Merry Christmas everyone! I hope and pray you are healthy and enjoying God’s hand in your life. This year has continued to bring challenges and opportunities that we have never seen before. As we continue to maneuver life amidst a pandemic, my prayer is that we get a sense of how much God loves us and cares about us. Despite all our struggles, we serve a God who loves us, cares about us, and is working for the good of those who love him (Romans 8:28). That is one reason I love celebrating Christmas. Jesus came the very first Christmas to bring hope, peace, joy, and love to the world. Those are the topics we talk about every Christmas, and frankly they are what we need to hear about most right now. Take time to embrace Jesus’ love for you. May He bring you peace and joy this Christmas season. And may you sense His hope as He is greater than anything we can face.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Christmas Eve Service is at 6:30 pm Friday, December 24th. The service will be recorded, and the live video will be posted online as soon as possible following the service. There is a short video announcement currently online that will be replaced by the service video. No Sunday video this week. Per our tradition at Central, we will have a testimony service Sunday morning at church. This will be a time of praise and prayer, and due to the nature of the service it will not be recorded and posted online. Regular videos will resume January 2nd. Have a Merry Christmas! I look forward to seeing many of you Christmas Eve and Sunday morning. For those joining us online and those I’ll see, I wish you a very Merry Christmas as we celebrate our Savior’s birth. In Christ’s love, Pastor Bart Greetings! I hope this letter finds you well and experiencing the love of Jesus as well as His hope and peace every day. Grace and peace to you all!
As you may have heard, the Covid numbers in Michigan are very high. They are peaking again, and our governor yesterday had a press conference urging people to continue precautions and pause several types of activity. The numbers are so high Michigan has made the national news (not the way you want to make the news). With that said, Central Wesleyan Church will meet in person Sunday. Please continue to adhere to social distancing protocols:
With the numbers high and this pandemic raging on, if you feel the best decision is to stay at home, please feel free to stay home. We will continue to have our video service online at www.cwc-jackson.org. We will also continue to have the conference call at 10 am at (517)798-6975 for a chance to connect and pray together Sunday morning for those at home. There is also a link to giving on the website for tithes and offerings. Thus far, we have been able to safely maneuver this pandemic as a church. Of course, meeting in person is fluid at this point. If someone who has attended church tests positive for Covid, we will most likely need to shut down for a week or two. I pray that will not be the case. I also pray that God will continue to work in and through all of our lives every day. May God bless your day! In His service, Pastor Bart Come join us to celebrate our Risen Savior! He is Risen! I am extremely thankful we get to celebrate a Risen Savior! Most importantly, I'm thankful for that Savior and the sacrifice He made for you and me. Last year, we all celebrated Easter at home. I'm thankful we have the opportunity to be together. We will still be spaced out, and we have two services offered to help us continue to worship safely.
Easter Schedule: 9:00 am Worship 10:30 am Egg Hunt for kids 11:00 am Worship The two services will be identical to each other, so pick one! We will also have the service recorded and posted online for those at home. We look forward to worshipping together for Easter! NOTE: there will be NO CONFERENCE CALL on Easter Sunday. Central will re-start LIVE and in-person worship services at the church starting January 31st. Again, we will worship together on January 31st at 11 am. We will still maintain the protocols we have had in place (see post below from June). Doors will be open approximately 15-20 minutes before the service, and we will ask people to not congregate in the lobby or walkways.
For our worship services, visit our website at www.cwc-jackson.org to access the videos of worship services and a link for tithes and offerings. I thank God we have the technology to be able to provide our worship services during this time. When we return to services at the church, we will continue to provide services on video for those choosing to worship at home. Whether you choose to worship from home or the church building, please know you are loved and prayed for. I miss you all and look forward to seeing many of you soon! Pastor Bart Hello everyone,
As I reflect this Thanksgiving, I am thankful for all of you. I know this year has been tough, and we have not seen each other near as much as we would like. But I wanted to let you know I say thanks to God often for our church and for all of you. Thank you for being a part of Central and a part of my life. I have said many times to younger pastors that a “fit” at a church is most important. I remember having a pastor as a youth that I really liked, but he struggled to live in the farm country I grew up in. He was a city guy, and my home church never felt like home for him. My family has been blessed to have a church home at Central, and I want to say thank you. I encouraged you in my message last week to find what you are thankful for, and I thought I should be clear and say I am thankful for all of you. My entire family loves our church. Kristy and both my boys are actively involved in some role of ministry at the church, and we love calling Jackson home. I cannot tell you how grateful and thankful I am. I am counting my blessings this Thanksgiving. So… thank you! I hope to hear from you at the Sunday morning conference call at 11 am. The phone number to call is 517-798-6975. It is easy to connect. All you have to do is call in and you are connected with everyone else. The video of our worship service will be posted to our website www.cwc-jackson.org. It is our first Sunday of Advent, and it feels weird opening the Christmas season online. We hope to gather in person again soon, and I know that “soon” is a relative term. May you have a very blessed and happy Thanksgiving! Thanks again for being you and being a part of our church and my family’s life. In His service, Pastor Bart Dear Church Family,
