Williamsburg Church of Christ, Virginia: We want to welcome the Williamsburg Church of Christ to the House to House/Heart to Heart School of Evangelism. The seminar was well attended, and the members were hospitable and hungry for evangelism. We were very impressed with the support of the Newport News, Peninsula, and Cold Harbor churches of Christ. Please pray for the congregation as they implement the HTHSOE congregational model.
Glencoe church of Christ, Alabama: David Marker (elder) reports, “We had planned a back-to-school day for this past Sunday. Robby Eversole Jr. did a great job with the three lessons he presented. Brooks Boyd has been working with one of our negligent members, who has now repented and was restored. We had 41 visitors and finished the day with homemade ice cream. The fellowship was great, and we had several visitors stay for it. We have been studying with three teenagers for some time, and we are also praying for Bible studies to develop with two other contacts. We also have a project with the local elementary school that we hope will lead to additional opportunities for service.”
Central church of Christ, Saraland, Alabama: David Dixon (preacher) reports, “Tonight we met for our first Monday Night for the Master meeting in several years. We still have some planning and adjustments to make, but this will allow more people to get involved in this work. We are using it not only for evangelistic purposes but also for outreach to our wayward, sick, and shut-in members. We have sent out over 1700 cards since March. We have two Bible studies currently underway. We have had four baptisms. The plan is working.”
West Huntsville church of Christ, Alabama: Paul Owen (associate preacher) reports, “Our monthly mission meeting went well Sunday night! We currently have several Bible studies ongoing. One prospect, who needed a liver transplant, underwent successful transplant surgery on Sunday. God is good!”
Fayette church of Christ, Alabama: Josh Taylor (deacon) reports, “We continue to have a lot of success at Fayette. Our environment over the past few years since the inception of our program has greatly intensified our congregation. We are beginning to see natural successes, such as ensuring visitors that they are very welcome. We have had a tremendous number of visitors this year, so our focus has been on them. Yesterday, one of our member’s sisters came forward to repent. She had fallen away many years ago. We are thankful for her tender heart and her family, who greatly impacted her. Finally, we are thankful to God, who blesses us in many ways, including by increasing our work for Him!”
Petersville church of Christ, Florence, Alabama: Adam Richardson (preacher) reports, “At Petersville yesterday, we took our groups out into the community and did service projects all afternoon. One group delivered 14 new movers’ baskets! The others were helping three of our local schools prepare the grounds for the school year. We invited several of the staff to services during our project.”
Hatton church of Christ, Alabama: Chris Miller (preacher) reports, “Currently, we are working to reach and restore a family. We included them in our compassion cards along with other prospects we hope to reach. We also have a great opportunity with the mom of a young family who recently placed membership. The mother is struggling with her health, and we hope a door will be open soon to study with her.”
Rison church of Christ, Arkansas: Keden Shrum (preacher) reports, “We had a successful VBS on Saturday, which led to one good contact from the community. Before VBS, we knocked on several doors in town and left door hangers at several houses. We also had our 34th Annual Singing, which brought in two more families from the community to visit. Care Team A met Sunday evening and signed cards for two prospects.”
Malvern church of Christ, Arkansas (remote): David Burruss (preacher) reports, “Sunday, we jumped back into our training sessions and reviewed/discussed book one of Back to the Bible. Our compassion card team continues to meet weekly and send cards, however we are going to make some changes to have higher participation. We had two transitional visits this week, with one going well that has led to a Bible study later this week.”
Lake City church of Christ, Florida: Jim Flegert (elder) reports, “We rejoice to see results from our card writers sending thank you cards to our ten VBS families. Since the cards were mailed, these families have attended three separate services. We are encouraged by their attendance and look forward to our special ‘Meet and Greet’ this coming Saturday, which will give us another opportunity to get to know them even better.”
Niceville church of Christ, Florida: Joe Palmer (preacher) reports, “We have just completed one year in the HTHSOE ministry. This year has brought challenges, change, and growth. When we started this ministry, we faced the obvious challenge of launching a new ministry in the church. This ministry would challenge almost any church that was serious about trying to implement it. It challenges us to reevaluate every ministry and event in our congregation in the light of its purpose and potential in evangelism. For example, when Rob came to speak to us last year, we had just finished our VBS. It was a great VBS, but we had failed in the registration process to get good contact information to follow up with our visitors. We had some good prospects but no ability to contact them. We just did our VBS this year, but we got the contact information. We met Sunday night and discussed how to write follow-up cards for our guests and prospects. We already have one study set up with a VBS guest.
