Reaching the Lost- Success Stories

Statistics
Total baptisms (2018-2022) reported from U.S. Congregations: 2,345
Total Seminars Conducted (2018-2022): 181
Congregational Enrollments in 2023: 37
Remote Enrollments for 2023: 29
Student Enrollment: 129
States Reporting: 20
Total baptisms reported from U.S. Congregations 2023: 914

Upcoming Seminars
November 5-7 Southern Hills church of Christ, Franklin, Tennessee
November 12-14 Forest Hill church of Christ, Memphis, Tennessee

COORDINATORS SPREADSHEET
HTHSOE Checklist

Featured Work: Coweta church of Christ, Oklahoma 

Editor’s Note: During our annual door-knocking day, we conducted an Advanced Evangelism Seminar with Coweta church of Christ. This congregation has doubled in size in just over two years. They asked us to stay on Saturday to train and demonstrate successful door-knocking. We will let the results speak for themselves.

 

HTHSOE Door Knocking Results
Written by Keno Shrum, Elder

On October 7, twenty-two of our members, with the help of some friends from Oklahoma City and the Whitacre family, struck out to get to know our community. We chose a housing addition and started knocking doors on a Saturday mid-morning. One of the first few homes knocked by Garrett and Madison was the door of James and Jennifer. The next day, James and Jennifer visited for worship services. We had lunch together and got to know their family. The following Saturday, we had them over for dinner and went through Lesson 1 of Back to the Bible, followed by Lesson 2 a week later on Sunday afternoon. We finished Lesson 3 Saturday evening, and James and Jennifer knew what must be done. So, we headed to the church building, and both were baptized for the remission of sins. We are so proud of these two and thankful God led us to them.

Last Wednesday, Dwayne and I finished Lesson 3 with Declyn, who also knew from the study what he needed to do to be saved. The study ended just before Wednesday evening Bible Study. Not wanting to wait, we delayed class for a few minutes and started our evening by baptizing Declyn. He is a great young man, and we pray he has many years of service to our great God!

Thursday evening, we were supposed to have a study with Kelli, a recipient of compassion cards we had mailed at the request of Recole, one of our members. Sadly, Kelli’s mother had a tragic fall and passed away Thursday morning. The study has been rescheduled for this week as Kelli recognizes her need for God. I ask all of the readers of RTL for a favor. Kelli feels very alone with her mother passing and having recently lost her husband, who passed away a year ago. I know getting cards from brothers and sisters nationwide would mean so much to her. Even if each congregation could send her one card signed by many members. I know it would help as we work to bring her to Christ. Cards could be mailed to:

Kelli Baucom
c/o Coweta church of Christ
PO Box 185
Coweta, Ok 74429

I thank you all for your kindness and compassion. The techniques we learned in our Advanced Training in early October have resulted in four baptisms in three weeks. There is still much work to do, and we have no intention of slowing down. I pray that God continues to bless the HTHSOE and all who labor in His name!

Congregational Reports

Greenville church of Christ, Ohio: “We welcome the Greenville church of Christ to the House to House/Heart to Heart School of Evangelism. The congregation had exceptional attendance and has committed to learning how to focus on reaching the lost in their community. Their preacher is John McGiffin, and he will serve as the administrator of the training over the next several months.”

Glencoe church of Christ, Alabama: David Marker (elder) reports, “We continue to work on the New Mover program and send out compassion cards weekly. We have several that meet each Sunday afternoon to work on those mailouts. Sunday, Rob Whitacre taught the Sunday morning class and gave us an overview of the great successes throughout the brotherhood. It is very encouraging to us to hear of the concerted efforts of our sister congregations. He also challenged and motivated our congregation to remain alert and vigilant for those facing numerous challenges and who would benefit from receiving compassion cards. That challenge was exactly what we needed to hear! We have a great opportunity this week with our Fall Festival. Several members are working to ensure that the event will succeed. We normally have a huge crowd attending, and we pray that our efforts will be blessed and provide numerous contacts. This week, we will follow up on visitors who attended recently.”

