Welcome Sycamore Chapel church of Christ, Ashland City, Tennessee: We welcome the Sycamore Chapel church of Christ to the House to House/Heart to Heart School of Evangelism. The congregation has an evangelistic preacher and strong elders. They were ready for the training and eager to begin the congregational training.
Welcome, East Sparta church of Christ, Magnolia, Ohio: We welcome the East Sparta church of Christ to the House to House School of Evangelism. The leadership and ministers are excited and ready to reach lost souls. The congregation is motivated, and each member is ready to fill their roles in the Evangelism Model.
Glencoe church of Christ, Alabama: Keith Ritchie (evangelist) reports, “Glencoe now has five studies in progress with another prospect in view. Our Gospel Meeting with Freddie Clayton begins May 18. On Sunday afternoon, we plan to deliver new movers’ baskets and to invite others to the meeting. A lot of outreach/evangelistic opportunities are coming up for Glencoe. Pray that we continue to be successful in setting up Bible studies and converting souls. To God be the glory!”
Cedar Grove church of Christ, Andalusia, Alabama: Josh Halloway (preacher) reports, “As a congregation, we are becoming more and more motivated and evangelistic every service. So many of our members have contacted me or one of the elders about souls that can be reached. You can truly tell the culture is changing. Members come with more and more contacts and more and more ideas for evangelism. Now, after just two of the bookmark questions, we have enough for our prospect list. Our elders have started the process of appointing coordinators for each area. They are very involved with this process. We have dedicated one night per week outside of our normal meetings and service time just to focus on evangelism. We did some improvements to our evangelism table. This week, we moved forward with setting up our accountability board. We introduced it to the congregation, and everyone seems excited. We have had three baptisms in the last few months, plus two restorations. Based on that information, plus the fact that we have a great number of wayward members that we are working on right now, we decided to add the category of ‘Restorations’ to our board. We have recently completed all three of the Back to the Bible study with a nonmember, but she still has not obeyed the Gospel. We request prayers for her soul as we continue to work with her. We also have another Bible study set up this week, using BTTB Lesson 1. We request prayers for that soul also as we begin.”
Hartselle church of Christ, Alabama: Justin Smith (preacher) reports, “The work at Hartselle has great excitement around it. We have been discussing the bookmarks in the morning worship, and we will begin moving our first contacts to prospects in the coming weeks. I can tell the wheels of culture are changing and beginning to turn as I hear members speak about finding people in their lives who need the Gospel. The elders and ministers are now meeting weekly to discuss this important work. We are working hard—all for God’s glory!”
Highland Park church of Christ, Muscle Shoals, Alabama: Andrew Myhan (deacon) reports, “We have an opportunity to do a clothing drive for the community and get more prospects. We also have some ongoing Bible studies. We ask for prayers for these efforts.”
Creekwood church of Christ, Mobile, Alabama: Tucker Presley (preacher) reports, “We currently have one Bible study in progress. We have added more contacts, but we still need to get more involvement from our members. I attempted to make three visits with individuals coming off the list, but none were home. We will follow up with them. Our members have done a great job with the invitation cards. They are taking them and passing them out. Hopefully, that gets people thinking about Creekwood. We still need to get the other parts of the program going. I think when we get that going, we will see more success.”
Petersville church of Christ, Florence, Alabama: Adam Richardson (preacher) reports, “Petersville continues to reach out to the community. We hosted an appreciation lunch for teachers at a local elementary school this morning and will do another lunch for another school on May 9. We are including invitation cards with these meals. We sent 79 compassion cards last week and are gearing up to reach out with this ministry to wayward families. We give God the glory because the grandmother of one of our families has been worshipping with us for nearly three years, and she was baptized into Christ after Sunday night service! I have studied with her and had several good conversations, and she had been dwelling on her salvation for a while. The church family here is overjoyed to see her commit to following Christ.”
Hatton church of Christ, Town Creek, Alabama: Chris Miller (preacher) reports, “We recently ran numbers; we have sent over 1300 cards and assigned 300 visits. We also ran calculations on our county, and the reality and motivating aspect is that we have only reached out to 1 percent of the population, which means we need to reach out to 99 percent of the population! Recently, a door opened to us at a rehab facility, and we have been sending cards to people there with hopes of rescuing some of them. This past Sunday, we saw that the majority of our visit list included people from the rehab facility—broken people who need the Lord—and we are very hopeful that we can help them!”
