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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (April 16, 2020)
COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL | APRIL 16, 2020 | 3A Celebrating Easter Sunday in the virtual world By Cindy Weeldreyer Special to The Sentinel E aster Sunday morn- ing in Cottage Grove is often cloudy and wet, but not this year. The sun shone brilliant- ly as members of Calvary Chapel parked their vehi- cles outside the church in the Village Shopping Cen- ter to follow Governor Kate Brown’s social distancing orders while still collec- tively participating in their church service — virtually, at least. They tuned into the ser- vice via an FM station, with many using their phones or computer tablets to con- currently watch the broad- cast on Facebook. Pastor Jeff Smith and the worship team conducted the praise and worship seg- ment inside, then Smith went outside with his guitar to deliver his Easter Sunday message. Church members responded to the service at different times using their vehicle horns. On March 9, Governor Brown issued a State of Emergency in response to the deadly worldwide coro- navirus pandemic in order to “flatten the curve” of outbreaks here in Oregon so hospitals would not be overwhelmed with victims. The initiative order pro- hibited gatherings of 25 people or more. On March 23, she tightened the re- strictions with her “Stay Home, Save Lives” order prohibiting all non-essen- tial social and recreational gatherings regardless of size, if a distance of at least 6 feet between individuals cannot be maintained. Churches throughout the world have been radically impacted by the virus. The said, while she missed the church’s Easter traditions such as breakfast and children’s Eas- ter egg hunt, she is pleased they em- braced the differ- ence the virus cre- ated. “We began our online service with Easter music and I gave a short med- itation on the Eas- ter story,” she said. “We then invited our congregation to watch a service offered by our de- nomination and worshipped with other members of the body of Christ across the nation.” COURTESY PHOTO Living Faith As- Vehicles line the parking lot to listen in on the Easter service for the Calvary Chapel, sembly began live which broadcasted its April 12 service on a low-requency FM station, with participants streaming its Sunday voicing their “Amen” with honking horns. service on March 29. restrictions forced at least beeping horns.” Smith said. provide a sense of famil- Pastor Rulon Combs seven local church pastors “I’m now contacting people iarity and normalcy to his said they will continue do- to move their Sunday ser- on Facebook, by email or congregation and maintain ing so and expressed what vices online to continue by calling them just to pray a connection to Christ and an adjustment it has been each other. spiritually feeding their for them.” for him. United Methodist Tim Baker pastors the flock. It was a steep learn- “We have chosen for sev- ing curve at first and they Sixth and Gibbs Church. Church pastor, the Rev. Dr. eral reasons to continue had to adjust to delivering He said Easter was a very Craig Pesti-Strobel, over- doing live services every their message to an invis- different experience for his came initial hurdles and is weekend. I’m still getting ible congregation. Some family because he pre-re- now pre-recording music used to speaking just to offer a live experience on corded his message and via YouTube and provid- the worship team and the their Facebook page or joined other church mem- ing a visual message that is tech team,” Combs said. website, while others offer bers as they sat in their posted on the church web- “Although we have to re- homes and watched it to- site. a pre-recorded message. calibrate the way we share He described how the the Gospel, we are reaching Calvary Chapel Pastor gether. experienced more people than we ever “Despite it being differ- Methodists Smith said Easter 2020 was the church’s 21st anniver- ent from the norm, we still Easter Sunday, explaining have before.” sary and it was bittersweet shared the message of Jesus he “... utilized several vid- Cottage Grove Bible to not be able to celebrate and His resurrection and eos featuring pastors and Church Pastor Bob Singer the milestone face-to-face. His name was still praised,” their families throughout said the new format is dif- our conference to serve ferent but their church is He said the current situa- he said. Trinity Lutheran Church as the Greeting, Prayer making it work and there tion forces him to be more creative in how he stays in Pastor Jim Markus said the of Preparation, Scripture have been benefits as well. restrictions came during Reading, and Corporate touch. “It was strange preaching “Having drive-in church the middle of the Lenten Prayer in addition to my to the choir,” Singer said, was hard but actually excit- season, which features two own sermon, words of “but there have been un- ing for the people as they weekly worship services. greeting and so on.” foreseen benefits also with Rev. Karen Hill of the increased participation. found new ways to com- His goal in creating the municate ‘amen’ by their virtual experience was to First Presbyterian Church Now, with three weeks of experience, pastors say it is getting easier and the online experience is im- proving. All are thankful technol- ogy allows them to contin- ue to touch people’s lives and proclaim the love of Jesus to all who tune in. For church members who do not have Internet service, pastors are going “old-school” making reg- ular phone calls offering prayer and encouragement. Several churches are re- sponding to community calls for help. Some pastors agree there is an upside to being a virtual church. Singer and Combs not- ed they are reaching more people than ever before. Singer includes a strong Gospel message each week because he doesn’t know who is watching. All the pastors look for- ward to feeding their flock face-to-face again and say they are hopeful going for- ward. Recognizing it is a different and challenging time, they have confidence their congregations will get through it and will be stronger because of it. Singer said he anticipates the Church in America will also be stronger than it was before it began. Markus said, “In this realm of death in which we all live, we continue to proclaim that Jesus has conquered death for all of us and He is with us in this current crisis.” A list of churches offer- ing virtual services is avail- able on the calendar page at www.knnd.com. KNND also offers its Sunday Morning Light program from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. to provide spiritual encouragement in this time of national crisis. is the permanent, clog-free gutter solution!* In a crisis, journalism matters more than ever. % 75 OFF LABOR (4)- ✝ PLUS RECEIVE A $100 RESTAU A N T . 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