Success Stories: May 22, 2024

Welcome Stoney Creek church of Christ, Elizabethton, Tennessee: We welcome the Stoney Creek church of Christ to the House to House/Heart to Heart School of Evangelism.The congregations who oversee our schools of preaching need to be strong. We are thankful for the wisdom of this eldership as they focus the membership on soul winning. The congregations responded well to the foundational training.  We have provided the elders and preacher access to our HTHSOE operational model and look forward to seeing results!

Welcome West Side church of Christ, Salem, Virginia: We welcome the West Side church of Christ to the House to House/Heart to Heart School of Evangelism. The attendance was above average. The preachers and elders are very focused on creating an evangelistic culture. We look forward to seeing how they develop the congregational curriculum.

Welcome Cheyenne church of Christ, Oklahoma (remote): We welcome the Cheyenne church of Christ to the House to House/Heart to Heart School of Evangelism. Keno Shrum (regional trainer) did some teaching and helped them get started this past Sunday. Nathan Brewer (member) reports, “The inimitable and energetic Keno Shrum visited us this weekend. Last night, he and his delightful wife Jamie were guests in our home in Elk City, 30 miles away. They spent more than three hours visiting with me, my wife Julie, and three of our children. We had a wonderful time. Today, Keno spoke during Bible class, morning worship, and afternoon worship. He was very motivational, and the brethren seemed enthusiastic about what he had to say. We need to sort through all the materials and start the training, but once we do, we hope to begin the process of converting folks. Keno did a wonderful job. Julie and I wish Keno and Jamie lived closer.”

Glencoe church of Christ, Alabama: Rob Whitacre (member) reports, “We are preparing for our first evangelistic VBS. We will be using door-knocking and invitation cards to reach out to the local community. We will have an adult class for the parents, focusing on the church and salvation. Brother David Marker (elder) continues to do new convert studies. We are writing compassion cards each Sunday to our prospects. We will be scheduling a transition meeting soon.”

Petersville church of Christ, Florence, Alabama: Lucas Marks (associate preacher) reports, “This week, we set up the evangelism tables at both entryways of our building, and we stocked them. The eldership at Petersville thought that it would be a great time to rebrand and come up with a new logo for our church, so we hope to be creating items for visitors’ baskets, new movers, the evangelism tablecloths, and other materials with the new logo soon. The compassion card ministry is off to a great start as well. Our third group that met this week had so many card writers that we had to use three different classrooms! We have already had some families return to Petersville due to compassion cards. We are excited to enter the next phase of visiting several prospects! God is so very good!”
                                                            
Hatton church of Christ, Alabama: Chris Miller (preacher) reports, “Our turn out for writing compassion cards was far above average, which was very encouraging as we quickly approach two years involved in the process. It is exciting to see the efforts and involvement continue to grow. We continue to have several studies, and several of the visits this month have been great first contacts. We noticed this Sunday that several visitors who are connected to recent converts are coming often, and we hope to have more opportunities for studies soon.”

West Huntsville church of Christ, Alabama: Paul Owen (associate preacher) reports, “We had two baptisms yesterday! Elvis and Caroline, who are originally from Nigeria, have been visiting with us for a couple of months. We used the Back to the Bible booklets.”

Rison church of Christ, Arkansas: Keden Shrum (preacher) reports, “Care Team A met Sunday evening to work on compassion cards. We had a visitor Sunday who returned Sunday evening. She said she would appreciate having a Bible study. Lord willing, we will begin to study Book 1 with her next week.”

Highway church of Christ, Benton, Arkansas: James Hutchings (deacon) reports, “We have had three baptisms this year. This past week, we sent out 29 compassion cards.  We are also starting to send out some new mover baskets.”

Malvern church of Christ, Arkansas (remote): David Burruss (preacher) reports, “We have set up our compassion card ministry on Tuesday evenings. We are a small congregation, and this seemed to be the best time to get the most participation. We continue to develop the evangelism model and train the congregation.”

Lake City church of Christ, Florida: Jim Flegert (elder) reports, “Our Mission Monday/Sunday team was excited to find 13 names available for visits today. Early returns from a few of the visits show potential positive responses in the near future.”

