COVID-19 and Praise Property Usage

Dear Praise Family,

We, the Elders, feel it is important to provide you with an update as it relates to the ongoing pandemic and how it continues to affect us as a community. We, as a church, have faced a number of challenges over this past year but none as challenging as our current circumstances. With each new development, we have sought the best course of action through much prayer and discussion, which has included seemingly endless emails, text messages, phone calls, and zoom sessions just to address the new developments, never mind the regular important Kingdom business. We are grateful that God has been faithful in helping us to make each decision with unanimous consent and agreement.

We truly appreciate and covet your prayers during this time as never before, even as we lift up all of those in our community. Like you, we are still here because we all love the Lord our God and want to do what is best for the Kingdom and for everyone who is a part of Praise.

One of our primary responsibilities is for the health and safety of our family at Praise. As such, we have been constantly monitoring the COVID-19 situation in our local community as well as in our State and beyond. By the time you read this, the death toll in the US alone will have surpassed 13,000 people, which is far more than double the casualties of Pearl Harbor and 9/11 combined. Even more difficult, we have only begun to see the tally of lives lost which increases hourly. Please take a moment after reading this message to consider what this means and to pray for deliverance from this evil virus.

We have had several requests and inquiries lately about the usage of our building and grounds at Praise. God has richly blessed us with a facility and land with which to serve in the Kingdom. More important, however, and far more valuable are the lives with which God has blessed our community. In light of the continuing escalation of infections and in compliance with our State and Federal authorities, the Council is in agreement that our building and grounds for Praise Christian Fellowship will remain closed at this time. The only exceptions to this would be for our Office Administrator, our Custodian, repair contractors as-needed, or for community emergency usage. In this regard, we are so very thankful for all the hard work which our volunteers and staff have been giving during this unprecedented time in our history. We want to especially thank Audrey and Dawn who have kept our ministry and facilities in good shape while this pandemic continues.

Due to a critical community emergency, we have given permission for the Red Cross to proceed with their blood drive at Praise at the end of April. This is due to the fact that much of their blood donation efforts have been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Without blood readily available the loss of life from this shortage has become a credible threat, one that is avoidable. Though we have given permission for the blood drive, the event will look very different from previous blood collections at Praise. No food or drink (other than bottled water) will be provided at the event and additional safeguards will be in place along with the now-familiar social distancing policy.

The COVID-19 virus is something that we would never have imagined happening and has cost sleepless nights and tiring extra work for so many within our faith community. Please know that none of us are alone in this, or should not be alone. Take this opportunity to reach out to your church family members by phone or in other ways, especially those who do not have internet access or not comfortable using online means of connecting virtually. While much sadness has and will continue to come out of this tragic time, God can also use it to draw people closer together and to bring people into the Kingdom who otherwise might not have listened to the gospel message.

If you or someone you know has a need during this time, please reach out to an Elder or call the office anytime! Please don't suffer in silence, we are all family and we want to work towards getting through this together. Meanwhile "STAY HOME, STAY SAFE!"

The Elders of Praise