Success Stories: November 20, 2024

Welcome Ocoee Street church of Christ: We welcome the Ocoee Street church of Christ to the House to House/Heart to Heart School of Evangelism. We are thankful for the soul-winning hearts of R.E. Vann (elder) and their preacher, Spencer Hall. The congregation is in a growing area and is poised to grow. R.E. Vann (elder) reports, “Getting Started. We are just starting to organize, so why wait? We have had a visitor for about four months who happened to attend our first two training sessions. As she was leaving, she asked one of the members if they could recommend a plumber. They offered to fix her plumbing problem instead. It was an easy fix. She appreciated the kindness and asked what she could do to return the favor. Why not? “I just so happen to have these booklets, would you . . . .” She laughed and responded, “I would love to!” Lesson 1 (BTTB) was completed last Friday. Please pray for this precious soul. Lesson 2 is scheduled for this Saturday: “. . . Redeeming the time” (Colossians 4:5).

Welcome Colleyville church of Christ, Texas: John Garza (regional trainer) reports, “Since the Whitacres came last week, the congregation at Colleyville is encouraged and ready to work. From the leadership to all the members, everyone is committed to the program in whatever role each person will play. We all understand that we make up the body of Christ, especially in our local area, and we all know that we all will have a role to play in congregational evangelism. Yes, we may grow and be able to do many more works of the plan in time, but for right now, our members understand that each person will have a starting point. We all look forward to doing our part in the functioning of the glorious body of Christ. Before Rob came, we started implementing parts of the congregational plan and primed the members for his coming. We have already taught many  ‘How-to’s’ of evangelism, and we will continue this week by teaching “How to Use Back to the Bible.” Additionally, with the zeal of elders, we are reconsidering how we will work the compassion card work. Members are zealous to learn more through the online curriculum so that we can work together to implement the program to the best of our ability for the congregation’s benefit without overworking just a few individuals. I have the utmost respect for and confidence in the elders here at Colleyville, as they certainly will set the tone and motivate the members in the evangelistic mission of the Lord’s church. Finally, concerning the current Bible studies and prospects, we have multiple personal Bible studies taking place, with one new one that started yesterday. With a new brother in Christ, we are beginning the mentoring service for him, and we are starting a new convert class that one of the elders will teach to him and others who still need the milk of the Word. Concerning our prospects, we are writing cards to four souls who need the Gospel of Christ as well as one erring sister. We pray that these cards will encourage their hearts and provide the soil to bring them to Christ. To God be the glory!”

Welcome Howe church of Christ, Texas: We welcome the Howe church of Christ to the House to House/Heart to Heart School of Evangelism. This congregation was full of love and good works. Their elders, preacher, deacons, and members are ready to begin the work.

Glencoe church of Christ, Alabama: Keith Ritchie (evangelist) reports, “It was an exciting week at the Glencoe church of Christ in Alabama. We had three visitors from the contacts we made during our Fall Festival. They said they really enjoyed the service. We also had Jerry and Ella Sue Conley place membership with the Glencoe congregation. A family of five has also voiced their interest in visiting with us. Pray that these contacts yield prospects, then through Bible studies give birth to Christians.”

Central church of Christ, Saraland, Alabama: David Dixon (preacher) reports, “We have had two funerals and a wedding in the last three weeks, and each of those have provided their own opportunities. One of the men who passed away was an elder until very recently, and he had served as a Gospel preacher for some fifty years. His wife is struggling with leukemia and needs fervent prayers. The other member who passed away was a faithful brother who left behind a faithful wife, two grown daughters, and three grandsons of accountable age. During his lengthy illness, his youngest grandson and his girlfriend were baptized. In the last two weeks, both of his daughters have also been restored. The other two grandsons have expressed an interest in studying the Bible. The wedding we hosted was the union of two of our new converts. None of their families are Christians. It was a small ceremony with only about 25 family members in attendance. Before the ceremony, one of the attendees was perusing our evangelism table while another intently read the opening pages of our songbook. We have several leads to follow up, just from this wedding. Additionally, a lady stopped by the church building recently because she is searching for a church. She stated that she had visited several churches in the area but left each one because they were not teaching what is in the Bible. We have also had numerous visitors with whom we are following up over the last few weeks. It has been a whirlwind month for us here at Central, but we have come to realize this is going to be the norm from now on because evangelism is our new way of life. God gives the increase when we plant the seed!”

West Huntsville church of Christ, Alabama: Paul Owen (associate preacher) reports, “Barbra Green was baptized into Christ Sunday afternoon! We also had our One Mission Meeting on Sunday evening. The Lord is blessing our evangelistic efforts in abundance. Praise God!”