Fayette church of Christ, Alabama: Josh Taylor (deacon) reports, “We are thrilled to rejoice with Jack Robertson, who obeyed the Gospel this evening. His family has always been very instrumental to our congregation, and we are thankful for Jack’s decision tonight. Robert Tate has been visiting with us for several weeks. He was on our Compassion Card list, and we sent him thank-you cards for visiting. Our members had continually grown our relationship with him to make him feel welcome. We had been able to help his wife with transportation to doctor visits. Robert agreed to a Bible study with me at our Wednesday night Bible class. In talking with Robert, I already knew generally where he stood spiritually, based on previous discussions. I realized he loved God, was interested in spiritual things, and really needed to be taught correctly concerning baptism. I began by using the Evangelism survey tool for him to describe his previous salvation experience. He said he was saved before baptism. Based on my understanding of his situation, I chose to use Does It Matter? for our Bible study. We discussed that we must believe, repent, and confess to be saved. When we got to the baptism part of the booklet, we compared Robert’s answers on his survey to what the Bible tells us about baptism. After some discussion, he began to realize that his previous baptism was incorrect because he thought he was saved before his baptism. I told Robert that we could correct this tonight. He said he wanted to be baptized in the correct manner for the remission of his sins. Robert is now our brother in Christ! I am thankful for God’s help!”
Mountain Home church of Christ, Arkansas: Joshua Adams (preacher) reports, “Last night after services, our fourth group of card writers, consisting of 23 people, met and wrote 235 cards for 47 people! Our door-knocking group is ready to go out after this week’s cards in order to meet with people who have been receiving cards for the past four weeks. We trust that even more Bible studies are just around the corner. We currently have four ongoing! Our New Members class met for the first time as well. Because we are a lake community, we are excited as we gear up for a busy summer season of visitors coming into our area.”
Rison church of Christ, Arkansas: Keden Shrum (preacher) reports, “We had a family of three visit us Sunday morning. Care Team A met Sunday evening to work on compassion cards, which included the visiting family. Chandra and I will be having dinner with another family this week, and we are praying that it will lead to a Bible study.”
Windsor church of Christ, Colorado: Lucas Stephens (member) reports, “We continue to work our local mission in Windsor. This week, our parents and kids attended the Lads to Leaders Convention, and the kids did a fantastic job! We signed caring cards for both members and families during our monthly potluck family meal. We will hold our monthly business meeting this Tuesday in place of our weekly evangelism meeting. We have a lot going on, and we continue to work for the Lord! We have seven prospects and one Bible study.”
Margaret Street church of Christ, Milton, Florida: Troy Spradlin (preacher) reports, “Our Pew Greeter ministry has been faltering considerably lately. We are not sure if our members are just forgetting, or if they feel uncomfortable, or if they are misunderstanding the process. Whatever the case, we are missing out on opportunities! One of our coordinators will personally oversee the revival of that ministry. He will meet soon with our greeters to determine what needs to be done. We are also ready to implement a few more “tools” from the Evangelism Model. We are discussing stepping up as coordinators for those ministries with a few members. Our 2025 Year-to-Date Accountability Board numbers are as follows: 141 Contacts; 26 Visitors; 81 Neighbors (Prospects whom we have loved and/or studied with); 37 Bible Studies (total completed); 1102 Compassion Cards sent; and seven Baptisms.”
Niceville church of Christ, Florida: Joe Palmer (preacher) reports, “The easiest contact is the one that walks in the door. Last week, a young man came to church as the evening service closed. One of our men got him to fill out a contact card. He came to church again on Sunday night. After church, I found out he is a young airman looking for a church home. I started the conversation using my normal visitor question: “What brings you to worship with us today.” He replied he just wanted to find a church. I asked him if he was a member of the church, and he explained he had been to several churches in the past. I asked him, “Do you know much about the church of Christ?” He said no. I then asked if he would like to know more. He said he is always up for that. We set up a study for Thursday at noon. My wife, Leanna, and I invited him to eat a meal with us. That was an enjoyable time to meet a new friend who needs a place to belong. We have a lot in common, and I am going to connect him to some people in the church with common interests. Last week, we had a visitor named Jordan. We sent out his contact information to everyone. He has been receptive, but he was sick this week and missed church. I will follow up with him this week. If you want to evangelize, I encourage you to get involved as a greeter. We are happy to train you. We need more volunteers and more people who are willing to reap the harvest of souls who walk through the doors of our church building. We had two studies this week. We sent out 28 cards, and we are praying for the harvest.”
Avalon church of Christ, Florida (remote): Preston Silcox (elder) reports, “We had another great Sunday with ten non-Christian visitors. We had two Bible studies last week as well. On Sunday night, we began focusing our attention on new movers, handing out 88 compassion cards to be written and sent out over the next few weeks. We are including invitations to an upcoming Thursday night series on ‘How to Study the Bible.’ ”
Lafayette church of Christ, Georgia: Jesse Teague (deacon) reports, “Yesterday was the first Sunday, so Group 1 met to sign compassion cards. We had five souls on our list and about 12 saints signing cards. We pray some of these hearts will be receptive to the Gospel. Last week was our monthly fellowship meal. We enjoyed fellowship with each other and with others who need the Gospel. We can only sow the seed—God will give the increase.”
