Success Stories: July 30, 2025

Glencoe church of Christ, Alabama: Keith Ritchie (evangelist) reports, “The Glencoe congregation continues to be blessed with excellent attendance, contacts, Bible studies, and growth. Yesterday we had another opportunity to take visitors out to eat and create a connection. We also have a new brother in Christ, Darrell Evans. Rob and Nicole began studying with him a year ago but were unable to complete it.  Recently he moved back, and the studies resumed. He was baptized Sunday afternoon. We still have four studies and pray for more opportunities. The evangelistic Ladies’ Day yielded a couple of contacts that we are going to be sending cards to and praying for. Growth also means opportunities for fellowship that will create bonds that can help in strengthening our relationship with God and our faithfulness to Him. We have so much going on at Glencoe. Please continue to pray for us and our works. To God be the glory!”

Fayette church of Christ, Alabama: Josh Taylor (deacon) reports, “Today is a joyous occasion for the church at Fayette. Mia Taylor decided to put on Christ in baptism. You never know how much of an impact you are having with someone, but the Gospel works if you continually plant and water it. I want to give a special thanks to Indian Creek Youth Camp Gant Week for their decision to focus their entire week on the Gospel plan of salvation. This week began with her hearing the Word and ended in baptism. It was the lesson on baptism provided by Kaleb Hall that helped Mia realize something was missing in her life. After a discussion with her for a few days, I asked her to try and answer two questions: 1) what does baptism do for you and 2) if you died tonight before being baptized, would you go to Heaven? Her responses indicated she was aware of the necessary reasons for baptism. She felt like if she left this earth without being baptized, she would not go to Heaven. These questions have always been beneficial to help young people in making this decision. We are so glad through the evangelistic efforts of ICYC and some discussion with her parents, Mia was baptized into Christ. To God be the glory!”

Central church of Christ, Saraland, Alabama: David Dixon (preacher) reports, “I do not know what the statistics say about the stage at which new converts typically begin bringing visitors, but in our case, it does not usually take too long. Of course, not every new convert has brought someone else to Christ, but several of our most recent baptisms are the result of other new converts bringing someone. This Sunday, one of our new couples brought two visitors with them who seemed sincerely interested in learning more about the truth and the church. We look forward to developing that new relationship with them. Please keep one of our prospects in prayer. Cheryl Pace has health issues that are very concerning. This relationship is one we have nurtured over the last year and is just now beginning to develop into a point where we can suggest a Bible study. I am confident that she will obey the Gospel in short order, but her condition is serious. To date, we have had nine baptisms this calendar year, exceeding our yearly goal of eight. Since last March when we enrolled in the school of evangelism, we have had 21. Our attendance has exceeded 100 at least three weeks in a row. Praise be to God!”

Hartselle church of Christ, Alabama: Justin Smith (preacher) reports, “The past two weeks I have been recruiting and meeting with coordinators to discuss their roles and introduce them to the online curriculum. Our Visitors and New Movers ministries are taking firmer shape and will be fully launched soon. Our congregational training has gone well this summer. Several members have commented on their better understanding of our goals and processes because of the provided training. We have already seen some fruits from the labor put in so far, and we know God will provide even more as we continue to fully lean into the congregational model of evangelism.”

Hatton church of Christ, Town Creek, Alabama: Chris Miller (preacher) reports, “Our mission team is working in Coweta this week and we know a lot will come from that effort.  We currently have a study going on with a cancer patient and are prayerful they will obey the Gospel in the next few days. I know of another study going on that is a difficult one, but we are hopeful that it will result in multiple baptisms also.”

Creekwood church of Christ, Mobile, Alabama: Tucker Presley (preacher) reports, “We added our VBS guests to our prospect list, and a number of cards were written last night and will be sent out starting today. We still have two Bible studies going right now. David is in the final booklet with a couple that has been coming to Creekwood for quite some time. I’ve been studying with a young man who visited with his family and is interested in baptism. We’re scheduled to meet again this week. It seems like we’ve been having a lot of visitors lately as well, but that means we have more contacts and prospects!”

Highland Park church of Christ, Muscle Shoals, Alabama: Andrew Myham (deacon) reports, “Please be in prayer for our ongoing Bible studies. We also now are making the next steps to meet the needs of all the contacts we accumulated from VBS last week. We also added another person to our Bible Study team.”

Petersville church of Christ, Florence, Alabama: Adam Richardson (preacher) reports, “Petersville sent 42 compassion cards last week and our coordinators are scheduling our next meeting for August. We had the first Bible study with one of the couples on our contact list and it went great. They love the simple format of the Back to the Bible studies, and they are anticipating our next study.”