Highland Park church of Christ, Muscle Shoals, Alabama: Andrew Myhan (deacon) reports, “We have had many positive things taking place. We have trained more people to conduct Bible studies over the last two weeks. Three more Bible studies continued last week. One was conducted during regular Wednesday night classes with a young woman who brought her child. While the study was conducted, the child attended one of the children’s classes.”

Hatton church of Christ, Alabama: Chris Miller (preacher) reports, “This week, we spent time with several who recently obeyed the Gospel, mentoring and encouraging several new converts. We have one study coming up, among others, that has been a long work in progress, but we hope for another convert soon. To God be the glory!”

Petersville church of Christ, Florence, Alabama: Adam Richardson (preacher) reports, “Petersville hosted our annual Harvest Sunday. We also sent invites to 40 new families, based on our evangelistic efforts to get contacts through compassion cards and trunk or treat. We had 14 visitors, a lunch that filled the fellowship hall to overflowing, and a good day of worship. There was one restoration of a sister who had also been neglecting the assembly.”

Malvern church of Christ, Arkansas (remote): David Burruss (preacher) reports, “We continue to send compassion cards each week. We recently received a questionnaire from one of the publications requesting additional information/tracts. We attempted to visit this individual twice, but no one was home, so we mailed a lot of material and prayed she would contact us. We are in the process of planning a community supper that we will host on December 9, and we plan to start our men’s ministry program in 2025. Currently we have three men interested in participating.”

Rison church of Christ, Arkansas: Keden Shrum (preacher) reports, “Care Team A met Sunday evening to sign compassion cards for a resident whose wife recently passed away. I have been in contact with a young lady from a local cafe with no religious background. We are working toward a study with her.”

Windsor church of Christ, Colorado: Lucas Stephens (member) reports, “Windsor is moving forward with our training as we finished with the green book BTTB and visitor training. We gathered ten contact cards to begin the prospecting process. It has been a great week to worship God, spread the Gospel, and grow the Lord’s church.”

Margaret Street church of Christ, Milton, Florida: Troy Spradlin (preacher) reports, “The elders began weekly meetings to appoint Evangelism Coordinators. We also had an Elders, Deacons, and Preachers meeting this week; everyone agreed to refocus every ministry toward evangelism (producing contacts). We continued our sermon series on John 4, with all the members praying for everyone listed on their  ‘Neighbor Card’ (Evangelism Bookmark). The evening service continued the training lessons, and our evangelism table is now set up with a coordinator. A new “Accountability Board” was also ordered. We continue working our way through the curriculum and the checklist. This week, we had four BTTB studies conducted; two of them were with regular visitors! One new study was set up with a wayward member, and we have six studies with our prison ministry. Some members have also reported ‘stepping out of their comfort zone’ and talking with their neighbors! To God be the glory!”

Niceville church of Christ, Florida: Joe Palmer (preacher) reports, “This week, we had two studies and mailed 25 cards. We had a good Sunday with new prospects coming to worship. We had six visitors on Sunday. We took two out to eat Sunday, and I visited with two of them today. We are expecting to set up some new studies soon. We have five studies set up that have not started yet. The New Movers program is making good progress.”

Bremen church of Christ, Georgia: Scott Broughton (member) reports, “The New Converts class is going well. We have had a consistent attendance of about 12 people. Chad has produced a series called ‘Just for a Minute,’ for the last several years. Initially, this went out over local radio and our YouTube channel and is now on our Facebook and Instagram.”

Eatonton church of Christ, Georgia (remote): Roderick Coney (preacher) reports, “Mom finished one set of lessons (BTTB), and now I am on Lesson 3 of Back to the Bible with another prospect. We are working on the checklist, and we should have it squared away this week. Last week, we sent cards to two people, Brother Don had a Bible study, and we put up an accountability board.”

Lafayette church of Christ, Georgia: Jesse Teague (elder) reports, “Last night was the third Sunday of the month, so Group 3 met after evening worship to send compassion cards. We had a record turnout with 21 saints who filled the room with happy chatter as they wrote cards to 11 souls who need the Gospel. Several contacts (we pray) are nearing a Bible study. God is good.”

Woodstock church of Christ, Georgia: Matt Amos (preacher) reports, “The WCOC congregation attended the Sunabella of Towne Lake Assistant Living devotional on Sunday. They had six non-Christians in attendance. The Compassion Cards Group created and sent 36 cards. We had five Christians who attended the converts class. This class is to help those that were recently converted. WCOC had three non-Christian visitors at our Sunday morning service.”

Cartersville church of Christ, Georgia (remote): Charles Harris (regional trainer) reports, “We have mailed 135 compassion cards this month. This week, we will begin making visits to those who have received cards and to new movers. We have a couple of Bible studies this week that could end with baptisms. Hopefully, next week their baptisms will be in the report.”

