May 11, 2020
Dear Church Family and Friends,
I’m thankful that over the last several weeks we have been able to continue gathering together online and with our Zoom Bible studies. Finally, the time has come for us to re-launch our Sunday morning worship services, which is why I am writing to you today.
The Day of Pentecost, 50 days following the resurrection of Jesus Christ, was the day the New Testament church was born into existence. The believers were all together in the upper room praying when the Holy Spirit descended upon them to indwell them. When they left that room following their baptism with the Spirit, Peter preached a powerful sermon found in Acts 2, at Jerusalem. Three thousand people received Christ that day and were baptized.
Sunday, May 31, 2020, is the celebration of Pentecost on the Christian calendar that many churches follow. Our leadership team believes it is appropriate for us to begin meeting again on that Sunday as a sort of “rebirth” of God’s church to commemorate the first church that began on the Day of Pentecost so long ago.
I want to familiarize you with some of the things necessary for this upcoming day due to the safe-distancing guidelines.
- We will offer three morning worship services each Sunday morning starting on May 31, 2020.
- The first service will be at 8 a.m. and is for those adults without children (recommended for those 65 or older).
- The second and third services will begin at 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. and are for all ages.
- There will be no child care or nurseries for any of the three services during this period of time and families will sit together upstairs in the worship services.
- Because the 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. services are family-style services we will shorten the time of our worship services to approximately 45 to 50 minutes in length. This will allow us time to get you to your cars safely and for us to sanitize the building before the next service begins.
- If the number attending any service exceeds the allowable number according to the social distancing requirements, we will direct the overflow to an area that will be specially prepared according to the same protocols as the Worship Center.
- Seating in the auditorium will be arranged to provide the required social-distancing guidelines. We will be assisting those in attendance to find seating in the auditorium so that we maintain the distancing requirements.
- We ask everyone in attendance to wear a facemask during the service for your safety and that of others, except those that are distanced from the congregation on the platform. Please bring your own mask. We hope to have some masks available, but the supply will be limited so it will be best if you have your own to use each week during this time.
- Until further notice, Life Groups will not be meeting on campus or in homes; however, some are meeting via online gatherings. For more information go to lmbc.org or contact your group leader or the church office.
- Everyone will enter through the front doors of the Worship Center on both levels and we will all exit through the Welcome Center doors after each service ends. Special arrangements can be made for someone that has physical challenges and can be prearranged through the church office.
- Offerings can be placed in the touchless offering boxes around the walls of the Worship Center or you can use online giving or mail your gifts directly to the church office.
- We will continue to offer our online services at 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. for those that do not feel safe enough to come out to the worship gatherings.
- We will also continue to offer online Sunday evening events at 6 p.m., as well as an online Wednesday night Bible study at 7 p.m.
- There will be hand sanitizing stations in the lobbies of the Worship Center for your use and we will sanitize the worship center after each service.
I know that I have given you a lot of details and it might seem overwhelming at first. We are more than happy to answer any questions you may have, so please feel free to contact the church office at 304-736-7676 between 9 a.m. and noon or 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.
All of these plans are subject to change, but we believe that we have a workable plan to see the “rebirth” of God’s church on May 31st. As we progress through the following months we will make adjustments and changes as the requirements and guidelines allow. My prayer is that by July things will look different with the Coronavirus and some of these restrictions might be adjusted. We will remain flexible and continue moving forward until we get back to a more normal worship pattern.
I want to close by saying thank you for being faithful with your tithes, offerings, and Faith Promise giving. As you can imagine, we have cut back everywhere we can to save on our expenses, but ministry continues on campus and in homes. Missionaries continue to serve around the world even during a pandemic. We provide vital assistance to people in need of food and other life necessities. We are producing more online biblical content than ever and our staff is working hard daily to stay connected with you. Many of you participated in our Easter offering totaling $22,335.00 which is being used to supplement the general giving to help us maintain our responsibilities throughout this time. What a blessing and encouragement this has been.
I look forward to seeing many of you for the first time since this all began about eight weeks ago. It will feel different for a while, but I believe God is going to do something great through all of this.
With Love For You,
David Lemming
