Last week I was letting everyone know that they should really join us for worship. I was reminding everyone that they could watch our livestream and join us if making to church was not an option. Wouldn't you know it would be the week we would have severe sound issues. God has a sense of humor. For the 8am service my microphone would not work, so we tried using the new mics we had installed hanging from the the ceiling to pick up my voice. Little did we know that only one of the 2 microphones were working so the sound was barely able to be heard. We spent a lot of time trying to figure out what went wrong and realized that I had on the wrong lavalier mic!! So we live streamed the 10:30am service so that people could listen but all the messing around we did to solve the other problem caused there to be a loud background buzz but at least you could hear what I was saying! Well we hope to have everything mostly squared away by this Sunday and we thank those that tried to join us on the Facebook page or Youtube for your patience. It was an awesome service and the technical glitches didn't cause any problem with the sound in the sanctuary. Yet, we know that everyone that is joining us to worship is important and we wish you could have heard better to be able to better enter into worship. There are about 100 moving parts that allow a livestream to go out to FaceBook and YouTube and if one isn't working right it affects everything. Of course we could use more help especially at the 10:30am service, so if anyone wants to help feel free to let me know!
This Sunday our Fellowship time returns downstairs with doughnuts and coffee. We are trying to make it easier for people to volunteer to help with Fellowship time so we are scaling the food and flavored creamer options back.
In addition the mask mandate has been lifted. While the transmission rates have come down sitting in the sanctuary for an hour with 60-80 of your closest brothers and sisters in Christ is a higher risk activity. We are moving to masks recommended and I know that means for some people you will no longer be comfortable coming since not everyone will be masked. We hope you will join us online until you feel safe to return to worship in the sanctuary.
The bulletin for this Sunday is attached for you to look at. Remember that in the bulletin we have announcements, a prayer list, church attendance, the amount of offering that has come in that support our ministries, along with the outline of the service. We attach it weekly so that those of who can't be with us can keep up with the church and more fully join in worship online. We appreciate everyone who continues to worship and be a part of our community even if they can not come to the church building. While we always prefer to see people in person, we also love those who join us from afar and we are blessed to have you as part of our worshipping community!!
We are live-streaming on our Facebook page or our YouTube channel. For those that are watching when we live-stream we do have a person that can see the comments posted if there are sound issues. While we don't want to fixate on every little sound issue we do want to know when something is way off and affects your ability to be able to enter into worship. I will warn those watch on Facebook they sometimes mute the video clips I use after the livestream. Unless you are watching worship when it is live I would recommend watching on the YouTube channel because the quality is MUCH better.
We are not passing offering plates so the wooden boxes are available to put your offering in. The 2022 offering envelopes are in church mailboxes for those that continue to use them for their offering. Of course you can also give online, use text to give (844-406-0358), or mail the offering to church. The new offering envelopes have some envelopes that have Capital Campaign printed on them and the purpose is to increase the amount of money we have to keep the building in good shape in the years to come. Most of the funds will be invested as part of the Jimmy Hill Enduring Legacy Fund so that we are prepared for the future!
We will be collecting prayers in the prayer box on the table in the parlor. Also, if you have announcement that you need to be shared please write them down and give them to me before the service. This will be an ongoing practice for prayers and announcements to help ensure that they are heard and understood by all (especially those worshipping with us virtually).
Yes, God has a sense of humor and we should also. Being in community can be hard but it is so rewarding. Sometimes you just have to laugh at the little hurdles that are encountered. Church should be a place where we are able to both cry and laugh. At Tom's Creek we like to laugh and love. I know some have not experienced that at church but we try to be real and we try to allow ourselves to experience holy joy as we come together.
Awake, O Sleeper, and Rise from the dead,
PH
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