Honolulu church of Christ, Hawaii: Tagiilima Esene (preacher) reports, “Aloha from the Honolulu congregation! We continue our studies with seven souls. We are dealing with a problem with our building at this time, but we continue in our efforts in the Lord’s work. I am currently training the Waimea congregation on the Big Island. Please keep them in your prayers. The highlight this past week was another soul obeying the Gospel of Christ. Brethren, pray for us.”

Collinsville-Troy church of Christ, Illinois: Jason Wright (elder) reports, “We continue to have visitors. Casey visited services on Sunday. He said he had not attended a religious service in over 20 years. We gave him a visitor’s basket and will send him cards. On Thursday, we met and made 21 visits to folks who asked for an HTH mailer. We delivered New Mover’s baskets as well. We currently have ten Bible Studies that are ongoing. Tonight, I will study with Terry. We are in Book 3. He has had questions along the way, and BTTB has answered every question. We are working on the accountability board and will have it up soon. We continue with the bookmarks and invitation cards. We mailed out 116 compassion cards this week. We will continue to work on the plan as the year ends. We are excited about future opportunities to share the Gospel. Confidence comes with training.”

Highland Village church of Christ, Bloomington, Indiana: Mark Stauffer (elder) reports, “We have sent 186 cards so far this month. We made our first prospect visit and scheduled a second visit two days later to start a study. However, the prospects talked to their ‘pastor,’ who is also a family member, and they canceled. We continued congregational training. We have several visits planned for this week.”

LaGrange church of Christ, Indiana: Wayne Poe (elder) reports, “We had a great service with four visitors yesterday. A couple of our studies are on Book 3 of BTTB, and we hope they will be added to the kingdom soon. We are adding more coordinators and helping them navigate their roles. Brother Fred Oakley has four Bible studies ongoing with Back to the Bible.”

Judah church of Christ, Bloomington, Indiana: Joe Moon (preacher) reports, “We finished the sermon on the wedding feast yesterday. I am still doing bookmarks every week, and I have one ongoing study.   At our men’s meeting, we will discuss setting up the Zoom call with you for next Sunday’s men’s meeting.”

West Hammond church of Christ, Indiana: Robert Webster (preacher) reports, “It is very encouraging to hear the good news across the South that ‘Reaching the Lost’ is bearing much fruit. May God be praised! I apologize for not reporting last week, but I am still trying to smooth the process. As strange as it may sound, I have never been more enthused about congregational evangelism than now, so much so that I am dropping a part-time job so I can lead more effectively in this critical endeavor of our congregation. We have five studies being conducted this week; all these prospects have visited our congregation and responded to the weekly cards sent out by the ladies’ class. I will request a Zoom meeting with one of the regional trainers to assist us in making the program more effective and efficient. On a separate note, my family and I will be in Tuscaloosa this weekend for the funeral service of Romeo Tomlinson, the former minister of the Montego Bay church of Christ, a work that he started.”

Beloit church of Christ, Kansas (remote): Dustin Dougherty (regional trainer) reports, “We had a great worship service yesterday; Sunday is my favorite day of the week. I have been using several invitation cards, leaving them behind in restaurants and including them in return envelopes when I pay bills. What a great, inexpensive tool for evangelism. I am hoping to begin a men’s Bible study very soon and invite area men in order to evangelize in that way. I also recently started a YouTube channel for the Beloit church of Christ so we can post sermons, lessons, and Gospel meetings more easily. To God be all glory and honor.”
Madisonville church of Christ, Kentucky: Don Killough (deacon) reports, “The third sermon on John 4   was preached Sunday. Members are in the process of turning in their surveys. The next step will be to organize the various mission areas as provided in the HTHSOE model.”

La Plata church of Christ, Maryland (remote): Eric Sykes (regional trainer) reports, “We had another great week at the La Plata church of Christ. We have a new brother in Christ, Brother VeeJay, who is here from Hawaii and a soldier in the U.S. Army. He studied with Brother Tony Johnson, who is one of the new family members here in La Plata. Brother Tony attended our Back to the Biblecongregational training sessions earlier this year. He approached me several weeks ago about conducting the study with VeeJay. After completing Lessons 1 and 2 at his home, Tony asked if I would sit in with them for Lesson 3 at the building. We got together this past Saturday, after our men’s prayer breakfast. VeeJay was also a former member of the Catholic church, so he had a few questions. We did a brief review of Lesson 2 of BTTB and answered his questions. We then completed Lesson 3 of BTTB and baptized our new brother into Christ. One of our new converts is getting ready to start Lesson 3 of BTTB with a co-worker. Sandy and I are meeting with a couple that we started studying with several months ago, to see if we can re-start their Bible study sessions. We appreciate all prayers regarding her study. We wrote 76 compassion cards this past week. We have 11 active prospects on our prospect list. We had one visitor this week, a relative of one of the saints at La Plata and a member of the body. Six people attended our new converts training class. Five attended our advanced teacher’s training class this week. We are training on Lesson 2 of BTTB.  Seventeen people attended the video of the week class on ‘The Truth about Angels Part 2.’  We have 13 new movers for the month of November, so we will coordinate their visits this week. God is definitely in the blessing business. We appreciate all prayers as we all strive to do the Lord’s work in spreading the Gospel.”