Cartersville church of Christ, Georgia (remote): Charles Harris (regional trainer) reports, “After a few months of studying, I baptized Jake on Thursday. We reworked our Compassion Card Groups. Group 1 met on Sunday and signed 65 cards.”
Woodstock church of Christ, Georgia: Larkin Cook (member) reports, “The Prison Ministry Group is very close to getting permission to use the Zoom application as THE virtual application for Bible Study Classes. Our main focus this weekend was our annual Friends’ Day at Woodstock church of Christ on Sunday, May 04, 2025. Friends’ Day is the congregation’s opportunity to invite their friends to church, preferably non-Christians. In preparation for Friends Day, the New Movers’ Door Knocking Campaign delivered two baskets, and the HTH Door Knocking Campaign knocked on twenty-one doors, even in the rain, on Saturday, May 03, 2025. WCOC had eighteen non-Christian visitors for worship on Friends’ Day this Sunday morning. We also had a Bible study last week and two baptisms of sisters on Sunday. How exciting!”
Honolulu church of Christ, Hawaii: Tagiilima Esene (regional trainer) reports, “Aloha from the Honolulu congregation! We continue to make efforts to reach the lost. Our new movers group went out into the community this past weekend to welcome our new neighbors. We currently have Bible studies with seven souls. This time of the year, we have experienced many scheduling conflicts with studies being pushed back. We understand the importance of being flexible. We are gearing up for our first family camp for the summer. This will definitely encourage the families in our church, which can have a positive impact on our work overall. The past week’s highlight was our youth group completing another Bible Bowl. They are the next generation of soul winners, but first, we need to encourage their young souls to prioritize the spiritual things in life.”
Collinsville-Troy church of Christ, Illinois: Jason Wright (elder) reports, “Kris visited again this Sunday. We met her at our Food Giveaway. Some of our members have been taking her to lunch. We have also had visitors on Wednesdays. We mailed 135 compassion cards this week. Both of my studies were cancelled for the week. We intend to study this week. We had two Bible studies. We delivered several new movers baskets that resulted in a couple of contacts. We have a door-knocking day scheduled for May 17. We will do the training on that Sunday. Our monthly coordinator’s meeting is coming up.”
Judah church of Christ, Bloomington, Indiana: Joe Moon (preacher) reports, “We have two current prospects receiving cards, and we added two more this week. We have two prospects ready for visits, but we have been unable to visit them yet.”
Highland Village church of Christ, Bloomington, Indiana: Mark Stauffer (elder) reports, “During the first week in May, we sent out 15 cards, made one visit, and had two visitors for worship. Training for the congregation this week emphasized the importance and urgency of reaching the lost.”
Beloit church of Christ, Kansas (remote): Dustin Dougherty (regional trainer) reports, “We had 29 in attendance yesterday morning and a great fellowship meal following. On Saturday morning, we had our second ‘Men of Valor’ men’s Bible study. We had eight men come for the study and enjoyed pancakes and bacon. One of the young men was a visitor from the community, and one drove nearly two hours to be with us for the study. The men are enjoying it enough that they want to go from a bi-monthly meeting to a monthly meeting, so we will start meeting monthly. There are several that are being prospected in the area. To God be all honor and glory.”
Poole church of Christ, Kentucky: Andrew Wynne (preacher) reports, “This week, we continue to send out compassion cards in an effort to reach the lost. We are still working through the Back to the Bible, Book 2, in our Wednesday night class. Over the last couple of Sundays, I have preached on the qualifications and work of elders. I plan to preach on the subject of deacons this Sunday night. These sermons are essential to show the uniqueness of the church of Christ in the way that it is organized. We appreciate all prayers for our evangelism efforts, and for continuing to lay the proper foundation in Poole through the preaching and teaching of the Gospel. As far as prospects go, our list includes nine wayward members and two new visitors.”
Central church of Christ, Paducah, Kentucky: Adam Faughn (preacher) reports, “I guess I could say that the last couple of weeks at Central have included a ‘good kind of problem.’ That ‘problem’ (which we love, by the way) is the overwhelming number of local visitors we have had! In fact, on Sunday, about one in ten of our entire attendance number were local guests. (I counted 20 in my head, but there may have been one or two more or less than that, out of an attendance of 209). Our members are noticing and getting excited. Guest bags are being handed out. People are being invited to meals. Follow-up is going on as best we can do it, though that part is overwhelming. It seems we are close to a study with at least a couple of those guests, and we are praying for more. Our prayer is simply that we honor God by doing our best to impact these souls for the Kingdom!”
