United Church of God

Letter From Stan Martin - August 4, 2020

Letter From Stan Martin

August 4, 2020

Hello everyone,

 

We are now two months away from the Feast of Tabernacles which is hard to believe how quickly time marches on. This Sabbath (probably on Friday) the Feast updates section will give us information about the changes made for some cancellations and added sites to enable those who have had their original site canceled be able to register for an alternate site. I believe the complete information regarding Feast sites and their requirements will be available to everyone by August 7th. This will allow everyone to make more informed decisions as to the feast just year. I certainly appreciate all the work Charles Melear has put forth on this project as well as the help from those working at the Home Office. I know everyone is interested in knowing the changes but it will be forthcoming soon.

 

Starting this week, we will have additional services in Kaufman at 10:30 am. As you will see from the email below from Brian Damour please be aware of the requirements health wise when attending services in Kaufman. I realize Kaufman is not ideally located for some but I suppose there is no place that is geographically convenient for some regardless of where we meet.. We were able to lease this facility for a very fair price through the feast of Tabernacles. This way we can use the facility for any unable to travel out of our local area for the Feast. It will be a satellite Feast site and online services will be provided each day. The question is "how many will avail themselves of the facility for Feast services?" Of course the answer is I have no idea but we were encouraged to provide a place for those in each metro area for those members that will not be traveling for the Feast. Of course, this option is just an attempt to help those that need a place to meet with other likeminded ones during the Holy Days feast of Tabernacles and 8th Day.

 

I am not sure how many will be attending the Kaufman hall each Sabbath until the Feast but I will let everyone know the attendance this week. Several are excited about being able to get back to services and feel more confident by everyone other than children wearing a mask. I realize that there are others that are not that close geographically but we will get back to the JCC once the COVID-19 is under control. I had sent out (in one of my pastor letters) the restrictions required for any meeting at the JCC. I do not know when we can meet again at the JCC but it will not be until the COVID-19 concerns are basically eliminated. As to when that will be we just do not know.

 

I would ask any men that have been on the speaking schedule and/or song leading schedule to let me know if they are willing to occasionally speak or lead hymns in Kaufman as we meet there until the Feast. Based on availability we will put together a schedule. I am not sure how often we will be able to have a sermonette in addition to the sermon but it will be based on how many are willing to serve in the congregation. This Sabbath, Bruce Benedict will be leading hymns and Brian Damour will give the sermon. Let us pray for the success as we strive to please God by meeting together.

 

We will be meeting as a total group on Trumpets. The meeting hall is the Bob Duncan center in Arlington. Our protocol will be based on the requirements of the Bob Duncan Center. Other than on Trumpets we will be meeting in Ft. Worth 11:00 am and Kaufman 10:30 am. We will be webcasting from Fort Worth. On the week of August 22nd we will need to meet in Ft. Worth at 2:30 pm as the hall is not available that morning. On Atonement we will again meet at the Fort Worth, Dallas and Lawton halls and not as a group but individually. Lawton will be meeting until further notice at the hall they met in last week......Prairie Building at the Fairgrounds; 920 SW Sheridan Road, Lawton. Time Lawton and Dallas/Ft Worth combined services for Trumpets will be listed in the next couple of weeks.

 

There is no Zoom Bible Study this week as the next one will be August 12th at 7:30 pm with Fred Whitlark taking the study.

I hope everyone has a good week. My son, Stephen, will be visiting us this weekend so Penny and I look forward to having him, his son, and friend staying with us this weekend.

 

Best Regards,

Stan Martin