East Main church of Christ, Tupelo, Mississippi: Barry Kennedy (preacher) reports, “We are still working the community with compassion cards and assigned visits. We have incorporated many contacts from the door-knocking and hope to see positive feedback from this effort. We have also resumed delivering new mover baskets. It is a blessing to see the congregation working hard to make any visitors feel welcome. We give God all the glory!”

Shady Acres church of Christ, Sikeston, Missouri: Keith Olbricht (preacher) reports, “Our first compassion cards are in the mail! ‘Trust the process’ is still a heavily repeated theme, but we are anxious to begin to see fruit from our labor. We are still continuing to see an above average number of visitors to worship services, and we hope to maintain that trend. Two Bible studies have stalled for various reasons, and we are working to get them back on track.”

Marshall church of Christ, Missouri (remote): Charles Reid (preacher) reports, “We set up an area in our church fellowship room as a living room so we could hold Bible studies there. Henry and his wife, and Diana, my wife, and I invited a couple we have been mentoring for three months. We ate pizza and then had a Bible study with the couple. The wife was restored, and her husband obeyed the Gospel. I have been preaching ‘Discipling’ and ‘Soul Winning’ sermons for weeks. Yesterday was about John 13:31-38. Last week was Matthew 28:16-20, ‘You Never Mentioned Him to Me.’ We have one-hour Zoom studies on Tuesday and Thursday morning at 10:30 with a core group; we talk about those who have received cards or calls of encouragement. To God be the glory.”

Samford church of Christ, Steele, Missouri: Kyle Imel (deacon) reports, “Thaxton, a member of our youth group, completed Book 1 and started Book 2 with his friend, Luke, Wednesday night. We also have a study scheduled to begin with Terry this Saturday. He is a contact we met while door-knocking. We appreciate all prayers for both of these individuals.”

East Flushing church of Christ, New York (remote): Clarence Jenkins (preacher) reports, “At worship service, we had two first-time visitors and three there for the second time in a row. Two were given Book 1 of BTTB. We are praying we can begin studying with them soon. We also have two long-time visitors. We were able to take one of the visitors to lunch. Three agreed to at some point in the future. After worship service, we watched the HTHSOE YouTube video: ‘New Converts: Mentoring,’ the second video. Our metrics thus far for this month are as follows: 15 visitors, 12 prospects, 23 visits, and seven Bible studies. We appreciate all prayers.”

Sanford church of Christ, North Carolina: Brian Hall (preacher) reports, “This past Saturday, our congregation hosted an Evangelism Seminar refresher with Keno Shrum. It was a great success! Many of our members attended, along with visitors from the Rocky Mount congregation. The seminar was both challenging and encouraging. Our congregation needed it to help us keep and enflame our evangelistic efforts. The day was capped off when one young lady, Briauny, deciding to obey the Gospel of Jesus Christ by being immersed in baptism for the remission of her sins. She has been studying with one of our members. She proved to be a great example of the power and grace of the Word of God! In the past approximately six months, she was the third convert to put Christ on in baptism for our congregation. The Lord is doing great things with our congregation!”

Streetsboro church of Christ, Ohio: Ralph Price (preacher) reports, “Our first Bible study with a new family went well. We will have the second study tomorrow evening. There is another young man who we are working on. I had mentioned to the elders that I would take him to lunch, and I was informed that someone else had already invited him to lunch and would try to establish a study. They could not set up a study because of his work schedule, but it was encouraging for me to see someone else stepping up and taking the initiative. We currently have four on our prospect list. We are sending them compassion cards. Our new converts class is going well. We are looking forward to our one-year review tomorrow evening.”

New Concord church of Christ, Ohio: Terry Townsend (preacher) reports, “We baptized Gary Beardsley into Christ for the remission of sins a few minutes ago. His wife Gina is one of our new converts. He has been coming faithfully with her for several months and decided to obey. He is still pretty ‘green,’ but he understood enough. He will begin the new converts class this coming Sunday. He and I will also study together once a month.”

