Here's the news for August 12!

• This Sunday (August 16) we'll have two services: one down at J. W. Wells State Park for our happy campers, and one at Carney Free Church. It will be great to worship together with our church family in BOTH places!
• Our service at Carney Free Church this Sunday will be outside in the front parking lot (facing US-41). Masks will not be required so long as we are outside and appropriately distanced. If you would like to worship along with us from your car, please take one of the parking spaces in the front parking lot; if you will be sitting in a chair, please park in the rear of the church (the Ray Street parking lot). Also, we could use some help setting up seating, sound equipment, and traffic cones at 9:00 on Sunday morning: would you be willing to lend some muscles to help?
• Take some time to consider what it would look like for you to join a small group in our church this fall. Who would you be glad to meet with? What would you like to read, study, and grow in with others? In our commitment to make fervent and obedient disciples for Jesus Christ, cultivating spiritual growth in all believers is essential. Are you willing and ready to grow in Christ with a small group in your church?
• We're looking for nominations for Elder for 2021: who's on your list? When you have someone in mind who you think ought to consider being an elder, call him, tell him so, and encourage him by telling him why. If he's willing to consider it, please contact Pastor Kit or one of the current Elders (Tim Johnson, Troy Meissner, Jamie Strietzel, Ed Anderson, or Brad Moreau) so that we can move ahead with Elder Training as necessary and the Elder selection process.
• Speaking of Elder Training, Pastor Kit is (slowly) making headway on bringing our Elder Training to video. This means that not only Elder candidates but any member of our church can take the time to learn the two key pictures that describe an Elder, how elder leadership works in our church, why we believe the position is for men, and what the Bible calls an Elder's character to be. We'll let you know when the training becomes available!

God be with you, Carney Free family! Lord willing, we'll see you Sunday––outside at the church or in the pavilion at Wells Park!

In This Update:

• This Sunday our regular service in Carney will move to Lake Lundgren Bible Camp so we can celebrate our baptism service and church picnic!
  • We've got five, maybe six people being baptized! Praise God! Join us for this step of obedience to the gospel especially!
  • We will meet outside at the campfire amphitheater if the weather permits. Bring a mask in case you find yourself unable to safely distance from people outside your family (Wisconsin state law) … but if you can keep your distance, you can keep off your mask :)
  • If you haven't signed up yet, go to www.perfectpotluck.com, plunk in Meissner for last name and cefc for the password, select the 2020 option, and sign up to bring something or serve somewhere. Thanks!
• On August 16, when we return to Carney, we're moving our services outside. Weather permitting, we'll set up the speakers and musicians under the carport, and we'll have seats available all around with room for people to park their cars out front as well. We've got a LOT of adjustments to make for this to happen, so don't be afraid to call the church office and offer your help! But if you know someone who's been waiting for us to meet outside before they rejoined us, please make sure they know this plan. Our outside worship services will recommend but not require masks so long as we are safely distanced.
• Who would make a good candidate for Elder in 2021? When you think of someone … tell him! And ask him for his permission to recommend him to the Elders to consider for the 2021 ballot. The Elders are taking nominations through the end of the month. This is a great opportunity for you to encourage someone who has been a mentor and to give thanks for his love and leadership in your life.
• All Elder candidates must go through Elder Training. Ever wonder what that meant? Wonder no more: Pastor Kit will be making videos for Elder Training to put up on our church website (and maybe Facebook) in the next 2-3 months. Thanks to all those who have been asking for Elder Training for Non-Elders since it first came up in 2017 … it's finally on its way!

Here's the scoop as we're on the edge of August!

