Pondering: Storms come fast               

Last week I mowed my lawn, weedeated, picked up all the branches and had it looking good.  I stood for a few minutes and admired my handy work.  It was the best the lawn had looked this season. After absorbing the beauty of God’s creation and my grooming of it, I proceeded into the house to shower and cool off.  When I went downstairs to shower the weather looked great, with a few clouds here and there but no sign of things to come.  After the shower I ambled my way up the stairs for a glass of water and to relax.  I got my water and sat down in the recliner.  All of a sudden I heard a loud roaring noise.  I spun my head to the window and the trees were swaying back and forth like a ship on the high seas.  Thunder and lightning were booming right on cue with the trees.  The rain started plummeting from the sky with a vengeance, followed quickly by hail. Small limbs started falling from the trees and covering my newly manicured yard.  As I looked at the mess, I began to ponder how quickly things can change.  God never promised things would always be wonderful for Christians.  He did in fact say that trials and hardships were to follow.  In (Acts 14:22,  strengthening the disciples by encouraging them to continue in the faith and by telling them, “It is necessary to pass through many troubles on our way into the kingdom of God.”).  Many times in life we are going to be hit with a storm.  Everything seems nice and beautiful then BAM, it hits out of nowhere. When these times happen it is easy to get down and discouraged with our circumstances, but we need to remember who is in control and that in (James 1:2 Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials,).  Paul over and over in his epistles says that we must die to self and live for Christ.  When Jesus was on this earth He did not live a glamorous life.  It was filled with trials and temptations just as is ours as believers.  If things in your life are going grand and good be on the lookout for the evil one for in (1st Peter 5:8, Be serious! Be alert! Your adversary the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.).  Your yard may be manicured and looking good but be on guard because the devil would love to see your world turned upside down and you lose sight of the beauty that lies beyond.  James said count it all joy because of the inheritance that is ready for you when you draw your last breath.  Let me encourage you today to be on guard for the storm and be ready to meet it knowing God is with you.  (Joshua 1:9 Haven’t I commanded you: be strong and courageous?  Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”)

June 3, 2020

Dear Church Family,

At the time of the last letter to the church, church leadership intended to resume “normal” church services around the first Sunday in June.  Since then, after much prayer and long discussions, we are making plans to meet again for Sunday Morning Worship on June 14^th.  Delaying this first meeting by a week will allow final preparations to be made for a safe worship experience.  We also wanted let you know some of the measures we are planning to implement for that first Sunday back. 

As we transition back to normal, we will continue to have Sunday School and Wednesday Evening Bible Study classes online.  We will also delay resuming Sunday Evening services in order to assess how well we are able to implement safety precautions during the morning service.  Our Sunday Morning Worship service will be at the normal time of 11:00 A.M.  This service will continue to be streamed live on FaceBook and posted on our website if you would prefer to continue to watch from your home. 

We ask that everyone be respectful of the safety of our brothers and sisters and please, please, stay home if you, or someone in your household, are not feeling well, have a fever, cough, or are experiencing any of the symptoms associated with COVID-19.  We want everyone that wants to join us for church to rest assured that precautions are being made to sanitize the building, but also want those that are still uneasy about being around a crowd, to know that it is OK for you to stay home.  No one will be shamed for deciding to stay home or wear a mask to church.  In fact, we are asking our greeters and ushers to wear masks during the times before and after the service.

As stated above, we will meet for worship at 11:00 Sunday morning, June 14^th.  Since Sunday School will not be physically held at the church building, and in an effort to minimize the exposure of social interactions, the doors will be opened at 10:40 and those attending will immediately be ushered to their seats.  We ask that any long overdue fellowship and mingling be done outside, before or after the service, as we will try to respect the social distancing guidelines inside the building.  It is also important to note that at this time we are not prepared to have a nursery, children’s church, or have a children’s message.  We would like for families to sit together, as seating will be restricted in order to maintain a safe distance in the sanctuary. 

Please understand that this will be a little awkward and clunky as we all learn to interact and function in this time.  We ask for your patience.  All of these efforts are purely to protect everyone in attendance, and in no way are intended to stifle the Spirit of worship.  Please continue to pray for your Pastor, that he will be healthy and strengthened to deliver God’s Word in person on June 14^th.  Pray for those who are preparing the church building for the church to worship together again.  Also, pray for one another, that each of us will be patient and understanding to the changes being made, while we focus on the One who is over all, and in control of even this situation.  All glory to God, during this and all times. 

We love you and are praying for you.  Your deacons and Pastor,

Dear Church Family,

You may have already heard that the deacons and pastor met on April 29^th and decided to postpone returning to a normal church service until at least the first Sunday in June.  The intent of this letter is to explain the reasoning behind this decision, and to make sure you understand how much we love and miss each of you, as we have been apart for so long now.

While decisions like this would normally be handled by the entire body through a church business meeting, as you know it is unwise, and as of today, unlawful for us to meet together to conduct such a meeting.  Furthermore, our constitution does not allow for an official meeting without a quorum of 15 members present for the meeting.  With this in mind, the deacons, along with the pastor, took it upon ourselves to prayerfully meet (while keeping a safe distance) to make this decision on behalf of the church. 

We want you to know that we all truly want to get back together to worship again as a unified body.  However, we love each of you enough, that the thought of making ANYBODY sick, or putting ANY ONE PERSON in jeopardy, was enough to conclude that it would be better to postpone resuming normal services through the month of May.  Of course, there are risks associated with waiting to meet again.  We understand that some may choose to find another place to worship.  Some may simply miss out on much needed spiritual nourishment because they have “gotten out of the habit” of attending church.  Others still may not be compelled to make their tithe unless they are at the church building, and we may struggle financially.  While these are real concerns, they were greatly outweighed by the risk of having one of our members contract this terrible illness because they attended one of our worship services.  As the state opens back up and people begin to get back out into the community, we will be keeping a close eye on the impact around us.  If necessary, we will again evaluate to see if it is safe to return to services in June. 

There are other factors that helped to ease our minds about this decision.  For the past several weeks of posting services on Facebook Live, Bro. Brock’s sermons are routinely being viewed well over 700 times.  This is amazing, and reminds us that God continues to work even when we feel like things are “messed up”.  We would expect giving to be down, but people are now using online giving and continue to mail in their tithes and offerings.  While we likely would have had larger giving during the month of April if we were meeting normally, there is no reason to believe we will struggle to pay our bills during this time.  Finally, the deacons are trying to reach out to as many of our active church members as possible.  If you have a need, please, please get in touch with one of us so that we can pray with you and help in other ways, if possible.

To conclude this letter, we pray that you feel a nearness to God in this time and a peace that surpasses all understanding.  Like you, we are very anxious to return to a time of fellowship and corporate worship.  We feel confident that God is preparing us during this time for an amazing time of revival, and the lost world around us to receive the Good News of Jesus.  I would encourage you to look for opportunities, maybe in new ways, to share His love with someone today.  There is too much technology around us to use social distancing as an excuse to not share Jesus during this time. 

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