“We have had other challenges. One elder resigned because he had moved farther away. I, as the preacher, had some health issues and was unable to do much for about two months. We had to find money in our budget to put towards the ministry. Satan always puts obstacles in the path of evangelism. The ministry has brought change and growth. We have new areas of service. Weekly card meetings are now part of our routine. We are really focusing on evangelism. We currently have four families who study with people regularly. We are working to launch our New Movers Ministry. We have an active greeters’ program. We are trying to focus every ministry on evangelism and spiritual growth.
“We have seen numerical, spiritual, and personal growth as people have challenged themselves to grow as evangelists. We have seen people young and old step up and grow. Elders have become evangelists. Members study with friends and family. Our prospect list has grown. I am currently diving into the numbers to establish a standard and to analysis how we can make our next year of HTHSOE better. After one year, I can see definite changes in our church. Our culture is changing. God is answering the prayer for labor for his harvest both from within our church and those coming into our church. We are establishing patterns and habits of tracking contacts, prospects, studies, and conversions. We are more purposeful than we were a year ago. I believe that God will bless this work so that the next year will be even better than this one.”
Lake Forest church of Christ, Florida (remote): Brian Howard (preacher) reports, “Chris Sayer was baptized on Wednesday. His wife and son have been members for a few years. We went back to the Bible, and he obeyed the gospel. It was a wonderful blessing for his family and the Lord’s Kingdom.”
Bremen church of Christ, Georgia: Scott Broughton (member) reports, “This past week, we had our Vacation Bible School. We put time and effort into inviting the community. We had an average of over 200 in attendance for the four nights, with a high of 233. We collected contact information from each of the participants, which proved to be a great way to generate contacts.”
Carrollton church of Christ, Georgia: Danny Spain (deacon) reports, “As of yesterday, three new studies were under way. We are meeting soon to discuss building renovation, including adding the accountability board and the new convert’s class.”
Cartersville church of Christ, Georgia (remote): Charles Harris (regional trainer), “For this size of a congregation, a reasonable goal for a year would be ten baptisms. Since I began working here in June, I set a goal for five baptisms. For the month of July, we have had four baptisms and two restorations. Felicia Hutchins was baptized last Tuesday, and Steve Giltz was baptized last Friday. Jody Pinion was restored Sunday. On the first Wednesday in August, we will begin our New Converts Class. This week, visits will be made to those who have received compassion cards. Most of the visits will be to wayward members.”
Lafayette church of Christ, Georgia: Jesse Teague (deacon) reports, “This week, we had our monthly fellowship meal after morning worship. As with all the other activities the elders have set up, we always try to use the fellowship meal to reach out to others with the gospel. We had several visitors who were engaged in conversation during the meal. We have their information, and they have heard at least one good gospel sermon. Two stayed for the afternoon service! It is good to have a purpose in all church meetings. Not only do we encourage each other, but we can also build on our evangelistic efforts with everything we do.”
Woodstock church of Christ, Georgia: Matt Amos (preacher) reports, “The Evangelism Program is one of our most important programs at WCOC. The New Movers Group had ten volunteers for this weekend’s New Movers Door Knocking campaign. They visited a total of seventeen houses. Of those seventeen, the volunteers left 11 door hangers for those not home and handed out six baskets for those who were home. The Prison Ministry Group is starting a new Bible study semester on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, at DeKalb RYDC; it is slated to have twelve students in the class. The Compassion Cards Group created sixteen cards for delivery. Seventeen people attended the Pre-Convert/Evangelism class. WCOC had two non-Christian visitors. We conducted fifteen Bible studies this last week.”
Eatonton church of Christ, Georgia (remote): Roderick Coney (preacher) reports, “This past week, we sent cards to nine people. For Sunday morning Bible school, we did Lesson 1 of Back to the Bible for Sunday morning Bible school. I also have a Bible study with my mom this week.”