• We're hosting a funeral this Saturday that was postponed from the end of March. Please ask God to bring this family closure and peace out of a tragic death; ask God to impress the good news of the Gospel on all who hear it in the service as well.
• Our missionary series continues this Sunday! We're looking forward to hearing our visitors bring a message from God's Word in the service––but you're selling yourself short if you skip out on our time upstairs in the Fellowship Hall with them at 9! If you can, make the effort to join in and hear about their ministry in the hour before our worship service begins!
• On the 9th we have a baptism service and church picnic at Lake Lundgren Bible Camp! There will be no service for our church in Carney that day. A few side notes: (1) we expect to baptize FOUR people: come and cheer them on! This deserves CELEBRATION!!! (2) Visiting missionary Jason Hryshkanych will be preaching in our service that Sunday--come out and enjoy the Word from the Lord he brings! (3) If you haven't already done so, go to perfectpotluck.com (Meissner = last name, cefc = password) to sign up to bring some food or to help with set-up / tear down!
• The following weekend, August 14-16, is the CEFC J. W. Wells State Park Takeover! Make your reservation at www.midnrreservations.com; then come set up camp at 3pm on Friday and tear down by 1pm on Sunday. There will be a "Carney South" service at the campgrounds, but we will still have an in-person service in Carney itself. If you can't camp, come visit! You can always come in with a MI Parks pass (or buy one on your way in that day).
• Now's the time to recommend Elder Candidates for 2021. If you have someone in mind, talk with him first and ask if he'd consider serving as an Elder. If he gives you his consent, talk with one of the Elders (Pastor Kit, Troy, Tim, Ed, Brad, or Stritz) so that we can follow up with him--especially to make sure he gets Elder Training before going on the ballot. We're accepting recommendations through the end of August!

• Good News! We've had four people request to be baptized at our August 9 service at LLBC this year; people at our church working at Roubal's have been bringing church to Helen Jones while family can't visit; outreach to our community is happening in creative ways this year (5-Day Club, Camp on the Road) that might not have happened without COVID; and people are living out their love for Christ in service to others at the Rummage Sale, on the Facilities Team, and with visiting missionaries. Thank you for the good news you are living out! When you see our people displaying love in action, let me know so I can help the church celebrate His work through us!
• Camp on the Road starts at 3pm this Saturday, July 25, at the Nadeau Township Hall on the north side of Carney! Pray for our LLBC staff leading the event, for the interns and volunteers hosting the various stations––and pray that God will put use us to spread the word and put it on the hearts of others in our community to join us, to listen to God's good news, and to choose to follow Jesus through this outreach. Camp on the Road is especially for kids between kindergarten through 12th grade, but don't be shy about coming down to show your support! And there might be a dunk tank with a local pastor in it, if you've been looking for an opportunity like this one …
• We've got missionaries joining us this Sunday! Please come and join them for their missions update at 9 in the Fellowship Hall, as well as for their message in our service Sunday morning.
• Remember how the lockdown really threw us for a loop when we would have been celebrating our 2020 Graduates this last May? With the Youth Worship Band this Sunday, we'll take time in our service to congratulate our graduates and send them on with the church's blessing. Whether you're with us in person or online, please reach out to this year's grads to encourage them and to bless them in this transition!
• The end of the month is here, so Fireside Fellowship will happen this Sunday night at 6:30p in the yard of Scott and Elizabeth Imhoff, just off 374 past the S-curves in Carney. Please call the church office if you need directions, or pick up a map at the church's Welcome Center on Sunday!
• Lastly, can you help us reach out? COVID has kept folks from church for a number of different reasons, and Pastor Kit and our Care Team are working through a bigger list of people than usual to try to keep connected. But if you know someone who could use a call or a visit especially, please help us out by calling, texting, or emailing Pastor Kit, the church office, or Tim or Hazel Johnson so we can minister to them more quickly.

A member came up to me (Pastor Kit) after our congregational meeting to encourage me to share with the congregation a warning about divisiveness in our current times. He had been reading through Romans 14 and thought it would be a fitting passage to pass on to our church as a whole. I agreed: may God lead me and you to take Paul's words to the Romans to heart as we turn our focus from our strengths and rights to peace among us and love for others with us.

