In October 2007, as the elders met for three consecutive mornings at the elders' retreat, one of the topics of discussion was a report one elder had read regarding the Lord¡'s church in Illinois. It stated that the general trend in Illinois was that churches were growing smaller and dying out. As we discussed that with the Collinsville congregation in mind, we thought of the good works that have been and continue to be accomplished through and by this congregation. Those good works need to continue and need to be funded. Works like that of the Kees in Cameroon, and other good works, need faithful congregations to fund them and work side by side with them. Our concern at that time was that we do all we can to see that this congregation does not meet the fate of some others. If we do our part, we know God will do His and give the increase. Therefore, we spent much time considering what we could do. The result of that discussion was to set a goal of getting the gospel into fifty thousand homes in our communities in five years. Thus, at the beginning of 2008 we began working toward distributing each year at least ten thousand packets of materials to homes in the surrounding communities.

Progress was slow those first few months.

Then a great opportunity was opened to us. Kelvin Pugh was available. Having money that had been set aside for evangelism, we stepped out in faith to support him for six months to help us develop a more evangelistic approach. Our efforts began to pick up as he gave us a greater emphasis in evangelism. Our distribution efforts increased. He began teaching classes on evangelism and encouraging us evangelistically through his monthly preaching. In addition to distributing materials, Kelvin and others began knocking on doors of homes in our community. Near the end of the year, the congregation was challenged to meet the financial goal of supporting Kelvin for the long term. The budget was cut to bare bones, including cutting the House to House mailing from six to four times a year. Your support was still needed. You came through by increasing your contribution 20% at a time many were cutting back.

Some literature was distributed. Since July 2008, nearly ten thousand five hundred packets of materials have been distributed. Each packet included a tract, a Bible Call brochure, and an introductory Bible Correspondence lesson. Our Bible Call equipment has been in use far more since that time. In addition, seven hundred fifty eight homes have been contacted through knocking on doors. We have had visitors to our assembly. Twenty-six have enrolled in Bible correspondence courses. There has been a handful of personal Bible studies. Though no conversions have yet resulted, we must not become faint. We must continue to sow and water the seed. God will give the increase.

We will continue working toward the goal of distributing materials into fifty thousand homes. We will be using higher quality materials, some of which will be printed especially for our efforts. We will need five team leaders who will be responsible for organizing small teams to distribute about two thousand packets of materials each during 2010. Two leaders are already on board. Two others are considering it. We have others in mind to contact. In addition, we will begin sending the House to House mailers to residents closer to the building. We are looking for two team leaders to organize three different distributions in 2010 to one thousand of those homes receiving the House to House mailing. Each team will be responsible for about 500 homes. In addition, those teams will be asked to knock on the doors of those homes during 2010 to encourage Bible study through various methods available, including personal Bible studies. We are, also, looking into and considering the use of the media, such as television, radio, and community papers.