Tuesday, March 17, 2020

Dear Grace family, 

I am writing this letter to inform you that we as a church will abide by the recent advice from our president and refrain from gathering in places with more than ten people for the next two weeks. These are unprecedented times and measures that we have not yet seen in my lifetime. But I am not worried at all about how our church will handle this circumstance.  We have in place shepherding groups, deacon ministries and staff that are available to help like always. 

This Sunday we will be offering a livestream service through our facebook page, and the recorded message will be available on the Connect tab of our website as usual. Nick will bring the message this Sunday as I and my family will travel to Indiana to close on our home and finish our move to Maryland. 

A few items to note this week:

• Please continue praying for our church and trusting God's guidance as we move forward and continue sharing the message of Christ with others.
• The GREEN TEAM continues to work outside.  You are invited on Wednesday mornings at 9 am if you want to come help  out on the church grounds.
• All church staff are working from home and can be reached at any time.  The church phone will ring Christy, and Nick and Pastor Jerry can be reached on their cell phones during this time. 
  
• The building will be closed and used only as needed for special meetings or needed appointments.
• The FOOD MINISTRY could use a few more helping hands to prepare the bags of food.  Please come to the church at 8 am SATURDAY if you would like to assist the team. The team will then pass bags out while recipients remain in their cars. 
  
• Each Friday in your regular weekly email, all the weekly update information will come from the church through Pastor Jerry (or in Nick’s Youth Update) as the elders approve ongoing actions.   Please do not communicate to ministries on your own, but work all information through the office so we can have concise and consistent information to all that has been approved by the leadership.

Congratulations Grace Church, now is the time to prove just how present God is even when only two or three are gathered in His name. 

Thank you for allowing me to serve you.  God Bless.

Dr. Jerry Straight

Senior Pastor

Grace EP Church