• Tonight is the virtual CHALLENGE student conference with the EFCA! The livestream starts at 7pm Central Time, and you can get right to it here: https://www.challengeconference.org/. Pray for the speakers and leaders who are conducting this conference, and pray that God will move among the students who are still committed and tuning in tonight. "The theme of Challenge 2020 remains the same—Restless: Longing and Belonging. Only in Christ do our hearts find rest, and only as a part of His Church will we find out what it means to belong."
• Last week's rummage sale for the Czech Republic English Camps went really well! We got off to a very busy start on Wednesday, and by Saturday the sale had raised a bit more than $2,000. Thanks to Ruth Hryshkanych and Martha Palmer for their unceasing labor to pull this off, and to many, many volunteers who came through to make it happen!
• THIS SUNDAY has several newsworthy notes:
  • The bad news: Jim Panaggio is self-quarantined through Tuesday and can't join us this Sunday as we had originally planned. Lord willing, we'll see him up here on August 23rd instead.
  • The good news: Our streaming equipment has been arriving, and once we get a keyboard and a computer mouse in, we'll be ready to start streaming with new equipment! Pray that the installation goes well: we hope it will be ready for this Sunday morning!
  • The gathering news: instead of a potluck this Sunday before the congregational meeting, we're having a Bring Your Own Picnic! Fill your cooler for your family, pack a picnic blanket, and we'll enjoy eating together out on the church lawn together as a church family after the service this Sunday.
  • The business news: We are finally having another congregational meeting this Sunday, after the bring-your-own-picnic––our first congregational meeting since January! Jacob Burk has applied for membership, but we cannot approve him without a quorum from our current membership (which is currently at least 32 members present). Members, we especially hope that you will join us if you are able for our meeting Sunday.
• Coming up soon: Camp on the Road! LLBC is packing up its activities, crafts, and beloved staff to bring camp to the Nadeau Township Hall just north of the church a week from Saturday, on July 25. Cost is free; the camp is for kids from kindergarten through 12th grade. I know that Country Bible is also planning on having a contingent of youth to join us there! Pray that the children and students will be attending: pray that God would prepare them before the event, that God would move in their lives by the Holy Spirit through this event, and that God will continue to lead them to live by faith in Jesus Christ for the rest of their lives after this event!
• Lastly: I (Pastor Kit) am taking a poll to see who would commit to come to a regular Thursday evening service in the church parking lot where masks would be optional. It pains me to know that many of our church family are not joining us for fellowship on Sunday mornings; I'm wondering who would come to an alternate service such as this one. Please reach out to me by email or by phone (906-639-2165) if this interests you.

• Our Czech Rummage Sale goods are filling up the church basement as we get ready for it next week! Thanks for all the donations! If you have more to donate, please come on by the church anytime between 8–4 today, tomorrow, or Friday, so we can get it set with everything else. Also, if you're able to volunteer at the sale, we'd be very glad for your help! Let us know when we can expect you!
• Shoutouts to our volunteers! Thanks to our lawn mowers (the people driving them, that is), to our Food Pantry helpers in the month of June, and to our 5-Day Club leaders from last week. We're putting God's love on display in action; we're communicating the gospel to our community as we join in the work God gives us. Thank you for your fervent and obedient walk with Jesus!
• If you need some air conditioning, the church is a pretty cool place to be 😎 Come on over to the church, maybe pull up a chair in the Café Corner or grab a book out of the library, and enjoy beating the heat with us here. It would be great to see you here––maybe with some friends, too!
• In advance, Happy 4th of July. "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. … For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another" (Galatians 5:1, 13).

This week at church we've gotten a great start with our 5-Day Club. Many thanks to Megan Meissner for getting our church set up to host it (and for the yummy cookies!), and thanks to Miss Trish and Grace for their leadership for the club. We saw 22 kids on Monday and 25 yesterday, and we are eager to see ongoing, lived out responses to the call to have a relationship with Christ in these children. Please continue to pray for the children and for the leaders! And thank you for your encouragement and your prayers already!

First of all, we're returning to church this Sunday! There are a number of adjustments we're making … and if you'd like, check out the video that Tim, Hazel, and I made (thanks to Lana behind the camera) to get us all ready for Sunday!

Also, for those who won't be joining us in person but who would love to keep worshiping along with us as best they can from where they're at, we are buying equipment to allow us to stream our services from the sanctuary on to Facebook. If you have appreciated our ability to stream services and would like to continue to see our worship services reach people online, would you consider donating towards this purchase? Please call Lana if you're interested in helping offset the cost.

Summer discipleship opportunities are not decreasing this summer: they're abounding! Take a look at what's coming up so far:

• We'll be hosting a 5-Day Club, thanks to the efforts of Child Evangelism Fellowship, from June 22-26 at the church, from 2–3:30pm that week. The cost is free! Please share the news with your friends. You can find out more at https://www.cefonline.com/ministries/5dayclub/.
• The EFCA Challenge Online Conference for teens will be on July 15! Find out how to join at https://www.challengeconference.org/.
• LLBC is going on the road this year––and they'll be at the Nadeau Township Hall on Saturday, July 25, from 3–8pm! It's for kids from kindergarten through 12th grade, and it's free: call the church office to find out how to reserve a spot for your kids.
• LLBC is also selling "Camp in a Box," with t-shirts, water bottles, 15 hours of videos, an escape-room activity, and more. Click on this link to order one for your campers:
• https://lake-lundgren-camp-store.myshopify.com/collections/camp-in-a-box-2020/products/camp-in-a-box
• A trip down the Menominee River is in the works for our youth group, tentatively in early August. Stay tuned for more news on that!