Niceville church of Christ, Florida: Joe Palmer (preacher) reports, “This week, we had no new visitors, but we had some returning visitors. I preached on Sunday morning about “How to Really Love Your Neighbor.” I used this as a kickoff lesson for our new movers’ program. I did a sign-up for people willing to deliver our welcome gifts and to explain the program. I gave a lesson from the evangelism book Those in Christ on Sunday evening. We sent out 30 cards and had two Bible studies.”

Fayetteville church of Christ, Georgia: David Gulledge (associate preacher) reports, “Evangelism Group 3 met yesterday to write and send cards. We are receiving a lot of positive comments from the people who are receiving the cards. We are incorporating a night each month to teach, train, and encourage members to follow up with and visit the prospects.”

Bremen church of Christ, Georgia: Scott Broughton (member) reports, “One of our elders, Chris Stevenson, gave an update on our progress and reviewed the HTHSOE model. Chad’s lesson pointed out that the model is Christianity in action throughout the New Testament. We have eight Bible studies in progress, with five starting this past week. People share their prayer lists, invite friends and family to services, and encourage one another.”

Lafayette church of Christ, Georgia: Jesse Teague (deacon) reports, “Last night was the third Sunday, so Group 2 met to send compassion cards. We had 14 members sending cards; there was fun and fellowship during the process!

“We tried a new process this month that seems obvious and straightforward, but it may also help others. We recently had two visitors from out of town. Two of our members had met them and invited them to come to worship on Sunday. The visiting couple had some land that bordered our members’ property. They expressed to several of our members that they were glad they visited and that they would come back the next time they were in town. We got their information and sent them compassion cards to thank them for their visit. Since they live outside of our area, we checked their area for local congregations and found one near them where one of our members knew some folks. Since we had their information, we forwarded it to one of the elders at the congregation near them, and he said they would look into visiting/following up with the couple. We hope that being able to extend the evangelism efforts with a handoff to another local congregation can help save souls.”

Woodstock church of Christ, Georgia: Matt Amos (preacher) reports, “During our ACTS (Actively Caring Teaching & Serving) Evangelism Program, we collected one contact card this week. On May 19, WCOC had nine participants (two teams of four) for the New Movers campaign. They passed out five baskets for those at home and left 5 door hangers for those not at home. One individual made 25 QR cards to give to those interested in studying the Bible at home.

“The Prison Ministry Group received approval from WCOC to begin a pilot Bible Study program with Cherokee County Jail (CCJ). They are working with CCJ to implement this program. The Compassion Cards Group sent ten cards this week. The Greeter Group reported that WCOC had four non-Christian visitors for Sunday worship. We had four Bible Studies this past week.”

New Hope Road church of Christ, Dacula, Georgia (remote): Charles Harris (regional trainer) reports, “Yesterday was our last Sunday with the New Hope Road church of Christ. I presented a Bible Class lesson on how to set up and carry out the use of compassion cards so they can begin prospecting. Contacts from the members continue to be submitted. I am leaving a Congregational List behind to help them begin the work. My family and I are excited about the future of the New Hope Road church of Christ. The brethren there have been such an encouragement to my family. We love them dearly and will miss them.

“The Cartersville church of Christ, where we will be working next, presented the first part of the HTHSOE sermon from John 4 on Sunday. If all goes as scheduled with selling our current house and purchasing the next one, we plan to worship with the church in Cartersville this coming Sunday and begin our work.”

Honolulu church of Christ, Hawaii: Tagiilima Esene (regional trainer) reports, “Aloha from the Honolulu congregation! We continue to prospect some of our local visitors. One of our groups is sending cards. There are two active Bible studies at this time.

“The Waimea Congregation on the Big Island started their evangelism seminar this past week via Zoom. It is encouraging to have Christians who want to win souls to Christ. Gary Lyons, the preacher there, will be leading the congregation in Waimea through the checklist and in starting the process of implementing the Evangelism Model into their church culture. We appreciate prayers for the Waimea church during this time.”

Beloit church of Christ, Kansas (remote): Dustin Dougherty (preacher) reports, “It was a good week. On Wednesday, I met with an individual and began a study with the Growing in Christ book before our midweek services. I pray that this study will bring him closer to God and benefit him and his relationships. We finished Book 3 of Back to the Bible on Wednesday during class. We covered the last segment of “Counting the Cost,” really digging deep into the segment; we had a really good discussion. We also covered some objections that may come after the study, how to handle them, and ways to close the study. This week, we will begin the Does It Matter booklet with the group. We are preparing for our big evangelistic outreach opportunities this summer, implementing and changing things we learned last year. This coming Sunday, I will travel and preach at the Agra, Kansas, congregation, where my dad is the preacher.  To God be the Glory.”