Sullivan Village church of Christ, Lawton, Oklahoma: Steven Hill (preacher) reports, “Sullivan Village is working hard to strengthen and develop our new converts so they will not remain infants and end up being tossed to and fro by the various winds of doctrine (Ephesians 4:14). We want to help plant the word of God deep in their hearts so they will be able to resist the devil on the evil day when he fires his deadly darts of temptation at them (Psalm 119:11; Ephesians 6:16).  We have three new converts and one man who was restored after 20 years of being wayward. On Friday, we baptized another gentleman who has been coming to our services for a while. He is an older man named Al Bauder, and he, too, will be continuing his studies every week. The elders just revamped our new converts class, and now each will rotate through and teach that class. It helps them to continue teaching and get to know the new converts. We are all so grateful for these new souls to love and nurture. God is so good and always increases when we are praying and working. To God be the glory forever and ever.”

Coweta church of Christ, Oklahoma: Keno Shrum (regional trainer) reports, “Jamie and I had a great time working with the Sanford, North Carolina, congregation last weekend. Brian Hall and the members there are dedicated to leading the lost to Christ. Having gone through the HTHSOE seminar a couple of years ago, they wanted a tune-up to get the ball rolling again. Being proactive, they requested a Regional Trainer to work with them, and I was honored to go. I am confident that we will see great things from this congregation. Houston and I went through Lesson 2 BTTB with Ethan, and it went great. He has continued assembling with us on Wednesdays, even though the drive is 46 miles from the college. We will be going through Lesson 3 soon. We are currently working on turning several prospects to Bible studies. The Lord continues to put opportunities before us, and we are seizing those opportunities as often as we can. I pray for all who are laboring in the name of the Lord. The fields are white unto harvest. Regional trainers are standing by if you need help!”

Cheyenne church of Christ, Oklahoma: Nathan Brewer (member) reports, “Since I live 30 miles from our prospects—and since one of them is frequently tired from continuing to work while undergoing chemotherapy, and another is the son of a member whom I have yet to meet—I decided to try something different. I hand-wrote letters to both men last week and mailed them. I gave some brief personal information about myself so they could get to know me a little, and I asked them questions about themselves. I hope they will write back this week.”

Broad Top church of Christ, Pennsylvania (remote): Ed Howe (member) reports, “After sending compassion cards, we made a transition visit to a widower (who is a brother of a member of our congregation – she didn’t feel he would be interested in a visit or a Bible study). To our surprise, Bill invited my wife and me into his well-kept house, and after some introduction and the ‘Three Questions’, with a little hesitation, we started the 1st Back to the Biblestudy. We were encouraged that he wanted to use his departed wife’s family Bible (a large KJV that was quite old, not used but in good condition). From what he shared, if he had looked at a Bible it was long ago. The Bible study progressed, and he read many of the scriptures, helping him to locate the scriptures. We proceeded through a little more than half the booklet and he said he wanted to stop at the next section – he said there was some farm work he needed to do. He was agreeable to continue the study.  Please keep this study in your prayers.”

York church of Christ, Pennsylvania: Mark Raschke (member) reports, “After a couple of weeks without new visitors, we had a local couple stop by this week. They had received House to House in the mail. We greeted them, gave them a visitor bag, and collected their contact information. We have them on the list to receive a round of compassion cards. Additionally, we continued to make visits to our prospects this week. Next week, we will renew the call to use bookmarks and ask for contact cards from our members for those on their personal prayer lists. After Thanksgiving, we will hold one final visitation meeting for the year.”

Union church of Christ, South Carolina (remote): Terry Hale (preacher) reports, “We had a very touching time this week, especially with Ms. Caroyln, who is in Book 3 of Back to the Bible. We watched her tears fall as she learned God’s will. We are studying diligently in all three books with ten prospects. Continue prayers are appreciated.”

East Ridge church of Christ, Chattanooga, Tennessee: Charles Cochran (preacher) reports, “Here are recent pictures of baptism, a study with a lady who went through Back to the Bible lessons and was baptized.  Two other ladies are studying as new Christians. They also went through Back to the Biblestudies. We had a baptism a couple of weeks ago. His name is Jeshua. Austin Fowler made contact with him through House to House. We visited him. I followed up with a Back to the Bible study. He was baptized. I began studies with his wife this Thursday.  His mom came to his baptism. We hope to reach out to her. Good things continue to happen at East Ridge. God bless your great work, Rob. We love and appreciate all you and your family do!”

Hillsboro church of Christ, Tennessee: Shelby Moorman (preacher) reports, “We wrote cards again Sunday. We currently have four prospects. We also made a new contract this week that plans to be with us next Sunday.”

Cookeville church of Christ, Tennessee: Jonathan Medley (deacon) reports, “It has been another great week. We continued to send compassion cards to three of our prospects. One prospect was a visitor who started coming several weeks ago. She commented on how much she loved receiving the cards. Last night, we did the ‘Make it Operational’ training lesson to the congregation and handed out the first training card. There were a lot of great comments from members afterward, and several said they are ready to get started.”