Honolulu church of Christ, Hawaii: Tagiilima Esene (preacher) reports, “Aloha from the Honolulu congregation. We continue our efforts to be benevolent to others by edifying the body and reaching the lost. We assisted with the Wahiawa congregation’s gospel meeting and door-knocking. The group from the Covington church came and did some work with the Wahiawa congregation. They door knocked the entire Wahiawa area, and several souls attended the meeting. We continue to study the Bible with five souls currently. The highlight of this week is that two more souls obeyed the gospel. After months of Bible study with Dalen and Moani, they both made the decision to put on Christ. Dalen had been baptized before and was brought up in the church, but after further study, he was not confident he was baptized for the right reason. We praise God for the increase!”
West Hammond church of Christ, Indiana: Robert Webster (preacher) reports, “We continue to send out our weekly cards to the contacts that members submitted as well as visitors who came to our worship service. With several studies, I have two in Book 3 of Back to the Bible series this week. We expect a large turnout this weekend for our clothing giveaway, weather permitting. Never before have we had a community event like this that is so evangelistically focused.”
Collinsville-Troy church of Christ, Illinois: Jason Wright (elder) reports, “We continue to show compassion to our community. We mailed 219 compassion cards this week. Our bookmark program is finally taking off. We have scheduled appointments with community members to do yard work and other services this Thursday. Our young people are helping with that. Our pew greeters and visitor bags are in place and ready. Our organization is getting where it needs to be. Renn, our minister, preached on Quantity, not Quality. We press on!”
Jerseyville church of Christ, Illinois (remote): Jake Medford (preacher) reports, “I just got off the phone with a contact we had from House to House. We have been working with her, and she will visit us Sunday morning for the first time. Everyone is helping me. I have spent more time working this program in the last few weeks than in the previous months. The contacts are picking back up, more cards are going out, and members are working together. We have six active prospects, and working with them has taken longer than anticipated. I have two scheduled for dinner with my wife and me at our house. Progress is slow, but we are moving in the right direction again. I am no longer overwhelmed, and that was my biggest issue.”
Beloit church of Christ, Kansas (remote): Dustin Dougherty (regional trainer) reports, “I finished the three-part sermon series yesterday morning, looking at and comparing the differences between the two covenants and making sure we are following the right laws given to the right people. On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, we had a booth at the local county fair. We gave away three Bibles, most of our pen supply, and a few VBS invitations. A handful of people stopped by and visited. It was intriguing how many people would see what we had on the table or read the logo on the tablecloth and leapfrog our table. I plan on doing things differently to boost engagement next year. It did seem that a higher percentage of people were interested in things with QR codes than a physical copy like a DVD. Next Monday begins our VBS for the year, so everyone is working overtime to ensure everything comes together so all the kids will have a memorable experience. To God be all glory and honor.”
Central church of Christ, Paducah, Kentucky: Adam Faughn (preacher) reports, “What a week in Paducah! First, we rejoice that we have two new sisters in Christ. Mikki Jo Adams and Kinsley Edwards were both baptized Sunday morning. They had been studying with family and friends and responded to the Lord’s invitation. We rejoice with them and look forward to helping them as they begin their walk in the Lord. In addition, two Bible studies continued this week, and we feel that at least one of them is getting quite close to baptism. We also had a booth at our local fair, with well over 50 new contacts desiring study. Many want to study by mail, but we will try to hand-deliver to those who live nearby, hoping to have an in-person study. Between our work at the fair in June and July, we have had over 110 requests for study, mostly by mail, and we are praying for harvest. We had a guest this Sunday morning due to our card writing, and it was a joy to have her with us. We have another study beginning with some young people this coming week and yet another beginning with a local gentleman. Many things are going on, and we are excited that so many are working on evangelism so that we can reach for the Lord. To God be the glory.”
Paintsville church of Christ, Kentucky: Zach Collins (preacher) reports, “We are doing well. We have had one baptism in the last month. This was our eighth baptism this year! We are still studying with the couple from the LDS church. We are waiting for them to give us a day to come to their home and finish Lesson 2. I believe we will baptize them, as well.”
