Dear Central Family:

We pray you are well. Despite not being able to worship together over the last month and experiencing a Holy Week and Easter in a manner none of us could have ever pictured, we are so grateful for the way that the church family has continued to remain engaged.  Normally, Easter is our highest attended weekend of worship each year and we missed being able to experience it with you in person. But, even with the limitations we had almost 2,000 people engaged in one of our weekend worship services on Easter Sunday.  We do not know how long this situation will continue, but rest assured our staff is working very hard at seeking creative ways to use technology to continue to be engaged and in ministry with you. 

Church Finances

Many of you have asked how the church is doing financially. We are pleased to report that our giving for the first quarter of this year was up over 20% versus the first quarter in 2019.  This is a great testimony to your faithfulness. We realize that some of you have experienced job loss or reduced work hours resulting in loss of income. If you find yourselves in need of financial assistance, please contact us so that we can help you through our benevolence ministries. Others of you have stepped up and provided gifts to fill the gaps.  We are so appreciative for your strong support of the missions and ministries of our church. 

In an effort to be fully transparent, none of us know yet when we can resume in-person worship and what impacts may lie ahead in the months to come. Because of this uncertainty, with help from the Finance Committee, we have sought to make adjustments and freeze certain expenses to be forward-thinking. We will continue to closely monitor our giving patterns in the season ahead and make any adjustments reasonably necessary to our spending patterns. 

Paycheck Protection Program

In the federal CARES Act, which was passed by Congress and signed by the President a few weeks ago, there were provisions in the Act for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which also extended relief to faith-based organizations. With the unanimous approval of the Staff-Parish Relations Committee, Finance Committee, and Church Council, we applied for and received loans for both the church and our daycare operations. The provisions of this loan program are such that the loan becomes a grant if the proceeds of the loan are spent according to the program rules. We anticipate being able to fully comply with the program rules thus making our loan 100% forgivable. The primary purpose for the loans and how we intend to utilize them is to provide for compensation of our staff over the next few months. This will help us avoid laying off church staff or otherwise reducing their compensation. 

Like many of our sister churches around the state and country who are participating in the PPP, we carefully studied all the ramifications of this program and are confident that there are no federal provisions that will impact our ability to have the full freedom of religious expression that we have previously enjoyed. The church has received loan proceeds of $464,100 and the daycare has received $73,500. The proceeds must be spent over the ensuing eight-week period after which time we will file a report with the bank regarding how the proceeds were used in compliance with the program rules. 

Online Worship

We were pleased to be able to provide both a classic and contemporary worship experience for you on Easter weekend. However, due to the demands it placed on our communications and technology staff to produce the service, we are planning to provide a combined worship experience in the weeks ahead including aspects of classic and contemporary worship and alternating preaching between the senior pastor and Rev. Jody Farrell, campus pastor at Genesis Church. We have received overwhelming positive feedback from the church family about this unified worship experience. 

Because of the tremendous increase in online worship since the COVID 19 outbreak, churches across America and beyond have enhanced their capabilities at providing worship virtually. This has resulted in an unprecedented drain on the Internet on Sunday mornings resulting in periodic challenges with those trying to connect to online worship. We apologize to any of you that have had this experience and know that it is not limited to our church having to navigate these challenges. Many have chosen to join us through the Genesis Church Facebook page where we simultaneously broadcast the service. Starting this Sunday, we will also be broadcasting the service on the Central UMC Facebook page.  We have found that most people connecting through Facebook have had far better experience overall. 

Prayer

Please know that we will continue to pray for the safety of our congregation during this pandemic and that we want to be in ministry to you in any way that we can. We want to make sure you are aware of ways that you can request prayer and be in prayer. You may call our prayer line at 479-582-HOPE anytime and leave your prayer request. You may also go to the COVID-19 Response page on our website and complete an online prayer request.  And, we have many health care professionals in our church family involved in responding to the COVID-19 crisis. We have opened a prayer board on the COVID-19 response page for you to see a list of those in our church serving in this way so that you may pray for them and to send them a prayer on the prayer board. 

Conclusion

If someone you know could use help with picking up groceries, medication, or other necessities, please contact our Director of Congregational Care Kim Witte  kwitte@centraltolife.com or by phone at 479-442-1840. She will get one of our volunteer Handy Helpers assigned to assist you. Also, if we are falling short in serving you and helping you in any way, we want to know. So, please feel free to reach out to our staff to let us know how we can better assist you in these difficult days. We hope to see you online this Sunday as we start a new sermon series called Different. 

Peace & Grace,

Dr. Jan Davis
Senior Pastor

Dr. Steve Pulliam
Executive Pastor

Brian Swain
Executive Director