Farley church of Christ, Huntsville, Alabama: Ed Linebaugh (elder) reports, “We continue to grow spiritually as we plant and water the seed. We made welcome baskets for New Movers and had our first visitor from that effort. We changed up our annual Trunk ’r Treat to Farley Fall Fun Fest with games, food, Trunk ’r Treat, and devo. It was a great success with many visiting families. We will be prospecting them. Finally, our preacher, Josh Taynor, continues to train the congregation on Sunday nights on how to use Back to the Bible. We are trying to change our congregational mindset to teaching the lost.”

Fayette church of Christ, Alabama: Josh Taylor (deacon) reports, “I preach at Hubbertville church of Christ once a month. This is a small rural congregation. Haley Pollard is one of the member’s nieces. She has been attending the Northport church of Christ in Tuscaloosa County. She contacted her uncle and told him over the weekend that she wanted to obey the gospel. The sermon today was taken from John 1:13 and asked, “How Were You Born?” The answer is “Not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God.” After the sermon, Haley responded to the invitation and obeyed the gospel. She intends to continue attending the Northport congregation. May God be glorified!”

Hatton church of Christ, Alabama: Chris Miller (preacher) reports, “We are still working with those with whom we have had studies recently, and we hope they will obey soon. The invite cards we started recently are a hit, and we are already getting excellent feedback from members as they are being used.  We challenged all members to take ten per month, and we believe this will be highly effective.”

Highway church of Christ, Benton, Arkansas: James Hutchings (member) reports, “We have now had six baptisms this year as one of our youth obeyed the gospel recently. We are improving our compassion card ministry. We sent 27 cards this past week. Our new mover baskets are going out soon! Steven Ford reports, ‘A few months ago, I went to Mountain View to teach the Back to the Bible model and to encourage their efforts. Today I received some amazing news. Although the elders have not adopted the model and mobilized the congregation, a single member took the teaching to heart and ran with it! When a new family move into the area, she invited them over, studied with them, and led them to Christ. The mother, father, and teenage child were all baptized. I have reached out to her to get the details and will relay them soon. We will knock on doors and drop off new mover baskets tonight.’”

Monticello church of Christ, Arkansas: Josh Walker (preacher) reports, “This past week has been very encouraging. We were blessed with the opportunity to study the Bible with a benevolence case (we used Does it Matter); the seed was planted, and we continue to pray for that effort. This past weekend, we had our Fall Festival, which had 150 or more in attendance (the largest according to one long-time member). Most of the attendees were from the community. From that effort, we garnered 16 contacts. We are working on establishing and keeping further contact to meet their needs and earn Bible studies in the future. We are also visiting those to whom we have written cards and prepared New Mover baskets.  We finished the Back to the Bible study series in our morning worship. We seek prayers in these efforts not only for the Lord’s blessings upon these efforts but also for prayers of gratitude for the opportunities He has provided thus far.”

Foothills church of Christ, Searcy, Arkansas: Josh Alexander (preacher) reports, “This coming Wednesday evening, we will present another session on evangelism training, this time with the auditorium class. Hopefully this approach will encourage us to make contacts and start prospecting and have more Bible studies. We have had great momentum so far; we do not want to see it fizzle out. The niece of one of our members is coming for Thanksgiving and has contacted me saying she wants to study. She is in the process of leaving the Jehovah’s Witnesses. I sent her some material on WVBS and GBN and will be able to study with her while she is here. Hopefully, we can connect her with a congregation in her hometown. We have a study scheduled for this Friday finally with Peyton and Abigail. We appreciate prayers for receptive hearts in this study.”

Lake City church of Christ, Florida: Jim Flegert (elder) reports, “This past Friday, our youth minister and other members hosted a Trunk or Treat event for our members and friends. From this activity, we added 25 names to our spreadsheet for compassion card recipients. Our visitor team also added two more names to our spreadsheet. One additional name was also added from our pantry recipient. The number of BTTB studies is currently three.”

Niceville church of Christ, Florida: Joe Palmer (preacher) reports, “This Sunday, we had no local visitors. We sent cards to our guests from the fish fry. Everyone who signed up got a letter from the church with our brochure and a personal card from a member. I called and followed up with prayer requests from those who attended the fish fry. This week, we had our second outreach event in October and had a free drawing for three Fall baskets provided by one of our ladies. We sent out 59 cards. Two of our new converts attended and helped with the Trunk or Treat. In November, we are planning our annual barbecue event. We will promote this to the congregation as a bring-a-friend event.”

