Although I already sent my March email (plus a couple more) I want to keep you up to speed with what is happening with our church in these unprecedented days. We are a family and will stick together. Always.

Trust.

I have found that it is much easier to trust God when I don’t have to. But a crisis like the one we are experiencing with COVID-19 both reveals how much we trust God and gives us an incredible opportunity to grow in our trust!

I know that it is an unwelcome opportunity, but my prayer for you is that you will lean into it. And that when this season is over, we will all look back at this difficult time as a time of growth.

May these words from Psalm 62 lead us to lean in.

¹ Truly my soul finds rest in God;
my salvation comes from him.
² Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will never be shaken…

⁵ Yes, my soul, find rest in God;
my hope comes from him.
⁶ Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
⁷ My salvation and my honor depend on God;
he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
⁸ Trust in him at all times, you people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge.

I just got off a call with Governor Polis where he told a few hundred faith leaders from across Colorado to prepare for weeks or months of significant restrictions related to COVID-19.

That is, of course, disappointing for us all. But the optimist in me is really excited about finding new ways to BE the church during this crazy season.

We want to continue to provide MINISTRY to you and your family. And we want to continue to challenge us all to HELP the world around us. And honestly, there are some things we want to try that I’m really excited about! 

Here is the plan:

MINISTRY

We are going virtual with our services and meetings.

• We will be livestreaming our worship gathering on Sunday at 9 AM.
• We will do special weekly videos for children (from our KidsMin team) on Tuesday at 6 PM.
• And a special weekly livestream for students (from our PRiSM team) on Wednesday at 6 PM.

In addition to that we are going to do a Whole Care Community Check-In on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 5 PM. These will be a short (like 10 minutes) time of encouragement hosted by me and my wife Becky. Our goal is to just be a little bit of positive encouragement in the midst of these heavy days.

You can watch any of these things live or later with the following links:

YouTube
On Youtube on your computer or your Smart TV or streaming device search for “pulpitrock cos” 

You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel for notifications. (http://bit.ly/youtubePRC)

Facebook
If you have a Facebook account you can watch these things live on our Pulpit Rock Church Facebook page. (http://bit.ly/pulpitrockFB)

Our Web Site
You can watch the live stream straight from our website. (https://pulpitrock.com/livestream/)

This Week at Pulpit Rock
Don’t forget to subscribe to our text bulletin – it will have sermon study guides and song lyrics. (Text PULPITROCK to 77948)

Small Group or Class
If you are in a small group or class, you may be wondering if you should still meet. We have some ideas to help you with that. Our Groups Director Caitlin will be in touch soon. She writes:

“Community and connectedness in this time will be very important so please be on the lookout for an email to our current group and class leaders with new ways to carry on. Additionally, there will be new opportunities for ways to connect coming.”

We don’t know how long these restrictions will be in place but until something changes, we are going to focus on these forms of virtual gathering and avoid the face to face gathering.

I’m so excited about some of the things we are going to share in the upcoming week. I hope you will all tune in live or get caught up with us when you have time. There will be some encouragement, some fun, and hopefully lots of reminders that God is still God and God is still present with us.

We need each other! Let’s stay connected!

HELP

So many of the emails I get are from people who aren’t at risk and would love to help those who are. I love the heart of our church!

We want to connect you with 3 ways to help.

1. Our friends at COS I Love You have put together this very helpful guide for providing help to those in need in Colorado Springs. (cosiloveyou.com/how-to-help-during-covid-19)
   
2. The Governor recommended an organization called Help Colorado Now. (helpcoloradonow.org) Their website has some great resources for helping.
   
3. If you have a need or know of a need for grocery delivery or help of any kind for someone in our community over 70 or with health concerns that would prevent them being able to go out and meet their needs email Luke and our Love Your Neighbor team at neighbor@pulpitrock.com.
   

Now is the time to be the best neighbors! And it would be a great idea to invite your neighbors to tune in to our virtual gatherings. They may find encouragement and hope they need, and they may be more open to the voice of God than ever before.

Tune in and stay connected with us.

Get involved helping others.

If you are able give financially. There are so many worthy causes to donate to during a crisis. Churches all over Colorado are on the front lines of helping their community. We are so thankful for those who give – you enable so much ministry in our city and our world. If you are able, I want to ask you to continue to give.

If you normally give in person on Sunday morning, you can still give online (pulpitrock.com/give). Or you could use our Text 2 Give option – text PULPITROCK to 44321.

Both are secure and in both you can set up a one-time or recurring monthly donation. We will continue to work hard to leverage all of our dollars for the Kingdom.

These are hard times. I felt a moment of discouragement when I realized that we will likely not be able to gather for Easter Sunday. All of our lives are changing dramatically – and people we love are at risk.

Providentially, in that moment of discouragement I found this article (www.bbc.com/news/world-51929598) in my news feed on my phone. It tells about this crisis from the perspective of the one billion people of the world who live in extreme poverty. As hard as social distancing is for our community, it is impossible for people who live in slums.

I have visited these slums. And as I know many of you do, I have friends who live in these challenging conditions.

I know we have it hard. But I want to encourage us to look up. God has given us in this country so much!

Let us weather this storm and resolve to flee from self-pity and fear and embrace our God given capacity to help others. 

Let this latest crisis not only awaken us to our own vulnerability, but let it awaken us to the absolute fragility and constant risk that the poor in our community and worldwide face every day.

We the Church are God’s gift to the vulnerable of this world. Let us resolve to be a good and gracious gift!

I love you people.

Jonathan