The HTHSOE Model has been proven to work in both large, small, urban, suburban, and rural congregations. I would like to introduce a small rural congregation that hosted HTHSOE in February of this year, the Gilt Edge church of Christ. This congregation is overseen by three Shepherds and is served by their preacher, Daniel Dalton. Immediately after the seminar, this congregation began to enact the principles and plan to create an evangelistic culture. It is exciting to see the effects the Great Commission can have on even small congregations of the Lord. Please consider the following summary written by Daniel Dalton on their progress and results.
“We are a small congregation in a small community, and we have always struggled to grow. We recently started using the individual evangelism prayer cards as taught in HTSOE. This has been producing many contacts that we would not otherwise have known about. We have studies going almost every week. We have baptized one and his wife was restored. We have several people who seem to be on the verge of obedience. The last few months have changed the outlook of the congregation. You can feel the excitement in the air and people have a mind to work. I am very thankful that we had the opportunity to put to work this method that takes the saving gospel to the lost.”
Congregational Reports
Town Acres church of Christ, Muncie, Indiana: We welcome the Town Acres church of Christ to the House to House/Heart to Heart School of Evangelism.
Westside church of Christ, Muncie, Indiana: We welcome the Westside church of Christ to the House to House/Heart to Heart School of Evangelism.
Riverbend church of Christ, Georgia: Austin Fowler (member) reports, “We continue in our evangelism efforts at Riverbend. Last week, Ernie Sanders (one of our elders) and I, went visiting. We planned to visit a young couple that recently had a baby, but it did not work out. We ended up going to visit a man that I have been prospecting for a while. We had a good visit with George, and he agreed to study with us on Tuesday. Ernie is going with me to be my silent partner. Today, Barry Grider had a powerful sermon on evangelism. Then in the afternoon, I finished going through Back to the Bible with the congregation. After the lesson, two of our teens made the decision to obey the gospel. I believe that we will have more of our teens make the decision to put Christ on in baptism over the next few weeks. We have some more things we are going will implement over the next few weeks that we believe will help our evangelism efforts.”
Rogersville church of Christ, Tennessee: Ethan Tate (preacher) reports, “During the first full week of implementing the 10-point congregational plan, we established plans to work towards converting seven families. Strategy cards were given to each of the members to begin building our contacts list and names are pouring in! We have received positive feedback from the compassion cards from one family, and another who has visited us the past few weeks has become highly interested in the congregation. We are still waiting for the finished tablecloth for the evangelism table, but the foyer now has a designated table for our evangelism ministry. Our ladies will begin to make the visitor bags to hand out starting this coming Sunday. This week afforded me the opportunity to meet local family of one of our members (most of them are not biblical Christians). It has given me a chance to begin opening the door to work with those family members. Please continue your prayers for us as we continue to grow our contacts and begin to reach out more to those who need the gospel.”
Shertz church of Christ, Texas: Jay Steward (elder) reports, “Short report this week. Brother Crowley preached another lesson on John 4 with many positive comments. There are a few points remaining and the series will conclude on 3 April. A draft of congregational work groups was created and is being tweaked. The Bible study continues that was mentioned last week and contact was made with a local gentleman seeking financial assistance. We are working to schedule a Bible study with him. By next week we should have pictures of the evangelism table and confirmation of the work groups with the initial assigned tasks.”
Willette church of Christ, Red Boiling Springs, Tennessee: Jack Honeycutt (preacher) reports, “This morning Michael Weldon responded to the invitation expressing his desire to be baptized into Christ for the forgiveness of his sins after a series of Bible studies. Michael, his wife Mary, and son, Hunter live in Red Boiling Springs. This afternoon after several Bible studies, John Pruitt, husband of Kina, was baptized into Christ. Please welcome both new brothers into the kingdom!”
Monroe church of Christ, Georgia: Charles Harris (preacher) reports, “A few weeks ago our church secretary forwarded the following email to me: Hello, I am reaching out to see how often you offer adult baptisms. My fiancé would like to get baptized before our May 14th wedding and our Catholic Church will not do it if he does not complete six months of classes. He is a policeman which would require him to miss half the classes since he has a rotating schedule. However, they said as long as he is baptized (by a Christian affiliated church), they can complete our ceremony as a Catholic ceremony. I look forward to hearing back soon. Thanks, Mackenzie.”
I must admit that I did not see the conversation going much further, but I remembered that I am a planter not a picker. So, I sent the following email to Mackenzie: Hello. I am with the Monroe church of Christ. Thank you for reaching out to us, and congratulations on your engagement. Baptism is an important part of Christianity. I have a series of three lessons that perhaps you and your fiancé would enjoy concerning the topic. I would be happy to go over these lessons with the two of you at your convenience. Also, let your fiancé know we appreciate his service as a policeman.
