I bet most of you are wondering, when can we gather together on Sunday mornings again? Well, the answer is, hopefully soon!!

As of Wednesday afternoon, our conference made a shift from keeping all facilities closed and is now “passing the responsibility to our pastoral leaders and governing boards to set your reopening date as you determine appropriate and begin making final preparations carefully and responsibly following all public health protocols as advised by our area health departments and the CDC.” We are thankful for the guidance of our SMC team during these days, it has been invaluable.

As you know from previous communication, our board has been working diligently on what that may look like. We have continued to prepare areas to be safe and spacious for folks. And the last supplies we are waiting on are due to be delivered by the end of this month. Our hope is that those will come in on time, and that we will be able to open the facility with the proper safety precautions in mind, in early to mid-July. That would take us from our current phase (2) to phase 3. Some other ministries may move to phase 3 quicker than that. NA for example has moved to phase 3 and is meeting, but without facility access, using the parking lot only at this time.

Our board is meeting Monday night to try to make sure we’ve thought through everything and can put our best foot forward at keeping people safe. We are eager to see everyone again in person, and hope to have a pretty well laid out plan for what Phase 3 looks like in the coming week!

LOOKING BACK: It has been a crazy few months, but we are so blessed to have such a faithful, committed church family. You all have continued your extravagant generosity, and here are a few hightlights of what has happened as a result:

• We helped over 50 people with items like food, toiletries, cleaning supplies, clothing, and more these last few months.
• You all donated enough stuff to fill the trailer twice, as well as several hundred dollars worth of gift cards, to help a single mom and her kids get out of a homeless shelter and furnish their new place. And the team at Schweitzer was able to cover their rent for a year. What a blessing this is to the family and It’s going to put them on a positive trajectory for generations to come.
• We have been able to do several other meaningful benevolence gifts as well because of your ongoing generosity. That includes helping another single mom who just got a place this week get on the right track.
• Our Dinner Church and Beans and Bibles have continued to reach out to their folks and are reaching many new people online through some great leadership by those teams.
• Our missionaries have continued to thrive as you’ve continued to provide for their worldwide impact to continue.
• Our online services and prayer meetings have reached 10s of thousands of people the last few months with the hope that can only be found in Jesus.
• Anchor has continued to meet online and found new ways to connect with teens.
• Great resources and fun projects from our events team have gone out to families.
• We’ve had some great opportunities to speak hope into our community leaders and people across the area. We even have an invitation to help WWCS plan and pre-pare for the fall.
• Many growth groups have continued to meet online for fellowship and prayer.
• Many people have received ongoing prayer and encouragement through constant communication from our team.
• We even got in some good fun with online trivia nights.

Even though the facility was “closed,” the work of the church continued thanks to your help and support, we thank God for such an amazing church family!

COMING UP:  We have a series planned that we believe God wants to use to inspire and encourage each of us in the days to come called “Simon Says.” It’s a study of 1 Peter that explores how Christians can find joy and thrive despite trying times. We are eager to dive into the word together. For additional resources search 1 Peter in your Right Now Media accounts. And keep an eye out for more communication about when we’ll be able to gather in person again. Can’t wait!!