A number of families are gathering for a church camping trip at J. W. Wells Park this summer, August 14-16. We'd love for you to join in! Reserve your own spot through the MI Parks website, and stick around: there will be a Carney Free church service at the campgrounds that weekend, too!

We've got a volunteer round-up: what opportunity to serve are you signing up for?

• We need volunteers to mow the church lawn this summer! Thanks to Gerry Guard, Mike Pollard, and Janet Neece for getting us through the start of June. Please call Lana to pick your week from June 22 onward!
• We need volunteers who can get up and down stairs well at the Food Pantry in Stephenson. Our church is signed up for Saturdays in June, from 9am–12pm. We'd love to have some families with young men offer their strength to serve the Lord and bless families in need! Please call Lana to let us know you can help!
• Finally, we could use volunteers to host Fireside Fellowships on June 28, July 26, August 30, or October 25. Call the church office if you're willing to get the bonfire ready!

Church family, I'm getting more excited each day to see those who are able to return to church this Sunday. May God be with you and strengthen you for His service in the days ahead!

The biggest news of the update: WE'RE GETTING BACK TOGETHER AGAIN! Sunday, June 14, at 10am will be our glorious return, our grand reopening for an in-person worship service on the church property. Do I sound excited‽‽‽

Further below, I'm including some adjustments we're asking those who are willing to attend in-person to make during this ongoing coronavirus season. Please read through them carefully as you evaluate whether you wish to return in person yet or if you will continue to attend from home for a while longer. But before I get to that list, a couple other announcements:

Tonight at 6pm there will be a summer discipleship brainstorming session to think through how we can pursue discipleship for our children and youth in the absence of LLBC's summer camps this year. Please check your emails to see how to join in on our session. This is open to all people to share ideas, not just the Christian Education team!

Have you seen the church lawn? How nicely mowed it is? Thanks to our volunteers who have pitched in so far (looking at you, Mike Pollard, Gerry Guard, Roger Jones, and Janet Neece)! Would you volunteer to mow the church lawn in one of the weeks of the summer still ahead? Please call Lana at the church office (906-639-2165) to find a spot to help.

Also, as restrictions begin to lift, if you and your small group or ministry team would like to meet in person, I want to encourage you to do so again. One of our ministry teams met in person yesterday in the Fellowship Hall to maintain a better degree of social distancing … and it was a good experience for all involved! Remember, not everyone in your small group or ministry team may feel the same liberty or have the same hesitation to meet, so please be quick to show grace to one another as you evaluate your opportunities in the weeks ahead.

All right: here are the adjustments that we will be asking our in-person attendees to make …

• Currently we will hold one service at 10:00am. If our attendance level makes it difficult to fit everyone into the sanctuary due to social distancing guidelines, we will work on splitting to two in-person services. Any overflow will be given seats in the lobby outside the sanctuary.
• If you do not feel safe attending our service in-person yet, we will continue to stream our services on Facebook every Sunday. We’re still working out a bunch of technical details on that, but we hope you can handle our work in progress as we try to extend our welcome to you and others who need to stay at home.
• When you arrive at church, you’ll see greeters there to welcome you. We will be requiring masks for all in attendance, so whoever needs a mask will be given one by a greeter. If you’re able to bring your own mask, that would be helpful! Anyone who cannot wear a mask for medical reasons will not be turned away from attending without one on. Please show grace to one another, church family!
• As you enter church, pick up your own bulletin, as well as a prepackaged communion cup with both wafer and juice if you wish to participate in communion. The bulletins and cups will be laid out in advance to avoid the spread of disease.
• At this time, there will be no discipleship classes, no childcare for nursery or toddlers, and no children’s church. Please warmly welcome families with these children in our service: welcome them as Jesus welcomed the children to come to Him. Give an extra measure of grace to moms and dads if their kids are fussy. We will resume these ministries once we get a feel for attendance in our services, individual volunteers feel safe returning to a child-focused setting, and the Elders give the green light.
• Ushers will help you find a seat so that we can get spaced out appropriately. We’ll be sitting in every other row and staggering seating as necessary. Families will be able to sit close to each other. Thanks for your patience with our ushers: they will do their best to serve you and everyone else in our church family!
• We will include singing in the church service, but we do ask that you sing with your mask on. If it’s too difficult to sing with the mask on, stop, enjoy the singing of those around you, and do what you need to get the air you require!
• We will have a touch-free greeting time in our service. Please wave to your neighbors, talk with those who are in your area, and use an abundance of non-contact ways to show your care for one another! We also ask that you stay in place during this time, as flooding into the aisles makes keeping an appropriate distance from each other a lot harder.
• We will not be passing trays for the offering or passing plates for communion. Don Anderson made a couple lovely boxes to collect our offerings that will be sitting in the church lobby. As you read above, anyone taking communion will pick up their prepackaged elements on their way in. We also ask that you throw them in the trash on your way out.

