Delivering messages of hope… Local pastors adapt to bring Biblical words of encouragement during COVID-19
Published 9:49 pm Friday, April 3, 2020
1 of 4
Pastors Brien and Shannon Sturgill - Roan Street Church of God
Photo Contributed Pastor Brandon Young delivers a Sunday morning Facebook message.
Photo Contributed On a normal Sunday morning, Pastor Brandon Young would look back and see the pews and chairs of Harmony Free Will Baptist Church filled to capacity. Now, he must preach to a church body staying at home while delivering his message in an empty sanctuary.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders First Baptist Church of Elizabethton continues its ministry to the area as Pastor Todd Hallman has led the church through the COVID-19 pandemic. Hallman is no stranger to pastoring a church through hard times as he was a pastor in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
BY IVAN SANDERS
STAR STAFF
ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com
Everyone has heard the old adage ‘to walk a mile in their shoes’ but to accomplish that isn’t always as easy as it might seem.
In life, there are several professions that might afford itself to allowing people to see what the job is like by job shadowing someone maybe in the construction or retail field.
However, when it comes to being a pastor of a church, that is something that cannot occur as not everyone has received the calling of ministry on their life and pastors cannot fully give details on how they fulfill a higher calling on their life.
For many, when thinking about being a pastor, the job appears from the outside to be one of sitting in an office for a couple of hours a day, delivering a sermon on Sunday morning and possibly Sunday night as well as Wednesday nights, visiting the hospital for just a few minutes to check on sick members, and possibly officiating a funeral or wedding from time to time.
What the general public doesn’t see is the behind the scenes work pastors must do especially when facing the unknown such as the COVID-19 pandemic that is currently hitting the United States and the world head-on.
Three area pastors were given a set of questions on how they are dealing with the current pandemic and the importance of ministering to a church body that has moved from the four walls of the church to the four walls of each individual home as the building itself is not the church but the people that fill the pews and chairs each service.
Rev. Brandon Young
Pastor-Harmony Free Will Baptist Church – Hampton
1. As a pastor, did you ever think that you would be preaching to an empty sanctuary and how has that changed the way that you prepare for your sermons?
I have certainly preached to small congregations in my 22 years of ministry, but never did I think I would be preaching to an empty church. We have live-streamed our normal services for the past three years, so I knew that we could begin an all online ministry during this pandemic. We have Harmony Free Will Baptist Church YouTube channel that our congregation can subscribe to, and we also stream on our church website harmonychurch.org.
I am grateful 98% of our congregation is online and has the capabilities to watch from home. Many other pastors have congregations that are not as tech-savvy. We have made DVDs and distributed to those families without internet capabilities so they can watch too. We also got permission to send a DVD to Avery/Mitchell Correctional Facility in Spruce Pine, N.C., where we do a prison ministry twice a month. At this time we are unable to attend in person and we were worried since all their religious services were canceled, so we asked if we sent a DVD of our services could they allow the inmates to watch it and they agreed. We are so thankful to still be able to minister to others during this time. We also made CDs for the Life Care Center of our choir singing since we can’t be there either during this time and the nurses gave them to the residents to listen to in our absence. God is helping us to remain faithful to those we regularly minister to using technology and we are grateful.
I have continued to prepare sermons in the same way because although I may not be able to see my sheep during this time, I know they are still watching from home and need to be fed spiritually. I am aware that younger children are watching online with their parents, and during normal church, these younger children go to children’s church, so I have also made sure that they understand the message being preached. Many of the members have taken photos and video clips of them watching and sent them to me by text as well as posted them on the church Facebook page so they can see each other during this time apart.
2. What has been the biggest adjustment that you have had to make and how has this impacted you personally from a spiritual standpoint?
I am a people person! I love to hug and shake hands. I like being around others. I also love seeing my flock on a weekly basis face-to-face. It has been so difficult to adjust to only seeing them virtually through social media. I also watch faces while I am preaching because you can see people’s wheels turning with you, and now it is impossible to know exactly what people are thinking or feeling. I am accustomed to individuals praising the Lord and saying Amen while preaching so a silent church feels completely strange and awkward. This distance from my flock is a bother to me, and it is something that I have struggled with since day one of this separation. They are a part of my life. They are my family, and I love them dearly.
3. One of the biggest Christian holidays of the year is coming up in a week. Obviously the stay at home directive runs past that date. Will you continue on with the way you would deliver the Easter sermon and is your church planning anything any different than a Facebook service?
We will be worshipping online for Easter, but we are doing some things to include everybody in the service and trying to keep as much of our normal routine as we can. We have a sunrise service each Easter at Harmony so our Associate Pastor David Odom will be doing a Facebook Live sunrise service at 7 a.m. on Easter morning.
He will be sharing a message from outside his home. I know it won’t be the same as gathering together at sunrise to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, but it is still good to know we are watching, hearing, and celebrating together. I have also asked our church to send me a video clip of them as a family answering this question, “What does the resurrection mean to you?” We are going to combine their responses in a video that will air during our 11 a.m. Easter Worship service before I bring the Easter sermon.
