Monthly Archives: June 2015

I was brought up in a Baptist home in southeast Missouri. Went to church every Sunday and Wednesday. I started going to church camp when I was eight. My second year at church camp I said the sinners prayer. I truly believed I was saved. When I was 12 my sister decided she wanted to […]

Dear Mike, Tonight, October 23rd, 2013, Gabrielle Miller was baptized into Christ! She had been thinking about it for a while, but a couple of days ago her mother-in-law Donna (a faithful member of our church) shared Muscle and a Shovel with her. She was moved by your story and came after church tonight and […]

Mike, I just finished your book tonight. Tomorrow I will be in your class at Harding. I was baptized by poring of water on my head when I was 19 years old by a Catholic priest. I am now 69 years old will be 70 next month. For 40 years I was in the world, […]

Michael, Three members of Kensington Woods church of Christ, Roger, Lori, and my wife Kim own a local restaurant in Hattiesburg. Andrew is one of the cooks and Brooke is a waitress. Roger bought several copies of Muscle and a Shovel and gave one to Andrew with some words about of all the things that […]

If you’ll remember back a few issues ago a young lady named Ariel Lafleur was baptized into Christ after being taught the gospel by her boyfriend, Jacob Rutledge. You’ll need the back-story to really appreciate what happened. Jacob found Muscle and a Shovel in a local library, picked it up, read the back cover, checked […]

My name is Brittany Holloway. I am 24 years old and have been married to my amazing husband, Josh, for 3 1/2 years. Together, we have a wonderful, one of a kind, 20 month old son named Jackson. My husband was raised in the church, however, I was not. I was raised and ‘baptized’ in […]

Dear Mr. Shank, First and foremost I would like to thank you for sharing your story. It is incredibly inspiring and it’s because of your honesty and courage that I can call myself a Christian today. You see, my entire life I’ve known two things. The first being that Jesus loves me: always has and […]