Paintsville church of Christ, Kentucky: Zach Collins (preacher) reports, “Each day, we are building and growing our evangelistic culture. This past Sunday, we preached on Zacchaeus, the ‘Unlikely Disciple.’ In this lesson, we continued to emphasize home Bible studies and the importance of evangelism. We have been planning for our upcoming VBS and have scheduled two door-knocking campaigns for this event to create an evangelistic-centered event. As a result, Bible studies continue to be created. In the coming week, I will be having a Bible study with someone I studied with over a year ago but chose to forgo the study. Due to some recent health news, this person asked me to return and continue the study!” I am hopeful about this opportunity. The Paintsville church appreciates all prayers.”

Central church of Christ, Paducah, Kentucky: Adam Faughn (preacher) reports, “We were blessed over the weekend to hold a “Living with Loss” workshop, led by Brother Dean Miller. While we did not have many guests from our community, we had one lady who was interested in a Bible study, and one of our Christian sisters will set that up with her, hopefully this week, to begin Book 1. I am also setting up a study with one of our long-time visitors. We thought we had a study set up some time ago, but life happened. Now she is ready, and we hope to start this week. We appreciate prayers for these studies.

“Our card teams continue to meet, and we still have many guests each week. This past Sunday, we had a visit from a family who lives about three hours away. They have been talking online with one of our young adult couples, and they came to visit and study! We are also grateful that one of our elders and his wife are on a mission trip to Antigua in the Caribbean. Evangelism is happening ‘in Jerusalem, Judea, and to the ends of the earth, ‘and it is so exciting.”

La Plata church of Christ, Maryland (remote): Eric Sykes (regional trainer) reports, “We had a good week here in La Plata. We wrote 16 compassion cards. We had eight visitors. We received our first list of new movers with nine names. We will assemble and deliver the new mover baskets this week. We still have several open Bible studies. Six people are attending our New Converts Bible study classes. We had seven people attend our advanced teacher training course. We assigned a coordinator for bookmarks and the new movers program. We appreciate all prayers and support.”

East Main church of Christ, Tupelo, Mississippi: Barry Kennedy (preacher) reports, “The elders and Wade are still working on finalizing the list of coordinators. We followed through with ordering the visitation cards (2k). Those should be shipped this Tuesday. We also had a devotion Wednesday night with an evangelistic theme and handed out some of the training cards with a brief reminder to fill out our bookmarks and to be praying.

“On Sunday, we covered the rest of the sermon on “Jesus the Politically Incorrect Evangelist” for both services! At the end of the first service, Jeff Mansel led us in prayer for all the names written on our bookmarks. He also informed the congregation we are excited about this work and need everyone’s help and patience. We asked the congregation for names on their bookmarks who are dealing with cancer, hospitalization, surgeries, or other serious illness. Those who had names received a contact card to be filled out and returned to the elders or Wade.

“The ladies on the card committee are working out their plan to start sending notes of love and prayers to those names collected. Things are a buzz, and we are just trying to keep the fire going! It is exciting to see members checking out the evangelism table to use some of the material.”

Foristell church of Christ, Missouri: Aaron Baker (preacher) reports, “Training: We continue weekly training so members are well equipped to reach out and share the Gospel and their faith with those around them. We review videos and work through supplemental lessons weekly. We also have monthly reports from deacons to the congregation to highlight how our deacons are helping advance the Gospel within their areas of focus, like benevolence, missions (foreign and domestic), and even thoughtful worship.

“New Movers: We visit new movers in our area weekly. The gift bags have been well received, and we usually spend two hours a week making these visits. Our area has roughly 40 new movers monthly, though that number can vary.

“Bible Studies: We currently have three ongoing Bible studies. In one study, the couple has completed Book 2. A second study is working through the supplemental lessons on “Is there a God?” while a third is working on Book 3 related to salvation. We appreciate all prayers as we try to be a light shining in our community and share the love of God with those around us!”