North Brevard church of Christ, Titusville, Florida: Doug Gerdes (member) reports, “We had a great Trunk or Treat night Saturday with a great turnout from members and visitors. Many were participants in our Food Pantry. Our greeter program has gotten off the ground, and our young adults are taking ownership. Three of our Food Pantry contacts are being scheduled for Bible Studies.”

Fayetteville church of Christ, Georgia: David Gulledge (associate preacher) reports, “We have continued training on Sunday nights. We have also printed the first prospects list and made it available to the congregation. This coming Sunday, we will meet and send out our first round of cards. We are still in the process of installing coordinators.”

Woodstock church of Christ, Georgia: Greg Garner (deacon) reports, “During our ACTS (Actively Caring Teaching and Serving) Evangelism Program, we collected one contact card to work on this week. The Compassion Card Group sent out 24 cards last week. This week, the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) will be discussing the installation of the Back to the Bible (BTTB) and Does It Matter (DIM) presentation on approximately 1,200 tablets. The Prison Ministry is awaiting approval to begin the installation. We had 17 attendees in our New Convert class. The Greeter Group reported ten visitors this week for Sunday Morning worship. We conducted three Bible studies last week.”

LaFayette church of Christ, Georgia: Jesse Teague (deacon) reports, “We had an event at an elder’s home last weekend (bonfire, hayride, food, and fellowship). He had some of his neighbors there, and relationships with the church were strengthened with them. This week, the City of LaFayette has a “Scare on the Square” event downtown. We have collected candy and will put some candy in the bags with tracts and flyers to encourage the recipients and inform them about the church and the gospel. These will be handed out in a booth some of the members set up, hoping to get contacts with folks in the community. Every interaction can be evangelistic if we plan for it to be that way.”

Honolulu church of Christ, Hawaii: Lima Esene (preacher) reports, “We currently have three Bible studies ongoing. This past week, we had several local visitors who will soon receive cards from our card ministry. This past weekend, I spoke at the Big Island Retreat and made contacts during our visit on the Big Island. After our morning worship service on Sunday, one of our elders, Pat Aguda, led his group in preparing and delivering fruit baskets for our shut-ins. Teamwork makes the dream work. The more hands involved, the easier it is to do the work of the Lord.”

Jerseyville church of Christ, Illinois (remote): Jake Medford (preacher) reports, “We had a great week at Jerseyville! Last week, we had two baptisms. This week, we collected over 70 contacts through our trunk or treat event. We set it up where individuals could come inside, sit, and talk with us, go out and make smores over the fire, or play games. In any direction our visitors went, they were met by a Christian. Our turnout was way more than we expected, so we are excited to do it again next year. Hopefully, by then, we will turn some of those contacts into prospects. We introduced our new numbers board Sunday. We got the idea from an evangelism class at PTP. We hope putting the numbers in front of the congregation will keep evangelism in the center of all we do! We had a great attendance this Sunday. Though we had no new visitors, plenty of cards are still going out, and our lists are updated weekly. I have attached a photo of the board we put up.”

Paintsville church of Christ, Kentucky: Zach Collins (preacher) reports, “We have a Bible Study scheduled with a visiting couple after our regular Wednesday night Bible study. They are a young couple with a one-year-old daughter. The husband has no religious background of note, while the wife was raised in Catholicism. They have visited our congregation the last few weeks on Sunday morning by way of invitation from one of our members. She is their neighbor! I had offered to study with this couple when they first visited. After our morning worship service this past Sunday, the husband asked, “What do I need to do to be baptized?” After our conversation, he and his wife committed to three Bible studies using the Back to the Bible. The first begins on Wednesday night. It is such a promising and exciting opportunity! We ask for prayers for this study.  May the gospel seed fall on good soil!”

