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Featured Work- Aberdeen church of Christ, Maryland
Editor’s Note: Recently, Will Brown put together a community event with an evangelistic focus. The results were amazing! His take on these events is excellent. Becoming intentional with all our congregational works is essential to any and all soul saving.
Contacts: Trunk or Treat
If anyone wonders why we do Trunk or Treat at our building, here is the reason. We asked all those who visited and live in Aberdeen to fill out cards. Denise (our secretary) is compiling the address list, and I am providing all of you with the summary.
A congregation does not have to stop doing events we have done in the past; we simply have to be intentional about prospecting and finding contacts. See the metrics below. The contacts do not account for the number that came through. The numbers below are only the people that showed interest in attending church. This is an example of community outreach via Trunk or Treat, which is now evangelism focused. Of the total 34 contacts for Trunk or Treat, 22 contacts are interested in our church in some way.
Four requested a Bible study (looking for a church home). We are planning on visiting them in the next two weeks.
Eight are new to the area. We are sending cards to them through the card teams, visiting them, and giving them new movers baskets.
Four requested Bible study ONLY. We are calling them to set up Bible studies for the next two or three weeks.
Six are looking for a church home ONLY. We are visiting them in person and personally inviting them to church.
We are training a team to use Back to the Bible. The training meeting is in two weeks. We have a visiting team in place and prepared to visit selected contacts this week. We are teaching the teams what to say so they feel comfortable and know what to do. The Bible study contacts are being called this week. We now have enough baskets and materials to reach the new movers contacts. We are learning to be intentional with church events to Prospect->Contact->Bible Study->New Convert. The church leadership is working together to make sure 2023 efforts are better than this year’s efforts by spending more time in the planning stage for the year. Please continue to pray for our efforts in Maryland.
Congregational Reports
Mid-Town church of Christ, Victoria, Texas: We welcome the Mid-town church of Christ to the House to House/Heart to Heart School of Evangelism. This congregation has a new preacher, Brandon Starling, and the two elders are determined to focus the congregation on their local communities. There is a lot of energy in this congregation!
Fruitvale church of Christ, Texas: We welcome the Fruitvale church of Christ to the House to House/Heart to Heart School of Evangelism. Carl McCann (elder/preacher) reports, “Key phrase: Don’t Panic! We are starting the process, and excitement is evident. I preached the first BTTB lesson and passed out bookmarks. We are meeting and making plans. On Tuesday the elders will finalize our organizational plans.”
Highway 95 church of Christ, Taylor, Texas: Benjamin Dossey (preacher) reports, “Everyone is fired up and ready to get started with the work. We have converted our library into our evangelism room where we will be meeting regularly as we get the evangelism plan/model organized and implemented. We introduced the congregation to the bookmarks on Sunday and handed them out to everyone.”
Central church of Christ, Martinsburg, West Virginia: Robert Veil (preacher) reports, “After an organizational meeting with the elders on Thursday, we introduced our evangelism program on Sunday morning with a sermon on John 4 (Part 1). I have modified that sermon somewhat, and I intend to use it over the next several weeks. Part one is available on our website at ccocwv.org. We have ordered a banner for the evangelism center in the foyer and are in the process of fully stocking it. We expect this to be ready by Sunday. I personally know of five Bible studies now in progress here at Central.”
Edgewood church of Christ, Maryland (digital): John Wilkie (preacher) reports, “We have two prospects that need to decide. We will be using Does It Matter to close the deal. Wednesday night Bible study is focused on the Destiny for Christ to help Christians understand that many are called but few are chosen. Our life situation cannot replace the mission of the chosen. Keep Adelle Bowers in prayer; she is the woman on the verge of deciding.”
East Flushing church of Christ, Flushing, New York (digital): Clarence Jenkins (preacher) reports, “We have eight Bible studies ongoing. We have coordinators in place on the Evangelism Model Coordinators and Areas sheet. A homeless person approached the church building Sunday seeking help. He asked for shoes, a hat, and a backpack to put his possessions in. We gave him a house-to-house newsletter to read while we went to buy those items, along with some socks. When we returned, he stated he enjoyed reading the House-to-House material and was very appreciative of the items. Please pray for our Bible studies, that the person we helped will return, and that God will add the increase to our efforts. We are praying for all congregations who are reaching out to the lost.”