Gonzales church of Christ, Louisiana: Patrick Adkins (deacon) reports, “We handed out the survey on Sunday to get feedback from the members. We plan to begin the training sermons next week. We are beginning with three prospects.”
Chalmette church of Christ, Louisiana: Mark Lance (preacher) reports, “Absolutely, we had a good first week. We chose two people last night to be the administrators; we thought it best to have two so it would not overwhelm one person. We chose Scott Russell and Wayne Schultz. All the men met together last night. I had one of the ladies get my wife up to speed, since she was out of state because of a death in the family. I preached Sunday morning and Sunday night on John 4. I had to change the style of the sermon from Sunday morning to Sunday night to fit my style of preaching; I will make needed adjustments along the way. This is the most enthusiasm I have ever seen in the congregation. I also emphasized that we would not do this for six months and then let everything go back to the status quo. I set a personal goal with the congregation, and we now average 50 per week. When I first came here to try out, there were 58. We lost a lot of people from Hurricane Katrina, but we have grown in the last six to eight months, my goal is to first get back to the 58 we had, and then grow more from there. In the men’s meeting, each man stated what he thought the congregation could achieve that by the end of the year. Most thought we could have a congregation of 60 to 70. Of course, if we have more, that would be great.”
La Plata church of Christ, Maryland (remote): Eric Sykes (regional trainer) reports, “We had a great week here at the La Plata church of Christ. We knocked on seven doors and spoke to four folks who were home. All four were very nice, and we added them to our prospect list. I took my grandchildren Janiah and Jeremiah with me for the first time. We sat and spoke with Ms. Lois, an older woman in the community. Then she invited us into her home, and she tried to feed us, but I told her we had to get back to the building for a team training session. We were only supposed to be door-knocking for an hour and a half, and we spent almost 45 minutes with her. She gave us clothes, dishes, and household items to take to the Goodwill; we could barely fit it all into the car. As we were leaving, her neighbor, Ms. Linda, saw us, and she started asking questions about the church. She was truly impressed that we were out visiting folks who are new to the community. By the time we finished talking with her, it was time for us to head back to the building. Everybody was there waiting for us to return. Ms. Linda said she had lived in the neighborhood for 12 years, and no one had ever came by to speak to her or welcome her to the community. They loved the kids, especially after they learned that Janiah, 18, was graduating this month, and that last year she got to ring the bell because she was cancer-free after surviving Stage-4 cancer. The ladies said they would visit us at La Plata next week. My grandson really enjoyed door knocking, and for the last four days he has been asking me when we can go door knocking again. He is nine years old. I told him next week. He is persistent, so I am sure he will ask again, probably today when he gets home from school. Our Friday night ‘Video of the Week’ Bible study group went well last week. We completed two thirds of Lesson 1 of Back to the Bible. We had 16 folks in attendance from several local congregations, plus one sister from a congregation in Alabama, another sister from a congregation in Texas, and a brother from South Korea. One of the brothers in the class has just started teaching Book 1 of Back to the Bible to his wife on Saturday. We baptized him almost 10 years ago at another congregation. We appreciate prayers for the success of their study. It is a busy week. We still have five open Bible studies; one person is entering Book 3 of BTTB, and two people are entering Book 2 of BTTB. Two others are starting ‘Searching for Truth.’ Our Advanced Teacher Training Class is entering Chapter 4 in How to Close the Study (Closing Techniques). Six people attended the new convert training classes. We sent out eight compassion cards this week. Our Wednesday night Bible class is entering Chapter 3 of Growing in Christ. The topic is ‘Assurance.’ We appreciate all prayers as we strive to evangelize our community and implement the HTH/HTHSOE model, here in La Plata, Maryland.”
Iuka church of Christ, Mississippi: Sam Glover (preacher) reports, “We had one baptism in the last month, and she has already proven to be a consistent asset and wonderful encourager. Cards are being sent out with our previously mentioned contacts, and one of our members took visitors to lunch yesterday. We need to focus on sustaining long-term evangelism momentum and the retention of new converts.”
East Flushing church of Christ, New York (remote): Clarence Jenkins (preacher) reports, “We had one visit last week. We had four visitors in the worship service. We filled out 26 compassion cards after the worship service. Our metrics beginning the month of May are 26 compassion cards, 13 prospects, and seven Bible studies, which are on and off. We appreciate all prayers.”
New Concord church of Christ, Ohio: Terry Townsend (preacher) reports, “We had seven first-time visitors on Sunday, all of whom are looking for a new ‘church home.’ All are non-members. They all received a welcome packet on Sunday, and one of the families went out to eat with one of our elders and his wife. They, too, have been added to our compassion card list and will be receiving cards later this week. Follow-up visits will also be made by the week’s end. We continue with two ongoing Bible studies, one of which is a class we started recently at a local retirement community (several of those attending are non-members). I began our Sunday night service by sharing Rob’s recent short video; then I spent the first few minutes of my sermon reminding the congregation of our mission. I believe it is important to remind folks of the evangelism model once a month!”
