Last Midweek Email for this Quarantine Time

​Hello DBC family,

Last Sunday my message was on what the most important part of worship is. Sometimes we think that it is about our needs, wants and desires. It becomes more about “I don’t want to do that," or "I don’t want to sing that," or "I want that.” But the truth is that God is the one we worship and what we feel isn’t the most important. I know that we believe this fact in our heads. We say "all glory to God." But sometimes our hearts and feelings get in the way. Let me pose a few questions: if some Christians met together in Iran or China, but had to do it in secret and only through whispers, would that still be worship to God? If an elderly woman was bed-bound and blind for 7 years and could not get to a worship service in a church building, would she still be able to worship even if it was just by herself? Many times we get our own desires tangled up as most important and miss the One Who is most important in our worship. 

You may wonder why I am summarizing my message from Sunday. There is a reason. I know that you have already read our email about opening the Chapel up this Sunday, May 31st. When we put forth the survey, about 40% of the congregation felt that they would be uncomfortable to either return without safety measures in place or return without seeing how the State does after a few weeks of being “open.” As elders, we had to take their needs into consideration, as well as the needs of the 60% who will meet regardless. Any decision that we make will be met with opinions on all sides of the spectrum, but we have sought God’s guidance and have moved forward with opening the church with safety provisions. You may feel this might be a permanent change, but please rest assured that this is something that we are doing for this moment and will reevaluate again next week. Furthermore, our decision was not based on fear even in the slightest - not to move to online worship on March 16th, nor now to open up worship. It is our love for the congregation that has been dearest to our heart and that is why we have chosen the routes that we have. Please do not feel that you must attend in person if you are uncomfortable. We will be offering Parking Lot worship on FM Channel 105.3 and also will be uploading our Communion (from Jared) and my Message as we have been doing for the past 2 months. 

Please take these words to heart. We love you all deeply and have poured ourselves out before God on your behalf. This is a time of long-suffering and grace and we can all be the bearers of good things.

Ivan

ps. Mr. Chuck made a video about choices and one main choice that can make a difference in your life forever. And I had a thought about my mom and about Jesus.