Bona church of Christ, Missouri: Corry Orr (preacher) reports, “We have had several visitors over the past few weeks and our contact list is growing. I will begin preaching Back to the Bible this week, and we will send cards to our new contacts to welcome them to services. Lord willing, we will have doors of opportunity for beginning a Bible study. Please continue to pray for the congregation at Bona as we continue to seek and save the lost.”
West End church of Christ, Knoxville church of Christ: Adam Wilson (member) reports, “Prayer is mighty! West End prays as a congregation for the needs listed on our contact cards; we pray when we write the compassion cards; we also pray individually when we read about contact card needs on our Facebook group. On Sunday, Frances Sloan (member) shared that Kim Harvey’s (contact) stage 4 renal failure has been downgraded to stage 3. Kim’s doctors had said that this could not happen, and she believes in the power of prayer from all of those cards has helped! Diana West (contact) is learning how to be a widow after unexpectedly losing her husband on October. Diana asked Mark Newby (elder) to share her thanks for all of the cards and prayers; she has been amazed at how many she has received. This is truly improving the lives of our loved ones.
“West End is also starting to see an increase in first-time contact cards submissions from members. Several Christians have shared that they are seeing/hearing those around them who are hurting, and now they recognize the opportunity to serve with compassion cards and more. Two additional visitors have requested studies, and two young professional members with limited evangelism experience are leading them through Back to the Bible. The Bible has shown that God does not need the smartest, strongest, or the wealthiest; He just needs the willing. Christians at West End are showing that willingness. Pray that God will work through us!”
East Main church of Christ, Murfreesboro, Tennessee: Brad Rowley (elder) reports, “East Main elders and ministers continue to meet each week to develop a schedule for our evangelism program. We are still evaluating our trial database called Customer Relations Management (CRM). We are working out the logistics of the visitor strategy. Next will be training our members to use this strategy. We are hopeful to have it in place within a couple weeks. Please pray for East Main as we kick off our new bookmarks November 6. Jon Mitchell, our pulpit minister, is preparing a three-part sermon series as recommended by HTHSOE. This is important for obtaining contacts for us. We sent an average of 79 compassion cards each week for the month of October. We have a number of on-going Bible studies. We are blessed to have six new Bible studies this month. We have six members of the church involved in the Bible studies to expand their learning of the Back to the Bible series. We are thankful for HTHSOE assistance in improving our strategies. We are thankful for our members who are working so hard for the Lord. To God give the glory!”
Hatton church of Christ, Alabama: Chris Miller (preacher) reports, “We rejoice as Sam was baptized this week! We continue to send cards to 10-12 contacts, and we have scheduled visits to those who have received the cards. We are about to begin sermons focusing on the red book. Trunk or Treat was a big success; we were able to get information for 48 of the families that visited. As we asked for their personal information, we told the families that our youth would be mailing some information for their children. We plan to send postcards with pictures of the youth group and some youth activities, along with an invitation to participate. We plan to follow up with visits with the names we have. God is great!”
Sunrush church of Christ, Chillicothe, Ohio: Jeryl Webb (elder) reports, “We at the Sunrush Church of Christ are busy trying to find a new minister. Please keep us in your prayers during our search. In the midst of staying busy in this transition, we continue to teach the Back to the Bible lessons. Phil Sanders from In Search of the Lord’s Way hosted a gospel meeting. We also baptized a young man last evening.”
North Meadville church of Christ, Pennsylvania: Bryon Shultz (preacher) reports, “We have a new sister in Christ this week! Her name is Sherry Brown. She was baptized into Christ on Thursday. She is one of the first people we reached out to using compassion cards, and from there several from the congregation spent time with her and studied with her. We are continuing to send out cards to those on the contact list, and we are delivering new movers’ baskets as well. We have three new contacts from that effort this week. We are going to follow up on those who have received cards for four weeks. We are also working to begin studies with one of the visitors who has been here for a while. We are looking for the right opportunity or door to open for that to happen.”