Whispering Hills church of Christ, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma: Matt McBrayer (preacher) reports, “First, we want to announce that we had another baptism this past week. A young man had been coming off and on for several months. I had asked him for a Bible study once before, and while he was willing, we could never get together. Recently, when he came, I asked him if he would like to go out to eat, and the rest is history. We are so thankful for Cody Hahn and his decision to be baptized into Christ. In addition to this, we started our ‘Second Annual Oklahoma Bible Lectures’ yesterday. We had 55 visitors yesterday and were able to make some contacts from this event. We wrote 130 compassion letters to be mailed out this week. Seeing the brethren working together has been an encouragement. We have a lot of work to do, but most importantly, we have five prospects that are in an excellent position to become Christians. We appreciate all prayers as we continue to work for the Lord.”
Owasso church of Christ, Oklahoma: David Combs (elder) reports, ”Sunday was a beautiful day to assemble and worship our God. We finished our study of Booklet One of Back to the Bible in our auditorium Bible class. Dan delivered a good lesson titled ‘His Eye is on the Sparrow’ and prayed for the names on our bookmark cards. Sunday evening, we continued our study with training cards. This session was ‘Prospects: Visits- The Transition.’ After evening services, Group 1 met in the annex to write compassion cards. A total of 16 wrote 90 cards to go out to 6 prospects this week. Even the little ones of this team get involved. They shared a meal provided by their team leader, Jeremiah Schnell. We currently have one Bible study in progress and five transition visits to make this week.”
Porter church of Christ, Oklahoma: Nathan Boyd (elder) reports, “We had our fifth compassion card night. We wrote 150 cards and are mailing them out to ten households to be delivered over five days. We wrote seventeen single cards for a once-a-week mailing for those on our visit list and continual encouragement lists, for a total of 167 cards. Thirteen members from Group B compassion card team showed up ready to show their faith through their works, and six from other groups stayed as well. Thank you to the members of the congregation. On Sunday morning, we recognized four graduating seniors, one long-time member, one April baptism, and two of our prospects who are coming to meet with the church. The New Convert class started on May 4, 2025. With Mother’s Day coming up, we expect to have a few more visitors. We pray and plan for visitor teams across the brotherhood to get contact information and gain connections.”
Coweta church of Christ, Oklahoma: Keno Shrum (regional trainer) reports, “This week we are scheduled to go through Lesson Two with Brenden and Dawn. I also sent him the video that Don Blackwell recorded, “Why Are There So Many Churches,” as this was a pressing question, Brenden really wanted an answer to.
Jamie and I continue to travel the nation bringing Refresh and Continued Education Training to congregations enrolled in the HTHSOE. As with any profession, Continued Education is imperative to remain effective. As part of the training, I spend one-on-one training time with elders, deacons, and coordinators to give a full and complete understanding of the various elements of the evangelism model. If your congregation could benefit from this training, please reach out to the HTHSOE.”
Sullivan Village church of Christ, Oklahoma: Steven Hill (preacher) reports, “Sullivan Village has been working hard, and it is paying off. One of our elders asked a gentleman if he would like to study, and the man agreed. He was a Free-Will Baptist for 29 years, and after three studies from Back to the Bible, he was immersed into Christ! In two weeks, we will be hosting our evangelism reboot with Keno Shrum. The congregation is excited to get back into the pattern of evangelizing as a body! May God bless this effort and the new soul that He added to His kingdom this past week!”
Union church of Christ, South Carolina (remote): Terry Hale (evangelist) reports, “We are thankful for the good work being done everywhere. Here in the Union congregation, we had a visitor with contact information. Cards will be mailed beginning this week. We already have a group set up for the visit after the cards are mailed. Our great New Convert class has four new brothers and sisters. Studies this week include one in Book 3 of BTTB, one in Book 1 and one in Book 2. Visits are still being attempted for three others, and we pray they will lead to studies.”
Cookeville church of Christ, Tennessee: Jonathan Medley (elder) reports, “We have delivered New Movers baskets for April. There were fewer prospects this round than those for March (some were actually empty houses). We are continuing to send compassion cards to a local college student who recently moved to a new apartment. We helped her out with boxes and other needs, and she has visited several times. We are also sending cards to a young couple known by several in the congregation who recently lost an unborn child. The husband in that family is not a Christian. I have a Bible study set up this week; it is with a young man who has grown up with a very strong Baptist background (he worked as a hospice chaplain for a while). We request prayers for a fruitful study!”
