COVID-19 Archives - Baptist & Reflector

PANDEMIC BRINGS POSSIBILITIES

September 15, 2020

By Paul Fries
DOM, Salem Baptist Association, Liberty

In Enterprise, Ala,, at the corner of College and Main Streets, stands a 13-foot tall monument to the Boll Weevil. This monument was placed their on Dec. 11, 1919 with the following inscription:

“In profound appreciation of the Boll Weevil and what it has done as the herald of prosperity, this monument was erected by the citizens of Enterprise, Coffee County, Alabama.”

The back story to this monument is the arrival of the boll weevil from Mexico in 1915. In just a few short years farmers were losing their entire crop of cotton to the boll weevil. An area businessman saw this as an opportunity and convinced a local farmer to convert his farm to peanut farming. The first year this paid off the farmers debts and ultimately led to great prosperity to the Enterprise area farmers. Today, if you travel to the Enterprise area you will see large fields of both cotton and peanuts. It took a disaster to cause the farmers to change and to diversify. [Read more…]

MEMPHIS CHURCH THRIVES DURING COVID-19

September 14, 2020

Online attendance, giving have surged; on-campus gatherings to resume in 2021

By Diana Chandler
Baptist Press

Pastor Michael Ellis of Impact Baptist Church in Memphis and his congregation hosted the 2020 Best in Blue program in appreciation of local law enforcement officers just weeks before the worldwide pandemic struck in March. — Submitted photo/BP

MEMPHIS — Impact Baptist Church & Ministries of Memphis has so thrived during the COVID-19 pandemic that pastor Michael Ellis Sr. sees no reason to resume onsite worship before 2021.

“I get this call from pastors all the time asking me what we’re going to do, and I say, ‘Hey look, our attendance is up and our offering is up. You tell me what you think we’re going to do,’ ” he said. “My word to everybody is we’re going back when it’s safe for our people, and it’s not safe for them now.

“I don’t think we’re going to go back before the new year. I really don’t. I think we’re going to continue to worship online,” he said.

Impact Baptist, which drew about 200 people to Sunday worship before the pandemic, has received as many as 2,300 or more Facebook views of individual worship services and an additional $600 a month in offerings, has launched three new outreaches and has continued established ministries, Ellis told Baptist Press. [Read more…]

PANDEMIC PROMPTS CHURCHES TO CONSIDER PERMANENT CHANGES

September 8, 2020

By Tess Schoonhoven
Baptist Press

Long Hollow Baptist Church in Hendersonville, Tenn., has begun meeting in person again, but the church’s online presence remains strong. —Submitted photo

HENDERSONVILLE — Every church has adjusted some aspects of ministry since the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic. But even as the effects of COVID-19 continue to press into the modern landscape of the evangelical church, some congregations are already turning from the question of how to shift from the current moment toward changes for the long-term future.

Robby Gallaty, pastor of Long Hollow Baptist Church, Hendersonville, said he views the impact of COVID-19 on ministry not as an interruption, but instead as a disruption to the way things have typically been done in the local church.

Long Hollow staff see changes that track with larger changes in culture and life as necessary for faithful stewardship of the ministry God has given them. The most immediate, tangible change, according to Gallaty — and this is something he doesn’t anticipate turning around anytime soon — is attendance at church gatherings. [Read more…]

CALIFORNIA DISASTER RELIEF STYMIED DURING FIRES AS COVID-19 IMPACTS RESPONSE PROTOCOL

August 24, 2020

By Diana Chandler
Baptist Press

Screen capture from CBS news.

SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, Calif. — As monster fires displace tens of thousands of Californians, Southern Baptist disaster relief volunteers are stymied by changes in response protocols necessitated by COVID-19.

Before the pandemic, volunteers in relief efforts were able to provide food and chaplains’ assistance to displaced residents housed at American Red Cross shelters.

“With COVID rules the Red Cross is not putting people up in congregate shelters,” said Mike Bivins, disaster relief director with the California Southern Baptist Convention (CSBC). “Feeding and chaplaincy work was done in the shelters, and they are not setting up any overnight congregate shelters.”

Instead, those forced to flee the flames are being given vouchers for hotel housing in multiple locations. [Read more…]

MEMPHIS CHURCH THRIVES DURING COVID-19, EYES 2021 FOR ONSITE WORSHIP

August 13, 2020

By Diana Chandler
Baptist Press

MEMPHIS — Impact Baptist Church & Ministries of Memphis has so thrived during the COVID-19 pandemic that Pastor Michael Ellis Sr. sees no reason to resume onsite worship before 2021.