New Union church of Christ, Manchester, Tennessee: Paul Fultz (elder) reports, “We continue to review our bookmarks with our personal prospects on them each Sunday morning after the close of service. We pray for our individual prospects and those on our compassion card list. Members continue to do a great job of submitting contact cards. We had one couple visit from the community. It was great to see the overwhelming show of friendliness and love expressed. We always felt we were a friendly, caring congregation; now we have become friendlier and more caring, and of course we recorded their address to include them in our compassion card mailing. Card Team 5 met after worship on Sunday Evening. Eighty-six cards were written in under thirty minutes.”
Karns church of Christ, Knoxville, Tennessee: Terry Clark (elder) reports, “We are more than halfway through our fall quarter utilizing the BTTB booklets as the curriculum. We have benefited from productive discussion covering the booklets in this manner! One of our recent high school graduates, John, has been using the booklets to study with friends while he is away at college. We pray that John’s efforts to share the gospel will be successful. Last month we set up an evangelism table in the foyer as a means to communicate to our members and visitors alike and to provide useful information to help in our evangelistic efforts. In addition to the evangelism model, we have now added a poster of the matrix we developed that identifies all coordinators and their respective areas of responsibility; this will serve as a quick reference of all coordinators.”
Covington church of Christ, Tennessee: Wayne Dalrymple (elder) reports, “We are continuing to work the plan at Covington. We had Family Day Sunday with Kirk Brothers speaking. We had several new visitors present. We contacted them and will be following up. We had a Fall Festival Sunday evening in our church parking lot. We had several visitors to that as well. One visitor Sunday was Jason. He has visited a couple of times. He has asked us for financial assistance. We have agreed to help him one time. We will be studying Back to the Bible with him soon. Please pray that he is open to the truth. We met Monday night to write cards to our visitors and others. We will continue to prospect many of our contacts.”
Greenfield church of Christ, Tennessee: Clint Monroe (elder) reports, “The elders met with group 4 to educate and engage with our compassion card campaign. The elders are working with group leaders to become self-sufficient in assigning contacts and delivering cards. Brent will train the people who have agreed to deliver new movers baskets. In anticipation of upcoming Bible studies from compassion cards, plans are to start the class for those willing to conduct Bible studies by year’s end. One ongoing Bible study is near completion; we hope and pray that it will result in baptism. We also have an ongoing correspondence course that is hopefully going to result in a Bible study. Prospecting continues with one family that has been visiting over the past couple of weeks.”
Parkway church of Christ, Fulton, Kentucky: Will Hester (preacher) reports, “We also had our Fall Festival at one of our elders’ homes. We had seven visitors attend this great time of fellowship and fun! This means we have more contacts! We now have to prospect them.”
Honolulu church of Christ, Hawaii: Tagiilima Esene (preacher) reports, “We currently have several studies ongoing. Some of our members are doing follow-up studies with some new converts. Two souls are near to the kingdom as we continue Back to the Bible. The highlight this past week is three souls obeying the gospel. Jake and Makala were baptized after studying about sin, the gospel, and how one can obey it. We will continue our studies via Zoom as they return to Kansas. This past Sunday, we had to delay the start of worship because Austin made the decision to put on Christ. When someone wants to obey the gospel, everything else has to wait, and this was the case for Austin’s baptism. Please continue to pray for us. Mahalo!”
Woodstock church of Christ, Georgia: Greg Garner (deacon) reports, “WCOC collected one contact card, so we can prospect this week. Our congregation meets on Sunday evenings to conduct the evangelism workshop. Last week, the compassion cards group sent forty-five cards. On October 14, two service groups, knocked on 31 doors from the HTH mailing list. Of the 31, three will be added to the secondary visit list. The visitation group delivered coffee stations and visited 12 new movers. We have three Bible studies in progress.”
New Hope church of Christ, Middleton, Tennessee: Cole Wade (preacher) reports, “We had a cookout last night and made over ten contacts through that event. Several were at church Sunday, and we had so much time to spend with them and show them who we are. We will continue to till the soil with them. Our lists of contacts are growing with every good deed, and your prayers would be helpful in bringing more people to know Jesus!”