This way everyone gets to participate in the Easter worship service and see one another during our time of complete separation. I had contemplated having a drive-in service on Easter, but I think it would be difficult to park everyone so all could listen. I also think that children would be tempted to leave their cars and would want to see their friends, and honestly, I think this would even be a temptation for some adults. I also know that the bathroom facilities would be an issue, and I do not want to compromise the health of my congregation. I believe we are safer apart for now, and worshipping at home is the way to go. We know that an online church service will never take the place of being at church together, but we must do our part to stop the spread of this virus in our community.
4. Is your church currently involved in doing any special ministry during this time or are you planning any special ministries if this continues into the near future?
We worked in conjunction with Carter County Schools and we ran our church bus through a community and distributed 110 lunches per day the week before last. We picked up the lunches for the students at Happy Valley Elementary School cafeteria and the church made lunches for the adults. We were well received in the community, and it was a blessing watching the excitement of the children as well pulled up in the bus every day. Since we are now sheltering in place, we are not allowed to drive and distribute lunches into the community. We can, however, do drive-thru lunches or dinners at our church.
We did a drive-thru soup bean, coleslaw, and macaroni and cheese dinner last Saturday and 250 individuals were fed. We made sure we worked with limited volunteers for safety. We are also planning a drive-thru lunch for this Saturday from 11 a.m. until the food is gone. We are planning more these and we will post dates and times on our Harmony Facebook page as well as on our church website. We feel there is a great need right now to feed others. We have had people stop into our church office looking for food assistance.
Since March 16, Associate Pastor David Odom and I have been doing a Facebook live devotional at 8 p.m. nightly on our church Facebook page. We wanted to do this to bring comfort and peace to folks during a frightening and worrisome time. We have had from 4,000 to 8,000 views, and we have gotten much feedback from folks within our church, as well as, individuals who do not attend our church but stopped and watched. I have been amazed at the response and honestly, I feel that the Word of God is going out more now that when we met in the church. I am seeing many pastors doing the same thing, and it feels like an online community revival.
It is thrilling watching the light of God’s love penetrating this dark time! We are also having our youth workers do online Bible stories and lessons for our church children and teens. They have been doing a marvelous job interacting with our church youth. It has taken some thinking outside of the box during this time. We all feel that God is working during this time, and once we do get back to church that it is going to be powerful! This pandemic has changed us all, and I think we won’t take things for granted like we once did!
5. There are some that say this COVID-19 could be an extensive event. Is there a concern that if it is prolonged that an even different approach than Facebook services will have to be explored and are you planning for such a scenario?
At this time, we will continue to do online services only and our nightly devotions. We have no other plans, but I can assure you that we are flexible and will adjust if the need arises. Thankfully, folks are still giving their tithes and offerings online, mailing them, or stopping by our church office so we can continue our ministry to the community! I am seeing amazing things and we will all be changed for the better once this pandemic is behind us! God is in control and he will see us through this difficult time!
Rev. Brien Sturgill
Pastor – Roan Street Church of God
1. As a pastor, did you ever think that you would be preaching to an empty sanctuary and how has that changed the way that you prepare for your sermons?
No, I grew up in a pastor’s home, hearing illustrations and hypothesis of what the “end times” might look like, and while I believed that I would be in a generation to experience it, preaching to an empty church building was not a part of the imagery.
It also changes how I prepare, because with the varied ministries live-streaming, competing for the same time slot and attention of their viewers, you cannot rely on the response of the congregation to guide you. So, your points must be clearer and more distinctly and produce them more quickly, in contrast to gaging the tone of an audience. The only help is this format is “knowing” your audience.
2. What has been the biggest adjustment that you have had to make and how has this impacted you personally from a spiritual standpoint?
The biggest adjustment; obviously, not worshipping together weekly is a significant loss, because there is power in corporate worship. It builds faith within everyone in the room. Administratively, a few things are simplified, but other things are actually requiring more work. Set up cameras, get the technology online, ensure the equipment is ready, operate the equipment, sign-off, edit, post, etc… In times like these when you become “the team” there is much more to do, while we protect the others that could or would normally do these tasks.
Spiritually, it is a challenge, but it should actually be easier to focus upon God. We have chosen to do that in our home. With four children at home, we are trying to keep a balance of school, activities, learning, and spiritual development. From this standpoint, the distractions are immense, but we should continue to “unplug” from the noise and pursue the word and heart of God and listen for Him.
3. One of the biggest Christian holidays of the year is coming up in a week. Obviously the stay at home directive runs past that date. Will you continue on with the way you would deliver the Easter sermon and is your church planning anything any different than a Facebook service?
We will be doing a few things differently. We will be offering some stories of “resurrection” in our own lives. We have had several people healed of cancer, sickness, disease, prodigals come home, people delivered from drugs, families restored, etc., that we want to share how the power of Jesus’ resurrection is living within the hearts and lives of members of our church and community. It will be a different day for sure.
