August 27, 2020

How Long Oh Lord, How Long?!

We are now ready to resume inside services again in a simple and COVID-friendly way!

The time is here...

If you missed my video message last week, here it is again so you know where worship services are going, when, and why as a church.

Our Outdoor Services have been a hit, but we are now ready to resume inside services again in a simple and COVID-friendly way. Our staff, informed by our COVID-19 task force, have been busy preparing for your arrival back inside. FYI - we need you to register here to attend that first service back inside on September 6 at 10am.

I am loving this new series we kicked off: Because COVID. Make sure you do the Me/Us/Go Time questions for growth. And, we love stories of God at work, especially in spite of the coronavirus! Please share with us your story - click here (and scroll to the bottom of that page).

This Sunday at 10am, we will all be out in Lawrenceburg for our Outdoor Service. Here are the details!

They have a nice new venue there, but that is NOT the driver for worshiping there. It is part of our intentional ongoing effort to be For The One and reach streets and neighborhoods with the hope of Jesus. We want to be known and make Him known as disciples on mission in that area of Indiana. If folks living there can't (or won't) come to us, we will go to them! Whether we are outside, online, or on campus, we are still on mission.

Dude Day

I'd also like to invite all you men reading this to our upcoming men's event called Dude Day on October 3 at our Cleves Campus. Registration is now open. You can click here to register. We are planning for an event filled with food, activities like axe throwing and fowling, and a SAFE environment! $25 buys a ticket. Don't let the fear of COVID keep you from signing up. Our team is working very hard to keep you safe and set your team up for a true Dude Day experience!

Some inspiration

Whether outside, online or on campus, we are still on mission. Need proof? Kendra, age 34, emailed recently:

Hello, I want to be baptized! I actually moved from the area and have been watching online instead of finding a new church in Dayton, OH where I now reside. I reached out to Whitewater once before about baptizing my brother who still lives near Whitewater. Since then, he was baptized by a cousin of ours in southern KY. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever witnessed in my life. All my life I have been thinking because I was sprinkled as a child I was done. After seeing my brother's baptism I have felt this calling to be dunked. Today I felt the urge to watch church and saw this message. I have decided I need to make the drive back to Cleves and be dunked!

and finally...

So many things grieve me these days. Ongoing COVID issues, political animosity, Jacob Blake, and now a hurricane barreling our way down south. I cry out like the prophet Habakkuk I mentioned 2 weeks ago in my message, 'How long oh Lord, how long?!' I am lamenting and trying to make sense of things way above my paygrade, but this I know - I will keep the faith, provide hope, and love deeply everyone I see. No matter their color or political party. We are not the only Jesus followers who had to deal with disease, death, politics, injustice, and storms. This is how the forefathers of our faith responded, and it is a great formula for today, too. It changed western civilization and will change ours. Will you join me in this effort to be like Jesus in every way possible?! That's what the world desperately needs right now - the church working right collectively, through all of us individually. For The One.