La Plata church of Christ, Maryland (remote): Eric Sykes (regional trainer) reports, “Thank you, God! We had an amazing week at the AMC in Hampton, Virginia. It was truly encouraging and uplifting to meet and work with so many of God’s people. Peninsula church of Christ: Thank you for hosting such a fantastic event. This was our first AMC, but it will not be our last! We picked up some great evangelism tips on making our Vacation Bible School more evangelistic. We also heard some great ideas on putting together and delivering New Movers gift baskets. We learned how to streamline our compassion card writing process, which will save our congregation time and money as we strive to evangelize our community. We needed the encouragement. This week, we wrote 14 compassion cards. We reached out to a young mother on our compassion card mailing list. She recently gave birth to her second child. We have scheduled a visit with her for later in the week. We will start lesson one of BTTB this week. One of the sisters has started a Bible study with one of her co-workers. We had five people in our new converts training classes. We have seven people in our advanced teacher training class and nine attending our ‘video of the week’ class, where we are teaching saints the fundamentals of the faith via Zoom. We appreciate all prayers as we continue to work on implementing the congregational evangelism model here in La Plata, Maryland.”
East Main church of Christ, Tupelo, Mississippi: Barry Kennedy (preacher) reports, “We are getting ready to set up visits with recipients of compassion cards. Last Sunday, we completed the series of sermons based on the Back to the Bible study. The leadership continues to meet weekly to discuss and plan for the future. This Sunday, we saw people reaching out to visitors and getting information on how to send cards. We are praying for good soil and God’s increase! To God be the glory!”
West End Blvd church of Christ, Cape Girardeau, Missouri: Jared Scaggs (preacher) reports, “This is our final week of VBS, and we have had some positive notes. Each night we had more and more kids. We have a very promising new family of prospects, a new contact right down the road from the building, and several other contacts. This was our first VBS that focused on making contacts, and we learned a lot. We are ready to make changes and do even better next year. We are looking forward to seeing the VBS update on the website. We are a few weeks away from the forest day of college at SEMO; we plan on getting as many contacts as possible during the opening week by having a table during orientation week. We are also ramping up for the district fair booth as we plan to implement some changes to gain as many contacts as possible from it this year.”
Samford church of Christ, Steele, Missouri: Kyle Imel (deacon) reports, “We are sending one individual compassion cards from our back-to-school giveaway. Two other families came who also came last year. We are sending them a congregational card and will follow up with all three families.”
West 160 church of Christ, West Plains, Missouri: Marvin Hatley (elder) reports, “We are blessed to have a new brother in Christ. Jakob baptized his friend Bo after several weeks of study using BTTB. Bo is a young father who recognized he was not the spiritual leader of his family. He reached out to Brother Jakob to learn more about God’s word. Bo had been one of our prospects about a year ago. We took meals for his young family, and we sent compassion cards. Bo did not seem interested in learning about Christ’s Church. This conversion was so encouraging to the congregation; it was a true example of planting and being patient for God to provide the increase. About twenty-five members assembled this past week to help a prospect move. This prospect is a widow indeed. She had visited the congregation, received compassion cards, and shared meals with several members. Lord willing, she will be open to learning more about the church.”
East Flushing church of Christ, New York (remote): Clarence Jenkins (preacher) reports, “A visitor whom we met about a year ago came to the worship service today for the first time, and afterward, we then took them to lunch. They enjoyed the worship service and warmth and were willing to study the Bible. Lord willing, they will start Book one on Monday at 8:30 a.m. After worship service, we packaged 75 packets of school supplies for our back-to-school giveaway this Saturday; we hope it will be an evangelistic event. We also wrote 40 compassion cards to be sent out incrementally this week. To the glory of God. We appreciate all prayers.”
New Concord church of Christ, Ohio: Terry Townsend (preacher) reports, “We wrote 37 cards to be mailed to all our visitors who came to our Family Bible School two weeks ago. Our new mover teams were given new assignments, and more than ten welcome bags were delivered last week. Two new Bible studies have started. One was with a lady at the local nursing home; the other was with a young mother who left the faith years ago. I took a gentleman who has been attending for a couple of months out to lunch on Sunday and talked to him about studying the Bible, which he said he would appreciate. I plan to set that Bible study mid-week. One of our new converts has been bringing her husband to services for the past couple of months. A family from the congregation recently had them over for dinner with several of our members. On Sunday, I asked him to give me his honest evaluation of the church here at New Concord, to which he replied, “I love it!” I then asked if he would be willing to study the Bible with me. His reply was, “Sure!” I hope to confirm a date for that this week. We are not rushing into Bible studies. We are learning that building relationships with people takes time. We must earn the right to study. Patience and relationship-building are beginning to pay off!