Covington church of Christ, Tennessee: Wayne Dalrymple (elder) reports, “This week was another productive week. We had many visitors to our services. Some of these are family members of Jackie Floyd, who was baptized in the summer and passed away a few weeks later. We hosted a memorial service for her on Saturday. We pray this leads to building a relationship with her family and having Bible studies. I studied with Jeremy again on Sunday and Monday evenings. We are currently part of the way through Book 3. We will continue the study on Wednesday evening during the Bible class period. He is extremely eager and has already expressed a desire to be baptized, but we still need to study a little more, so he fully understands what it means. We are considering changing our mailing routes for HTH/HTH next year. We have not been able to make many meaningful contacts on the current route, but we pray another route might be more fruitful.”

Rivergate church of Christ, Madison, Tennessee: Doug Tooley (preacher) reports, “We had seven visitors on Sunday. One was a family composed of a mother and four children. This family had been invited to our Fall Festival. We were thankful to have them come back for a Sunday morning service. We made two visits last week. One of our members had a friend who lives in another state request Bible study materials. We are mailing some materials and prayerful a door might be opened to get someone from their area to meet this contact.”

Freewill church of Christ, Gainesboro, Tennessee (remote): Andrew Scott (preacher) reports, “We rejoice with Jenny Dobbs and her daughter Abby Dobbs as they were baptized into Christ this afternoon, after studying Does it Matter. The picture is Joy Dobbs with her daughter and granddaughter. Joy obeyed the Gospel last week. One conversion will never be one! We are thankful to God for the increase.”

White Oak church of Christ, Chattanooga, Tennessee (remote): John McGiffin (preacher) reports, “The previous visitor I had lunch with returned. His brother worships with us. He brought his entire family with him this past Sunday. My wife and I had lunch with them. They are looking for a place to worship. After visiting those community members from the trunk or treat, we decided to help two of the families with Thanksgiving meals. The families have agreed to come to Bible study on Wednesday, November 27, the night before Thanksgiving.  After the Bible study, we will give them all the fixings for a Thanksgiving dinner to take home. These are the first families we have prospected to this level since I arrived on the first of August. Both families expressed they are looking for a “church.” We will soon transition them into Bible studies, if all goes well. We have been visiting four or five community members each week. We plan to deliver new movers baskets this week. We keep working on the soil but have yet to see the results. I have been told that some Chinese bamboo varieties take up to five years to start growing. During the first five years, it is only a sprout of about one inch. After 5 years, it will grow 90 feet in 90 days. We are trying to be patient, but some areas require more prospecting than others (Galatians 6:9).”

New Union church of Christ, Manchester, Tennessee: Paul Fultz (elder) reports, “We had six visitors on Sunday morning, and our members submitted three contacts for prospecting. We sent out 36 compassion cards. During the week, we made four transition visits and conducted one personal Bible study.”

Hillcrest church of Christ, Springfield, Tennessee: Tim Taylor (associate preacher) reports, “Our new mover basket delivery teams are seeing more welcome receptions since we started sending cards before making the deliveries. We have three new couples/pairs delivering baskets, so we now have nine. We are continuing to be blessed with visitors each week.”

Mountain Creek church of Christ, Chattanooga, Tennessee: Michael Tomshack (elder) reports, “Gary Massey, Elder and Minister, has proposed hosting a ‘Bring a Friend Day’ on Sunday, December 15.  The event will include a fellowship meal following the assembly. This initiative is intended to encourage individuals from our Prospect and Contact Lists, and those who feel compelled to attend religious assemblies during the Christmas season to join us. The Elders have unanimously approved this proposal.”

West Fayetteville church of Christ, Tennessee: Steve Jefferson (elder) reports, “Good morning from the West Fayetteville congregation. This Sunday, Brother Steve Miller presented an in-depth lesson on how to use Back to the Bible, Book 1, properly. We also have divided the congregation into three compassion card teams. All three teams met last night after the evening service to discuss the procedure and to fill out cards for four contacts on our bookmarks. We appreciate all prayers as we reach out to these individuals.”

Chapel Hill church of Christ, Tennessee: Matt Jones (deacon) reports, “We continue to generate contacts through our visitors and those turned in from those in the congregation. We will make several visits to prospects who have recently received compassion cards. To help enhance our new movers’ baskets, we plan on putting together a brochure with what is happening in the next three months—more to come. We still have active Bible studies, one of which is nearing the last study. It is also good to see recent converts actively involved in the church’s work and serving during our services in various ways.”

Rome church of Christ, Lebanon, Tennessee (remote): David Oxley reports, “We have begun our study of the Back to the Bible, Book 1, on Sunday Morning. We also started an advanced class on Tuesday night last week. We are currently working on four prospects.”