After several more emails, texts, a few phone calls, and a lot of biting my tongue so I could defer and not debate, we scheduled a Bible study with Mackenzie and her fiancé, Curtis. My wife Anna and I had our second study with them and went over BTTB 2. Curtis does not have much of a religious background. Mackenzie has Catholicism as her background. Both have learned much in the studies and Mackenzie recognized that the Catholic Church is not the New Testament church that Jesus purchased with His blood.
My family and I are attending the Memphis School pf Preaching Lectureship this week and have scheduled a study of BTTB 3 with Curtis and Mackenzie for when we get back in town. Please keep them in your prayers, that all will go well.”
Southwest church of Christ, Austin, Texas: Cody Westbrook (preacher) reports, “2022 has already been a very busy evangelistic year for the Southwest congregation. In February, our annual Arise! Spiritual Growth Workshop emphasized evangelism. We have used that as a launching pad for the congregation to reengage in the soul winning efforts we began before Covid. We have had several Bible studies and one baptism to this point in the year.
One specific study I want to tell you about involves family members of one of our SWSBS students. Jesse Stuart writes, “I want to thank the Southwest congregation so much for sending compassion cards to my cousin’s wife, Keisha. A little update: one of her daughters, Kylee, saw the compassion cards and when I went to study with Keisha, she decided that she wanted to join the study. We tried getting Keisha’s other daughter, Chelsea, to join, but she refused because she does not believe in God due to some horrible things that happened to her in her past. However, Chelsea overheard the study with Keisha and Kylee and decided to join the next one. So last Saturday Kylee and Chelsea studied Believe the Bible with me. After the study, they expressed a desire to learn more.
Yesterday Keisha asked if I could come study with both her and her husband, Kyle (my cousin). Previously he had refused to study, but because of the studies and the compassion cards continuing to arrive in the mail, he decided to do a study as well. We went through book one and they both want to study book 2.
Please keep Kyle and Keisha Moore and their two daughters Kylee and Chelsea in your prayers as we move forward studying the Bible. Keisha said she receives one to two cards a day on average from the church, and she has started saving them all. She cannot believe there are good people in the world who love her and have never met her. This went from one Bible study to four, and possibly more as they have been telling coworkers and friends.”
Mabelvale church of Christ, Arkansas: Wendell Thompson (elder) reports, “Our pulpit minister, Dennis Gulledge and his wife Kathy organize the Compassion Cards for our Pen and Prayer teams. We repurposed the letter rack of our old marquee letters since we have a new electronic sign.”
South Anchorage church of Christ, Alaska: Michael Dale (preacher) reports, “Tonight, after finishing up the third lesson of Back to the Bible, Michele Cooper put Christ on in baptism. I just wanted to share the joy of one more soul for Christ with you. Thank you for all your support and prayers! We continue to pray for your work night and day! Here are a few pictures.”
East Ridge church of Christ, Chattanooga, Tennessee: Charles Cochran (preacher) reports, “These are some Bible studies from East Ridge. We have had two baptisms recently. One was a teenager taught by one of our families. Another was a friend of one of our members. Jared Heuter gave an encouraging report a couple weeks ago. He focused on our Compassion Card Ministry. He reported that a person was encouraged, and his life was spared. I had the opportunity to visit and encourage a small church in Iola, Kansas. This congregation is involved in House to House/Heart to Heart. This church is being encouraged by Luke Griffin. Good things are happening at East Ridge.”
La Plata church of Christ, Maryland: Eric Sykes (member) reports, “We baptized the couple that you referred to us a couple weeks ago. After meeting with them I found out that they were baptized by the folks at the Baptist church. So, I sat down and studied with and took them through the Back to the Bible lessons. They were very anxious and receptive to the information. The day after we completed lesson one, they called me saying that they wanted to do lesson two and we did it that evening. That next morning, they called and asked if we could meet at 11:00 am to do lesson three. I felt like Peter: ‘Who am I to deny them?’ So, we met and completed the study. It went well and we took them to the building at 2:00 p.m. and baptized them into the body! Thanks for putting us in contact with Reginald and Minique Perry, our new brother and sister in Christ!”
Wewoka church of Christ, Oklahoma: Gage Coldwater (preacher) reports, “Today we had a family visit for worship. We took them to lunch and had a great visit and got to know them and them us. We arranged a Bible study at our home next week! Be praying for Billy and Becky to open their heart to the gospel!”
