Brethren,
Greetings.
Peace, mercy, and grace be with you all from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Things have been well; we have enjoyed a little bit of rain, the weather has overall been moderate, and gasoline has not been utterly ridiculous. Likewise, the work here in Norwalk is heading in a positive direction overall, and things are well.
Working with the Brethren
We have enjoyed spending time with the brethren on multiple occasions during the month of July; much of our association outside of the assembly has involved preparatory work and showers and such for a couple in the congregation that will wed in the beginning of August.
Lessons and Classes
Lessons this month focused on the promises and curses of God and the work of evangelism in the morning, and in the evening we have begun a series on the churches of the New Testament and what we can learn from their trials, successes, and failures. The lessons, as always, are available in outline and mp3 form at norwalkchurch.org.
The class on denominations has begun and much has been covered. There seems to be good interest in the class and much learning is taking place.
Evangelism
We are very pleased with the recent success of some of our evangelistic programs. We again knocked doors early in July and were able to knock on about 160 doors, which is the most we have ever knocked in one outing. Furthermore, we received our first response from the doorknocking activities. More about those involved will be mentioned below; nevertheless, the taste of success has encouraged the brethren.
We have made progress on the Bible Correspondence course program. We have decided to use the Jesus is the Way Bible Correspondence course series, and we have a few posters printed up to promote the correspondence course. We will begin this promotion in earnest at the county fair in the middle of August. After the fair and the gospel meeting, we will approach the members about participating in the correspondence course program by taking some posters and posting them in public information areas. They will then be responsible for proper maintenance and upkeep of the poster. We have already spoken with many of the ladies of the congregation, and ten have agreed to grade the courses and to encourage those taking the courses. We will have five graders and five encouragers: each grader is paired with an encourager, and as the course requests come in, each pair will be made responsible for the request however long such a one takes the course. We will see how this goes!
We have also spent much time in preparation for the Huron County Fair on August 13-18 and our gospel meeting on September 2-7. Material has been printed up, tracts have been refreshed, and we will be taking care of the final details early in August.
Conversion
We are pleased to announce that on 10 July 2007, Scott Gundlach put on Christ in baptism. Scott's parents have frequently visited us here in Norwalk, and they have been encouraging their son to become obedient to God, and their work, along with the work of some of our members, has brought forth some fruit. We will continue to try to encourage Scott in his walk with Christ.
Current Studies
1. Joel and Christian. In our last door knocking event, Joel and Christian received some of our information. They have children and desire to know more about Christ so as to properly teach and raise them. We met with them once and hope to establish weekly studies, beginning in the Gospel of Luke.
2. Debbie. Debbie has continued in her studies of the Gospel of Luke via e-mail.
Other studies, on the basis of employment, illness, or summer matters, have not occurred as we would like. We will continue to encourage and promote personal Bible studies.
Support
I would like to thank all of you for your participation in the work here in Norwalk, either through your prayers or through encouraging me or through financial support. I would like to solicit your continual prayers so that the work here may prosper.
May the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirits.
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