• For starters, Lana and Pastor Kit are both back to work on site at the church! If you need to give us a call, we're around. Or if you need to stop in, we'd love to see you!
• We could use some volunteers to help cut the church lawn! Thanks to Mike Pollard for getting us mowed this last weekend; if you're willing to jump on a mower and teach our dandelions a thing or two, please give Lana a call at the church office––or email her here!
• We are looking for volunteers for the last two weeks of June for the food pantry at St. Stephen's Lutheran Church in Stephenson (the 20th and the 27th). The hours are from 9-12 on those two Saturdays. To offer to help, or to find out more about it before you jump in, call or email Tim or Hazel Johnson.
• Ministry Teams: what would you need to get rolling now if we were to have in-person services again starting June 14? Please consider reaching out to each other to start making plans for that tentative reopening date.
• Please pray for Lake Lundgren Bible Camp. Their heart is to honor God and to act uprightly in the sight of outsiders as they decide upon their plans for this summer. Ask God to give them wisdom, clarity, and unity of mind and spirit as they look to settle their decisions for what's to come.

It was wonderful to see so many of you at the Memorial Day services at our local cemeteries! Can't wait until we get to see each other again! Which reminds me …

• We will have another prayer meeting at church tomorrow night, May 28, at 6:30pm in the parking lot at the back of the church (along Ray Street). Don't forget to bring a mask … and a lawn chair to sit down in! Thank you for continuing to pray for the needs of one another, our church, our community, and our nation.

God be with you all, brothers and sisters in Christ!

• The Elders have discussed reopening the church … and we're looking at mid-June! Plenty can change between now and then, but we want to make sure that, with the reopening of the UP, we don't contribute to a new spike in cases right away. As we move closer to the middle of June, we'll give an update on when we'll get back to in-person services again.
• Next week will be our last Kids' Night on Facebook! Thanks to all who have been joining us on Wednesday nights at 6pm to sing, do Sword Drills, walk through the Color Book, and share Bible stories together. We'll still look forward to seeing you tonight and on the 27th!
• Our Prayer Team is hosting a Prayer Night in the church's back parking lot (along Ray Street) tomorrow, May 21, at 6:30pm. We'll be observing social distancing (6 feet apart) and asking everyone to wear a mask––but if you've been itching to see one another, in person and not on a screen, come and pray with us!
• We have been helping with the Mid-County Ministerium's Food Pantry at St. Stephen's Lutheran Church in Stephenson for several years … and we may be on to help again in June! If our help is still needed for hosting curbside pickup for those in need in our community, we need to get volunteers together to serve. If you're willing, would you please reach out to Tim and Hazel Johnson to let them know you're available?
• Please pray for my (Pastor Kit's) parents and all those living in Midland, MI. After several dams burst (at least four), they are experiencing floodwaters from the Tittabawassee River. The flood may be cresting about now (2:00pm on 5/20). A river depth of 24' is considered a flood, and a major flood is 28'; as of noon their time today, the river was at 35' and still rising. My parents are safe, but they are among about 10,000 people who have had to evacuate. Thanks for your prayers as they look to God to help them all through this time.

• First, thanks to the ministry teams that have found ways to meet during the last couple months. A number of groups are using Zoom or finding other ways to conference call with one another––great job! Thank you for continuing to serve the church and lead onward so that we can press on to follow Jesus together.