Cowetta church of Christ, Oklahoma: Keno Shrum (preacher) reports, “It has been a wonderful week here in Coweta. Chey spent a number of years in prison and while there, he read the Bible thoroughly and understood that baptism was essential. He has been out for almost a year and has been searching for a place to worship that taught what he had learned through his reading. He stumbled on to the Coweta congregation Sunday evening and had the sincerest look in his eyes about wanting to give his life to God. We spent a good bit of time studying since Sunday and this afternoon he committed his life to God. Please keep Chey in your prayers. He is one of the sincerest men I have ever met, and I know that he will do great things for the Lord. We talked in depth about the seriousness of entering into this covenant with God and the work that lies ahead. He said assuredly that he is up for the task. It is such a blessing to see God work in those who are truly seeking him. God bless!
Corinth church of Christ, Tennessee: James Parker (preacher) reports, “This couple has been coming to Corinth for about a month and a half. This is Jordan and Lakia and their two children, Douglas and Wyatt! Steve has been studying with Jordan (I was at the study a couple of times). Jordan was baptized a week ago this past Tuesday and Lakia was restored this past Lord’s day! We are happy to have them in fellowship! I am still doing my study on Monday night!”
Woodstock church of Christ, Georgia: Matt Amos (preacher) reports, “Two of our members received personal letters from the Jehovah’s Witnesses inviting them to read Watchtower material and to get back with them. Return letters were sent asking for face-to-face studies. One of these letters indicated that eight million Jehovah’s Witnesses are currently involved in this letter writing campaign worldwide. All members at Woodstock are being encouraged to respond positively to religionists who write them letters or knock on their doors asking them to study.”
University church of Christ, Montgomery, Alabama: Faires Austin (elder) reports,
- We had another Faulkner student baptized this last week by Jeremy Smith, a Faulkner employee. Jeremy preaches part time and works in the Faulkner athletic department. This gives our Campus Minister, Andrew Kingley, an opportunity to get these new converts involved in our college program.
- Kevin Long gave an outstanding presentation this morning, prior to our worship service, to update our congregation on our Evangelism Program. More and more of our members are getting involved.
- The Card and New Movers Ministries are really going strong. The reports are very encouraging.
- Kevin told the congregation this morning that if you live outside the 36109 area code and you know of a new family in your area, you are welcome to take a New Movers basket to them and begin a relationship with the new family.
- We also did a rebook on using the HTHSOE contact bookmarks. Last week we had a virtual meeting with Rob and learned how to properly use them. It is exciting to see the members get involved and begin praying for those they want to convert and provide them in action to take.
State College church of Christ, Pennsylvania: As you may recall last year, Charlie Lumpkins, worked at the University of Pennsylvania received House to House/Heart to Heart which led him to the church of Christ. He was baptized last summer. I received some exciting news this past week from our brother. Charlie Lumpkins (member) reports, “My faith has grown stronger and deeper with prayers and Bible study. I am slowly moving toward spiritual maturity and learning to live life as a Christian. In addition, I am happy to report that my wife Rita got baptized into the body of Christ in February 2022. Rita is now a sister in Christ and worships at the State College Church of Christ. “
Marietta church of Christ, Oklahoma: Chase Green (preacher) reports, “Great news in Marietta, Oklahoma tonight! We have a married couple who has had Bible studies going on with THREE different families right now! One of those families just obeyed the gospel tonight. We are glad to report that Manuela and Tony obeyed the gospel tonight! I preached a sermon on evangelism a couple weeks ago, and the members have responded well. We also have implemented an evangelistic card program that sends cards out to visitors and folks in the community who are facing health problems, grieving, etc. a couple Sundays a month. We have gotten some great feedback from folks we have sent cards to, and hope this will lead to many evangelism opportunities!”
Oak Hill church of Christ, Covington, Georgia: Tate Sutton (preacher) reports, “This is my wife helping me. We delivered new mover baskets this week. It is amazing how that method opens doors literally. We met a woman from New Jersey that just moved into our area, and she was very pleased for us to be there because she was looking for a church. I told her to look no further.”
Beloit church of Christ, Kansas: Dustin Doughtery (preacher) reports, “We had a young man attend services this morning with us from Mexico. He is working on a farm in the area, after I closed the last song, I headed to the back of the auditorium and waited for announcements and prayer and then I ‘pounced.’ He did just as you have described, he stood up and looked around like he was lost, and I was right there. Made first contact, visited with him a little (prospecting), asked him some questions, ‘Would you like to know more about our congregation?’ He said, ‘yes he would but was surprised we had the ability and option to do one in his native language.”
Lafollette church of Christ, Tennessee: Ben Shaffer (preacher) reports, “This Sunday we plan on handing out bookmarks again to the members to fill out with names. It was recommended that we also begin our worship service on Sundays by taking a few moments for the members of the congregation to pray individually for those on their lists. We also plan on going over the model to reaffirm the lessons we have learned.
