Wed, Jul 8, 2020 – Staff Transitions & 3 Services–9a, 10a, 11a–Starts This Sunday

Scott Wakefield   -   July 8, 2020

Scott’s Thoughts Update – Wed, Jul 8, 2020

Reading Time: 5m 30s

For the 2-minutes video version of the following, click here: https://bit.ly/31Z0vlp. This is… that… but with a bit more detail and clarity.

Staff Transitions

In basic terms,

  • Wes Ford, Students/Stories Minister, is moving to Tech/Video,
  • Ben Weaver, Kids Director, is moving to Students, and
  • we are hiring a new Kids Director.
  • (And Nathan Dickerson is going from Tech/Comms to Comms.)

We think these changes help make us organizationally stronger, as a church, because they are a better use of peoples’ gifts and they help us fill some gaps. If you’ve got any questions, feel free to talk to a Staffer or contact Wes at wes@fccgreeneville.org or Ben at ben@fccgreeneville.org.

One additional thing these staff transitions do, and that I wanna spend some extra time explaining, is that they position us to keep moving forward during the radical changes we see COVID-19 bringing to the future.

So, what kind of “radical changes” will COVID bring? Not entirely sure, of course, but here are a few things I suspect will need to be accounted for well by churches that want to be positioned well to continue reaching people with the gospel.

    • Maintaining safety and precautionary measures – Duh. Germ-free is impossible, but being careful isn’t. Already on it, y’all. Our Setup, Guest, and Cleanup Teams are all over it!
    • Keeping method of achieving vision more flexible than ever – For example, for our “Worship & Serve” strategy to work, when fewer people are willing to stay for two hours, we need to adapt the ways we have people serve so they can do so without having to stay an entire additional hour to also engage in worship. Check–been working on this for months now. Plus, a few of our teams are sorta quasi kinda-morphing to make serving on Sunday mornings simpler and more effective. Boom.
  • Further decentralizing of personal and pastoral care and more emphasis on small groups – Our structure already supports this well in our small groups, (which, by the way, we have, and if you’re not in one, you need to be), but we need to learn to equip our people well, at an individual level, so they will more organically care for and disciple those with whom they have relationship. That scales in a world of pandemic uncertainty where a state governor banning singing in worship (California) may eventually be only the beginning.
    • More smaller corporate(ish) worship gatherings – As in, starting this Sunday, 9a, 10a, and 11a! This is so we can maintain safety standards and a capacity of less than 50% per service, which is key if we’re going to continue to show people that we’re a safe(r environment than they fear.)
    • Finding a way to turn digital engagement into physical engagement and spiritual growth – This is definitely a learn-as-we-go change, but we’re working on it. For example, maintaining and developing a strong worship service presence online that is directed to the online audience and distinct from the gathered in-person service is a really important part of our ongoing strategy. We’ve already organically seen some new folks attend in-person because they joined us online, which is great! Codifying and refining this process into disciple-making feels like a huge challenge, but one this is worth the effort.
    • Digitizing systems to scale, on-demand, when people are ready to engage – We’ve been doing some of this for a while, but continuing to expand digital platforms and making regular and helpful BIble-based content more easily accessible will become increasingly important. That’s why our app, even though it’s only a first draft version, is worth our time.
  • Importance of being in the Word and theologically thoughtful – Strong daily connection to God through His Word and having a strong theologically-rooted Christian worldview that is ready to see the godless ideologies that surround us is soooo important it may the difference between your readiness to suffer for Christ or capitulate to the world and worship the true God or a poor man-centered imitation.

While this certainly isn’t a comprehensive list, it is helpful for us to be thinking about and can also help you understand some of why we’re making the staff transitions we’re making. (Btw, speaking of reasons we’re making staff transitions happen, if you could help by beginning to give (see the app or go to fccgreene.org) or giving extra, that would be really helpful right about now as we continue to find creative and Biblically faithful ways of Helping people find and follow Jesus even during COVID.)

3 Services–9a, 10a, 11a–Starts This Sunday, July 12

Just a few basic reminders and explanation of our changes in strategy for worship gatherings.

In-Person Worship Gatherings: 9a, 10a, and 11a.

Here’s What They’ll Look Like:

  • 45 minutes long, with 2 congregational songs (during which we want those sitting to wear masks, for Sun, Jul 12) and a close-to-normal-length sermon. (For the record, we’ve measured and made sure that the 3 singers onstage are more than 6 feet away from each other and 15 feet away from the first row.)
  • Kids Min is open for all ages. (We’ve had plenty of room for kiddos in our spaces, but feel free to keep ’em with you!)
  • Our Current 5 Safety Steps:
    • (1) Sanitize hands and maintain distance.
    • (2) Wear a “Comfort Level” sticker.
    • (3) No lobby lingering–stay outside as much as possible.
    • (4) Keep 2 seats between each group.
    • (5) Wear a mask for singing and serving (for Sun, Jul 5 & 12).
  • If you have a serious case of Church Rephasing Awkwardness (CRA) or actual physical symptoms, or if you are 60 or older and/or immunocompromised, feel free to watch from home. For medical advice, consult your actual doctor. For DVDs of the services, call us.

Here’s Why We’re Doing This:

  • For 2 of the recent 3 weeks, 3 of our 4 services were close to 50% capacity. (Yes, I know, July 4th weekend was especially low, i.e., those of you who were there may be wondering why we need to add another service.) But, think about the new situation we’re in… What used to require 4 services may require many more very soon.
  • Given the need to maintain physical distancing and other safety practices, the Elders decided that, for the foreseeable future, adding a 3rd service will allow us to provide more safe seating.
  • We want to communicate readiness to welcome both veteran FCCers and first-time guests looking for comfort and hope in crazy Corona world.

Online Worship Services: Sat 7p, Sun 9a, 10a, 11a, 7p

  • Only important thing to note here is that we’ve changed the Sunday morning time to match our new 3 in-person gathering times.
  • If you’re not yet comfortable with coming in-person, then voila, stay online and we’ll see ya someday soon!