4. Is your church currently involved in doing any special ministry during this time or are you planning any special ministries if this continues into the near future?
We were doing several things such as a Saturday prayer walk, walking the streets of our city while asking God to bless us and protect us. Currently, Carter County only has one confirmed case of COVID-19. We believe that is a result of prayer.
We also had a DRIVE AT 5 planned for each Saturday, driving the streets of our city and praying for each home and person. Current directives have hampered some of our plans. We continue to adjust and will continue to as things develop.
We air our services on LFTV, Thursdays at 10 p.m., and will continue to use Facebook live: Roan Street COG and YouTube as well, in an effort to inform the community that we are here for them.
5. There are some that say this COVID-19 could be an extensive event. Is there a concern that if it is prolonged that an even different approach than Facebook services will have to be explored and are you planning for such a scenario?
We have considered that option. Fortunately, we have CARE GROUPS, where each family is assigned an elder. That elder contacts them weekly, checks on them, pray with them and provides support and encouragement along with the pastor. They would meet in homes, much like a small group and continue the process of spiritual formation, community, faith-building, and soul-winning.
I do believe that GONE are the days of the church simply relying on the pastor to lead everything. Most large churches have already arrived at that conclusion, but most churches in our community are not large operations, as most are 200 and less in attendance. However, the equipping of the saints is critical. With a nation that has ‘church attenders’, many of them are largely unprepared when it comes to ‘sharing their faith’ with an unbeliever.
First, we need to be encouraged that this situation is nothing more than the fulfillment of scripture. The end is near. However, just before that happens, Jesus promised a great outpouring of His Spirit upon humankind. I look forward to being a part of what God is doing in these last days.
Secondly, let us draw our focus into what truly matters most; preparing souls to meet their eternity. This is a challenging time, but an exciting one for those who will embrace the moment. Let us make a difference in eternity through this!
Rev. Todd Hallman
Pastor – Elizabethton First Baptist Church
1. As a pastor, did you ever think that you would be preaching to an empty sanctuary and how has that changed the way that you prepare for your sermons?
I try not to take for granted the reality that we by our very nature yearn for community. The churches that I have served have faced catastrophes before — in some ways worse, and in other ways better. I served a church outside of the city of New Orleans in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina decimated the Gulf Coast.
I had empty seats (flooded seats) for nearly three weeks before we could really get together for worship. It was a different time; I had a smartphone (one of the first) and it was an invaluable tool. The lack of technology prohibited us from doing what we are able to accomplish today. With technological advances today, everyone has an opportunity to continue to meet though we have to be socially distanced.
In regards to preaching to an empty sanctuary, I don’t feel that the sanctuary is empty. The church is not the building; the church is the people, and wherever they gather — that is where we find the church. I have not changed the way I prepare my sermons. I have only changed the mediums through which those sermons are relayed to the people.
2. What has been the biggest adjustment that you have had to make and how has this impacted you personally from a spiritual standpoint?
I believe the biggest adjustment is helping people navigate their worry, anxiety, and fear. As a leader, it is always important to convey hope and confidence. Spiritually I am energized by the prayer of our people. I believe that the worst part of this may lie ahead, and so I am trying to prepare for what may lie ahead.
On a personal level, this pandemic has caused me to evaluate all the blessings and opportunities that we take for granted on a daily basis. We need to be thankful for all the blessings that God has given to us, even in these chaotic days.
3. One of the biggest Christian holidays of the year is coming up in a week. Obviously the stay at home directive runs past that date. Will you continue on with the way you would deliver the Easter sermon and is your church planning anything any different than a Facebook service?
In regards to Easter, we are planning services every night via Zoom during Holy Week, Monday, April 6, through Friday, April 10. They will take place at 7 p.m. each evening. For our Easter service, we are looking at several possibilities but some of them may require our seeking guidance from the city. I do know that we (instead of a pre-recorded service) are planning to do a live radio broadcast on Easter Sunday at 11 a.m. on WBEJ 107.9 FM. We welcome the community to join us for that opportunity!
4. Is your church currently involved in doing any special ministry during this time or are you planning any special ministries if this continues into the near future?
We are very concerned about children in our community and families in our community who may have the basic needs of food. We have helped feed Elizabethton City School children and will continue to do that as needed.
5. There are some that say this COVID-19 could be an extensive event. Is there a concern that if it is prolonged that an even different approach than Facebook services will have to be explored and are you planning for such a scenario?
We are not a church that believes “that one size fits all.” We are open to any and all mediums through which we can bring hope to people. We have been looking, are looking, and are implementing a variety of ways that we can share Christ with our community. We know that God is with us in our suffering. He is not distant from us, but He is suffering along with us in our time of need, worry, fear, and anxiety. Our commitment is to continue to find new and innovative ways to share the hope of Christ with people.
First Baptist is a different type of church. We are not the typical First Baptist Church, and I am not a typical pastor. We are different, and we believe that that difference is what enables us to reach people that others simply do not see, or they inadvertently overlook. We deeply care for people, and we want them to have the best life possible — it begins with Christ!