Cedar Grove church of Christ, Andalusia Alabama: Josh Holloway (preacher) reports, “This week we jumped back into our evangelism model this week after getting back from PTP Branson. We are doing great with our compassion card ministry. We have sent out over 400 cards this month so far. And they have been making a big difference. Several of the transition visits we are making are show great appreciation. They come with tears in their eyes and a stack of cards in their hands. One has led to a Bible study already. This week we went on several more visits. We conducted a Bible study with a man named Matt. It went really well, and he seems to be great soil. We had another restoration this past Wednesday. A lady named Carrie repented and rededicated her life to Christ. Also, one of our members who was baptized at a young age decided to obey the Gospel. She has been going through the Back to the Bible studies in the pews. She made the decision to be baptized by her husband with her children by her side. Our salvation goal is 15 for the year, but we are already at seven baptisms and five restorations for a total of 12 so far.”

Sunset church of Christ, Nashville, Arkansas: Zach Williams (preacher) reports, “The Lord’s church is thriving and growing! We sent out 225 cards last week. We have six active Bible studies (two already in Book 3), and we are following up with two new visitors from Sunday. Right now, we’re gearing up for our Summer Youth Series. This annual event has over 200 young people in attendance, many of whom are not Christians … yet! It’s one of our best prospect generators, and we’re praying for God to continue providing the increase.”

Rison church of Christ, Arkansas: Keden Shrum (preacher) reports, “Care Team A met Sunday evening to work on cards for six contacts. We are working to start a New Converts class with our most recent conversions.”

Mountain Home church of Christ, Arkansas: Joshua Adams (preacher) reports, “This past week we welcomed our new sister in Christ, Tisa, to the household of God. She was baptized last Tuesday. She studied with one of our great evangelist sisters, Jackie Jones. We had a potluck on Sunday and Tisa shared with me that she was filled with joy and that she was overwhelmed with how encouraging her new church family has been. This coming weekend we’re hosting our annual Teen Youth Rally, Christ Quest. We expect 400+ more teens from all over the area to come in for amazing lessons and breakout classes. It’s always encouraging to see the dozens and dozens of people that jump into action to help make this wonderful event a reality. Additionally, we had 18 people stay after our evening class to write over 130 compassion cards to be sent out this week!”

Windsor church of Christ, Colorado: Lucas Stephens (member) reports, “We have one Bible study going with one of our contacts/prospects, and it is going well. We have a separate women’s Bible class and an opportunity for a common class in our auditorium on Proverbs. We have our regularly scheduled evangelism meeting this week where we’ll discuss this week’s activities, and we continue to send compassion cards to our prospects.”

Margaret Street church of Christ, Milton, Florida: Troy Spradlin (preacher) reports, “Good news! We are once again rejoicing this week as another precious soul has put on Christ in baptism! Brian Richards has been searching for the truth for quite some time and found the church of Christ a few months ago. We immediately began studying Back to the Bible with him, but an unfortunate incident occurred during a worship service which upset him and prompted him to say he would not return. Recently however, he was watching our livestream and one of the sermons he heard convicted him. He called, wanting to continue the study about Biblical salvation. He had come to realize that the other places he had been searching were not teaching what the Bible says so plainly! His story is a testament to the power and simplicity of God’s word to convict the heart (John 16:8). We have more good news! Our recent VBS was not only a great success, with the largest crowd we have had in many years, but it also produced nine new contacts! What a joy it is to see the Lord’s church learning to place an evangelistic focus on everything we do!  Our current 2025 Year-to-Date Accountability Board numbers are: 201 Total Contacts received; 61 Visitors; 131 Neighbors (Prospects whom we have loved and/or studied with); 64 Bible studies (total completed); 1617 Compassion Cards sent (paused for VBS); 2 Restorations, and 15 Baptisms.”

Niceville church of Christ, Florida: Joe Palmer (preacher) reports, “Sunday was a big day and a great encouragement to our church family. On Saturday, we got notification that one of our recent visitors named Taelor, wanted to be baptized along with her nephew, Christian. Taelor had recently started to church with her sister Christina Schneider and her husband Ethan and their children Christian and Ellie.  Christina had been restored and placed membership a few weeks prior to this. Taelor had studied with one of our members, Greg Murry, during Bible class.  She brought up the topic of baptism, so he studied baptism with her.  Christian had been thinking about his relationship with the Lord for a while. In fact, Christian was the one that spurred the family to come back to church. He had been attending a denominational church close to his home for some time. As he begins to think about becoming a Christian, his mother knew she needed to get him involved in the Lord’s church. She had grown up in the church.  Her grandfather was a lifelong Gospel preacher.  Before the baptism took place, Ellie, Christian’s sister, also decided to commit her life to Christ. I had been planning to preach on ‘Worry’ last Sunday but, because of this, I changed my topic to ‘Regeneration’ from Titus 3:3-7.  At the end of the service three precious souls obeyed the Gospel. This week we sent out 38 cards and had three Bible studies.”

Lafayette church of Christ, Georgia: Jesse Teague (deacon) reports, “This week we had our monthly fellowship meal (typically the last Sunday of each month).   Often, this happens automatically … but it’s always good to be sure some well-seasoned members are sitting with the folks that may need some encouragement.  Maybe new Christians.  Maybe members whose attendance is not where it should be.  Maybe those who are going through a tough time.  If you spend time with them at a meal, and connect with them:  listen and encourage, you will both be blessed. Always looking for opportunities to spread the Gospel and strengthen the saints.”

