Dear Church Family,

Much has changed over the past week regarding the recommendations for gathered crowds and the need for social distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19. In order to comply with government and health officials request, we have decided to suspend on-site gatherings until the threat passes. As the church staff met yesterday, we expressed concern for keeping our church worshipping, connected, and serving. So here are a few things we want you to know.

We will continue to have worship service every Sunday at 10:45 a.m. as an online experience only. Worship will be streamed via the church Facebook page as well as on the website at www.bloombaptist.org. I hope you and your family will continue the habit of worship even as we are unable the gather corporately. I will also be including a discussion and application guide to use as a part of family worship time. 

In is vital that we stay connected during this time. Bobby will be contacting our small group leaders with ideas for staying in contact with your group. Here are some ideas we’ve had:

• Using the discussion guide mentioned above, consider having a “speaker phone” small group with another family

• For those who are a bit more tech savvy, you can use platforms such as Google Hangouts or Skype to include more people in your group.

• Sunday school teachers might consider sending a video lesson to your class during the week. Smartphone videos will work well for this.

• Also, remember that Bloom BC offers everyone free access to RightNow Media. Invite others to join you in one of the studies by watching the video lesson individually and discussing it by phone. RightNow offers programming for adults and children (which might be good with schools being closed). If you are not currently using RightNow Media you can register for free by clicking here:  https://www.rightnowmedia.org/Account/Invite/BloomBaptistChurch or text RightNow BLOOMBC to 41411 (Be sure to include the space between "RightNow" and "BLOOMBC")

I also want to encourage you to seek opportunities to serve others. This will require some creativity, but I think it’s doable. Consider inviting friends to watch our worship service online. Take a meal to someone in the high-risk group (ring and run style – don’t go in). You might even consider buying carryout meals to help restaurants stay open. And please allow people to serve you. That’s what the church is supposed to do.

The best thing we can do is PRAY.

• Pray that God will stop COVID!!!   

• Pray for those infected with the virus

• Pray for each other and our church.

• Pray for Government officials. This is uncharted waters for them as well.

• Pray for frontline workers: nurses, doctors, police, fire, etc.

• Pray for workers who are furloughed without pay. (If you are one of these and need help, please let us know)

• Pray for revival and spiritual awakening – that God would heal our land.

Lastly, I want to encourage you to continue giving during this time. There are three ways to give online – you can find details about hem here: https://bloombaptist.org/giving. You can also mail offerings to P.O. Box 121 Lithopolis, OH. 43136

It has never been more important to be a church without walls that it is now. Thank for being just that.

God bless America – God bless you,

Pastor Mike