Central church of Christ, Paducah, Kentucky: Adam Faughn (preacher) reports, “Last week was our annual gospel meeting. We were blessed to have a restoration on Monday evening and a good attendance. On Sunday morning, Noah Davis, our Youth and Family Minister, preached on Quantity, Not Quality, emphasizing the need to spread the Gospel to many, many people. On Sunday evening, he preached on how to make an effective visit, using the training cards. We also collected more names from contact lists and began forming visiting teams for follow-up in the next couple of weeks. Our next card-writing team met on Sunday. We also had a guest who is fairly new to our community. She is a young widow and came simply because we offer transportation to our services. One of our young adult couples took her out to lunch, and she said she would be back with us next Sunday for Bible class and worship. We were also blessed to welcome a new member, Jack Simons, to our church family. Jack has preached for over 60 years, and we know he will be a blessing to us. Good things are happening, and the mood continues to be tremendously positive! Next week, Lord willing, we will begin training in using Back to the Bible.”

Blanchard church of Christ, Louisiana: Pat Cella (elder) reports, “I do not have much to report this week. We sent out 18 compassion cards this week and continue praying for all those on our contact list.”

La Plata church of Christ, Maryland (remote): Eric Sykes (regional trainer) reports, “We had another tough week here at La Plata CoC. We still have a lot of members out sick. We had a family of six repeat as visitors. We invited them to our home for a meal and a movie. Tabetha completed Lesson 2 of Back to the Bible with the neighbor of one of their sisters.  We had five people in our new converts classes this week, and we sent out one compassion card with 12 signatures to an ongoing contact. We appreciate all prayers as we strive to do the work of the Lord here in La Plata.”

Looxahoma church of Christ, Mississippi: Blake Hawkins (deacon): “We have a new month’s worth of baskets prepared to be delivered to new movers next month, so we look forward to making those deliveries soon. Our compassion card teams continue to meet following the afternoon worship service on Sundays, and we have two ongoing Bible studies using Back to the Bible.”

West Hwy 160 church of Christ, West Plains, Missouri (remote): Marvin Hatley (elder) reports, “The congregation continues to learn and employ the HTHSOE Model. Twenty-three cards have been prepared by our compassion card Group 3.  Several prospects are the focus of efforts to cultivate the heart. Visits are being made, meals delivered, and other benevolent efforts are underway. Currently, two active studies continue from the conclusion of Back to the Bible Book 3. A new study is in the works with a family that has been visiting for a long time. Another study, using Back to the Bible Book 2, has run into delays due to sickness and schedule conflicts. In less than one year using the HTHSOE model, our congregation has been blessed with new brothers and sisters in Christ, amazing personal Bible study experience/growth, and the formation of a huge number of new acquaintances/friendships that would not have been attained without a desire to spread the gospel. To God be the glory!”

Foristell church of Christ, Missouri: Rod Jackson (elder) reports, “Our deacons gave updates on their ministries relating to evangelism yesterday as they do every last Sunday of the month. We continue working on the evangelism model and will start using the training videos in our Sunday afternoon class. “We appreciate all prayers as we also pray for all efforts to spread the gospel.”

Samford church of Christ, Steele, Missouri: Kyle Imel (deacon) reports, “This week, we will finish sending cards to 20 contacts from door knocking a couple of weeks ago. We met on Wednesday to decide which member will visit which contact. Those visits will be made this week.”

East Flushing church of Christ, New York (remote): Clarence Jenkins (preacher) reports, “We are continuing to send out compassion cards every Lord’s Day. We are grateful to God that we have at least one visitor who has been faithfully bringing his family to worship services every Sunday. We are praying that he will obey the gospel of Christ. We have several sporadic Bible studies ongoing; we are praying for more consistency. We hope that God will give the increase as we continue to seek to save the lost. We appreciate all prayers.”

Raleigh church of Christ, North Carolina (AMC): “One of the joys of our American Mission Campaigns is the news from those we trained once they returned home. Michelle Pineda has a soul-winning heart. She and her friend finished Back to the Bible Lesson 3 with Kristen Lowsky, who is now a new baby in Christ as of last night!  Michell wrote, ‘Thank you for teaching me how to teach others!’ Praise God!”

