An Important Announcement Concerning COVID-19

Dear Oakwood Baptist Church family,

I have been keeping an eye on the COVID-19 virus situation almost hour by hour for the last 2 weeks. I want to update you about some changes we need to make here in our church schedule. I have counseled with many of our members who are in the medical profession and they have expressed their concern to me about large gatherings and the potential spread of this in our church. This information has increased my concern about what we should do. It came to my attention this week how easily one person who is affected can affect a church. A friend who pastors in Tennessee has recently been diagnosed with COVID-19. He is in the hospital in stable condition, and we trust and pray that we will be fine. He is a popular evangelist and a pastor of a rather large church. Suddenly all of his members are potentially exposed and the churches where he has spoken will be very concerned by his diagnoses. It made me concerned about our folks. I do not want that to happen here. 

Consequently, I want to strongly discourage you from attending church this Sunday or Wednesday. We will reevaluate at the end of next week. I hate this, but I feel like for me to be a good steward of my people and a good citizen to the community, we need to take this step right now. 

We will broadcast on Facebook Live this Sunday morning (3/22) at 11:00 am, Sunday night at 6:30 pm, and Wednesday night (3/25) at 7:00 pm. During the broadcast, we will have prayer requests through your Facebook Live comments and special music. We hope that you will join us. 

As you know, the financial needs of the church continue, and we encourage you to be faithful in your tithes, offerings, and faith promise giving during this time. We are doing a few things to make this easier for you and will update our members on that soon. Pray for our church, country, and the world. There are many hurting physically and financially. Many are sick and many have died. As hard times often do, many people are opening up their hearts and softening towards the Gospel message. We encourage our members to reach out to lost friends and family members using social media, email, phone, etc. I pray that you and I will use this time to share the Gospel with someone or help a friend draw closer to God. We must seek to make this time useful. I understand there may be some who dislike my decision. Bear in mind, I do not like it either. If you disagree, I pray that you would give me some grace as we work through this together as a church family. I am trying to look out for your best interests, and I hope you understand that. 

If you need me or any of our staff, please reach out. We are praying for you, and if you have any question, please contact me. We will see you tomorrow morning (3/22) at 11:00 am on Facebook Live. 

Sincerely, 

Pastor Brian Evans