Dear Beaumont's First Baptist Church -
2 Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love and sound judgment.”
As you know from watching the news, there is growing concern regarding the spread of the coronavirus. I believe it is important for us to be prayerful, practical, and prepared as we move through the days and weeks ahead, and I would like to share with you the steps we are taking at this time to deal with this as a congregation.
First - as in all things - prayer is paramount. I ask you to join me in praying for the eradication of the coronavirus, for those individuals and families impacted by the illness, and for our health care workers and government officials at all levels working to manage through this challenging time.
Second - we must be practical and prepared as a congregation. Common sense precautions are the order of the day. As the potential for widespread contagion has increased, we have also appropriately increased our vigilance in preventing the spread of COVID-19.
Since receiving a letter from our County Judge Jeff Branick, we have made the decision to
broadcast our services this Sunday and not meet on campus. We encourage each of you to tune in at 9:30am to hear our message this Sunday, March 15. You can view our live service on our website (www.fbcbeaumont.org) and on our Facebook page (Beaumont’s First Baptist Church). We are praying about upcoming meeting times and dates and will let you know of our decisions early next week. When we do meet again on campus, we want to assure you we are taking steps regarding this issue.
Here are some of the ways our team is preparing for your safety:
1. When coming to our campus, please refrain from shaking hands on campus and during our services, classes, and events. A friendly wave, elbow bump, or simply a smile will do. We can certainly be friendly without shaking hands.
2. Please be vigilant about washing your hands. If possible, we will make hand sanitizer available at each entrance to the main church building, as well as plenty of soap and water across the campus. Please use the sanitizer as you come and go into our building.
3. If you are sick please stay home from worship and other church events. As a precautionary measure, we ask that families or individuals who travel to a country or region labeled as a Level 2 or higher by the CDC as it relates to COVID-19 to please self-quarantine from Beaumont’s First activities for the recommended 14 days before you and/or your children return to the church campus or home groups.
4. We are doubling the efforts of our cleaning crew with extra cleanings before Sundays and Wednesdays with special emphasis on keeping our nursery and children's areas clean. We will be working hard to ensure that our child-care workers and our little ones keep their hands clean. It is our goal to disinfect any surface touched by human hands before any main event.
5. For the next few months, we will use a self-contained ‘Lord’s Supper’ kit that will be preplaced in the seat back in front of you. If the kits are not available to purchase, we will celebrate Communion with deacons serving using gloves and tongs. We already do not pass the offering baskets since we have both online giving and drop-off boxes in the worship center and the Commons.
6. We are closely monitoring the situation and following the precautions advised by the CDC and other government health entities. Church staff and elders have also consulted with one of our leaders who is a physician to gain insight and wisdom from his expertise. The Southern Baptist Convention and the Southern Baptist of Texas Convention are now publishing updates and guidelines for our churches and we are already implementing those best practices.
Once again, gather with me (Dr. Moody) and the Beaumont First family online this Sunday for services at 9:30 am either on our website or Facebook live.
Dr. Christopher Moody