From Pastor Cliff Mayton

Sunday morning’s service was truly a wonderful spirit-filled service. As we sang the first two songs, Because He Lives and In the Name of the Lord, I was overcome with emotion as I saw how many people were in the service and the joy on their faces as they sang. I could not conceal my emotions as I told the people it was time to pray, not to panic, to which many people said, “Amen.” Then I asked for as many people as could to come forward. It was encouraging to see so many people come to the altar area for prayer. Six of our staff members led in prayer for specific needs we are facing. It was a sweet time of prayer and I thought I would close the prayer asking the Lord to use this crisis to bring about revival in our church, the State, and our nation, but spontaneously God led Gerald Harris to close the prayer. He prayed from his heart and my heart was blessed by his words as he prayed.

We had a wonderful season of singing songs about hope, faith and praise to God, then Pastor Doug sang, Word of God Speak. I preached from Psalm 91 on the subject of God’s Protection. It was a very simple message that I know came from the Lord, and I just let God’s Word speak and I sensed it spoke powerfully. Everyone was encouraged by the promises of God’s Word. We were assured that He is going to be with us through the coronavirus crisis, and we know He has it under control. I believe the people were thankful we had this service and I very much appreciated everyone for being so understanding and supportive of what we did.

I want to assure you we are very aware of the current health situation in our nation, as well as around the world. Although no one in our MBC family has been diagnosed with the coronavirus, we are taking precautions and measures to ensure that MBC is a clean, healthy and safe environment for everyone. Our plan is to continue this Sunday, March 22, with the same format as last Sunday. There will be no activities during the week, day or night, other than Drive Thru Prayer. We are hoping and

praying by Sunday, March 29, to be able to resume all of our normal activities.

We need to understand none of us have ever experienced what we are seeing today with this crisis. I think a huge contributing factor to the level of panic today, compared to the H1N1 Pandemic in 2009, is the increased speed of information we have today. When you consider all the social media platforms, plus being constantly barraged from the cable news networks, you can see why people are overwhelmed. As I said Sunday, we are called by Christ to walk by faith, not by fear. That is true, but at the same time we need to use plain old common sense. The medical professionals say the most important thing for us to do is thoroughly and frequently wash our hands like a surgeon.

As we have more information coming in, we will make announcements on our website, our MBC Facebook page, and I will send out a weekly Email Blast, most likely on Thursdays. We will give you as much information as early as possible, but please understand we are operating in unchartered waters. Let’s be honest and make clear the coronavirus pandemic is going to have a profound financial impact on our country and our church. I would be derelict in my duty if I did not bring this to your attention. We know all of our expenses at home will go on as always, and the same is true at the church. While we know some in our church must stay home due to serious underlying health concerns, at the same time we need for everyone’s tithes and offerings to come as usual. Please pray about this and if you are not able to come, consider mailing in your check, sending an electronic check through your bank, or use the convenience of Easy Tithe. We are putting instructions for setting up Easy Tithe on page 3 of this newsletter. I hope to see you Sunday morning, at 10:45am*