Bremen church of Christ, Georgia: Scott Broughton (evangelist) reports, “It has been a busy two weeks at the Bremen congregation. In advance of our VBS on July 19th we hosted a cookout, hotdogs and hamburgers, for the community. We had many stop and great participation from our members. Our VBS had attendance of over 200 each night. During this week, we had a group of 18 travel to Ica, Peru for an Evangelism mission working with the Subtanjalla church of Christ. During the campaign we made over 1600 contacts and ended with 14 baptisms. On Sunday the 26^th, two members that obeyed the Gospel. Skylar Wilson and Barry Bracknell were presented with Bibles and a Baptismal certificate. Roger Campbell continues his Malaysia Evangelism mission.”

Edgewood church of Christ, Columbus, Georgia: Mitchell Deering (deacon) reports, “We completed six prospect visits, resulting in two new Bible studies scheduled for this week. With 92 more cards sent, we’ve reached 507 cards total for July, showing strong member involvement. We are excited to launch the Visitor Contact Program this Sunday to help us build better relationships with new guests. Visitor bags are now prepared and ready for distribution. Pew greeters have been established and are in place to ensure visitors are welcomed warmly and personally. We also have four additional follow-up visits scheduled this week, generated through the compassion card ministry.”

Cartersville church of Christ, Georgia (remote): Charles Harris (regional trainer) reports, “For the month of July we sent 95 compassion cards. We conducted 12 Bible studies. We baptized six into Christ in July and have had 12 for the year. To show how the model works, Cartersville averaged one to two baptisms a year. Going back to last year beginning to implement the model, we are averaging one to two baptisms a month.”

Eatonton Church of Christ, Georgia (remote): Roderick Coney (minister) reports, “We finished training the congregation using Growing in Christ study guide. We completed lesson one of Back to the Bible with two prospects last week. Please pray for these souls to obey the Gospel.”

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 seven non-Christian attendees. The HTH Door Knocking Campaign had four groups of volunteers knocking on 53 doors. Of those 53 doors, 15 contacts were made, and three will be added to the follow-up list. The Compassion Cards Group sent six compassion cards this week. WCOC had eleven non-Christian visitors this Sunday morning. We also had three Bibles studies last week.”

Collinsville-Troy church of Christ, Illinois: Jason Wright (elder) reports, “Things have been a bit slow this week due to the heat wave and sickness. We made two contacts on Saturday during our Back-to-School Backpack Giveaway. We mailed 137 compassion cards as we approach 4,000 for the year. We conducted two personal Bible studies this week.  We have multiple studies scheduled this week. Continuing to sow the seed!”

Judah church of Christ, Bloomington, Indiana: Joe Moon (preacher) reports, “We did have two visitors last week I forgot to mention in the last update. They have been being prospected with cards, and this was their second visit.  One of our men (and his family) has been trying to get a study with them and is going to have them over to his home. We have many prospects and will try to focus on getting them into studies.”

Lincolnway church of Christ, Columbia City, Indiana: Drew Reece (preacher) reports, “We are hard at work in the curriculum. We are excited to really set things into motion and are eager to continue the method. We set up our evangelism table this week and the members have been talking about so many ways that that we can evangelize and reach the lost.”

Highland Village church of Christ, Bloomington, Indiana: Mark Stauffer (elder) reports, “Highland Village church of Christ mailed 57 cards so far this month. We have had four visitors at worship, have three prospects, made four visits and had two Bible studies in July. We have had one baptism so far this year. Our goal is three. We have been training the congregation about the ten levels of evangelism. This week we covered lesson 7, ‘Inviter’. We are also looking forward to an SOE refresher weekend in October.”

Beloit church of Christ, Kansas (remote):  Duston Dougherty (regional trainer) reports, “Good morning, Brother.  What a great day.  Vacation Bible School starts this evening at 6:30. We have a great group of Christians here from the Covington, TN church of Christ, helping us with this year’s VBS. It was great to have the nine of them at worship Sunday morning.  It’s been great getting to know them and working with them in preparation for this evening. We had our booth at the fair at the end of last week and had more contact with people, and there was more interest than in the prior three years combined. We gave out around 60 color changing cups with our logo on them, inside was a color changing pencil, a silicone wristband with a Bible verse on it and an invitation card to VBS. We handed out somewhere around 25 flyers, one Bible and one copy of Muscle and a Shovel. I was pleased with the outreach efforts at the fair this year. I’ve been texting Bob Davis, the new convert from PTP, every day with a video from the WVBS collection, 40 days in the Wilderness.  Great material to present to new converts. To God be the glory.”