• According to the website for the EFCA youth conference, Challenge, the conference leaders believe that "The best way to serve you this summer is to shift Challenge 2020 from a physical gathering in Kansas City to a one-night, virtual gathering." It will be a free event to join in online; more details are promised to be on their way soon!
• In light of what's happening with Challenge, Bryan and Scott are working together with Stritz at LLBC to plan an adventure trip for our youth in early August: likely a canoeing/fishing trip down the Menominee River. For more details, stay tuned for information from Bryan and Scott!

• When are we getting together in person again, Pastor? I don't have a date yet. Cases in the UP have been decreasing for the last two weeks, and other area churches are opening up this coming Sunday (Bark River Bible, Central Baptist, and likely some others). I (Pastor Kit) can't guess whether the cases will increase or decrease in the next week or two, but I am also very eager to open up, to welcome everybody back to church again––once the elders talk again and feel peace with a decision that the time is right!

• Be sure to join us tonight at 6pm for Kids' Night, tomorrow at 2pm for our next Book Reading (either Packer's Knowing God or Sproul's The Holiness of God), and Sunday at 10am for our next streaming worship service!

The quick overview: thanks for your ministry through masks, we'll probably add an earlier in-person service when we can meet again, keep on giving to the benevolence fund if you can so we can keep helping families in need, there's more coming up on Facebook this week, ask three short questions to help you love your neighbor, and get out there and enjoy the beautiful day God has made!

The State of the Church Address doesn't take the place of a congregational meeting of the church membership, but it is a more thorough update than previous weekly updates. THANK YOU to all the leaders and participants in our church who continue to minister and to serve, even when we can't meet together in person as we'd like!

The PDF of the State of the Church address is available for download here.

Good afternoon, church family! Here's what you need to know in the latest CEFC COVID Update:

• Our Elders and Ministry Teams are working out what we will need to do when we unlock the doors of the church and start having services in person again. But don't worry: we will continue streaming our services on Facebook so that you don't have to put yourself at risk if you don't feel safe going out quite yet. I'll be sure to get you more details when we have them!
• Next week's update will be fuller: in place of a congregational meeting, Pastor Kit will give a "State of the Church" address on Facebook Wednesday, April 29, at 2pm. He will be reaching out to our Ministry Team and Committee leaders soon to make sure he represents them well during the update.
• HUGE THANKS to our mask makers: Ruth Hryshkanych, Danni Anderson, Sherry Cooper, Colleen Seaton, Debbie Stiglitz, Sherri Garnett, and Joe Garnett. And also thanks to those who have donated supplies and made deliveries: Elizabeth Heyer, Deanna Moreau, and Mike Pollard. You all rock!
• We do urgently need more people willing to sew, because the demand for masks is still high. Also, if you can donate cotton fabric (cotton only, please!), thread, or thin elastic, please reach out to Mary Ann Peterson.
• Need a mask? Know someone who needs a mask? Reach out to whoever's closest to you: for Carney area, Caralene Jurmu; for Stephenson area, Tim and Hazel Johnson; for Pembine area, Mary Ann Peterson.
• Upcoming livestreams will be tonight (4/22) at 6pm for Kids' Night; tomorrow at 2pm for Pastor's Book Reading (Let the Nations Be Glad! by John Piper), and Sunday at 10am for our worship service. We'll be in James 2 together on Sunday morning.
• Lastly, keep connecting to each other! Sometimes we let our connections with others fall off the radar, especially as the quarantine gets settled into a new and very strange normal (yes, it can happen). But make those calls, send those cards, yell back and forth between the front door and the road! Let's keep the love alive for one another and for our neighbors!