Rogersville church of Christ, Tennessee: Ethan Tate (preacher) reports, “This week, we continued to build evangelism strategies for our current contacts. We are taking new lists from each family (expanding our prior contacts list) and examining their needs, praying for doors to open, and emphasizing their spiritual needs when the door opens. We are setting up studies through the new jail ministry and through visitors who have attended recently. Please pray for us as we continue cultivating the fields here in Rogersville.”
Paintsville church of Christ, Kentucky: Zach Collins (preacher) reports, “We are currently in the process of prospecting a woman who lives near the building, who has visited on three occasions. She has been treated to two meals by a couple of our members. She has agreed to three lessons with the Back to the Bible workbooks. Pray for this study!”
Canal Heights church of Christ, Demopolis, Alabama: Bryan Cook (minister) reports, “Between services, we showed the Friday Reaching the Lost five-minute Evangelism video on our big screens. During announcements, it was made known that the congregation will be getting these videos in their email and need to watch them. The sermon even went along with the evangelism theme, speaking of Jesus’ lost things: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son. Other members are inviting their friends and neighbors to church again. The mentality is shifting to evangelism. Continue to pray for our efforts as we pray for you all.”
Riverbend church of Christ, Georgia: Austin Fowler (member) reports, “On Friday, Jason Duggin and my grandfather went to study with one of our member’s daughters. She has been watching different brotherhood preachers on local TV. She has a lot of questions and seems to be searching for the truth. We are also planning to study with Fransisco and Mabel on Wednesday. Saturday was our Fall Festival. It went really well. One couple came with one of our families. We are going to add them to our contact list to send them cards to invite them to services.”
Southwest church of Christ, Austin, Texas: Raul Ferris (student) reports, “To God be all the glory! I wanted to share with you that we just set up a Bible study. A couple asked me if there was a difference between the church that we attend and a denominational faith that they attend. They were at our fall festival. I told them I did not know the difference exactly, but that I could show them, if they would be interested in a Bible study. They agreed, and we plan to have dinner with them and study on Tuesday.”
Rabun County church of Christ, Tiger, Georgia: McKinley Pate (preacher) reports, “We began looking at our congregational plan in Bible class, and during our worship, we finished looking at the politically incorrect evangelist. We continue to try to set up studies with three recent visitors. One is semi-homebound and only gets out to go to church. We continue to go by and check on her and take her food. She sits on the board of the Methodist church that she normally attends. Recently, she asked about instrumental music in worship. She stated that their normal piano player was out last week, so they sang acapella. I asked if she would like to know more, and she stated that she would like to study soon. I will follow up with her again this week. I have been meeting with one other visitor once a week at a local restaurant. He says he wants to study, but he has dodged the study for the last two weeks. I am going to take a different approach with him and give him a copy of Muscle and a Shovel. We continue to move forward!”
Coldwater church of Christ, Kentucky: Luke Puckett (preacher) reports, “This past week we had our elders and deacons meeting. We talked about our evangelism efforts. We are going to go over the bookmarks again to ensure everyone has names written on them, so they know when to turn them into prospects and start sending cards to them. We continue sending cards weekly as well as making visits. We do not currently have any Bible studies set up, but I feel we are close with one of our prospects.”
Carthage church of Christ, North Carolina: Randy Chambers (preacher) reports, “We have been busy for the last two weeks. We have sent compassion cards and visited two families on our contact list. The visits were encouraging, and we are praying and working to develop these relationships into Bible studies. We had a family visit Sunday and have plans to have them over for dinner at a member’s home. We had our Fall Festival this weekend and made new contacts. We had over 43 visitors, thirteen more than we expected, but we were prepared. Five have expressed interest in knowing more about the congregation. Pictured is a gift bag our members gave to a contact who has been receiving our cards and visits as we encourage the growth of a relationship. We are working hard to get the entire congregation more involved, and the fall festival may be the turning point we needed. All the visitors that were there came because someone from the congregation invited them. We will have our Mission Monday tonight, and we pray that we may bear much fruit from all the members seeing what can happen, WHEN WE ARE WORKERS TOGETHER WITH HIM!”
