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 54th 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 30th, 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.