Philadelphia church of Christ, Lebanon, Tennessee: Alex DeGraves (associate preacher) reports, “We are still trying to get the program set up. We have been doing well with contacts and compassion cards thus far, but are trying to use tools from the website to get better organized. Nonetheless, we could write cards for three or four people this week, having between 12 and 15 cards per prospect. We hope to keep this up and improve as we use the tools provided! We request prayers for us as we do our best to be organized and understand the program so we can help the rest of the congregation.”
East Ridge church of Christ, Chattanooga, Tennessee: Charles Cochran (preacher) reports, “I am attaching photos of recent baptisms. We have had three in the last month! We keep sowing the seed. We had an Operation Restoration month in April. On the last Sunday of April, we had a special day to encourage wayward members to be present. Some came, and two came forward, asking for prayers! It was a good day.”
East Main church of Christ, Murfreesboro, Tennessee: Brad Rowley (elder) reports, “April was an exciting month for East Main. We rejoice in the baptism of four precious souls. Ben Maynard, one of our teens, has been studying with Tim Hayes. Nate Kindma and his girlfriend Victoria Bedec, both MTSU students, have been studying with Cole Walker and Foster DeFranco. Brady Garlock, an MTSU student, has also been studying with Cole Walker and Foster DeFranco. Our college ministry is a great example to the congregation. We also rejoice in three other new Bible studies. Cooper Alexander is studying with Cole Walker and Foster DeFranco. Scott Gray and Alexis Farless are studying with Tim Hayes and Brad Rowley. We request prayers for open hearts in our new and ongoing Bible studies. During the month of April, we had a total of 11 contact cards. We delivered 18 new movers baskets, wrote 18 compassion cards, and had one follow-up visit. Joshua Knight has done an outstanding job developing our website. Chris Taylor has done an outstanding job on our church app. We have started our social media advertising for Vacation Bible School. This is our first attempt to advertise through social media, and we are praying for good results. Our third quarter Community Outreach is a free Medicare Seminar, and our fourth quarter activity is a blood drive. To God be the glory!”
Forest Hill church of Christ, Germantown, Tennessee: Scott Cain (preacher) reports,” We had six baptisms in the last two weeks. Brandon & Madison have been visiting for a few months, and they have been studying with Ryan, one of the local deacons. Brandon had a background with the Lord’s church but also had underlying questions about his baptism, whereas Madison had a denominational background. Both opted to put on Christ in baptism at the end of April. Trevor, who was baptized in February, immediately began bringing his girlfriend Ashlyn with him to attend worship services. They soon began studying, and when he recognized the need for help to address some of her questions about whether her previous baptism ‘for the remission of sins’ was valid. Scott (the local preacher) studied that topic with them. Ashlyn readily saw the need for a truly Biblical baptism, and Trevor baptized her on April 28. Jason & Colson were baptized on May 5. Jason’s wife has been a member of the church since before they married 25 years ago, and Jason has been a consistent presence with the church for years, yet a Bible study never materialized. Colson began asking questions about baptism, and it was evident that further study was needed, so a study was conducted at their home. Jason readily joined the study, and after working through some of the questions & thoughts that had been on his mind for a long time, both he & Colson obeyed the Gospel. Hunter Cain has been involved in two studies at once: the study with Jason and Colson, and another study covering the same material with a group of teen boys who were interested in getting experience with how to conduct a personal Bible study. He readily admitted the necessity of baptism, but because he was still weighing whether he could truly count the cost, instead of being baptized at the same time as Jason & Colson, he took some extra time for consideration and self-examination, and then on May 6 was ready to be baptized.”
Ocoee Street church of Christ, Tennessee: R.E. Vann (elder) reports, “We had eight visitors this week, and one of our teenage prodigals came with his grandparents. Our April metrics included 11 prospects, 122 compassion cards sent, no new Bible studies, 25 visitors, and one transition visit. We plan to prioritize our transition visits this month and pray for softened hearts open to Bible studies. We are praying for Bible studies and restorations.”
Stewart’s Creek church of Christ, Smyrna, Tennessee: Jon McCord (member) reports, “We had our first training lesson yesterday evening, ‘Making It Operational.’ After the lesson, we had a question/answer session. We plan to have the second evening training this Sunday.
New Union church of Christ, Manchester, Tennessee: Paul Fultz (elder) reports, “We had 12 visitors on Sunday. Our members filled out four contact cards. We sent out 34 compassion cards. We made four visits last week. We continue to have two in our New Converts class.”
