- Whew! Such strange days!
- Things are moving faster and slower than it feels like they ever have.
- On one hand, things are moving faster.
- Especially as a leader in our church family, things are moving quickly as we adapt to new realities and prepare for what might come next.
- On the other hand, especially in the family, things are moving way slower.
- No drives to/from school, no after-school activities, no long nights of homework — just a lot of time together at home.
- I’m sure my situation isn’t the same as everyone, but that’s how it’s shaking out around here.
- We’re enjoying the extra time with the kids and the slower pace, but there’s so much we’re missing too.
- I thought of this last night when I saw somebody share this recommendation for a daily rhythm:
- All three of these questions seem important.
- If we ignore grief, we’re probably minimizing something important — as well as getting ourselves out of touch with those who are really hurting right now.
- If we ignore awareness, we’ll be tempted to imagine that our circumstances are all-consuming.
- If we ignore blessing, we’ll forget to honor the Lord, who is able to work good even in the midst of adversity.
- Last week could be summarized as “PIVOT”
- It was a pivot to a whole new situation for communicating and leading in church.
- We made some significant pivots, pretty quickly:
- Moved to online services (here’s last Sunday)
- The first Student online service (“The Alright Show”) premieres tonight at 7:00pm
- Started a short “Daily Dose” of mini-Bible teaching from myself and some other Gateway leaders.
- Launched a new weekly prayer time that went surprisingly well. (you should join me tomorrow!)
- Helped a bunch of our RC’s and Student groups move to Zoom.
- And lots more I likely don’t know all about.
- This week feels like we’re moving to a next step of “PREPARE”
- I’m pretty convinced that this is not the crisis — it’s actually still coming.
- We’re likely weeks away from most of us knowing somebody who has COVID-19 and some of us knowing somebody who has died from it.
- Plus we’re all going to be impacted — personally or relationally — by the financial impact of things.
- All this means that the church of Jesus has the opportunity to rise up as a loving and hopeful people in the midst of this.
- That’s what we’re now preparing for.
- Our mission and vision don’t change, but the delivery systems and the ways we do ministry must change.
- I relish the opportunity and the challenge of it.
- And I have confidence that God really will work through it in our lives and in our community.
- I don’t have a crystal ball and don’t know what’s coming, but I’m trying to lead our leadership team to be ready.
- We’re especially asking ourselves how we’ll structure ministry if the expectation of gatherings with <50 people continue for longer.
- A few articles that have really been helpful in these recent days (read the first two at your own risk — if you’re already anxious or fearful, please skip these as they will mostly not help you):
- Leading Beyond the Blizzard: Why Every Organization is Now a Startup by Andy Crouch
- This is Not the Crisis, but it is Just a Few Weeks Away by Ed Stetzer
- Faith, Truth, and the Virus by Dan Doriani
- When Corona Makes Us More Like the New Testament by Andrew Wilson
- In terms of other articles, I found these two visual pieces by the New York Times to be remarkable (might need an account to view):
- So that’s kind of it in terms of my COVID-19 thoughts… kind of a lot.
- Other random things…
- Amazing how nice it is outside — and the smell of orange blossoms!
- I miss live sports — but thank God for EA Sports.
- I’m digging my cast-iron skillet — pretty awesome to make hashbrowns with sausage and goopy eggs in there.
- Funny, as soon as I try to think of other things there’s not much there.
- Oh well!
- Have a good week and trust in Jesus!
- All of life is all for Jesus.