Central church of Christ, Paducah, Kentucky: Adam Faughn (preacher) reports, “We were thrilled Sunday when, after Sunday morning services, Jacob King told us he was ready to be baptized. He lives in North Carolina and his wife, who is in Paducah for a traveling nursing job, was baptized a couple of weeks ago. But he had been studying also and, when he came to visit over the weekend, spent almost the entire afternoon on Saturday studying with his wife. He needed to do some more thinking, but, Sunday, he decided to be baptized for the remission of his sins, and we are thrilled!

We are also praying for Amanda. Her study had to be postponed due to a family issue, but she is ready to get to book 3 this week. In addition to all these, we had a booth at the county fair this past week. 70 people signed up for Bible studies! Most are wanting correspondence courses, but a few are looking for in-person studies, and these are already being followed up with. We hope to be able to report some more specific information about that in the coming weeks as we work through all these prospects. Only God knows the future, but we certainly are excited about the possibilities!”

Gonzales church of Christ, Louisiana: Patrick Adkins (deacon) reports, “The AM sermon was on mentoring, the PM sermon was part 1 of the Back to the Bible book 3. We have five studies going on, two ongoing prospects we have made two visits, signed 21 cards and are at 110 for July. We are continuing to make progress with the plan! Also setting up a mentoring program for new converts.”

Chalmette church of Christ, Louisiana: Scott Russell (member) reports, “Things are progressing slowly but surely in Chalmette. This week we had three visitors and picked up four prospects. We wrote approximately 30 cards. Also, we had a very productive meeting with Rob Whitacre taking a look at how things have been progressing over the last 3 months. Thank you for your continued prayers and guidance.”

La Plata church of Christ, Maryland (remote): Eric Sykes (regional trainer) reports, “We had three visitors this week. They are return visitors from last week and a result of our compassion cards. Our granddaughter, Janiah, completed lesson 1 of Back to the Bible with one of her classmates, yesterday via zoom. They’re scheduled to do lesson 2 on Thursday. This was her first time doing a study by herself. We’re so proud of her. Please lift her up in your prayers. Sister Angie finished studying lesson one of BTTB with her daughter and Sister Cynthia completed lesson two of BTTB with her granddaughters. They’re both students in our advanced teacher training class. We have 10 of our new converts enrolled in the ‘Your First 40 Days in the Wilderness’ a new convert’s video training course. They love it.  We sent out 36 compassion cards this week. We have six prospects. Our “advanced teacher training” class completed chapter 5 in How to Close the Study. We’ll study chapter 6 this week ‘Words to Use in Closing.’ Last week our Friday night ‘Video of the Week’ class viewed and discussed the video ’Is it My Fault If They Don’t Obey the Gospel?’ Great lesson that is informative and eye opening. Please keep us lifted up in prayer as we strive to do the Lord’s work here at the La Plata church of Christ.”

Beltway church of Christ, Maryland: LeAndre Johnson (minister) reports, “This past Sunday we went through Back to the Bible book 3, part 1. Last Wednesday we did Back to the Bible Book 1 Train-the-Trainer/Teacher.  We will finish up book one this week.”

Jackson church of Christ, Missouri: David Selvig (elder) reports, “Things are really starting to fall in place. The evangelism table is up and looking really nice. The teams for the compassion cards are in place. We did the survey and have passed out the Bookmarks. Yesterday morning, we had the first sermon from John 4, and we did the training during the PM service.  There seems to be a great amount of excitement in the congregation.  The evangelism team is meeting weekly to evaluate what has been done and where we are going next.  We are looking forward to the Bible studies that we know are coming!”

Iuka church of Christ, Mississippi: Sam Glover (preacher) reports, “While I was at Maywood, the congregation stayed active and working. We’ve had three new contacts established, each of whom have had a visit scheduled, as well as cards to follow up with. We’ve also had five recent contacts scheduled to reach out to with visits and cards as well.”

Aberdeen church of Christ, Mississippi: Jonathan Hagar (preacher) reports, “We started our sermons through Back to the Bible Sunday. We had a visitor, and she even came up to me after the service and expressed how much she liked the sermon. We gave her a visitor packet and got her information. We have two Bible studies scheduled for this Friday. I have one of the teens coming with me, and he is very excited to go. We had a door-knocking team go out this past Saturday and get three new contacts for the prospect list. We had a church trip to an Atlanta Braves game from which we had a visitor come (a teen boy), and we got his information to keep in contact with him.”

New Concord church of Christ, New Hampshire (remote): Shane Belanger (member) reports, “Greetings from the Concord church of Christ in New Hampshire. We are happy to announce that the Lord has added two souls to his church here in Concord! Bradyn and Jessica are young individuals who were searching for truth. Bradyn has been studying with us over the last several months, using the Back to the Bible series and also has been a part of many other Biblical studies. Jessica had begun her studies last week and made the decision to be baptized this past Sunday. We look forward to the second lesson this week with a man who we have been studying with consistently. We hope and pray that this man will be able to see the difference between the truth of the Bible and the denomination he belongs to. We are also meeting with another individual this evening who has inquired about the church here in Concord. Our studies and training are continuing each and every week, and we look forward to the church becoming more knowledgeable with the evangelistic program. We had a great time on Sunday after services with some practical lessons and role-playing on greeting and visiting with those who have visited with the church. I will be sending along some photos from the past week of the Concord church working hard in the Lord’s kingdom.”

