From Pastor Cliff Mayton

One thing is certain, none of us have ever experienced what we are seeing happen now. It seems we have entered the Twilight Zone. Who would have dreamed even two weeks ago that the entire world would be brought to its knees by the Coronavirus? Certainly, we are all concerned about the spread of the virus, but at the same time we must not panic. I have said repeatedly, “Pray, don’t panic.” Although we do not know when this crisis will pass, we are confident it will pass in God’s timing. So, let’s trust Him with it!

Suddenly people who used to say they didn’t have time, now have plenty of time. Our staff members are doing all they can to help our congregation stay connected. Carlee Qualls and Laura Huff spent most of the afternoon Saturday, delivering drop boxes to homes of their children. These drop boxes provide parents with tools to entertain their children during these days of school closings.

I was pleased to see several come Saturday to the Zoom App training taught by Pastor Josh. We realize not all our teachers will be able to teach remotely. We want to develop a way for all of you to connect remotely to one of our Sunday School teachers at 9:30 A.M. each Sunday. The person we always turn to when it comes to technology is Pastor Josh. Josh has agreed to explain how you can access any of our online classes this Sunday by simply using your cell phone or computer, depending on how your teacher sets it up. Since most of our Senior Adults have a cell phone this will provide anyone interested to connect to a class.

We had a tremendous response to the broadcast of our worship service Sunday. I want to give a word of special thanks to Kevin Horn, his daughter Erin, and Josh

Mathias for doing a remarkable job of producing the service. The broadcast is available on our website and Facebook page. We understand other services had problems. But, both on the website and Facebook, ours never paused; it was flawless. We are also grateful to David Mallory for professionally mixing the audio and he did it remotely. I must confess, I did not know that could be done. Pastor Doug, Connie Mallory and Georgianna did a good job with the music. Preaching to an empty worship center is challenging, but I truly felt the anointing of the Holy Spirit as I preached. Now I want you to know we reached more people this week than ever. We had 120 views on our website, but an estimated 650 through Facebook. I believe this number will go up next week, and let me urge all of you on Facebook to share it. That will cause the views to snowball!

Even twenty years ago, we could not do what we are doing now. We should all be grateful for this technological age because we need to be in touch with each other. Let’s face it, when you are feeling isolated every day it influences all of us. Let me encourage you to take this opportunity to call people you are concerned about. This will let them know you care and assure them of your love and prayers. We, at the office, are available to you. If any of you need food or medicine, we will do our best to get what you need and deliver to your front door. I must remind you the expenses at the church continue so please be faithful in your giving. The past two Sundays have been trying, so we are hoping to see funds come in this week through the mail and Easy Tithe.