Collierville church of Christ, Tennessee: Justin Evergarden (evangelist) reports, “The work here at the Collierville church of Christ has been picking up momentum! Brother Aaron has just concluded his series of lessons from the book of John, and we are on track to finish setting up our Compassion Card room this week. We plan to share photos next week to show our progress and encourage others. Several of our members have already begun evangelizing and conducting Bible studies with friends and family using the Back to the Bible materials. Additionally, our card ministry is officially underway—five members wrote cards this week for our first prospect, and we are eager to see how the Lord will bless that effort. We are also in the final stages of assigning our coordinators, and we plan to complete that by midweek. Our Sunday evening training sessions have been going well, and excitement continues to grow throughout the congregation as we lay the groundwork for long-term evangelistic efforts. We are thankful for the blessings of this program. Being a part of this program has already been a tremendous blessing, and we are more excited than ever for the work ahead.”
Blackman church of Christ, Murfreesboro, Tennessee (remote): Brian McCord (member) reports, “We had seven visitors yesterday. Four of them are regular visitors who worship elsewhere. Three of them are from the new special needs program we are allowing to meet at our building. We are sending out nine cards this week. We currently have no Bible studies. We should get our first batch of new movers soon and will start working with them.”
Rome church of Christ, Lebanon, Tennessee (remote): David Oxley reports, “We will meet this week for our advanced class. We are sending cards this week to five new prospects. We will meet Monday night for our New Convert’s class.”
Hillcrest church of Christ, Springfield, Tennessee: Tim Taylor (evangelist) reports, “We obtained 31 contacts from visitors during our Friends and Family day. Our visitor greeter team, led by Mark Overby, one of our deacons, went above and beyond to compile all the contact information so we reach out to them.”
Birdwell Chapel church of Christ, Cottontown, Tennessee: Kerry England (elder) reports, “Our first Bible study has been set up! We are excited! It will be in a couple of weeks due to scheduling complications. Thanks to everyone for the prayers. We have more prospects who we hope will agree to Bible studies. We had several visitors this Sunday. One family visited because a member invited a co-worker. The youth had a scavenger hunt before their devotional Saturday night. Dale and Malia gave the youth invitation cards with instructions to give them to people who helped the youth complete the scavenger hunt. They came back excited because one lady who received an invitation card told them she was looking for a church home. A seed was planted!”
Rivergate church of Christ, Madison, Tennessee: Doug Tooley (preacher) reports, “We had three visitors on Sunday. Two were taken to lunch. We had one visit last week. We had our checkup meeting with Rob on Wednesday night and identified some areas that need to be refreshed. We are looking at expanding our outreach to the large Spanish-speaking community near our building.”
White Oak church of Christ, Chattanooga, Tennessee (remote): John McGiffin (preacher) reports, “We completed our Gospel Meeting with Eric Garner on Sunday. The theme was, ‘Why I Should Be a Christian?’ We had several visitors, and our attendance broke the record for the year. A few were not Christians. We tried our best to sort through those ‘true’ visitors who would be potential prospects and gathered contact information. We will follow up this week with cards, calls, and emails. We have received the permit from Red Bank to host a booth at the city’s 70th birthday. We will have games for the children, and we will pass out Heart to Heart issues and tracts, conduct a prayer station, and sign people up for our Bible correspondence course while gathering contacts.”
West Fayetteville church of Christ, Tennessee: Steve Jefferson (elder) reports, “Good afternoon from the West Fayetteville congregation. We rejoice in adding a new member to our congregation. A young lady who was restored; she desired to serve with us at West Fayetteville. We are thankful when one comes back to faithful service. We will hopefully resume our four Bible studies this week. Our compassion card sending has slowed down. We have three contacts who will receive 12 cards each this week.”
Mountain Creek church of Christ, Chattanooga, Tennessee: Michael Tomshack (elder) reports, “Our VBS will be from June 22 to 25, providing us with another opportunity to connect with new people within our immediate building community. We have already started advertising and will soon open online registration, giving us the contact information we need for our card-writing program. Additionally, we provide backpack meals to the elementary school across the street from our building every week. The next three weeks of delivery will include invitations to VBS. Our long-term goal is to become a congregation that reflects the diverse community surrounding our building, considering factors like ethnicity, demographics, and economic standing. VBS is another outreach point. Given the high turnover due to many apartment complexes nearby, we send monthly House to House mailings to our immediate area and monthly new mover information. May God give the increase for His glory.”
Roanoke church of Christ, Texas: Caleb Rutherford (preacher) reports, “Our members are still engaged in several studies. Group 4 sent cards to three prospects. Transition visits are still being made. We just finalized the mailing of HTH. We are looking at taking advantage of the New Movers program soon to provide ourselves with more contacts. We honored Skye after morning services with a presentation of a Bible to her for her decision to obey the Gospel.”
Crosby church of Christ, Texas (remote): Jon Wheeler (elder) reports, “Yesterday was a great day! It was our Friends and Family day. We had good attendance and were very excited to have two baptisms: Bella and Bradley. Both had studied prior to their baptisms. We are now at four baptisms for the year. Our attendance was 30 more than usual. We had a wonderful meal afterward, which we all enjoyed. Our visitor group has been sharing notes since early this morning, so we can follow up with cards. Some of the visitors will be noted as prospects; we will follow up with them appropriately.”