Sullivan Village church of Christ, Lawton, Oklahoma: Steven Hill (preacher) reports, “I finished preaching the three lessons from John 4, ‘Learning How to Evangelize from the Master.’ Our congregation filled out their bookmarks, and about two dozen names were submitted and put into contact cards. We are splitting into three groups, and compassion cards will start soon. I had a Bible study with three local visitors on Sunday after services. We went through Back to the Bible Lesson 1. The next study is coming soon.  Several members are getting very excited about evangelism; some are already talking to their neighbors and friends. All my bulletin articles, Bible classes, and sermons are about evangelism and will be for at least the next three months!”

Streetsboro church of Christ, Ohio: Ralph Price (preacher) reports, “We introduced the Bookmarks yesterday and preached the first part of the “Politically Incorrect Evangelist” as well. It all seems to have been well received. The members are very excited to get going. We baptized a man who found us through WVBS. We had a few families get together on Friday evening for dinner; we invited him, and he came. He was also at services on Sunday. We have asked one of our brethren to teach a new converts class. We are working on getting our Evangelism table put together.  Though we feel a little overwhelmed with everything that needs to be done, we are confident we can get it done.”

New Concord church of Christ, Ohio: Terry Townsend (preacher) reports, “Rob and his family shared the HTHSOE model with the congregation. So far, we have set up one Bible study that will start this evening. We are in the initial phases of this program. We began congregational training yesterday, and all the members are excited and on board!”

York church of Christ, Pennsylvania: Mark Raschke (deacon) reports, “This week in York, we had the largest crowd in quite some time, including several of our prospects. We are working to develop deeper relationships with these prospects. We did not send any compassion cards this week, but we did discuss which contacts we would send cards to next week. We are also gearing up for our monthly fellowship meal next week, to which we are inviting all of our prospects.”

Union church of Christ, South Carolina (remote): Terry Hale (preacher) reports, “We had two to repent yesterday after the second lesson from John 4. Also, we had two Bible studies last week. We have training for visitors by preparing the bags to help us receive contact information with certain members tomorrow, and we are praying for those on the contact list.”

Covington church of Christ, Tennessee: Wayne Dalrymple (elder) reports, “We have had many opportunities for prospecting and for Bible studies currently. Regarding contacts to prospect, we had our Friends and Family Day this Sunday. We had our largest attendance since before Covid. Several of those present were visitors from the community. We are following up with compassion cards to thank them for visiting and to invite them back. Two young adult brothers came on their own because they have heard others in the community talk about our congregation. On Sunday evening, we had our fall festival in our parking lot. Several friends of members came for that who had not come for worship. Another family stopped to visit because they saw us as they drove by. They said they were going around town looking for gatherings like ours. They do not attend any church. We will follow up on all of these opportunities. I know we did not get addresses from everyone, but we got several.

“Thursday, I studied with Thomas. He is still holding out. In fact, he now says he is comfortable with his previous baptism. He is still willing to study, so I am not giving up. Jeff is still waiting for the next time he can study with Lisa. I will begin a study with Doresha this Wednesday during Bible class. One couple who visited Sunday came with one of our members, Frank, who is a former elder here and is about to be 90 years old! Frank has been studying with this couple for a couple of weeks. Maurice Jadon and his family will be arriving from Nazareth, Israel, this week. Maurice is the preacher for the church there. We sponsor the work they are doing. Maurice will speak this Sunday.”

New Hope church of Christ, Middleton, Tennessee: Cole Wade (preacher) reports, “We recently had a gospel meeting and had several people visit from different congregations. We met some people from different churches, and many of the sermons were on elementary principles of the gospel. Souls were exposed to the truth, and it certainly bred curiosity. We sent out several cards to a few people, and we delivered a multitude of meals to people in the area. New Hope is definitely known in our community, and we are growing in favor of the people. We appreciate prayers for souls who will respond positively to the message!”

McKenzie church of Christ, Tennessee: Randy McAdams (elders) reports, “We have collected one more contact card as of Sunday, October 29, which is for a person who lives in Florida. We will continue to solicit contacts through our Bible classes, which started one week ago, and from the pulpit to reach out to our community and surrounding area. Two welcome bags were handed out to visitors, one of which included a family whose son has been visiting our service with one of our youth.”