“I get this call from pastors all the time asking me what we’re going to do, and I say, ‘Hey look, our attendance is up and our offering is up. You tell me what you think we’re going to do,’” he said. “My word to everybody is we’re going back when it’s safe for our people, and it’s not safe for them now.

“I don’t think we’re going to go back before the new year. I really don’t. I think we’re going to continue to worship online.” [Read more…]

TIDINGS OF COMFORT AND JOY

August 12, 2020

Nashville FBC spreads happiness with ‘COVID Caroling’ ministry

By David Dawson
ddawson@tnbaptist.org

Nashville First Baptist Church choir members (from left) Gwenn Fitzpatrick, Zach Williams, Joe A. Fitzpatrick, Bill Chaney, Louis Boyte, and Marilu White sing hymns and worship songs as part of the music ministry’s ‘COVID caroling’ initiative.

NASHVILLE — Nashville First Baptist Church is getting an early jump on caroling season.

Minus the hot chocolate and mittens, of course.

Hoping to spread some cheer — and create some socially distanced fellowship — during the pandemic, FBC recently started a ministry called “COVID caroling.” The initiative is exactly what the name implies: A group of FBC church members visiting various houses and other places to sing worship hymns and praise songs from the driveway or in proximity to the doorstep.

Fittingly, there is even some Christmas music on the “set list,” with Joy to the World being the closing song at many of the stops. [Read more…]

WMU ANNOUNCES VOLUNTARY RETIREMENT PLAN AMID COVID FINANCIAL CRISIS

August 10, 2020

By Julie Walters
National WMU news office

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — In response to a decline in sales due to COVID-19, national Woman’s Missionary Union announced Aug. 5 it is offering a voluntary retirement plan to staff.

“We have worked incredibly hard over the past several years to ‘right size’ our organization based on revenue projections,” said Sandy Wisdom-Martin, executive director of national WMU. “With two difficult back-to-back downsizings and budget cuts, our goal has been to simplify and put limited resources where they can make the most impact for the Kingdom.”

Over the past four years, WMU has cut 34 percent from its budget, which will be $5.2 million beginning in October for 2020-21. Sales of curriculum for missions groups is WMU’s main source of revenue. However, with so much uncertainty related to the pandemic, many churches are not ordering these resources. [Read more…]

SMALL GROUP OPTIONS

July 30, 2020

By Bruce Chesser
President of the Tennessee Baptist Convention
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Hendersonville.

One of the more difficult challenges that we are all facing these days is in the issue of figuring out how to re-gather in our small groups and maintain social distancing. A classroom that normally holds 50 people would only accommodate about 10 people with true social distancing. The largest classrooms that might hold 100 or more would be limited to 25 or so. The question is: how can you offer enough space for the needs of social distancing?

Here is the approach we are taking at First Baptist Church, Hendersonville. We are offering four options to each of our Adult Connect Groups (Sunday School classes). No option is considered better than the other. No option is preferred over another. Each group should do what works best for them. [Read more…]

COVID OUTBREAK OF MORE THAN 40 CASES TIED TO REVIVAL AT RURAL ALABAMA CHURCH

July 29, 2020

By Grace Thornton
Baptist Press

STRAWBERRY, Ala. — James Carson has watched the church he loves go through a lot in the past two years. When its building went up in flames in August 2018, he saw the smoke from his house across the cow pasture. It was a long process, but they rebuilt.

And now he’s watching from home again as his beloved church family at Warrior Creek Baptist Church in Strawberry goes through another crisis — a COVID-19 outbreak.

More than 40 members, including Pastor Darryl Ross, contracted the virus after the church’s annual revival during the week of July 19.

“Right now they say this area is a hotspot,” said Carson, a World War II vet featured in May by The Alabama Baptist. “That was sort of a shocker to us.” [Read more…]

PANDEMIC HAS FORCED MISSIONARIES, CHURCHES TO ADAPT

July 23, 2020

By Lonnie Wilkey
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org

FRANKLIN — “Flexible” has always been the watchword for mission volunteers no matter whether they were preparing for an international trip, a trip to another state or a mission project just down the road.

In a world turned upside down by the COVID-19 virus, the ability to be flexible and to adopt new approaches is more important than ever before, according to a group of mission leaders on a webinar — Missions in COVID Days — held July 7 and sponsored by the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.

The webinar was intended to help Tennessee Baptist churches find creative ways to be involved in missions while dealing with challenges caused by the pandemic, said Bill Choate, collegiate ministries director for the TBMB and host of the webinar. [Read more…]

Online attendance, giving have surged; on-campus gatherings to resume in 2021

Nashville FBC spreads happiness with ‘COVID Caroling’ ministry

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