West End Blvd church of Christ, Cape Girardeau, Missouri: Jared Scaggs (preacher) reports, “We are close to being finished with the preaching curriculum, and we are now working on training the specialist groups. We have one Bible study in progress. Compassion cards are being well received. We are about 40 percent through the website at this point.”

West Hwy 160 church of Christ, West Plains, Missouri: Marvin Hatley (elder) reports, “The congregation’s Compassion Card Group 2 wrote 101 cards to be mailed to five prospects this week. The congregation has diligently identified prospects from family, friends, and co-workers. One Bible study was conducted this past week with a prospect participating in weekly studies but still holding to a false “belief only” doctrine. Lord willing, the study will progress with Ivan Stewart’s Open Bible Study this week. We hope to begin new coordinator training this week. Scheduling conflicts have prevented this needed step in evangelism.

“A study using Back to The Bible Book 1 is being conducted tonight with a prospect who completed Does It Matter several weeks ago. The prospect has been very receptive to Bible studies but struggles with the role of the Holy Spirit in salvation.

East Flushing church of Christ, New York (remote): Clarence Jenkins (preacher) reports, “We had four first-time visitors this week. We are continuing to bond with a hot prospect who consistently comes to worship services. The Bible study is going slower than we would like, yet we are confident that baptism is upcoming. We also have several Bible studies ongoing. We are encouraged to keep reaching out to the lost. We appreciate all prayers.”

Cary church of Christ, North Carolina: Larry Fife (preacher) reports, “Yesterday was bustling with activity and excitement. We were thrilled to host numerous visitors and even more delighted to initiate three Bible studies. One of the ladies receiving our compassion cards joined us for worship. Following the service, three of our ladies took her out for lunch, and she expressed interest in learning more. Our connect group was also productive, writing 57 compassion cards, which brings our yearly total to 641. Additionally, we have identified ten new movers to whom we will be delivering welcome baskets. We are truly grateful for God’s continuous opportunities and blessings.”

Lake Milton church of Christ, Ohio (remote): Mike Bison (preacher) reports, “We are a small congregation, but we continue to develop the evangelism model. Our baptism goal is two for the year. We have increased our compassion card ministry. We have also increased the number of visitors.”

Streetsboro church of Christ, Ohio: Ralph Price (preacher) reports, “Unfortunately, last week’s study had to be rescheduled to Thursday of this week. The gentleman I am going to study with has been attending regularly with us. He sat through all of the Back to the Bible studies when I went through them during Sunday morning worship. I will probably use Does It Matter for the study. We plan to visit with an elderly woman tomorrow who has been attending regularly with us. She is Baptist but has been attending faithfully for a month now.”

Greenville church of Christ, Ohio: John McGiffin (preacher) reports, “We continue to work the model. Visits were made this week. It seems that some of our prodigals have found ‘churches with  ‘MUSIC,’ and they ‘enjoy’ that music. It seems sad that some people focus more on self  than on the inward soul in worship.

“We have been teaching strongly on the first principles and have recently emphasized that instrumental music is not authorized. Some young new converts were excited to invite new friends to worship service. We are hopeful these will turn to Bible studies soon. We recently welcomed a newborn’s first worship. After services, we prayed with the couple. They wanted to begin her life with a focus on God first. The husband is the contact person with whom we are studying. We recognized and prayed for recent graduates as we will turn our focus on the next set of prodigals.”

New Concord church of Christ, Ohio: Terry Townsend (preacher) reports, “We completed the third lesson of Back to the Bible with one of our contacts from a couple months ago. While he still has not obeyed, we feel confident that he will soon. We will continue to study Does It Matter with him. One of our newer converts has been bringing her husband the last couple months, and we hope to begin a study with him very soon.

“One of our dear sisters is developing a relationship with a lady who has been visiting our services in recent weeks. She met her for lunch last week and hopes that a Bible study will soon be set up. Our transitional teams will be given new contacts to visit in the next week or two. Fourteen new movers’ baskets were delivered last week. One of the recipients is a former member of a congregation in another town. We will follow-up with her later this week.”

Coweta church of Christ, Oklahoma: Keno Shrum (regional trainer) reports, “Last week, we had a study scheduled with Chris. Due to a work conflict, he had to reschedule for this Wednesday. We will be going through Lesson 3 of BTTB. Please keep this study in your prayers.

