Hi Folks,

I wanted to write to you and share some information with you.

For ease of reading, I am going to use bullet points to let you know what we are doing to both be part of the public health situation in our country while caring for your spiritual health. Here is what I want you to know today:

• For the next several weeks, ALL CHURCH activities of every kind are suspended. We will continue to offer Online Worship and our Food Pantry will continue to operate (via a modified process of dispersing food). We will keep you updated based on recommendations from the CDC and the government.
• During this time, our Church Administrators office hours will be abbreviated. Emails and voicemails will be checked daily though. Please contact us either way...we are still available for your needs!
• The hours of the remainder of the Staff will vary, they will be working mostly from home. IF you need to have an in-person conversation with a Staff member or myself, please contact us and make an appointment.
• For our Children and Youth, Sam and Becca are creating a brand new website that will contain helpful information and resources for Parents and for your kids. Look for this to be released in the very near future.
• As your Pastor, I will be sending out devotional messages throughout the week (these will be sent Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) Look for this to be sent to your INBOX by 8 a.m. most days.
• We will worship ONLINE each week for what appears to be 8 weeks. The CDC has recommended that we limit gatherings of 10 or more for 8 weeks. As responsible citizens trying to join in the solution, we will comply. Our compliance also helps to protect us from liability.
• During this ONLINE time, we ask that you help us to comply by joining in worship in your homes and by inviting those who lack internet access to join you. We ask that you do this at your own discretion subject to developing CDC guidelines.
• Sermons can be viewed on Facebook Live and on our YOUTUBE Channel (Morris Chapel UMC with the “brown cross”). Please see above for links.
• Feel free to invite friends, family, and neighbors to join in our service. Last Sunday we had over 1100 views of our worship service. This is an opportunity for you to help someone else by inviting them to worship!
• If you will, take some pictures of you and your family while worshipping at home and sent them to Amy morrischapel@gmail.com – we can use these to share with each other.
• We also are working on the likely prospect of producing DVDs that can be taken to folks who have no internet access. Stay tuned.
• Some of you inquired about the presence of some in worship this past Sunday. The only ones present in worship were a) Participating Staff, b) our Tech team, and c) our Praise team. We are limiting our in person contact, but these folks are invaluable to making online worship happen. Thank you all for helping us during this time by worshipping in your homes.
• We are grateful that we have Kevin and Tonya Vanchure who are working hard as our Custodial team. They continue to clean our facility so that it will be in the best possible shape.
• Your continued tithes and offerings are still very much needed and appreciated. Please continue to support the church. Tithes and donations may be mailed in, dropped by the church office or done online via our EasyTithe giving platform on our website or via online banking with your bank.

We find ourselves in an interesting season. While it may be new for many of us, a number of you have been through difficult times in our nation and world. Times of War, the Depression of 1929 and even September 11, 2001 tax our nation. These times uncover the best and worst of who we are as human beings. We want to show our best and intend to do so!

On behalf of our entire staff, we want you to feel confident in us and your church. WE WILL LEAD OUR CHURCH in a clear and decisive way during these days and we will do everything we can to help you to stay strong in your faith and witness in our community.

In Christ’s Service,

Pastor Jeff