to see us growing spiritually and seeing the return of excitement about reaching for the lost. Each week we brainstorm about who to focus on in our contact bookmarks. Continue to pray for our efforts as we pray for you all.”
Coldwater church of Christ, Kentucky: Luke Puckett (preacher) reports, “This past Sunday, we had repeat visitors who have been with us the past two weeks. Unfortunately, they were unable to go out to eat with us after the service. Our elders and I have talked with them after services. We are getting to know them and pray this will help us to build a relationship with them soon. We also had a visitor come to our evening service. We have helped him with tornado relief efforts. We continue to get contacts through the tornado relief efforts and are following up on them. We also sent out several compassion cards this week and will follow up with in home visits soon.”
NOTE: These reports are from Christians and congregations enrolled in the House to House/Heart to Heart School of Evangelism. These emails are sent to teach and provoke one another to remain focused on the mission of Christ. Each week, we share several reports and highlight one with more details. We hope you enjoy reading them.
Recent Comments