“Last weekend, Jamie and I traveled to Cheyenne, Oklahoma, to meet a wonderful congregation of brothers and sisters. Members described the congregation as dying, but they are eager to change the current trajectory. They knew they needed HTHSOE, but time was of the essence, and they could not wait for in-person training. So they opted for Remote Training. I spent time motivating them and preparing them for the training that will begin immediately. The members are excited to grow. Nathan and Chris are taking the lead, and I know great things lie ahead for them. Julie visited with Jamie about how to set up the Compassion Card ministry.

“Members are gathering contact information for one hundred names of lost people. They are hitting the ground running with a heart to save souls. I cannot wait to see what they will accomplish! “I want to remind RTL readers that the HTHSOE has ten regional trainers ready to assist the Whitacres. If your congregation needs help, reach out to Rob, and he can schedule a trainer to come to your congregation!”

Sullivan Village church of Christ, Lawton, Oklahoma: Steven Hill (preacher) reports, “We have one elder who is very ill, and we are working to preach through qualifications, hoping to keep our eldership alive. A couple of studies are going on right now, and we are hopeful that we will have a baptism soon. We hosted a great singing service out at the refuge yesterday with 136 people and nine congregations represented. We are continuing to pursue door-knocking and planting seeds wherever we can!”

Union church of Christ, South Carolina (remote): Terry Hale (preacher) reports, “Loraine Blackwell has been opening the Bible with us since January; she was baptized Saturday after many studies with Back to the Bible and many charts. We have a new Bible study scheduled, and we will follow up on those who received the cards this week.

Hillcrest church of Christ, Springfield, Tennessee: Johnny Trail (preacher) reports, “We immediately put up several of the Congregational Evangelism Models, and they are placed throughout the church. We had our first sermon and evening training series. We also had a Bible study on Sunday. My son Noah is doing the Back to the Bible study with a young man in our youth group. Also, the elders and preachers met Sunday to see about getting organized for the evangelism table and contact cards. We talked about putting our VBS through the funnel of evangelism. I believe we are off to a great start.”

Karns church of Christ, Knoxville, Tennessee: Spencer Clark (evangelism coordinator) reports, “We continue to witness incredible fruit from efforts this year. We recently had several youths put on Christ in baptism, and we are on track to surpass last year’s baptism total. Our VBS is coming soon, and we will send out personal invitations to many of our contacts; this was very successful last year.  Many of our members are engaged in ongoing studies, and others are having conversations with prospective students. We have challenged our members to reach two people this year, and we are starting to see some of the fruit from those efforts. We appreciate all prayers for our continued efforts.”

Mountain Creek church of Christ, Chattanooga, Tennessee: Michael Tomshack (elder) reports, “Our Sunday Compassion Card Team rotation took Mother’s Day off and reassembled this week. A new mover in our community attended Sunday, looking for a place to worship. Our greeters met her, gave her a gift bag, and collected the contact information for follow-up. Don Hedrick (Elder) and Gary Massey (Elder/Minister) will meet with a compassion card couple (previously mentioned) for Lesson 2 of Back to the Bible. Gary continues to study with a frequent guest who has completed Lesson 2. Yesterday, an occasional guest from the community came forward requesting prayers. He wants to study the Bible. However, he must address stability issues before he can begin a study.”

Hebron church of Christ, McMinnville, Tennessee: Derrick Stiles (preacher) reports, “We had another wonderful evangelism-filled week at Hebron. Bible studies are continuing as we are focused on growth. We received a report from our brother Bill Haywood from the Tri-Cities School of Preaching on Sunday night. His message was about the need for more godly Christians to continue growing the kingdom through evangelism. This worked well as it kept evangelism on our minds. We appreciate all prayers as we work diligently to establish these programs and their coordinators.”

Rivergate church of Christ, Madison, Tennessee: Doug Tooley (preacher) reports, “We had two baptisms last week. One came from a youth outreach directed by Stewart Halcomb, one of our members. The other was a young lady who is engaged to one of our members. Stewart and one of our elders, Louis Kuykendall, have been working with her.