“Addendum: “Rob- the model, when followed, works! I’ve used this material for years and had success, but now we have a better, more effective way to implement it. This baptism began with her and her late husband attending our annual Thanksgiving Day fellowship. Her husband died about a year ago, and we sent her many compassion cards. We then followed up with several personal visits. She then started attending services, which ultimately led to the Bible study. God is good!”
Streetsboro church of Christ, Ohio: Ralph Price (preacher) reports, “Great news this week! We had two baptisms! As I mentioned in our last updates, two members have been studying with their parents. Susan Cook was baptized into Christ because of that study. We received a call from a sister in North Carolina who had been studying with a high school friend over the Internet. She had used the Back to the Bible studies with him, and he wanted to obey the gospel. So, we also baptized Brad Harris this past week. Brad had a good friend who witnessed the baptism; we hope we can convert him.
“Our New Converts class has just about outgrown the room they were using, so we will have to move them into the fellowship hall! What a wonderful problem to have. We also set up a booth at Streetsboro Family Days this past weekend and passed out a few correspondence courses. We continue to work on the compassion card program, the HTH mailings, and our New Mover baskets. God is good!”
Greenville church of Christ, Ohio: John McGiffin (preacher) reports, “I have transitioned to a new congregation. This past week, we saw two new visitors. One returned, and we took him and his daughter out to eat. He is interested in pursuing bible studies. My last sermon showed the progress we have made as a team since following the model. I encouraged them all to be active in their coordinating roles and chided some to follow up with visits. The current focus is to hire someone to push the model.”
Cheyenne church of Christ, Oklahoma (remote): Nathan Brewer (member) reports, “My wife and I visited a woman in the hospital last week due to a car wreck. We wanted to follow-up since we had been sending compassion cards. Others in the congregation visited her and took her baked goods through the week. Yesterday we visited her at her home after worship. We hope to transition soon to a Bible study. Training continues as we learn how to implement the BTTB/HTHSOE method. The congregation’s ladies keep coming up with prospects and even making visits. Now we must pivot to the transition.”
Coweta church of Christ, Oklahoma: Keno Shrum (regional trainer) reports, “This Thursday, we will use Lesson 1 of Back to the Bible with a visitor from last Sunday. We have visited quite a bit since his visit, and he seems genuinely interested in having the Bible study. On Sunday, we had another visitor who came because of receiving House to House Heart to Heart. He said he has received it for some time and enjoys receiving the mailer. He said he decided after receiving this most recent issue that he wanted to visit us. He came back Sunday evening. We are going to go Thursday morning to breakfast in hopes of getting him into a Bible study. Our VBS has been great, with an average attendance of approximately 60. We are using this week as an opportunity for evangelism. We have made two contacts so far, and we will start prospecting. We appreciate all prayers for our efforts!”
Union church of Christ, South Carolina (remote): Terry Hale (preacher) reports, “I made several attempts at visits last week; it seemed a lot of prospects must be out of town. We are still meeting for training twice a week. We have 19 on our board and ten in studies. The group is growing in our study as we discuss closing the study.”
Freewill church of Christ, Gainesboro, Tennessee (remote): Andrew Scott (preacher) reports, “We rejoice in another restoration at the Freewill congregation! Months ago we sent cards and the “Come Home” issue of House to House to Richard Ballard, the brother of two of our members. Yesterday, he came to services and responded to the invitation. He had been out of the church for a number of years. Never give up on people! We are thankful to God for our efforts. God bless you all.
Hebron church of Christ, McMinnville, Tennessee: Derrick Stiles (preacher) reports, “Good morning, brothers and sisters in Christ. After coming off a wonderful week at our gospel meeting, we entered a new week with renewed energy. Our compassion card teams met on Sunday and sent over 80 cards to prospects. We are excited to begin to see the positive effects of the program. Unfortunately, I have come down with COVID-19, so our elders’ meeting has been postponed until next week. We aimed to finalize the coordinators for all programs and begin moving forward. We will complete that next week.”
