April 1, 2020

What a unique time to be alive! COVID-19 has changed the way a lot of people are “doing” and “being” the church in a matter of a few weeks. As a pastor, I have felt a bit discombobulated because this wasn’t covered in seminary classes and I haven’t ever lived through a pandemic of this magnitude and with this kind of response. That being said, Freedom Church continues to go on! We have been live streaming our worship gatherings on Facebook since we launched the church in 2018. Also, since I am also an online college professor, and Pastor Trent, our associate pastor, is a social media manager for a non-profit, we are fairly comfortable with the online world. To help people stay connected, we increased our efforts on Facebook and have started to make more pastoral phone calls and sending more messages. We are grateful that technology allows us to maintain contact with people. You can see a picture taken the first Sunday we did #OnlineFC. The gathering room was empty, but a lot of people gathered online!

I recently preached on the “Greatest Commandment” from Mark 12. We have to really get creative in these times to truly love our neighbor as ourselves, yet it also becomes simpler because we are at home and therefore around our neighbors more.

As we gear up for Palm Sunday and Resurrection Sunday, I would ask that you continue to pray for us. Pray for gospel clarity and courageous proclamation. I have enjoyed seeing my Facebook feed get flooded with church services. Pray that those who are seeking the Lord would land on a church service that clearly proclaims the good news found in Jesus Christ. Pray that Freedom Church would be one of those churches.

You can read more about what Freedom Church is doing in response to COVID-19 as well as see some of our communication videos here. If you are on Facebook, you are welcome to join us at 10 am for our worship “gathering.” It is also streamed on our webpage.

Lyndsey has encouraged me to start posting some devotional thoughts to encourage folks. So far, #MinuteWithMaxon has reached a number of folks and I have received good feedback. You can see them on Facebook or my webpage.

While we are praying for a quick end to the spread of the virus and safety for those who have it or are around it, we are encouraged by a few things. First, the universal church is continuing to realize that we are not a building. At FC, we close every service by sending our folks (they aren’t dismissed) out into the mission field. Second, we are seeing folks come together to love and serve one another in the name of Christ. Finally, busy families are now getting more time together, eating meals together, and just being present. The picture below is the second week of #OnlineFC where we were able to worship together as a family.

Below are our praise and prayer requests:

-Cora is getting ready to finish Kindergarten, pray for her transition to first grade and some rest.

-Eisley is continuing to grow strong and has started crawling, pray for safety and continued health.

-Freedom Church is in need of financial resources for two major projects. First, we still need around $20,000 to complete the basement flooring and furnish the kids & youth rooms. We are almost done with painting. Second, we need about $3,000 for some computer and tech gear that will help us improve our live streaming and video production. If you would like to give to these projects, please visit our online giving page.

Thank you for your prayers and support. The Maxon’s