“Our team is going through current and past directories to pinpoint the names of people who are no longer at our congregation. This team is working on establishing who among these names is not attending church anywhere. They are searching for the lost. Our teams have been established to address the different aspects of the New Movers program. They are ready to deliver baskets to those on the list.”

Hillsboro church of Christ, Tennessee: Chris Sliger (member) reports, “Hillsboro visited new movers this week. Multiple good contacts were made. We sent compassion cards to three of these contacts, plus a contact submitted by Christina. The contact submitted by Christina is a middle-aged lady named Nicole; she has a terminal illness. Nicole has a 12-year-old daughter, and we ask everyone reading this report to please pray for Nicole and her family. We also added a few previous contacts to our group card list; we will send them one card every week/month from the church.”

East Main church of Christ, Murfreesboro, Tennessee: Brad Rowley (elder) reports, “Last week we had six new contact cards! Several of these new contacts came from new mover baskets. Our compassion card team wrote 50 cards. We delivered two new mover baskets. We had a total of ten Bible studies last week. Four studies out of the ten were new Bible studies. We rejoice in the baptism of Nathan Smith and Makayla Rogers by Jon Mitchell, our pulpit minister. Nathan and Makayla are friends of Walter and Carrie Rosenkrance. Walter, Carrie, and Tim Hayes have been studying with Nathan and Makayla. They will continue to study with Tim Hayes and Jon Mitchell. To God give the glory!”

Brushy church of Christ, Centerville, Tennessee: Kevin Johnston (preacher) reports, “We are continuing to plant seeds by sending out compassion cards each week. Also, we recognized two graduates; one was a first-time visitor, and we were able to honor him. We are continuing to plant and cultivate the soil.”

New Union church of Christ, Manchester, Tennessee: Paul Fulks (elder) reports, “We had ten visitors from the community on Sunday. We had six contact cards submitted, and we wrote 50 compassion cards. We made eight visits and delivered one new mover basket. We met on Monday to discuss our transitions.”

Chapel Hill church of Christ, Tennessee: Matt Jones (deacon) reports, “Things are progressing well. Our coordinator team met this past Thursday to report. All areas are staying active. We have several contacts ready for transition visits that should be occurring soon. We hope to be generating some additional Bible studies soon from this effort. Our compassion card teams have done a great job, and the teams are working very well lately. The Lord is continuing to bless this work!”

Covington church of Christ, Tennessee: Wayne Dalrymple (elder) reports, “We continue to reach out to the community to obtain favor in their sight (Acts 2:47). Since the tornadoes that hit the Covington area on March 31, 2023, we have had the opportunity to show God’s love and kindness to many in our community. Our elementary and middle school buildings were destroyed at that time. While they have built temporary buildings to house the actual classrooms and necessary space, they do not have space for schoolwide gatherings, so we have allowed them to use our building for several events. The middle school band and choir had their end-of-year concerts two weeks ago. Several sports teams are having banquets as well. We are making connections and developing relationships through these opportunities. We also continue to send compassion cards to several contacts. We hope to transition to Bible studies with some of these soon.”

Crosby church of Christ, Texas (remote):  Jon Wheeler (elder) reports, “This past week, we had four visitors for Sunday morning services. As we were getting ready to leave Sunday night, two visitors who had visited before but had not been recently came to the door. We invited them in and talked with them for half an hour. We gave them a card so they could remember the correct service times. Ten new mover baskets were given out Saturday, with several recipients indicating they had been thinking about seeking a church to visit in the community. We continue to keep in touch with the lady who had a baby a month ago, and we gave her baby gifts. She looks forward to worshiping with us in a couple of weeks with her new baby. We are sending invitation cards to those who showed interest in recent months when baskets were delivered.”

Southwest church of Christ, Austin, Texas: John Garza (regional trainer) reports, “At the congregation, not only have we had a recent baptism added to the Lord’s body, but also many members who have moved into the area or have been in the area have decided to place membership with the congregation. We continue to grow in number simply because of the work of evangelism and the strong preaching and teaching of the gospel in our services.”

Buda Kyle church of Christ, Texas: Ronnie Scherffius (preacher) reports, “With our eye on developing and implementing our ‘transition teams,’ we will mail over 150 compassion cards this week. One set of cards is to a young family who recently moved into the community and visited with us on Sunday morning. We appreciate prayers for our efforts as we continue to develop and implement the congregational approach to evangelism.”