McKenzie church of Christ, Tennessee: Randy McCadams (elder) reports, “We have had another good week; we rejoice with the baptism of one of our 15-year-old youth, Maybree. Her uncle is a member of our church family, and she has been talking to him about her salvation. For November, we will be ending card mailouts with compassion cards for eight souls being reached. December will be much busier for our Teams because we had another Community Kitchen on November 14 and produced many contacts that we will add to our mail-out list. Last night, November 17, we met with our Team Leaders and members. About 30 attended and much information was discussed that will make our efforts more effective. We have been working on this program since May 2023 and mailed cards to at least 166 families/individuals. As was noted last night, we may have sent the card to one person, but when they received multiple cards from the church, they were bound to share their compassion card with their family members and friends. So, we feel that each set of cards goes further than to one receiver.”

Eisenhower church of Christ, Odessa, Texas: Allen Weakland (preacher) reports, “This past Sunday evening, the Eisenhower congregation witnessed how God impacts the lives of men. After studying the Back to the Bible series, Jeff Wesson baptized Adrian Chacon in Christ. Now we will strive to teach Adrian’s wife and his brothers, sisters, and uncles. His parents attended Eisenhower from 2004 to 2007. He was just a kid, but at 32 years of age, he realized his life was not going as it should. He attended service several times and finally agreed to a Bible study with Jeff. Jeff knew his parents and grandparents; they attended when Adrian was baptized. We talked, and her parents have started attending. They know they need to repent, and two of Jeff’s uncles are also attending. We met his wife and children; the wife informed me that all of them will start attending now. We have been using the compassion cards and have had good results with them.”

9^th and Main church of Christ, San Angelo, Texas: Bryan Braswell (elder) reports, “We are busy. Three new families have placed membership. We have had three baptisms, which leads to the domestic work of maintaining these families. We are teaching folks how to study the Bible. At least eight different Bible studies are ongoing. We have made many visits and had many lunches as well as meals at home. I cannot keep track!”

Natalia church of Christ, Texas: Jim Word (elder) reports, “Study one went well with Daylon last week; we will have the second study on Wednesday. Study 2 with Terri went very well last week, and we will have study 3 sometime this week. Once she has her work schedule today, we will go from there. To God be the glory!”

Graceton church of Christ, Texas: Johnny Willeford (elder) reports, “Our groups A & B met the last two Sunday evenings to sign compassion cards for five new contacts. We enjoyed visits from four families for Sunday morning worship services. Plans continue for our church family retreat at Daingerfield State Park on Saturday, December 7. We are praying for good weather. We hope our visiting families for the last few months will join us for that event. We are saddened to announce that Scott and Sarah Dykowski, our preacher and his family, will leave us in January. We wish them a very heartfelt blessing. They will be moving back to Sarah’s home congregation, where she grew up in Colorado City, Texas. Scott will fill the pulpit for that congregation. We ask for your prayers as we search for a new pulpit minister.”

Buda-Kyle church of Christ, Texas: Ronnie Scherffius (preacher) reports, “Though our number of contacts is low, our focus to prospecting every contact is sharp. Through our visitors and greeters, we are maintaining a steady flow of contacts for cards and visits. We appreciate all prayers for our efforts.”

Granbury Street church of Christ, Cleburne, Texas: Ryan Cowan (deacon) reports, “We are excited to announce that Melanie Pepper put her Lord on in baptism this past Thursday. Melanie began visiting Granbury Street about a month ago. She was a soul seeking the truth. When she compared what she heard preached from Granbury Street to what she had heard with other groups, she decided to study with one of our members, Deborah Lehtinen. We are excited to plug Melanie into Will Cammack’s Sunday AM Foundations class.”

Wheeler church of Christ, Texas: Garrett English (preacher) reports, “I am helping to train the wife of one of our elders to follow-up with some of the ladies who have received cards from us. The goal is to make at least one visit this week. I met and studied with the new converts last night after worship and encouraged them to be in class and worship. We have our second annual church-sponsored community Thanksgiving meal this week. Last year, this produced a few contacts for us, and we are hopeful for the same this year.”

Fruitvale church of Christ, Texas: Carl McCann (preacher) reports, “This past week, 26 members met together to sew 54 bibs for one of the local nursing homes. We plan to deliver the bibs this Thursday; we will also ask residents and staff if they have prayer requests. We had several new contacts from the members who have asked for people to be put on the compassion card ministry. We were able to set up two Bible studies doing follow-up work. Raoul and Misty were able to do Book 1 with Chris and Alice, whom we met during student lectures. Because they will be going out of town, they planned Study 2 for December. Raoul and Misty also studied Book 1 with Arlene MacArthur, who will start Book 2 this week. We donated a lot of food that we will take to our contacts who live in government housing this coming week. We continue to work on the model, send compassion cards, and do follow-up work.”