East Flushing church of Christ, New York (remote): Clarence Jenkins (preacher) reports, “This past Wednesday and Lord’s Day we had the joyful blessing of worshipping, and fellowshipping with Bryce Mayfield, evangelist of the Southwest church of Christ in Texas, and his wife Shelby. They located us through the ‘Reaching the Lost: Success Stories’ email sent from Rob Whitacre every Wednesday. We were and are encouraged by their warm embrace and the God glorifying dynamic works they are doing in Texas. We are encouraged by them to go to work so much the more in the Lord’s vineyard. To God be the glory! We had seven visitors last Lord’s Day, after worship service we sought to watch the video ‘A Growing Church: One Soul at a Time.’ Due to technical difficulties the congregation will watch it individually, and Lord willing we will discuss it next Lord’s Day. Our metrics thus far for and through the month of July are 4 baptisms, 18 prospects, 2 bible studies, and 1 in a new convert study. We appreciate all prayers.”

Mountain Island church of Christ, Charlotte, North, Carolina: Clyde Gilbert (elder) reports, “We have two Bible studies that are ongoing. Also, we have one teenager who is planning on being baptized into Christ on Wednesday evening!”

Sanford church of Christ, North Carolina: Brian Hall (preacher) reports, “Our God is an amazing God! His Word is just as powerful today as it was 2000 years ago. Over the last two months He has blessed our congregation with 3 new souls added to the Kingdom. All praise to the Lord! Terry was the most recent one to put Christ on in baptism. Last Wednesday, he attended our mid-week services. It was the first time he had come to any of our gatherings. In that particular class, we were discussing the second chapter of Colossians, in particular the text where Paul mentions being buried with Christ in baptism. One of our members had shared with him an evangelism book, Muscle and a Shovel. He explained to me before his baptism that he had read the book in two days. Immediately following services, he expressed his need to be baptized for the forgiveness of his sins. A couple sat down with him and discussed God’s plan of salvation. He then reiterated his desire to put Christ on in baptism. The prior Wednesday Eric was baptized into Christ. He had been attending with a friend for several months. We met that Wednesday before Bible class and discussed what the Bible taught about being saved and the need for faithful living. We are excited to welcome him into the family of God! About two months ago, our new sister Aleah was immersed into Jesus Christ for remission of her sins. She and her husband have been attending services with our church for about a year and half before her baptism. Throughout that time, she had continued to study her Bible. We all greatly rejoiced at her decision to put Christ on in baptism! It is amazing to see the power of God’s word at work in our community!”

New Concord church of Christ, Ohio: Terry Townsend (preacher) reports, “We had two first time visitors on Sunday morning (one a denominational preacher). Both received welcome gifts. Unfortunately, neither one filled out their address on our visitor cards so that there could be follow-up. One Bible study continues with a young man who is currently attending a denomination. One of our members is planning to visit and study with one of her former co-workers who has stage five cancer. She plans to use Does It Matter with him initially. Our New Mover team has been given their new list and will soon be making those deliveries. I received a text from another one of our members this week stating that one of her neighbors is very depressed and has a desire to believe/know the Lord. This woman has had many struggles in life. Our sweet dear sister has reached out to her hoping that maybe a personal visit and Bible study can be arranged.”

Alkire Road church of Christ, Grove City, Ohio: Tony Dunnagan (member) reports, “Six visitors, four contact cards, four prospects, two new Bible studies, five ongoing Bible studies, and one baptism. The new sister’s first name is Taylor, and I apologize but forgot her last name. Her boyfriend and friend came with her, and we are setting up studies with them. We are preparing to begin transition visits. Things are moving in the right direction.”

Owasso church of Christ, Oklahoma: David Combs (elder) reports, “Yesterday morning the elders sat in on a New Converts class where the topic of discussion was elders. Great class and very informative for new converts to get a basic knowledge about shepherds. In morning worship, we enjoyed an excellent sermon from Romans 7 titled,’ Are You in a Losing Battle.’ At the close of our service Tim Bowman, our Spark Plug, gave us a pep talk, an update, and led us in prayer for the people in our bookmark cards as well as for the success of the overall evangelism effort. Sunday evening our lesson was from Philippians 2:12-18, ‘Work Out Your Salvation.’ Following evening services Team 4 met in the annex to write compassion cards. Around 20 writers sat down to write 225 cards for 15 prospects. Prospect Timeline: 6 are on week 3, 8 are on week 2, 1 is on week 1. We currently have six Bible studies in progress.”