Good afternoon, church! Here's what's happening lately at Carney Free …

• Thanks to all who spent time in prayer at noon today! And thanks to prayer team for calling us to prayer again! It's good to be reminded to pray, and good to come before the Lord and remember His character and His faithfulness in the ongoing situation.
• Pastor Kit will lead another livestream for kids on the church Facebook page at 6pm. We hope that you can join us again tonight!
• I sent out a Flash Update yesterday to ask for help with the Food Pantry delivery next week––and you came through! Big thanks to those who volunteered to pack up food, drive it down, and unload it.
• Tomorrow at 2pm on Facebook I'll do another book reading, this time sharing the chapter "Lord, Liar, or Lunatic" from More Than a Carpenter. Hope that you'll join in to comment and discuss!
• We're going to have another Zoom meeting with the Pastor after church on Sunday! It was so good to see one another's faces again! For those joining us on the Zoom app, email Pastor Kit for the Meeting ID and the password. If you'd like to just call in with your phone, the phone number is +1 312 626 6799; you can put in the Meeting ID and the password from Pastor Kit when prompted.
• The recent Mask Drive is going great! Huge thanks to Mary Ann Peterson, Caralene Jurmu, Tim and Hazel Johnson, and all those making masks in this season. If you'd like to join in making masks, or if you know of any needs, please let Caralene Jurmu know.
• A grocery delivery update: we are thankful for so many volunteers! Now we're waiting on people to take us up on the offer to pick up and deliver their groceries! If you know a need, please reach out to Hazel Johnson.
• Thanks for continuing to give to the ministries of the church! Please also consider supporting other Christian ministries that will be affected by this virus season, like Christian camps as their enrollment for summer drops. Or set money aside for neighbors in need, like Paul encouraged the church in Corinth to do (1 Cor. 16:2). You can always give to Carney Free Church by sending checks to 52 Church Street, Carney, MI, 49812; or online at carneyfreechurch.org/give.

God be with you, brothers and sisters in Christ!

I pray that you are staying safe from the looming virus––and staying close to the Lord. Please, don't hesitate to reach out if you could use a helping hand, a prayer, or someone to talk to! And many thanks to those who are already reaching out to share the love of Jesus with others!

Here are the main items for our ongoing church life at Carney EFC:

• Our Good Friday service at the cross in Carney will be livestreamed on Friday at 6:00pm. It's a livestream only event, so keep your car keys where they are! But please join us; I will send out lyrics for Good Friday's songs to you Thursday, April 9th (Lord willing)!
• Our Easter Morning service will be livestreaming on Sunday at 10am! I'm looking forward to worshiping along with you and continuing to celebrate one of our strangest settings for Easter to-date. Remember, if you're not on Facebook but you'd still like to watch the livestream, go to this website and you should be able to join us: https://www.facebook.com/carneyfreechurch/live/.
• I'll also be hosting a Zoom Meeting after the Easter Morning service for questions about the sermon, questions about book readings, or other Q&A with the pastor. I’ll give the Zoom meeting ID at the end of the service in the Facebook comments, and (hopefully) in an email to all our regular attenders.
• I plan on doing Book Readings on Facebook Live regularly on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 2pm. This means that I'll try to finish chapter 1 of The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert tomorrow at 2 … and I'd love to have you along as I read! You can catch up on what you've missed by going to the church Facebook page OR by checking out our videos here.
• Huge thanks to those who gave for our benevolence fund last week! We're able to help out some more folks with this boost, so please let me, Lana, or our church elders know who may be in need in the coming weeks. If you need it, you can give online here.
• Would you be interested in joining a Mask Ministry? If you’ve been making masks for going out amid the virus, and you’re looking for a way to distribute them, let Pastor Kit know so we can see if we have enough momentum and supplies to make them available in our community. I wonder if a Mask Drive to make 200 might work … and don't forget, we are getting a Grocery Pickup outreach going as well, so reach out to Tim and Hazel Johnson (or me) if you're willing to help OR know someone who needs help.
• Keep on praying for one another, brothers and sisters. Many thanks for your prayers already! I'm in the enviable position to hear from those for whom you're praying and to repeatedly hear, "We feel your prayers! Please tell everyone thank you for both their prayers and for their other expressions of love in our difficulty!"

Several developments over the last 48 hours deserve to be shared with you! Here's what going on with our church during COVID-19.