Hillcrest church of Christ, Springfield, Tennessee: Tim Taylor (associate preacher) reports, “The ball is rolling at Hillcrest. We have now begun making home visits to our new movers and compassion card recipients, praying for an increase as we plant and water. Additionally, we will participate in the Springfield First Friday market on August 2. We already have 17 volunteers ready to man our display and make contacts. This will be an excellent opportunity to make connections with our community. On Saturday, we went to a low-income apartment complex and gave away 100 backpacks and 14 food boxes, serving 43 different families. We obtained 11 prospects, all of whom asked for prayers for themselves or family members. We will follow up with them by sending compassion cards this week. Another ten families indicated an ongoing need for food. Our benevolence coordinator and I will follow up with them in a few weeks.”
Stoney Creek church of Christ, Elizabethton, Tennessee: Mike Blevins (elder) reports, “We have four Bible studies ongoing, and we had a restoration that occurred partly because of card showering. We are working on two more prospects who are unfaithful. The groups are working smoother.”
New Union church of Christ, Manchester, Tennessee: Paul Fulks (elder) reports, “We had eight visitors this past week, and five new contact cards submitted. We wrote 44 compassion cards to prospect our contacts. We have one personal Bible study in progress.”
Madison County church of Christ, Jackson, Tennessee: Steven Sprouse (preacher) reports, “We have three returning visitors from our new movers’ baskets. We hope to have studies soon. We had three BTTB studies this week with a teenage granddaughter of one of our members, and we are praying for her to obey. We have received encouraging thank you cards sent to us by several who are receiving compassion cards. They are thankful for our prayers and cards.”
McKenzie church of Christ, Tennessee: Randy McAdams (elder) reports, “We handed out cards yesterday, Sunday, July 28, for Group 4. There were six cards; two were for non-members. I am praying that the cards this month will touch the receiver’s heart and give glory to our Savior Jesus. We had another baptism last week. The young lady is a schoolteacher. She has been attending with a friend for several months and listening intently, trying to find answers to many questions she has been pondering concerning her faith. Finally, her questions were answered, and Molly’s decision was made. The night of July 22, 2024, was her life-changing event. May our Lord protect and bless her with the blessings of being in Christ.”
Celina church of Christ, Tennessee: Daniel Burton (member) reports, “We have gone through our first monthly rotation of card teams and sent 845 cards in four weeks. It is astonishing to see the amount of care and compassion sent. The feedback has been positive. Also, the attendance has been great, with 89 people writing cards during the four weeks. When we asked for names from the bookmark the first week of July, we met our goal in Week 1. We began asking for more names for the second month yesterday, and we received three. We expect to receive more names in the following days. The category that we asked for yesterday was non-Christians who were ill. Since we have finished the first rotation of card groups, the transition visits will now begin. We are planning this currently and hope to get started very soon. This week, we also plan to visit some of the new HTH movers we have received. We expect great results, and the glory will go to God!”
Hillsboro church of Christ, Tennessee: Chris Sliger (member) reports, “Recent RTL efforts at the Hillsboro church of Christ have been focused on planning our upcoming Community Event. On August 14 at 5:30pm CST, Hillsboro will host a Pizza Party at the church building for the Hillsboro (and surrounding) community. We anticipate this event will be successful and will allow us to show our neighbors that we care about them. Separately, Jonathan Oliver returned last month from his mission trip to the Brightland Christian Orphanage (BCO) in Cameroon, Africa. There were three baptisms while Jonathan was at BCO. We appreciate Jonathan’s willingness to give freely of his time and resources, and we thank God for this fruitful trip for the Kingdom. God is good!”
Mountain Creek church of Christ, Chattanooga, Tennessee: Michael Tomshack (elder) reports, “We completed our VBS last week with many new contacts made. On Saturday, each family attending received an email of thanks. Next, each child and parent will receive a personal handwritten card. The following week, we are scrubbing the list, extracting local church members, and sending a card to each household geographically close to the building; the following week, we will expand the area for a new group, with the third week completing a mailing. A non-Christian family from VBS attended Sunday, and our greeting team and the congregation fully welcomed them. The mom is a teacher at the elementary school across the street, and we furnish backpack meals throughout the school year. Each contact point is essential to soften hearts for openness to study God’s word.
“On Sunday evening, we held our quarterly congregational meeting to review our congregation’s progress considering our ten, three, and one-year goals set by the Elders in all service areas. We have completed six months utilizing the School of Evangelism Process, leading to nine baptisms with a goal of 13, plus two restorations.