Bridgewater church of Christ, Katy, Texas: Doug Suggs (deacon) reports, “One of our card teams met to address cards to our recent prospects. Our preacher, Wade Webster, has encouraged us to promote our evangelism efforts. In our church bulletin, he has guided us in finding prospects.”

Canyon Lake church of Christ, Texas (remote): Raoul Ferris and Jesse Stuart (evangelists) reports, “This past week was a bit discouraging as all but two of our ongoing Bible studies were canceled. Some cancelled because they would be out of town, and others were ill. As a church, we know how important it is to continue the studies without interruptions.

“We assisted Charles Hall, an evangelist in Bangs, Texas, in hosting a fish fry for a family that has been studying with him, but we ran into a roadblock. We were able to rekindle a desire to study the Bible and hope to see those studies occur in mid-June after the couple has returned from trips and school. On Mondays this month, we will be hosting our class on “Coping” at the local library at 6:00 p.m. This class has been a great success; from this, we have made several good contacts.”

Wheeler church of Christ, Texas: Garrett English (preacher) reports, “I preached a sermon yesterday on being the church we find in the New Testament, and it was received well. I could see lightbulbs in people’s minds. A fairly frequent visitor asked afterward why we take communion every week. I said, ‘That’s what we find in the Bible. Would you like me to show you?’ She accepted. I plan to study with her this week.

“Our compassion cards continue to show our love for those hurting. Now that I have put the prospect list into the bulletin insert, we have more people sending cards. Our Wednesday lady’s class is starting a new study and invited the community. Two have said they plan to come. Pray for fruitful efforts and good soil.”

North Jefferson church of Christ, Mt. Pleasant, Texas: Kris Groda (preacher) reports, “We are  rejoicing for our new brother in Christ, Bob Gipson. He is a resident at Greenhill Villas. Bob has loved the Lord for many years and always trying to encourage others to learn more about Jesus. He’s a good example of one striving to follow the Great commandment of the New Testament in Matthew 22:36-40; Mark 12:28-31; and Luke 10:27. Bob has a good heart, and through continual study, he understood he needed to be baptized for the right reasons: ‘The remission of sins!’ Now that he is in Christ, we will continue teaching all the Lord has commanded (Matthew 28:19-20).”

Granbury Street church of Christ, Cleburne, Texas: Ryan Cowan (deacon) reports, “We are happy to report that Irma Hernandez was immersed into Christ this past Monday. Irma has a connection to Granbury Street through her daughter, Caroline Mora.

“Our elders have been working closely with Kerista for the baptism of another lady named Debbie. Debbie lives in the same facility as Irma. Some complicating factors with Debbie include a motorized wheelchair and a general lack of mobility. Jeff Day has been actively working to facilitate this process. On Saturday, we hosted ‘Mission Saturday’ at our home. We discussed Chapter 4 of Fishing for Men, discussed our current studies, and reviewed our strategy for new movers.”

Graceton Church of Christ, Diana, Texas: Johnny Willeford (elder) reports, “We had a wonderful time at our monthly game night last Friday. Two new couples visited with us for the food and fun. One couple came back on Sunday morning for worship and Bible class.

“Last week, my wife and I started a Bible study with Rondah and Earl Shafer. Back to the Bible Lesson 1 went very well; we will meet with them again this week for Lesson 2. They were very receptive to the lesson and what it taught.

“This past Sunday afternoon, our Compassion card Group C met and will be sending 70 cards to seven new contacts. Next week, our Mission Monday group will meet to give reports on our home visits and receive new names for the following month. Our Family VBS planning group met Sunday evening after services and started working on our VBS in July. Planning for Summer Youth Camps is underway. We appreciate all prayers as we also pray for all who serve God.”

9^th and Main church of Christ, San Angelo, Texas: Bryan Braswell (elder) reports, “We have multiple studies in progress. We picked up more yesterday. Our teams are solid. We had our greeters and pew facilitators working hard yesterday. We probably had more than 20 visitors yesterday morning, and a retention of 10 came back last night for evening services. We had a fellowship meal afterward. Two families said they are moving here to be with us at 9th and Main. We continue to send cards and follow up with these contacts. We are glad to report that 9th and Main is growing as a result of God’s goodness and our biblical focus.”