Crossville church of Christ, Tennessee: Alan Judd (preacher) reports, “Multiple studies are ongoing at various stages of progress. Visitors are being prospected, and some of them look like promising future Bible studies. Organizational structure and assignment of responsibilities are being further refined in the hopes of generating greater effectiveness.”
Lafollette church of Christ, Tennessee: Ben Shaffer (preacher) reports, “We completed an Old-Fashioned Tent Revival during October 17-21. The sermons were designed to deal clearly with the great problem of denominationalism that has deeply infected our area. It was an encouraging meeting with the majority of the congregation getting involved. Though the weather was cold, that did not keep people from visiting. We had many non-Christian visitors. One couple that visited every night has expressed a desire to study so they will know what they need to do to become members of the church of Christ. We also had a lady from our door knocking who came four out of five nights, and she has expressed interest in a study. We are hopeful that three new Christians will come from this meeting. We are also excited that a brother who had fallen away into denominationalism for decades came to the meeting. Then last night at worship, he expressed his conviction that the Lord only built one church, and he wants to be back in fellowship with Christ and his church. What makes it especially wonderful is the congregation was heavily involved in the meeting, and all of us enjoyed the fruit of congregational labor.”
Coweta church of Christ, Oklahoma: Keno Shrum (elder/preacher) reports, “We have scheduled Lesson 2 of BTTB with a young man this Thursday. I have begun going through BTTB with an inmate who reached out to me from the Texas Prison System. I contacted a minister in his town who can go by and visit with him and continue the study. Unfortunately, we cannot study in person or virtually, so I have sent him Lesson 1, and he will go through it and mail it back. When I send Lesson 2, I will comment on the questions from Lesson 1. It is not the ideal scenario for a study, but we will do the best we can under the circumstances and pray for a minister in the area to follow up.”
Highway church of Christ, Benton, Arkansas: Steven Ford (preacher) reports, “This week we are blessed to report four souls saved! Each week, several members go to a youth detention center and teach the Bible. Two ladies have been studying with a group of girls for a number of months. Three of the young ladies obeyed the gospel Saturday! The next day in worship, one man responded to our Lord’s invitation. We had not been able to use BTTB, but we will have him attend our New Convert classes. We also had our annual fish fry potluck today, and several visitors stayed to eat with us. We will be following us with them.”
Eisenhower church of Christ, Odesa, Texas: Allen Weakland (elder/preacher) reports, “God blessed us with another study with Rosalinda and her husband Caesar. As we were about to begin our study, Caesar expressed that he has sinned and needs Christ to be forgiven. Once again, the Bible is impacting another soul. Please pray for this young couple. Eisenhower was also blessed with a strong turnout for our Fall Festival Saturday. We estimate that we had over 400 people visit from the community, and we signed up over half of them to receive an invitation for our VBS for this next year. Most families expressed their thanks for hosting such a fun evening with games, popcorn, and hotdogs. Several parents stated that they would see us the next day, and they did not disappoint us; they filled several pews Sunday morning and were engaged as the congregation made them feel welcome. Though this effort took a lot of work, the real work is about to begin. May God give us the strength and endurance that is needed to touch these lives with the gospel.”
Warner Robins church of Christ, Georgia: Daniel Stearsmen (preacher) reports, “Shelly Lindsay (middle) was baptized into Christ this afternoon. She initially requested materials through HTH. Praise God!”
Lafayette church of Christ, Georgia: David Paden (preacher), “My wife and I had our first study with Joan, the elderly lady that has been coming to worship with her daughter. She loved it and is looking forward to the second study next Sunday. Please pray that she will continue to be receptive to the message.”
University church of Christ, Montgomery, Alabama: Austin Faires (elder) reports, “Our Trunk or Treat took place last Sunday night. We had 51 families from the community to visit. Everyone had to register as they entered the Trunk or Treat area. We conducted a devotional and fed over 675 individuals. We have the contact information on all 51 families; now we will assign families to visit all these new prospects. Cards have already been sent out to these 51 families, thanking them for attending Trunk or Treat and inviting them to our services. At present we have five active Bible studies taking place with individuals that are not yet New Testament Christians. Today, Sunday, October 30, two new families who are members of the church placed membership with us.”
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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