“This week, a constructive six-month review of our local evangelism progress will be conducted. We have excellent leaders in each area. This is a prayerful, in-depth review of my leadership and adherence to the evangelism process. Throughout the six months, I have made notes of my weaknesses and will measure my leadership performance according to God’s word and the program process. We want to finish the year strong while realizing this is a lifelong process requiring strength each day to leave the next generation of leaders a firm process to carry on the work at Mountain Creek for God’s glorification.”
Rivergate church of Christ, Madison, Tennessee: Doug Tooley (preacher) reports, “We surpassed sending 3,000 compassion cards sent this past week. We had five visitors on Sunday morning. Two were taken to lunch. We have two ongoing Bible studies, not counting the Bible studies with the young ladies at Walnut Youth Academy. We also had a young man who had been visiting with our youth group and expressed the desire to be baptized. We met for the baptism at the church on Monday afternoon, but unfortunately, the young man was not able to come. His father is refusing to allow him to be baptized. We appreciate prayers for this situation.”
Chapel Hill church of Christ, Tennessee: Matt Jones (deacon) reports, “This past week was good. We had two Bible studies that resulted in the two young men obeying the gospel! These young men were both invited by younger men in our congregation and encouraged by our card team along with others in our congregation. We are still generating contacts from all other areas that have resulted in several ongoing studies. We continue to work through the process, and everyone is seeing the fruits of their labor. To God be the glory.”
Graceton church of Christ, Diana, Texas: Johnny Willeford (elder) reports, “Our Family VBS was a success. We had 60 attendees and made several contacts. One attendee has agreed to a Bible study when we can agree on a date. Our Group A compassion card writers met Sunday evening and will send 34 cards to five contacts this week. Our Mission Monday group will meet tonight to report on our home visits and get our next assignments. On Sunday morning, we had three visitors. We continue to encourage our members to keep evangelism our focus.”
Granbury Street church of Christ, Cleburne, Texas: Ryan Cowan (deacon) reports, “Our September evangelism event is fast approaching. The men who are leading specific aspects of this work have been chosen, and a meeting with our elders and these men has been completed. The congregation knows about the activities related to this event beyond the physical requirements of door-to-door contact. Our tentative plans for the weekend include a pizza dinner on Friday night, a workers’ meal on Saturday, and an evangelism potluck on Sunday. Card writing and community service will be included in Saturday’s activities, along with the delivery of new movers’ baskets. Things are progressing well, and we will continue to make definitive plans.”
Buda-Kyle church of Christ, Texas: Ronnie Sherffius (preacher) reports, “The church at Buda-Kyle continues with great diligence to implement the congregational evangelism model. We are actively prospecting and making contacts through our card program and visits. We have one active Bible study and anticipate another two or three more studies soon.”
Wheeler church of Christ, Texas: Garrett English (preacher) reports, “We have no studies outside of our New Converts class going on, but we are trying to follow up with those to whom we have sent cards. We continue to send cards, and they are making a difference! We had our weekly VBS this week; two attendees are not members, and neither are their families. We have a giveaway of school supplies to students this Wednesday, and we will be sure to get their contact information when we give them the supplies.”
Eisenhower church of Christ, Odessa, Texas: Allen Weakland (elder) reports, “When you read this report, we will be holding our final day of VBS 2024. As always, we are grateful for God providing us the time, energy, and willingness to expand outside our comfort zone as we strive to create contacts. We pray that God will provide us with those who desire to serve Him above all else.
“Speaking of serving God, once again, God has given us the increase. Two of our young men obeyed the Gospel this past Saturday, Timothy and Nathan Herrera. These two young men have been trained by two outstanding Christian parents- Ubaldo and Itcel Herrera. We rejoice with this family, and may God bless them richly.
“Ethan Guynn has requested to be baptized into Christ. Due to scheduling issues, he will be immersed Monday afternoon; we request prayers for this young man. Ethan has had a callous life. He lost his mother at a young age and was adopted by his mother’s parents who raised him. Ethan’s grandfather has been fighting cancer for over four years, and this past Sunday, he told me of Ethan’s decision; may God be praised. One final note of interest: Please keep Armando and Destiny in your prayers. This young man has visited Eisenhower for several months. Please pray that these two will become prospects for a home study.”
