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BREAKING: First Baptist is moving to two worship services this Sunday!

Posted by Joshua Claycamp on

Dear First Baptist Church,

Well, there’s nothing quite like seeing dear friends, brothers and sisters, once again! We rejoiced to hold our first worship service back from the pandemic this past Sunday, May 24th! There were smiles on every face, laughter echoing in every room, and the worship of our God was so incredibly sweet and powerfully moving! I praise and thank our God for bringing all of us safely together to worship Him once again, and to worship His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who died to give us this hope that we stand in. We worshipped the Lord this past Sunday, and it was marvelous!

And we are going to worship Him together again this Sunday! We will have two worship services this Sunday: 8:30-10:00 AM, and 10:30-12:00. You are invited and most welcome to join us. There will, however, be a few changes for this Sunday. Allow me to elaborate…

As you enter...

We ask that you continue to wait outside on the yellow marks on the sidewalk until a deacon signals for you to enter the building. The deacons will carefully monitor the flow of traffic into the building and help everyone move through the foyer in a safe and timely manner. We have hand sanitization stations throughout the foyer, and we strongly encourage you to take advantage of those hand sanitizer stations as you enter the building.

No assigned seating

Perhaps the biggest change is that there is no longer going to be assigned seating. We want to thank our seniors and elderly for sitting separate from the rest of the congregation this past Sunday. We felt that it was important to keep our most vulnerable in a separate room for our first Sunday back, so that we could observe how people were interacting with each other. Of course, our church is so amazing that everyone was very considerate of each other. We did not see anyone crowding into anyone else’s personal space or unduly breaking social distancing etiquette. Thank you for your great consideration, kindness and love for one another!

Moving forward, the Fireside Room will be a reserved room for seniors and those who are immuno-compromised, who do not feel comfortable sitting in the main sanctuary. No one will be asked to sit in the Fireside Room. Rather, sitting in the Fireside Room will be voluntary to anyone who wishes to have a little more distance from others. No children or young families will be permitted in the Fireside Room or in the upstairs nursery and adjoining bathroom.

We will continue to reserve the Washrooms in the Nursery for the use of the seniors and elderly. We ask that the seniors continue to use that washroom, and avoid the washrooms downstairs in the Sunday school department.

There will be a radio broadcast on 89.5 FM

This was not announced last week until the very last minute, but we were able to broadcast our worship service on the radio on 89.5 FM. Our radio broadcast is able to reach as far north as Seymour Street, and it easily reaches south to the Ponderosa Lodge for our seniors, east to 5th Avenue and west to 4th Avenue.

If you would like to be able to see everyone, but do not feel comfortable entering the building, please feel free to stay in the parking lot in your car and tune in on the radio. You can see folks as they pass by to enter into the building, and I’m sure they would happily stop for a visit at your car window if you would like!

Sunday School will be available at both worship services

We encourage our families with children to consider going to either worship service. There will be Sunday school provided for the children during both the 8:30 and 10:30 worship services.

A Word of Encouragement from those that were in attendance

I’d like to share with you a few words of encouragement that I received from our seniors. I asked the seniors to give feedback on how they felt that worship service went, and if they felt safe. Here are a few of the comments that I received:

“It was wonderful! I felt loved, cared for, and I felt that every possible precaution was taken to make sure that we were safe. I never felt that we were in any danger at any time.”

“To be able to hear the worship of everyone around me was so very wonderful. It was quite dear to me. I still miss not being able to hug and shake hands, but it was a great blessing to be able to see everyone again. My spirit was uplifted by the worship service! Thank you to Pastor Josh and everyone who worked so hard to make it happen! Thank you!”

I was very angry with the government for not considering me an essential worker! Hearing God’s Word again on Sunday reminded me that God determines my worth, not the government. I really needed that Word. Praise the Lord! I loved seeing everyone again, and I’m excited to come again next Sunday.”

Consider coming to the 8:30 AM Worship Service

The 10:30 worship service was full this last Sunday, so if this is your first week to come, please consider coming to the 8:30 service instead of the 10:30. I was so glad to visit with you all this last Sunday. Once again, I cannot stop praising God for our church family. I look forward to seeing more of you this Sunday.

Until we see each other again on Sunday…

In Christ,

Pastor Josh

Tags: worship, christian, christ, restart, church reopening

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