Northern Oaks church of Christ, San Antonio, Texas: Mel Hutzler (elder) reports, “Arthur James Sylva was baptized Saturday night. He is from the HOW Foundation. We are happy with his decision and appreciate Anthony for studying with him. The men from the How Foundation continue to support one another, and their Bible study group is growing. We have Raoul and Keno coming in the future to help out on evangelism.”
Midtown church of Christ, Victoria, Texas: Cody McCoy (preacher) reports, “The lost that stick with us the most are the ones within our own families. The prayers and disappointment we carry are heavier than others. Sometimes it is difficult for the family to study together, so we need to find conduits. This weekend, we had a Friends and Family event to try to reopen some conversations about the Christian life. Our members were successful in getting many to attend. A visitor’s card came to me from the wife of a member I had never met. She came today and requested a Bible study and marriage counseling—a door re-opened. Our greatest efforts in starting personal evangelism should be with our family, but sometimes it is about finding a study avenue with someone else. We pray for conversions and restorations from this past Lord’s Day.”
Bridgewater church of Christ, Katy, Texas: Doug Suggs (deacon) reports, “We had a graduation fellowship for Andrew, a senior who is graduating from high school this year. It was very good to see many of our new converts there to help him celebrate this event in his life. Our New Converts class is going well with good discussion and interest. Catherine visited us for the first time, and one of our card teams met to send cards to her. She lives close to our building, and we look forward to having a study session with her in the future.”
Colleyville church of Christ, Texas: John Garza (regional trainer) reports, “Last week, we had our evangelistic Gospel Meeting. It focused on questions that many of our friends and family ask today. It was a huge success! For a congregation of sixty, we had 12 visitors who were not Christians, and of that number, we were able to get five to ask questions and set up Bible studies. This evening, we started one of those studies, and it went really great!”
Howe church of Christ, Texas: Aaron Alsbrook (preacher) reports, “We had a great beginning to our week this week. We had our first group of members writing compassion cards; we will be mailing them for four weeks, and then we will make visits. So many of our members love working for our Lord and being evangelistic! We will have our second group write cards as well, and then on to prospecting. Each time we can work together as a congregation, I am thankful to God that He has given us the privilege to share the Good News of His Son and our Savior.”
Fruitvale church of Christ, Texas: Carl McCann (elder) reports, “We continue to work the process. This past week, several of our studies were cancelled, but they should be back this week. Beverly Grimes is asking questions about why her congregation does not have elders, uses mechanical instruments, and does not partake of the Lord’s Supper every Sunday. We continue to send out cards and will have lots of follow-up work to do soon. We were able to assist our brethren in Dublin, Texas, with a door-knocking campaign. Twenty-four contacts were made in their town.”
Wheeler church of Christ, Texas: Garrett English (preacher) reports, “None of the prospects from the last few weeks have made any decisions on baptism or studying. We will continue working with them as we know it takes time to grow fruit. We hold our senior supper for the graduates tonight, so that is one thing we are doing this week.”
Beltway church of Christ, Virginia: LeAndre Johnson (preacher) reports, “We took some time after the seminar to prepare for our official launch. We are excited to report that we began preaching John 4 on Sunday. We are going through the review of the seminar on the next two Wednesdays.”
Abingdon church of Christ, Virginia: Freddie Klein (evangelist) reports, “I studied with one of our prospects this week. We completed the first study and are looking forward to the next. Nathan is continuing his Sunday morning series through Back to the Bible. Our card groups continue to meet weekly, and several are involved in transition visits. We have our first new movers’ visitation day set up, and other studies are currently underway. Our ladies have assembled many bags for visitors, new movers, and transition visits.”
West Side church of Christ, Salem, Virginia: Jeff Durham (elder) reports, “Our spring Gospel Meeting began yesterday. This effort is more focused on our local church family to remain encouraged in being PREPARED for serving our Lord, including our evangelism efforts. We are making our final preparations for our Community Support Day this Saturday. Our members have been very generous, donating clothes, diapers/wipes, and household items to give away to those in our community with physical needs. We are looking forward to making contacts that we pray will yield opportunities for Bible studies to fill their spiritual needs.”
Williamsburg church of Christ, Virginia: Jim Bishop (elder) reports, “This week, the Williamsburg church of Christ continues seeking contacts and opportunities to spread the Gospel. Our New Converts class is going well. We continue to prepare and send compassion cards. Prayers for the lost and viewing the HTH evangelism tips before Wednesday evening Bible study keep the evangelism efforts in the forefront of everyone’s mind.”
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