May, 2020 BHBC Newsletter
ReOpening Briar Hill Baptist Church
It has been far too long since we have had an in-house Worship Service, Bible study, youth or children's event, or anything! When can we come back, you may ask? That is an answer we sure wish we could give today, but unfortunately, we can't. Since March 15th, we have been conscious about following guidelines set forth by the CDC, and community and governing officials, as well as leadership's recommendations from MBCB and the SBC. While complying with all the recommendations and guidelines have prevented us from being together in person, we also know that it is helping to keep our membership safe in the attempt to flatten the curve.

As of now we are still only doing on-line services, and will continue to do so until those recommendations and guidelines change. We do suspect them to change soon though, hopefully by the middle of May. That said, we don't see things going back to "normal" for some time. It's likely that Governor will recommend groups larger than 10 to continue to refrain from meeting, even after the current "Safer at Home" orders commenced just this week. If that number changes to say 50 or 100, or something under our normal worship attendance, we will see if there is anything we can do differently that will still comply. But the reality is that everything is "up in the air" right now, and we just don't know.

There may be some changes (and may not be) for a period of time, including: multiple worship times with limited seating each time, multiple times to meet for Life Groups in larger areas to accommodate social distancing, hallway traffic flow patterns, offering drop boxes instead of passing the plate, etc. We aren't saying that we will be doing these things at this point, but we are saying that your church staff and leadership is willing to be flexible so that we can begin to come together once again as the Body back in to His House!

For us to begin meeting soon, we foresee recommendations such as those just mentioned, and should that happen, we ask that you be patient with us as we figure this all out as we go, and be willing to be flexible as well! We may take a survey of your input on these matters soon. It will provide for a better experience for everyone as our reasoning for coming to God's House is not for our creature comforts but to worship and praise the Creator!

Until we meet together again, we encourage you to continue to join us on Sundays at 10am and 6pm, and Wednesdays at 6:30. We love seeing your engagement in each stream, and are thankful each time you share our service to your friends. The more you share our post, it reaches out exponentially larger than it would have. You can watch them using your mobile device, or computer, on our website, or YouTube and Facebook apps. On your smart tv or streaming device you can watch us on YouTube (subscribing to our channel helps you get to it faster) or the Facebook Watch app as well. You should find these on Chromecast, Roku, Amazon, and Apple TV devices.

This past Sunday our stream was interrupted because we had maxed out our current "streaming service" plan quicker than we assumed we would since a larger audience is watching now because of the quarantine. We are "trying out" a new one this week. Should things go well, we will have our very own Roku app launched soon! Its been amazing to see people interact with us and watch our service from across the nation and even in our local community who aren't members or do not attend. We even have people calling in by phone to listed to our sermons from other states! Take time before each service begins to pray for all those that are watching, that they learn from God's Word and Holy Spirit does something supernatural in their hearts!
AAEO & Online Giving

While we haven't met our Annie Armstrong Easter Offering Goal, we appreciate all those that gave toward it! Our total so far is $5644.51, which is quite short of the $9,000 goal. It's understandable that the offering is lower as giving itself is down also. You can still give toward the AAEO anytime, as well as your tithes and offerings, through online giving, text mailing your contributions, or dropping your contributions off at the office during office hours (8am-12pm Mon-Thu temporarily).
Event Information

Many events that have been previously on the calendar have been canceled or moved, and we anticipate changes to other events coming soon. We don't know all these changes yet, but we can tell what we are certain of now.

  • VBS will not take place the first week of June. We aren't certain when it will take place, but are looking at a late July VBS this year. It is still tentative.
  • MBCB has cancelled all June children events, including RA and GA camps. July camps are still planned at this point, so please get your paperwork in asap because those spots will fill up fast!
  • Super Summer Camp has been cancelled for this year.
  • We haven't been told that Mission Arlington camp has made any changes, but If they do, we will get the word out. Since they are in a different state, their guidelines will differ from ours.
BHBC Website

The are several features on our website, that we want to make sure you are aware of and are engaged in.

  • Prayer Wall (under the about us tab) - Visit our prayer wall daily to pray over new request and older ones as well. Share your prayer requests so that you can be assured that your church body is praying for you. We still recommend that you call the church office with any "major" request so that we be aware, i.e. hospitalizations, deaths, illness, etc.
  • Devotionals (under media tab) - Are you missing Open Windows or Journey? They are all available digitally right now. You can find their links on our website. (Hopefully May will be available as well, they weren't there at time of this newsletter's publication). You can also drop by the office during office hours and pick up a printed copy as well
  • Rightnow Media (signup link can be found under Media Tab) - Over 20,000 Bible study videos for all ages, including a kids section that's excellent for use with mobile devices, and smart TV's alike! A free gift from our church to anyone who wants it! Feel free to share about it to your friends!
  • Life Group Lesson's/Materials (under Media tab) - Take advantage of the free digital content provided by Lifeway. We've been keeping our site current with it. Once you click on a link to the digital material, Lifeway's website will ask that you set up account, then you'll have access to all of that week's content! There are also videos of the lessons on that page, or on our YouTube Channel taught by staff and Life Group leaders. Check it out, stay connected, stay in God's Word.
Baccalaureate Service

It's that time of year again where we recognize our graduating seniors for their amazing accomplishments. It likely we will be doing this a little different this year, but regardless we will do something! We need all high school seniors affiliated with our church to fill out the form using the link below no later than Tuesday May 5th . Our High School Baccalaureate Service is planned for May 17th, during the AM Worship Service.

We would love to bring attention to any college graduates as well. Please email Bro. Jeremy with the college graduates name, degree, major, and future plans by Friday May 8th.
Miscellaneous Notes

You can look at March's Financial Statement (and April's when it is ready) by visiting the Member's Page on our website, under the media tab. The password is brindgingthegap. The results of the church business votes on the two motions earlier this months were both in favor of. The first motion was 90% and the second was unanimous. The application has been submitted for the PPP loan on April 13th, but we haven't heard anything as of time of publication of this newsletter. The emergency committee has not had a need to meet yet.

Many have asked about the new Church Directories, As this newsletter is being typed we got a phone call that they are on the way! We'll figure out how to distributed them accordingly.
A Personal Note From Your Staff

You church staff want's you to know how much we love and miss every one of you! We appreciate all the encouraging calls, emails, texts, etc, during this time! It's been wonderful to hear about several of our members helping during the storm cleanup, here locally and throughout the state. We understand that several of our ladies have made hundreds of masks and distributed them to Briar Hill Nursing Home, UMMC, the VA, and given out locally to individuals. Volunteers are still coming on Sundays to make our online services possible. You're calling and checking in on one another, and praying for those in our congregation who aren't doing well. Thank you for continuing to be what makes Briar Hill Church such a special place, filled with serving hands, compassionate hearts, with Spirit filled joy!.
Briar Hill Baptist Church | 707 Hwy 469 N, Florence, MS | 601845-6843| www.briarhillbc.org