• First, we are extending the suspension of all in-person church activities through at least April 30. We do not know when we'll be returning to meet in person, but when we know, you'll know too.
• Here are the words for the music we'll be singing this Sunday, April 5. The words will be up on our carneyfreechurch.org/media page as well.
• On Saturday, April 4, The Gospel Coalition is hosting A Day of Prayer and Fasting. There's a morning prayer, midday prayer, and at 6pm (7 Eastern), a prayer and song time via Facebook Live and YouTube. If you're not able to participate on Saturday, the Forest Lakes District will also be coordinating churches in our district for another day of prayer on Tuesday, April 7.
• Our Congregational Care Team is putting together a Grocery Run Ministry as the wave of COVID-19 comes closer. When families are locked down in quarantine, they will need others to pick up and deliver groceries to them for a full two-week period. If you are willing to participate in this new ministry, would you please reach out to Tim and Hazel Johnson? And if you know someone who needs to be ministered to with a grocery run, would you let the Johnsons or me (Pastor Kit) know?
• HUGE thanks to all of you who are financially supporting the ministries of the church! Lana is still picking up checks that are being mailed to the church, and many of you have set up giving online due to our new situation. Thank you! If you are able, would you consider giving to the Elders' benevolence fund as well? This will enable us to help families who are set back financially in this time, who need groceries and medicine, or otherwise provide for needs in our church and community. We have recently written checks to help four different families and don't want to have to delay other support to those truly in need.
• Lastly, don't forget that while COVID-19 is a big deal, so are wood ticks and deer ticks as the snow melts. Use that bug spray, and check yourselves as you come in from the woods! We'd hate for Lyme's Disease to spike in our area just because we were so focused on this new disease coming around …

God be with you all, Carney Free Family!

Grace and peace, Pastor Kit

Quick takes from the update on March 30:

• English Camp in the Czech Republic has been postponed until next year, but teachers and friends are still staying in touch and making plans to reach out to one another online
• A big sanitization party will be in the works once the quarantine is lifted, so if you'd like to join in the Deep Cleanse of the church, stay tuned and get in touch with Martha Palmer
• Send your Easter videos to Pastor Kit! Something as simple as, "Happy Easter from the Gunderson family!" would be terrific. If you'd like, maybe read the resurrection story from one of the gospels (Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, or John 20), or another passage about Jesus rising from the dead. For the musically inclined, share a favorite Easter song with us! Pastor Kit will upload videos to our Facebook page and to our church website for a full, church-wide celebration of Easter, even as we're all apart.
• Thank you for giving. Compared to this time last year, we are actually ahead on our giving to the ministries of the church! And please take time to consider how to be generous to those in need around you during this uncertain season. If you haven't set up giving online yet and you'd like to, click here or go to "Give" in the website menu.
• Thanks to all the encouragers who have been sending texts and emails, both to me (Pastor Kit) and to one another! And a thanks again to all of our discipleship class teachers and small group leaders: your ministry to us is missed, and we thank God for you!

In case you missed it, Troy Meissner, our Elder Board chairman, shared a devotional on Facebook! Break out your Bibles to Psalm 91 and take courage in God's power to protect and to save.

Look forward to seeing you tomorrow at 10:00 for our streaming service on Facebook! We will also post the service on the Livestreams page here after it's finished recording.

Here's the summary of the video today!

• We've made a bunch of updates to our church website, including a page devoted to church updates during the COVID-19 season. If you've made it this far on the church site, then you're right on track …
• If you desire to give to the ongoing ministries of Carney Free Church, especially in this COVID-19 season … thank you. We are thankful for how you support our church staff, our missionaries, and our own members as we continue to prepare worship services, support missionaries around the world and in our communities, support our small groups and other discipleship opportunities online, and care for our neighbors in this time of crisis. Click here to get to our giving page.
• Pastor Kit will continue to post devotions for grown-ups and for kids during the week -- and he will also be reading from different Christian classics online, including Mere Christianity and The Problem of Pain (C. S. Lewis), The Pursuit of God (A. W. Tozer), Life Together (Dietrich Bonhoeffer). Interested in joining a videoconference book study or Bible study? Let Pastor Kit know.
• Pastor Kit has also been gathering email addresses to make sure our church can stay informed quickly. If you are willing to help get the news out regularly by calling one or two people who are not connected by email, please tell Pastor Kit.

God be with you all! More updates to follow!

Putting out the basics for everybody to hold on to, for now. It's good to know what's what for the time being …

Do the Five

• Wash your hands regularly
• Cough into your elbow
• Keep your hands away from your face
• Keep 6 feet apart from others
• If you have a fever, are coughing, and feel shortness of breath, call your doctor about whether to get tested for coronavirus.

In the meantime, all in-person activities at the church are postponed until April 13. Our Sunday morning gatherings will take place online every Sunday at 10 a.m. on our Facebook page (facebook.com/carneyfreechurch). Please join us!