Coweta church of Christ, Oklahoma: Keno Shrum (regional trainer) reports, “Jamie and I were blessed to spend the past weekend in San Antonio at the Northern Oaks congregation for a Congregational Refresh and Continued Education training. Meanwhile, in Coweta, we had 73 present for our first night of VBS. We are so thankful to our brothers and sisters who came from the Hatton church of Christ in Alabama to help us. Monday we knocked doors and got nine contacts! As soon as VBS is over, we will start prospecting these contacts!”

Whispering Hills church of Christ, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma: Matt McBrayer (preacher) reports, “We had 13 visitors and sent out 60 compassion cards this past Sunday. We are giving out our first new movers basket this week, and we are looking forward to this new opportunity. Of our 13 visitors this past week we had a couple that just moved into the area and seem like they may be good prospects. We have had low visitors for several weeks now (maybe somehow related to summer). We needed that encouragement. We have been teaching through Back to the Bible for several weeks now, and we are almost done. We have been doing a deep dive trying to give further confidence to our brethren for doing personal Bible studies. We really need to pick up the pace in our minds as we are behind in our goals. We want to have 20 baptisms this year and are at six for the moment. We pray everyone is succeeding in this work and that no one will ‘grow weary in well doing.’”

Union church of Christ, South Carolina (remote): Kent Thompson (member) reports, “We had a pretty good week with one Bible study, and another one had eye surgery. Keep praying for us!”

Fayette church of Christ, Tennessee: Steve Jefferson (elder) reports, “We had our annual VBS July 13-16 followed by PTP Branson. Our VBS averaged about 105 per night with visitors from our community and area congregations. We had online registration as well as in person. We will go over the registration and add to our contact list as needed. At this time, we have three open Bible studies.”

New Union church of Christ, Manchester, Tennessee: Paul Fulks (elder) reports, “We had seven visitors this past week with one new contact card submitted. We wrote 19 compassion cards. We made four visits and had two in our New Converts class.”

Cookeville church of Christ, Tennessee: Josh Kennedy (preacher) reports, “We currently have three studies going on right now. We have five people set up for compassion cards, and one that we are supposed to visit here soon. The new movers’ baskets have been given out and should be going to their destinations. Hope all is well with y’all and your work!”

Grundy Street church of Christ, Tullahoma, Tennessee: John Summers (preacher) reports, “For our morning worship service, we continued our study from Back to the Bible Lesson 1, which went well.  In our auditorium Sunday morning Bible study, we outlined our Care Cards (Compassion Cards) plans for the congregation and how we plan to roll those out in August.  For this next week, we’ll conclude with the Back to the Bible lesson 1 series for our morning worship service on 8/3, Lord willing.”

Arlington church of Christ, Tennessee: Brandon Tibbits (preacher) reports, “We are continuing the process. The congregation and leadership are growing. I got multiple messages last week talking about people they spoke to regarding coming to worship with us, and it encourages me as the minister to hear those taking the messages to heart. I can see the boat starting to change directions towards being a force for evangelism! And it’s always good to be reminded of the process and that many are called and few are chosen.”

Chapel Hill church of Christ, Tennessee: Matt Jones (deacon) reports, “Recently one of our members handed out a copy of Muscle and a Shovel to a member in our community. She called him recently after reading the book on her own and desired to be baptized. After a Bible study to ensure her understanding, she was baptized that same night for the remission of her sins.  We all rejoiced with our new sister in Christ!”

Blackman church of Christ, Murfreesboro, Tennessee: Brian McCord reports, “For the month of July was sent out 105 Compassion Cards, made 16 visits, and have six ongoing Bible studies.  We have had one baptism out of our goal of six for the year.”

Stewarts Creek church of Christ, Smyrna, Tennessee: Jon McCord (member) reports, “We’ve done 262 compassion cards so far, 11 prospects, and there has been one visit made. However, at the moment, I don’t know the result on how it went. The Coordinator for Transition Visit wants to set up an extra training class. We’ve given out five visitor bags. We are still waiting on finalizing the setup of the New Movers program.”

Mountain Creek church of Christ, Chattanooga, Tennessee: Michael Tomshack (elder) reports, “On Sunday evening, we held our quarterly congregational meeting and fellowship meal to review progress toward our 10, 3, 1-year, and quarterly goals. Following the meeting, the men were dismissed, and a women’s meeting was held to further discuss areas where they specifically work in. This was followed by the fellowship meal. The HTH School of Evangelism process was included in the discussion. While we are pleased with the five baptisms we have completed, the pace is trailing our goal track. We have three studies in various stages of progress and two more about to begin. However, the summer months have not yielded the life event contacts we need for a robust pipeline. Therefore, we reiterate the need and emphasize the importance of acquiring new contacts. We are retooling some areas as members have relocated out of state or require a break for various reasons. This demonstrates that the process is a living system, not a static system that can be set once and left unattended. Life events occur within the congregation, necessitating quarterly reviews of the process to identify weaknesses and strengths. Incorporating new members into the process is crucial to facilitate their involvement and sense of belonging. The quarterly meetings of the congregation are vital for disseminating various information to the congregation and facilitating Q&A sessions afterward. Transparency is paramount, while acknowledging that some items may be sensitive and cannot be shared regarding individual members. May we strive to honor God’s glory in all our endeavors.”

