May 28, 2020: Letter from Pastor Cassie
Grace and Peace to our Decatur Methodist Family,
I am excited to report to you that our Church Council has approved a plan for In-Person Gatherings. This plan outlines the measures for preparing and maintaining a safe environment of everyone who comes to our campus for in-person worship and/or programming.
After careful consideration of the Texas DSHS guidelines for Houses of Worship, as well as an ongoing monitoring of the new COVID-19 cases in Wise and surrounding counties, we believe we can be ready to safely conduct in-person worship on June 14. This date is contingent on our ability to be ready by that date. According to the guidelines, we are taking measures for social distancing in each of our Worship spaces and will adhere to a schedule that will allow for people to safely gather, exit, and clean between services. This schedule is as follows:
8:30 am Sanctuary In-person Service
10:50 am Sanctuary In-person Service
*Both Services Livestreamed Online
As preparations are continuing for our June 14 date, here's how you can help. At the end of my letter is a button to take a survey. This survey will help us to prepare for your presence in each service time. Please discuss a worship time that fits your household and let us know when to expect you. The survey invites you to volunteer for one of our worship teams. Volunteers will receive training and be assigned to a rotation schedule for serving. We need the following:
Greeters Team for each service - these people will handle the entrance and exit doors to reduce the touches to a single surface. The requirements of this job are a friendly smile and a willingness to make everyone feel welcome as they enter our worship spaces.
Ushers Team for each service - these people will assist worshipers in finding seating. Our spaces will be pre-marked for social distancing and we all may need help finding a new "favorite" place to sit. The requirement for this job is a non-anxious presence and a willingness to help households sit and worship together.
Cleaning Team for each service - these people will assist in getting our worship space ready for the next service by helping us pick up and sanitize our worship space following the service. The requirement for this job is a willingness to "stay after worship" in an effort to care for one another through the work of your hands.
Livestream Tech Team - these people will learn to ensure that our livestream feed is available to online worshipers. The requirement for this job is a desire to monitor the worship activities during the service from the computer and livestream camera. Comfort with computers and an aptitude for computers and basic sound board knowledge is helpful.
Online Greeter Team - these people will comment and interact with other worshipers and drop in the links at the appropriate time during our Live feed on Facebook. Comfort with social media engagement is a helpful skill for people on this team. This job can be done remotely.
The complete In-Person Gathering Plan and a One Page Summary (including what to expect when you attend) are available for your review on our website: decaturmethodist.org/covid or pecanstreetmission.org/covid.
Please take time to complete the survey by clicking the button below. Your feedback is important as we prepare to worship together, in-person or online.
May God bless us in new ways as we move into this next season of faithful discipleship as the Decatur Methodist Family.
Pastor Cassie Wade
