Monday, March 23, 2020 - FROM PASTOR SCHANTZENBACH
With the arrival of this email, we begin week 3 of the Covid-19 pandemic. We scrambled last week to adapt to our constantly changing challenges. It was my first week as your interim pastor and I appreciate the ability to immediately engage Living Waters Leadership Teams in our ministry and care of our community. Living Waters is a resourceful, capable, and courageous church. In faithful response to our times:
- We provided our first Sunday Video Worship experience. I want to thank Terry Welsh for his time and skills in pulling this together. Many of you discovered that our Virtual Worship is best accessed from your computer rather than your mobile device. We will be adapting this work as we move forward. If you have ideas about improving our offerings, please let us know.
- We will make our Personal Bible Study interactive. Last week you received, by email, a copy of the study. A new study (The Raising of Lazarus, John 11:1-45) will be sent this week, again by email. This email will also include an invitation to a 40-minute ZOOM Bible Study online. The dates, times and log-in information will be included in the email. ZOOM Bible Studies will give you a chance to interact with other participants and engage in a fresh way to look at the great Bible stories.
- We made care of our community a priority. A special thanks goes out to Cindy Cooper for her efforts to rally the Care Team and coordinate a Care and Prayer ministry. Living Waters now has 9 people who will “shepherd” the congregation while the “sheep” are scattered. You can expect a call, text, email, from these shepherds about every 7-10 days. If you have a need, idea, or just want to talk to someone beyond your 4 walls, we are ready to listen and pray.
- We have secured the Church facilities. The building has been cleaned taken out of use for public gatherings. If you need access to the facilities and do not have a key, you will need to call to make arrangements for entry. If you enter the building for any reason, please sign-in at the building log just inside the main entrance. The key has been removed from the key box.
- We will assure that our pastor and staff remain accessible to the congregation. While our staff is, for the most part, working remotely we will be checking the office phone for messages as well as monitoring the LWLC email. If you want to contact me directly I can be reached by phone and text at 908-892-8299 or email at pastorschantzenbach@gmail.com
- Be at peace. Be safe and whole. Love God. Love your neighbor. Tell the world.