Over the past few weeks, we have seen the number of Covid-19 cases in Michigan grow significantly. Back in March, our Local Board of Administration had to make the announcement that we would suspend services in our church building for the foreseeable future when Michigan was averaging 121 cases per day. This past seven days, the average is 3,645 new cases. Depending on where you live in Michigan, our state is currently either experiencing outbreak or at extreme risk for outbreak. With that said, the LBA decided tonight (November 4, 2020) that we will not gather physically at the church for the next four weeks. We are planning on coming back together on December 6 for our next worship service in person. We know watching a video is not the same as attending in person, but for the next four weeks we are taking a break and praying the Covid-19 numbers subside and decline. This decision is not based on anything that has happened at the church or an outbreak among those who have attended service. Thank you everyone for working hard since we re-started live worship services back in June to keep the virus from spreading among the church and allowing services to continue. We are pleased with how services have been going and the safety measures put in place. The data and sheer number of cases have driven this decision, and we pray for the safety and wellbeing of all our church members along with our community, state, nation and world. You can view our weekly service on our website www.cwc-jackson.org. The pre-recorded worship service will still be posted on Saturday, so you can choose the time you’d like to watch it. You may also give tithes and offerings through that website or via mail to the church. Sunday morning, you are invited to join your church family on a Sunday morning conference call. Call 517-798-6975 at 11 am on Sunday morning for a time to connect and have prayer with your church family. Truth be told, this was a highlight for many when we had to shut down services in spring. Honestly, all of the LBA would prefer to be in worship services at the church. In the spring, we were online for three months and it felt so great to come back together in June. This time, we are already looking forward to December 6 and re-gathering as a church. We all miss it when we cannot get together! We will keep you posted if there are any changes. Michigan has been in a critical stage for a week now, and we pray it does not last. I look forward to gathering with you all soon. For the next few weeks, we will need to connect in other ways. Again, I’m thankful for the past 20 weeks we have been able to meet together, and I look forward to many more! I’ll keep you updated along the way. Praying for you all, Pastor Bart Hello everyone,
I wanted to send out a reminder to let you know that I appreciate all you are doing to help stop the spread of Covid-19. With the numbers shooting up all around us, as your pastor I appreciate your willingness to distance and wear masks. I am sure many people are like me and wish we could just go back to normal, but that is not happening right now. I pray regularly that God will keep you all safe and healthy. So please continue to wash your hands, wear your masks at least until you're in your pew, keep the entryways and common areas free of congestion, and please arrive no more than 15 minutes prior to service. 2020 has been a difficult year, and I really don't want to give an hour back to 2020. But, this weekend is the weekend to set our clocks back. We gain an hour, so remember to set your clocks back Saturday night. I look forward to seeing you all soon... and yes, I know that's a relative term. I hope you've all had a great week. In His service, Pastor Bart Hello everyone,
I have two updates Update #1: Sunday morning's service has been moved inside due to the weather forecast. The weather is supposed to clear up midday, so we will also plan on having our picnic and baptism tomorrow night at 5 pm. If we have to wait ½ hour to hour for weather to clear, we will. So, here’s the schedule for Sunday: 11:00 am worship service at Central 5:00 pm baptism and picnic and Ron and Joyce Truman’s home Update #2: With the new executive order limiting indoor gatherings to 10, it is essential we adhere to social practicing measures:
As a church, we need to be diligent in working to keep ourselves and others safe. Thank you for your cooperation! With love, Pastor Bart Sunday’s service is planned to be outside at Ron and Joyce Truman’s house. The forecast is not looking promising, so I will send an email announcement out around 6 pm Saturday night to let everyone know where we will plan to have service. Again, the plan is to have it at Ron and Joyce’s house outside. If we have to cancel, we will go to the church for service.
I’m praying the weather cooperates! If we have to cancel, we will announce when we will do the picnic and baptism. Thank you, Pastor Bart Hi everyone!
Please check out the following video. It discusses our re-opening plan and what we would like to do to help keep everyone safe. https://vimeo.com/427596112 We plan to worship again together on June 21. If you choose to worship together, please follow the guidelines mentioned in the video. Please stay home if you are feeling ill or are at a high risk for COVID-19. While the numbers have been going down, it is still a very serious disease that we need to take seriously. Videos will still be provided online. I miss you all! Bart |
AuthorBart Hall has been pastor at Central since June of 2006. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Wesley Seminary. He is passionate about following Christ and living the life God desires for us to live. He is married to his wife Kristy, and they have two sons. Bart loves sports, reading, golf, and playing games. Bart also serves as a local hospice chaplain. Categories |