Bridgewater church of Christ, Katy, Texas: Doug Suggs (deacon) reports, “One of our compassion teams met to address card prospects. Last week, we finished a quarter on Wednesday evenings by reviewing Back to the Bible and other training sessions. Our new mover’s group will meet to prepare things for those recently moving into our area. Wade and I had a study with David H. who will be here for a few months from China. He has been to our evening service for two weeks and studied Back to the Bible. Andre is currently doing ongoing studies with some teachers.”
Northern Oaks church of Christ, San Antonio, Texas: Mel Hutzler (elder) reports, “We are excited about the four baptisms we had recently. We are thankful for those who put Christ on in baptism: Walt Teague, Mark Bryson, Jenny Matheny, and Addyson. I appreciate the congregation so much for their group effort in evangelism. Also, a family just placed membership with us. Our VBS is coming up next week. We hope to gain some more contacts from this event. At the moment, we have other Bible studies and hope to have more in the future.”
Southwest church of Christ, Austin, Texas: Mark Speir (deacon), “We had two baptisms from our youth group: Araceli Arias and Troy Kennedy. We are looking at several new Bible studies beginning soon. We continue to send out compassion cards.”
Windmill church of Christ, Texas (remote): Sean Tipton (deacon) reports, “We added three more contacts to our card list this week. We hope to continue adding to the list of folks who need prayers. One weekly Bible study continues; the other should resume when summer concludes. We plan to organize our efforts further as we align our members to dedicated areas of focus within the evangelism program this week.”
Wasatch church of Christ, Clearfield, Utah (remote): Daniel Welker (preacher) reports, “It has been a busy and fruitful week here at Wasatch. Wednesday, we concluded Book 3 of Back to the Bible with Mary Gericke, and she decided to become a Christian. She is coming out of the Mormon/LDS faith. She started visiting Wasatch several weeks ago because she assumed we were connected to the Wasatch Cowboy church in the area. Through our Back to the Bible studies, she learned that the church of Christ part is crucial in the name, not the Wasatch part. A note of interest is that July 24 is a major LDS holiday here in Utah called Pioneer Day, based on when Brigham Young came to Utah.
“We left Wednesday’s Bible study, and fireworks were going off. I told my wife that the angels were rejoicing. When we had almost finished the study, Mary could see what decision she needed to make. She said it is not happening today, possibly because of the major LDS holiday. I referred to the story of the Eunuch in Acts 8. I told her he asked what hindered him from being baptized, and then I asked, “What is hindering you from being baptized? She said, “What will I wear?”
“My wife said, “You said you have clean laundry in your car that you did not have time to take in, so there is your answer.”
“We have been sending cards to visitors, friends, and family members who need encouragement. We have at least three ongoing studies. The congregation has had five baptisms since April. We hope one of the elders and his wife can pick up studying with Mary. The church has already made moving baskets for people, and we plan to put them to good use.”
West Side church of Christ, Salem, Virginia: Jeff Durham (elder) reports, “We began mailing compassion cards on July 7. One family in our community shared with a member how amazed they have been over the last two weeks to receive so many cards of concern from people they do not even know. They look forward to getting yet another card from a different person who is praying for them each day. This is a family that currently has no church affiliation. One visitor began receiving cards and continued to attend. We discovered this person was a member of the Lord’s body who had recently moved to our area but had not found a church home. This person placed membership with us to become part of our church family!”
Chesapeake church of Christ, Virginia: Ernest Benjamin (regional trainer) reports, “I followed up with all of our visitors from Sunday with a personal card and added these names to our contact list. One of the visitors from the previous Sunday, Laura Jarvis, was there again yesterday, so I am going to call her this week to gauge her temperature. I met with Antonio Jones; he has already obeyed the gospel but is struggling to remain faithful. I completed Lesson 1 of BTTB with my son Caleb and another young lady from our congregation. Ms. Kay Dolberry rescheduled. I completed 90 percent of Lesson 1 of BTTB with Savannah, the non-Christian wife of a member. I am scheduled to study with Caleb, the young lady, and Savannah this week. Right now, the three focus areas for us are 1) Visitors, 2) New Movers, and 3) Invitation Cards.”
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