Northern Oaks church of Christ, San Antonio, Texas: Mel Hutzler (elder) reports, “Amy Morales was baptized Thursday night. We are thankful for her decision to obey Christ. We also appreciate Anthony Castillo for studying the Bible with her. Amy is the girlfriend of one of our members, Ethan, who invited her to church. Ethan was baptized not too long ago and was invited by another one of our members who was classmates with him. It is wonderful to see our college age group growing. We hope to have more baptisms shortly.”

West Side church of Christ, Salem, Virginia: Jeff Durham (elder) reports, “We had our first training class for follow-up visits with those receiving compassion cards. We discussed the importance of making these visits, with the goal of beginning a Bible study. We watched the HTHSOE training videos as a refresher. We walked through the process of how to begin the conversation, then moved to the Three Key Questions. We broke up into groups of four to practice having these discussions. Each group then shared takeaways that could help us maximize our experience during the visit. We will have additional training opportunities for those unable to attend and discussions before each Connection Team’s visit assignments.”

Culpeper church of Christ, Virginia (remote): Mike Morgan (preacher) reports, “We are slow and steady here at the Culpeper church of Christ. We continue to make our way through the seven videos to give our congregation an overview of what the program will provide and a chance to discuss it. This past week, we had seven visitors, including one prospect with whom we have ministered with food, cards, and support. Invites were extended to one family and five individuals. Multiple texts and cards throughout the week show our love and concern for members and visitors.”

Williamsburg church of Christ, Virginia: Jim Bishop (elder) reports, “This week was our monthly door-knocking event. We knocked on 75 doors and gained nine more contacts. We can add these contacts to our prospect list and follow up with compassion cards, visits, and additional invites. We also had a follow-up visit, allowing us to provide a ride for a mother and her daughter to Bible study on Wednesday night. On Saturday, November 16, 2024, the Williamsburg church of Christ hosted an area-wide singing. We had 58 in attendance, and many congregations were represented. The most recent new convert brought her mother to the singing, and she also attended worship on Sunday. This is a great start for the new convert. She has a zeal for sharing the blessing of receiving the Gospel. Robert Beasley, an elder here at Williamsburg, teaches the new converts class. He is assisted by his wife, Eula. Robert reported that the class was eager to hear God’s Word, and all participated. Their desire to learn more was a catalyst that enriched their understanding of His Word. We are truly blessed to have so many willing to reach out and share God’s Word.”

Peninsula church of Christ, Hampton, Virginia: Ben Phillips (preacher) reports, “This past Sunday, our follow-up team again met to make reports on visits, discuss ways to handle different encounters one might have at the door, and to distribute new names for follow-up. Our follow-up group meets on Sunday afternoons due to the number of members we have who drive distances to be with us. It works better for us to take advantage of everyone already being there instead of asking folks to come back again. One of the issues we discussed is how to respond when the person you are trying to reach is not the one who answers the door. We talked about how important it is to try to find out when that person might be around for follow-up, but also to see that moment as an opportunity to make another contact. We are following up with some good contacts and some prospects that we are visiting for a second time in the hope of getting a study. One thing we are doing with our follow-up team is starting a Q & A document that will be stored in Lightpost (our congregational communication tool produced by a faithful brother for churches of Christ, www.lightpost.app). Our intent is to have links to help/tips videos produced by HTHSOE, short summaries and reminders from the HTHSOE training that can be reviewed at a glance, and advice on handling the different situations we are encountering at the door doing follow-up. This is a “living” document that will be modified as we continue to do the work. We also communicate as a team in a Lightpost group and are building our visitor tracking in Lightpost to track where our prospects are in the process of compassion cards, follow-ups, studies, and the like. One of our recent converts, JL, who struggles with getting to services due to a changed living situation (he actually suddenly moved the day he was baptized), was at services this past Sunday. It was really a blessing to see him. We are trying to connect him with some members who live close to him so he can have more reliable transportation. This may mean he will attend a different congregation, but his growth is the priority over his remaining part of the Peninsula. Another recent convert, Alicia, continues to be present and engaged. We ask for prayers for her because her work schedule hinders her church attendance. We continue to pray for God’s increase as we tweak and implement new aspects of the plan as needed, and we seek the help of the entire membership. We appreciate all prayers for the work here and the souls we will reach out to in the coming days.”

Eight Mile Rock church of Christ, Grand Bahama: Tavaro Hanna (preacher) reports, “We have been traveling for two months, but we are back in the swing of things now. I have several new prospects; we ask for prayers for them. In addition, we have great news: the angels are rejoicing because Ms. Levette Edgcombe has been studying with my wife for several weeks and decided to be baptized. We appreciate all prayers for our new sister in Christ.”