We want to keep the congregations’ minds focused on evangelism as much as possible. On Sunday nights I plan on going over some more of our Bible study tools and methods. First up, we will be going over Believe the Bible. We also intend to begin our new converts class in the next couple weeks.
Our Bible study with Betty has been halted by sickness. We are worried that her heart has rejected the truth. Please pray for our next few attempts with her. Another door appears to be opening back up with Justin, who had been putting off studying with one of our elders for a few weeks. One of my family members has agreed to study the Bible with me. I covet every prayer that can be offered for that study. We also have a few contacts that we are mailing cards to that we will be following up with soon.”
Rock Valley church of Christ, Tompkinsville, Kentucky: Jason Thompson (preacher) reports, “Started a new study Friday with two individuals. Their names are Ale and Katelyn. They were brought by a sister who attends the congregation. Please keep this study in your prayers.”
Siwell Road church of Christ, Jackson Mississippi: Derek Broome (preacher) reports, “This last week was kind of interesting. I was supposed to have a study with a gentleman on Monday evening. Late in the day he had to cancel because something came up. As soon as I heard he could not make it I immediately tried to schedule the study for a different time. As of Monday night we had not nailed down a different time to get together. I definitely did not want to miss out on this opportunity. When I arrived at my office on Tuesday, I was not sure what the day would bring. Around 10:30 a.m. I received a text from this gentleman asking what was the earliest time that I was available. I told him I was available anytime and that he could come right then if he wanted to. By 11:00 a.m. we had found a place to study and had a great first study in book one. He was so open and honest in his approach to the study. It was so very exciting. We are supposed to be getting together again this week for dinner and a Bible study. As a congregation we have several people in numerous studies right now. Some are getting very close. Please continue to pray for each one of these studies and the additional contacts and prospects we are making each day.”
Northern Oaks church of Christ, San Antonio, Texas: Mel Hutzler (preacher/elder) reports, “We just concluded our picnic, youth devotional, and lock-in with many in attendance. We had some from the community and some we are in Bible studies with or will be in Bible studies with. We continue to write cards and prospect lost souls for Bible studies. We now have both elders and deacons, including a deacon who is over our evangelism program. Our team leaders are trained, and the elders continue to oversee the program and encourage members to get involved. Our wonderful secretary and deacon keep track of the cards and those whom we send them to. The congregation is excited about the growth we have seen so far, and we hope to have some baptisms to follow.”
Warner Robbins church of Christ, Georgia: Daniel Stearsman (preacher) reports, “Looking at the calendar, it has been about five months since the seminar. We give God praise for the ongoing changes in evangelism. Our souls are continually refreshed by those who have the mind to work (Nehemiah 4:6). Some of the fruit we see out in the open. The elders and ministers meet on Sunday morning before Bible class and discuss souls. Our youth minister’s wife is taking three of our young ladies in a class on Sunday morning and going through Back to the Bible. Other studies are ongoing as well. A new one starts Tuesday night. Follow up studies, growing in Christ class, visitor bags, and meals are a great way to stay engaged. Also, the changes in our visitation teams are highly encouraging. Sunday nights are a great way to participate in working side by side in fellowship and sharing the love of Christ. We thank God for efforts to find lost souls and to faithfully stabilize and strengthen the local congregation.”
Crossville church of Christ, Tennessee: Alan Judd (preacher) reports, “Last week we were excited when Nicole Dishman obeyed the gospel and was baptized into Christ. She went through B2B and is already anxious to begin teaching other members of her family. Visits to new movers continue to be made weekly. Those who visit our assemblies are given gift bags to show our gratitude for their visit. Structure and organization continue to be refined, and we pray God daily to bless our efforts to spread His Word.”
Howard Burnett (member) of the Crossville church of Christ posted this on his Facebook page, “Had a good Bible study with Shawn this afternoon. We did half of lesson two of Back to the Bible. Troy is going to take Shawn out for lunch next Sunday after worship and then we will finish lesson two and perhaps get started on lesson three.”
North Jefferson church of Christ, Mt. Pleasant, Texas: Garth Johnson (elder) reports, “We had a spike this week in compassion cards for neighbors who visited and neighbors needing prayers for health issues. We have another contact that is in a rather complicated situation. At this point we are just trying to get him to realize that he is worth saving and that God loves him. Will keep you posted.”
New Hope church of Christ, Middleton, Tennessee: Cole Wade (preacher) reports, “Our contact list is growing! We had a large event last night and made so many new friends, and we are even already having discussions and studies about baptism. The members are growing in their faith and finding ways to show that their faith works! Hopefully, soon, I will send pictures of some baptisms!”
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