Sevierville church of Christ, Tennessee: Kevin Ruiz (elder) reports, “Two of our sisters in Christ, who earlier obeyed the gospel, have recently completed the Growing in Christ study. They were presented with certificates to commend their accomplishment and encourage their continued spiritual progress. Last week, the wife of one of our elders completed a study with a contact she was given, and that precious soul was baptized into Christ. Also, another elder’s wife and her daughter will be studying with the daughter’s former co-worker and her niece, who expressed a desire to learn about baptism after visiting our assembly on a recent Sunday.”

West End church of Christ, Knoxville, Tennessee: Hector Cortez (evangelist) reports, “This week, we completed the three lessons about returning to the Bible and added a contact. His name is Oleg. He is going through several difficult situations, and we appreciate prayers for him. We sent 75 compassion cards this week. The mission may seem challenging, especially when members are out of town or there are many activities, but we are committed to showing compassion to those in need, hoping to reach them for Christ. Our elders continue to motivate the congregation by coming forward each Sunday and receiving prayer requests about non-believers. We thank God as our visitor list continues to grow. We just met with the welcome team to refine our approach to this need.”

East Main church of Christ, Murfreesboro, Tennessee: Brad Rowley (elder) reports, “Last week, we had four souls involved in ongoing Bible studies. Nicole LeBlanc and Teresa Mingle started a new Bible study with a young lady Sunday afternoon. We hope to have a second new Bible study this coming Wednesday evening. On Sunday, we kicked off our new church software to the entire congregation. We feel this will be an improvement in communication and history in our evangelism efforts; in November, we are changing to one Mission Day a month. We will meet after worship on Sunday morning for lunch. We will offer training on different strategies and discuss improvements. Our new convert class is going well with 11-16 students attending. One of our new converts, Stephanie Pedro, is bringing a visitor with her to services. We pray we can have a new study with her. Jon Mitchell is still working with the new contact from our door-knocking day. To God, we give the glory!”

Corinth church of Christ, Portland, Tennessee: James Parker (elder) reports, “At Corinth we have had 5 restorations and three baptisms! This has been over the last three months! We had a Gospel meeting on October 15-18 with Bart Warren! Bart did a great job with lessons from 1 Corinthians! There was one restoration during this meeting. We are grateful to brother Rob for his seminars on evangelism! He has awakened many to the need of converting men and women to the Lord!”

New Union church of Christ, Manchester, Tennessee: Paul Fultz (elder) reports, “We continue to review the Bookmarks each Sunday and list contacts to receive compassion cards. We have congregational prayer specifically for prospects. We had two new contact cards submitted this week. We had six visitors from the community. Greeters record contact information for visitors and hand out visitor bags. We send compassion cards and invitations to worship with us to our contacts and schedule visits during the first week after they visited our congregation. Card Team 5 met after Sunday evening services and wrote 62 compassion cards. A number of New Mover Baskets were delivered after nine assignments were made the previous week. Members made eight follow-up visits and contacts last week, not counting phone calls and texts.”

Bridgewater church of Christ, Katy, Texas: Doug Suggs (member) reports, “At Bridgewater, we had a good response to the compassion cards sent. One of our members asked us to send them to his son, who was not going to services. After sending him some cards, he has been to our evening service twice. His dad said the cards have helped. We will begin using the new movers’ program very soon. We will include copies of House to House/Heart to Heart in a file folder that we give to our visitors. We will begin a Gospel meeting with Allen Webster on November 12-15. On Saturday morning, we will put door hangers on homes in the area around our building to advertise the meeting. Our ladies have been taking meals to the family of one of our new converts whose wife just had a baby boy. One of our card groups will meet Sunday evening to send cards to new contacts.”

Natalia church of Christ, Texas: Jim Word (elder) reports, “I finished the second study with Jesse and Owen on Monday, and one of our deacons did the third study with them Wednesday. They were both baptized Wednesday. Praise the Lord for these additions. We are growing the right way!”

