I can’t think of a sadder situation than not being able to be with a loved one who is dying in the hospital with Covid-19. I ask that you, along with me, pray for the sick and dying during this pandemic.

Historically, pandemics have left cultural, political, and social changes that last far beyond the disease itself.  The Spanish Flu of 1918, like Covid-19, was a virus.  It killed approximately 50 million worldwide, including 675,000 Americans.  As a result, this pandemic revolutionized public health, spawning the new fields of epidemiology and virology.  It led several Western European countries to adopt universal health-care systems that are still in operation today.

I understand we will need time to go through a grieving period.  Hopefully, as our bodies, hearts, and minds begin to heal, we will allow God to lead us to become a more unified country and world. Our churches are a most important part of this. We should not only be preaching “we’re all in this together”, but we should also be living examples of it.

This is our chance to do what Jesus told us we could do.

“I tell you for certain that if you have faith in me, you will do the same thing I am doing. You will do even greater things.” John 14:12

These past 41 years as I have traveled to your churches, I’ve seen how you’ve become more creative with music and media.  I am very proud of the many churches that are making their services available online. This is something we are continuing to learn and will find to be an evangelism tool that will allow us to do greater things and growing things in the name of Christ.  I am praying that we will use this time to put aside our disagreements and divisions and be the Church we can be and are called to be.