Ocoee Street church of Christ, Copper Hill, Tennessee: R.E. Vann (elder) reports, “Saturday was an answer to many months of compassion and prayer as Bill Yates put on Christ in baptism. Bill has terminal cancer, and most likely won’t be with us much longer. While studying the word of God together he said to our preacher, ‘Spencer, I just want to get it right!’ The word of God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Thankful for Bill’s heart and desire to be right with God. Prayers offered for Bill, and his family would be treasured. Our Gospel Meeting begins this Sunday. We are praying for more contacts, Bible studies, restorations and baptisms. All glory to God.”

McEwen church of Christ, Tennessee: John Jones (preacher) reports, “One of our members studied the Bible with her sister. Her husband baptized her late Friday night. This has been a great encouragement to our whole congregation. Praise God!”

Collierville church of Christ, Tennessee: Justin Evergarden (evangelist) reports, “I wanted to share some wonderful news with you this week—we had a baptism! Sandy, our new brother in Christ, studied the Back to the Bible series with Aaron after hearing us go over it on Sunday mornings and decided to obey the Gospel. He was baptized into Christ later that same night. We rejoice with heaven and are excited to walk alongside him in his new life. We’ve officially completed our coordinator training. Everyone is now equipped and ready to move forward. We’re beginning the planning phase for our next major outreach and door-knocking campaign. Thank you for your continued support and prayers as we keep pressing forward with the mission.”

Soddy church of Christ, Tennessee: Joe Mallory (preacher) reports, “This past week, we have been busy setting up our Back-to-School Celebration, which will take place next Sunday. With much help and teamwork, we have prepared 60 backpacks which will be received by students in our community! Each backpack is filled with needed school supplies as well as an invitation card to come to our celebration just before the first day of school. We are praying that we will meet many families whom we may get to know and find prospects to study with. Yesterday, we were encouraged with a number of visitors who attended our assemblies. We continue to pray for those whom we meet and for those receiving cards of compassion. God’s blessings are beyond measure!”

Hillcrest church of Christ, Springfield, Tennessee: Tim Taylor (evangelist) reports, “We had our second annual backpack giveaway on Saturday.  We distributed 150 backpacks, filled with various school supplies. We were able to make contacts with over 40 families and will be following up with them in the coming days and weeks. Some expressed a need for food, and others requested prayers for their family members.  We are excited to water the seeds that have been planted!”

Birdwell Chapel church of Christ, Cottontown, Tennessee: Kerry England (elder) reports, “Our VBS went very well this past week! Something new this year, we provided a meal before VBS each weeknight to help make it easier on families. It was well attended, and we had several visitors. We appreciate the support from our sister congregations and made a few contacts from the community. Teachers are sending cards to the visitors in each class. The compassion card team is mailing cards thanking their parents and inviting them to church. The youth group assembled 50 backpacks Sunday afternoon to be distributed this Saturday. We pray this will benefit the students, and they recognize the love of Jesus is the motivation behind this effort.”

Rivergate church of Christ, Madison, Tennessee: Doug Tooley (preacher) reports, “We had three visitors on Wednesday night. We had five visitors on Sunday morning and two on Sunday night. One family is becoming repeats. They have a background in the church but have been out. The man and one of the kids were back on Sunday night. Two visits were made last week.”

White Oak church of Christ, Chattanooga, Tennessee (remote): John McGiffin (preacher) reports, “We have called past visitors to encourage them and see if we can do anything for them. We are getting ready for the Bible Lands Museum.  We put out a 7-day Facebook page to a 10-mile radius this week. We have put newspaper ads out this week.  We will be reaching out to ‘Christian’ radio stations to promote the museum exhibit.”

Natalia church of Christ, Texas: Jim Word (elder) reports, “While in the Cayman Islands a group of 17 from the states joined together to assist the churches of Christ on the island. We used Back to the Bible, and Does it Matter?with people we studied with and used door-knocking principles from the House-to-House School of Evangelism. For the Georgetown church of Christ, we made 22 total contacts.

Of which 10 were ‘hot’ and 12 were ‘warm.’ For the West Bay church of Christ, we made 13 total contacts of which two were ‘hot’ and 11 ‘warm.’  Hot contacts were people we had Bible studies with and warm they requested more information about us. We had a total of 2 baptisms. A total of 17 members from the states assisted in this labor from various locations of Texas and one from Georgia. We trained a total of 9 members from the local congregations. We hosted a four-night Gospel Meeting titled ‘Salvation is at your Door’, with Fred Starks as our guest speaker. We hosted a joint congregational meal and invited all of our contacts. God was glorified and we all labored in unity. Hopefully you can join us next time.”