Canyon Lake church of Christ, Texas (remote): Jesse Stuart and Raoul Ferris (evangelists) reports, “We continue to work the model. We are currently teaching the congregation another organized approach in studying with the lost. We are using James Cammock’s material, What Does the Bible Say? to add another lure to their tackle box. We currently use Back to the Bible, and it has worked great. We want every member here equipped for the work of an evangelist. This last weekend we set up a “photo-booth” for our Trunk or Treat. We made 14 contacts from it. We continue to door-knock, follow up, and do Bible studies. We are currently studying with three people about salvation. We also have three people in new converts studies.”

Wheeler church of Christ, Texas: Garrett English (preacher) reports, “I will be teaching through the first BTTB booklet to the men’s class this Wednesday night. Two elders will follow me in teaching the next two booklets. The women’s class will also be trained to use these tools also. New Movers baskets have been made and some delivered. We are still delivering Lego Bible blocks to those who participated in our Lego VBS and getting prospects from there.”

Highway 95 church of Christ, Taylor, Texas: Benjamin Dossey (preacher) reports, “Due to inclement weather this past Saturday, we were unable to deliver our new movers’ baskets; therefore, we will deliver the baskets this coming Saturday. We have four prospects, and our group sent out 30 cards.”

Southwest church of Christ, Austin, Texas: John Garza (regional trainer) reports, “The work at Southwest continues to go well. We have four ongoing studies and a couple of prospects. Recently, the students and I door-knocked for a couple of hours, and we made a few contacts. We plan to follow up with them this week. Also, many members have been enjoying using the invitation cards to invite their friends and family. We have had multiple visitors from this tool. Finally, I am working to implement more of the HTH evangelism program with more members who desire to be involved. Truly, we are blessed by the Lord at this congregation as we sow and water the seed and God gives the increase.”

Granbury Street church of Christ, Cleburne, Texas: Ryan Cowan (deacon) reports, “Last week the Foundations Class (aka New Believers class) watched a video by Don Blackwell entitled ‘Why Are There So Many Churches?’  This video spurred some excellent conversations and helped cement some previous instruction. Will Cammack combined this video with the book we have been studying by Kevin Rhodes, Beyond Baptism. On Sunday afternoon, our two preachers and three of our elders met with Rob over Zoom and discussed our efforts. Rob did a good job reviewing some of the basics of the evangelism model and helped us spur ideas for collecting contacts by using our bookmarks. Nine Bible studies are taking place right now. One prospect, who just completed Book 3 of BTTB, is close to being immersed.”

Graceton church of Christ, Diana, Texas: Johnny Willeford (elder) reports, “The Graceton church of Christ continues to have new visitors weekly. This past Sunday, we had three visitors. Our Compassion Card Group 1 signed 98 cards for 15 prospects. Seven of those new prospects came from contacts with the new movers’ group that started last week. We believe those numbers will start to increase as we get that group staffed with enough members. Don Markham has taken that area and is running with it. Bobbie Willeford, my stepmother, was baptized Thursday afternoon. She has been living with us, awaiting the remolding of her home damaged by storms in April. I had the privilege of baptizing her. She has been studying with my wife, going to Tuesday ladies’ bible class, and studying with the Bible Bowl group. Our First Sunday Fellowship Meal will be coming up this Sunday with an extra emphasis on inviting community members. We ask for continuing prayers for little Ivy Hendricks. She was born last Tuesday. Tomorrow, she will have her first surgery for stents to her heart.”

Northern Oaks church of Christ, Texas: Mel Hutzler (elder) reports, “We had four baptisms in five days. Clarrissa Wimberley was baptized Wednesday night. We thank Katherine for studying with her and Rob McNicol for baptizing her. Greg Cargile was baptized Friday night. We appreciate Anthony for studying with him and for James Dawson, who was also baptized last week. I had the honor of performing the wedding for Joshua and Ashley Samaniego and then the opportunity to baptize them both into Christ Sunday night. Several members are engaged in Bible studies and our new converts class is increasing. We recently had a Trunk or Treat, and quite a few from our community attended. We hope to follow up with those prospects. We are excited about our new brothers and sisters in Christ! Our card writing teams, evangelism classes, mail outs, and new movers program continue to go well. We hope to continue the things the Lord would have us to do to bring those around us to Christ.”

NOTE: 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.

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