A note from our pastor about our plans during the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak.
Good Morning Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I pray the Lord has been good to you this week and that you are all staying healthy. As families, employers, employees, community members, and as a church family we are doing our best to navigate unchartered waters with the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak. At one point I believed that we, as a small church body, would be able to weather the storm and continue to meet. However, with the recent developments in our own community and the Executive Orders issued by Governor Abbott, those plans are needing to change.
Given the entirety of the situation it seems prudent at this point to follow the guidelines and avoid gatherings of 10 or more. This is not an assault on our ability to assemble in worship but is rather a precaution in care for our community. As such, the Amarillo Primitive Baptist Church will not meet for regular worship services on Sunday, March 22nd or Sunday, March 29th. After those two weeks, we will re-evaluate the situation and make decisions from that point.
In the meantime, it is still important that we continue in worship and as such I would like for us to follow the plan set forth below. We are blessed with great technology that will allow us to continue as a church body to serve the Lord, just in a different way.
1. For this Sunday, we will try the Zoom technology. Given that the Amarillo church has not historically livestreamed our services we are not setup for a full livestream this Sunday. Instead, I will go live at 11:00 am central time on Sunday and broadcast a short message. The Zoom ID for this meeting is 160-182-822. You can join the meeting from a computer or smart phone. Unfortunately, do to everyone needing this technology the call in option is no longer available.
2. Because we are not equipped for a full livestream, we will not have a song service or prayer in the livestream. I encourage you to gather as a family in your home and engage in family worship while also joining the livestream for the message.
3. During this time, many churches are streaming their services. I would also encourage you to do a search on Facebook and enjoy listening to the messages from God’s ministers across the country.
4. While we are missing out on the opportunity to gather and fellowship, we need to find alternative ways to reach out to each other. I encourage each of you to call, text, Facetime, Skype, Zoom, or whatever other technology you have with others. Just because we are social distancing does not mean we should be emotional distancing. We need to work hard to continue to connect with one another.
5. Please remember that while we are not meeting, the church still has bills to pay. If you would like to make an offering please contact the Deacons and they can arrange for other methods to make offerings.
6. Finally, we are trying the Zoom method for this week. But this is trial and error. If we don’t like how it works this week we can always try a different technology next week. I know none of us want to be out of church and it feels incredibly sad to be canceling for two weekends, but let us love one another and do the best we can to worship in this difficult times.
Zoom ID – 160-182-822
With Love and Prayers,
Jeremiah
Amarillo PBC 
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