Eisenhower church of Christ, Odessa, Texas: Allen Weakland (elder) reports, “Now that PTP in Branson has concluded, I’m excited to inform you that a young couple—Ashley & Micah—attended worship services on July 20 and came forward seeking prayers. This couple has been dealing with multiple issues and now realize the answer to their problems is God. They both have entered into Bible studies with several members here at Eisenhower—please pray for soft hearts. Our VBS begins this week, and it already has more preregistrations than last year. Please pray for this effort. Our Fall Festival is right around the corner as well.  Both of these efforts have created great contacts in our community and have led to brethren being restored and conversions. We owe all of this to God. May He be praised.”

Granbury Street church of Christ, Cleburne, Texas: Ryan Cowan (deacon) reports, “Last week about 35 of us gathered to write cards to our current prospects. Over 200 cards were written and will be sent out over the coming weeks! Our ‘Mini AMC’ is scheduled for September 26-28. This year a Spanish speaking church that Granbury Street works with will directly assist us in our efforts.”

Northern Oaks church of Christ, San Antonio, Texas: Mel Hutzler (elder) reports, “We were blessed to have Keno Shrum join us and provide for us a refresher course. This allowed for our new members to get a chance to see first-hand what the evangelism school is about and for all of us to be rekindled for the work. We were able to sit down as elders, deacons, and our evangelist and ask questions, get clarifications, and encouragement. Our deacons provided some good advice on moving forward regarding communication, repetition, and systematic training. We rejoice in that two young men (Braden and Josh) were baptized into Christ. Both have been studying with members. We have two ongoing studies. We have five ongoing new converts studies. We are prospecting eight contacts. We are working towards restoring one brother in Christ.  We have an upcoming VBS and are going door-knocking for it. We hope to use it as a contact maker.”

Roanoke church of Christ, Texas: Caleb Rutherford (preacher) reports, “We again had a good week, focusing on our evangelistic efforts in several Bible studies. Transition visits need to be made soon. We have sent almost 2,000 cards since the beginning of January! They certainly make a difference. We are looking forward to a door knocking day this Saturday, in an effort to invite our community to our Gospel Meeting which starts next week.”

Bridgewater church of Christ, Katy, Texas: Doug Suggs (deacon) reports, “We will have another study with Catherine who we’ve been studying with on Wednesday evenings. John and Beth have visited with us two weeks in a row, and we will be going to visit them this week. Some members of our congregation are leaving August 4, and they will be spending several days in Mexico, trying to encourage and win souls. Last evening we sent cards to some folks that were visitors and also some who needed prayer and encouragement.”

Howe church of Christ, Texas: Aaron Alsbrook (preacher) reports, “Our week started off as the Lord intended. We had the privilege of worship Sunday morning and a birthday/anniversary celebration after our assembly Sunday evening. The family at Howe has been energized by the HTHSOE we had in November of 2024. We continue to write compassion cards and visit with the intent of studying God’s Word alone. On that note, our families in the congregation have done what they always do, love lost souls and desire to teach them the truth. One of our families has had a young lady attending with them and they invited her to attend PTP Branson. She decided to put the Lord on in baptism, and we rejoice with her decision. Another family invited so many to our VBS. One of the family’s that was invited to our VBS has been attending Sunday evenings. The mother of that family also decided to obey the Good News in baptism. Now we have two new sisters in Christ in less than a week’s time. First, it would not be possible without the beautiful truth of God’s Word and the sacrifice of His Son. Second, it would not be possible without the families of God’s people trusting that His Way will work. It has been a great start to another week in effort to fulfill the will of our Father.”

Abingdon church of Christ, Virginia: Freddie Klein (evangelist) reports, “I continue to study with a lady from the community. We are in the third booklet, and it is going well. We just had a school supply give-away. Nearly 70 children were served and over 90 contacts were made through this effort. We will follow up soon with each of these contacts.”

Williamsburg church of Christ, Virginia: Jim Bishop (elder) reports, “This is an important fact that can never be taken for granted! This is certainly the case when we are blessed by God. Throughout the Bible, we see God blessing those who understand and obey His will. This week we continued seeking contacts through a new ministry. The ministry involves distribution of cold water to those who are walking by the building and waiting at the Williamsburg Area Transit bus stop. A great way to start a Gospel conversation. The first week has gone well meeting those in the community. We continued seeking contacts, sending compassion cards and looking for opportunities to spread the Gospel. The blessing we received was about a new convert, who left a sinful relationship she was in upon obeying the Gospel. It also involves a young man who was restored this year. Both of these young people have worked hard studying God’s Word, evangelizing, door knocking, reaching out and helping administer to older saints in need. They announced today that they had gotten married and their marriage was bound by God’s Word! Our Evangelist has been instrumental in teaching these young adults.”

West Side church of Christ, Salem, Virginia: Jeff Durham (elder) reports, “We rejoice with our new brother in Christ!  This young man has been regularly attending services with his girlfriend.  He went through the entire Back to the Bible series with one of our members, then made his decision to commit his life to Christ, being baptized at the conclusion of the last lesson.  We look forward to helping him grow in love and service to our Lord!”