Hey church, I am excited to announce that we will begin meeting again THIS Sunday! Although we could have met last week, out of an abundance of caution we chose not to.

Our decision is based, primarily, on two things. First, and foremost, we are convinced we have the Lord’s leading. But, beyond that, we also believe, based on the numbers, that now is the time.

On April 30th there were 527 positive Covid cases in Seward county, but 67 of those had recovered. That meant there were actually only 460 active positive cases. On May 4th, the number of positive cases had climbed to 599, but of those, 182 had recovered, leaving a net total of 417 positive cases. That’s 43 fewer than on April 30th. At next count, the number of positive cases in Seward county had climbed to 707, but 326 of those had fully recovered, which meant here were only 381 active positive cases. A decline of another 36 active cases. So as you can see, the trend in active cases in our county continues to be downward. 

In addition to that, the KDHE is only reporting covid numbers 3 days a week now, as opposed to every day so they can devote more of their resources to reopening our state.

So those things being considered, we will reassemble this Sunday beginning at 9:00 o’clock.

Our plan is to have two Sunday morning services. The first service will be at 9:00 and the second service will be at 11:00. In order to try and keep our attendance somewhat balanced to provide for the proper social distancing, we are asking you to attend based on the first letter of your last name. That means that A-L will attend the 9:00 AM service and M-Z will attend the 11:00 AM service. If, for some reason, you need to attend at 9:00 instead of 11:00 or the other way around, that’s fine. Please feel free to do so.

By the time you arrive, we will have done everything humanly possible to mitigate the chance of infection. The auditorium seating will be such as to provide for proper distancing, so we ask that you cooperate with our ministry staff and ushers as you enter. If you choose not to attend, we respect that and will have livestream available for a few more weeks. 

For at least this Sunday, there will be no nurseries available. Parents, please don’t let that keep you from being in church. Be creative and use what resources you have available to you in order to attend one of the morning services.  Our plan is to slowly reintroduce other ministries as we go along, so please be patient. 

Also, beginning this Sunday, we will have our evening service beginning at 6:00 PM. Not 6:30 but 6:00. Pastor Tyler will continue his series in the book of 1 Thessalonians. We will just have one service in the evening. 

We will also have our regular Wednesday night service at 7:00. 

If you have knowingly been exposed to someone who is infected or have been asked to quarantine, PLEASE be considerate of others and DO NOT attend until your quarantine time is completed. As far as masks are concerned, they are optional.  If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to myself or Pastor Tyler. 

It has been a long 6 weeks for me, and I know many of you feel the same way, so with all that being said, we’ll see you this Sunday. Love you church!

I wanted to take a few minutes to communicate a few things to you in light of our Governor’s request that we stay at home.  Though technically, we would be exempted, we felt it more prudent to forego gathering in person for the time being.  As unpleasant as that is, I trust you understand and will continue to lift up myself, Pastor Tyler, and our ministry staff in prayer.

We have spent several hours trying to figure out how to best stay connected during the next few weeks and are currently working on a few ideas.  I so appreciate Pastor Tyler and the other guys for their efforts in checking in on those of our church family who are especially vulnerable to the Covid-19 virus and taking care of the needs they have made known to us.  And should any needs arise in future, please do not hesitate to let us know.

For the time being, we will be livestreaming our Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday night services.  I think you will especially enjoy our Wednesday night format as I share the preaching time with our ministry staff.

We are going to do our best to make your at-home church experience the best it can be which will include Pastor Tyler leading us in a time of worship, and a brief presentation for your children to enjoy.

Please note the times that our services will air.  Sunday morning will air at 10:00 AM, Sunday nights will be at 6:00 PM, and Wednesday nights will be at the regular time of 7:00 PM.   As you see our services announced on Facebook, please share the link on your page.  

Church, God has given us a tremendous opportunity to impact more people at one time than ever before with the Word of God, so let’s capitalize on it. I’m reminded of Joseph’s words to his brothers at the close of Genesis when he told them that what was intended for evil, God used for good.  Let’s let God use us to us this for good.

As you can imagine, we have had to make some painful decisions as we face the weeks ahead, and one of those was the cancellation of our 54^th Annual Missions Conference.  We put it off as long as we could, but in anticipation of the Governor extending her request to fall in line with President Trump’s recommendation of April 30^th, we have contacted our missionary guests and let them know.  We are not sure as to if or when we will reschedule the conference, but I did inform each missionary that we would be adding them to our missionary family for which each of them were grateful. 

We will be doing some other things for them as well including sending them the love offering they would have received had they been with us.

For the time being, I trust you will continue giving to missions at the same level you have been since our last conference.  Should the Lord lead you to increase your giving, even though we are not having a conference, by all means, do what He leads you to do.

We have also cancelled our scheduled observance of the Lord’s Supper.

Again, these have not been easy decisions to make, but we do feel they are the right ones in light of the current circumstances.

On a brighter note, following our recent Liberal Love outreach, we have received a significant amount of financial donations from individuals and businesses in our community toward our next effort.  Because of the donations, we will be tripling the amount of pizzas to 300, and will give them away next Thursday, a week from tomorrow, beginning at 5:00 PM.  For those who may be concerned about any safety issues, what we will be doing will be no different than what a number of businesses in our community are doing with their drive through and curbside pickup options, except ours will be free!

Stay tuned to our Facebook page for further updates and be watching for some sort of communication from your Fellowship Bible Class leader as to how you can stay connected with your small group.