I trust that the audio and video recordings that many of you have been receiving have been helpful. After the April Newsletter went out, I received several requests from people to be added to the email list. I felt like there was more response to that one newsletter than any newsletter that has gone out during the 15 years I’ve served the church as pastor. I know recordings are not the best way to communicate, but it is better than printed word or getting nothing at all. I have learned that this needs to continue once we are back together. There are people who have been connected to our church that have not been in the building in a good while and frankly, some have never even been to Richmond. For those of you who cannot get to the building at 2010 Carlisle Avenue on a regular basis, you have told me this is an important way for you to stay in touch. I also know that some of our members have been good about calling others that they know cannot listen because they do not have internet. This has been a real blessing to those people. Thank you for all that you do to connect with people during this time of physical distancing.

Allow me to explain why a couple of things missing from the videos. There is no music because, in order to stream music, you need a special license to do that. The license we have to copy or project music will not suffice for streaming. Because we do not know how long we are going to be away from the church, it did not seem to be wise to make that investment. Many of you on computers can stream music from multiple sources. I have not included others in the videos simply for simplicity purposes. To include others from other locations takes cutting and pasting, in other words, production people. There are probably those who would have helped, but that takes coordination and time. It has just been easier for me to do the video all at once.

You may be wondering why we cannot meet when other places can have groups. I encourage you to go the website for the Baptist Joint Committee on Religious Liberty www.bjconline.org and read some of their articles or listen to their podcasts. They will explain some of the legal differences between shopping and gathering for worship. Again, I will listen to our government and health leaders as I give counsel to our church leaders about when we can physically gather and what that needs to look like. In all likelihood, worship will come first. We will probably have to learn how to do Bible Study while doing physical distancing. The same is true for meals. Just as restaurants will have to make changes to their dining rooms and even the way meals are prepared and delivered, so will churches. Those things will take more time than entering the sanctuary for worship. We did that pretty well the last time we met.

Finally, May 10 is Mother’s Day. For many celebrating that day is going to be very different this year. I want to wish all of our Mother’s a happy Mother’s day, but I also want to encourage children and grandchildren to keep these women safe. Continue to maintain physical distancing so that you do not cause your mother/grandmother to become sick. Remember that for now, the keywords continue to be Stay home… Stay safe.

Howard

As I write this article, I am sitting in my office in a very quiet church building. There are almost no sounds, as the heating system is shut down and there is no one else here. I am sure if these walls could talk, they would say Sunday, March 22 was a strange day. It was not snowing, the weather was cloudy and gray, but no reason to call off church, where was everyone? Well, we were all at home, some of us around a tv so we could watch a service, some around the computer so we could see a service streaming online and some were around the computer listening to a sermon I recorded and sent out by email.

Yes, on Saturday, I recorded the message I intended to preach and then sent a link to it by email to everyone whose email I have. If you did not receive the email and would like to get the next sermon, please email me at hgermany@cabcva.org and I will add you to the list. In fact, on Sunday, March 29 I am going to try some new technology and that link will be in your email box.

I must give a shout out to Adam Granger at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in Atlanta. He made this technology available and I only had to call a number he gave me and then speak into my phone and it recorded the message and then he did the work to make it where it was easy to put the link in an email for those who received it to click and listen. CBF is trying to help churches, especially small ones like ours to be able to connect with our people. Adam is the Assistant to the Executive Coordinator of CBF. His father is the Minister of Education at FBC Athens, GA and I have known him for many years. Adam and I met at Passport in 2011 when our youth went. We reconnected when Paul Baxley, Executive Coordinator for CBF was in Virginia last year for our annual meeting. He offered his help because of our relationship, but he is also offering that help to other CBF Churches. So if you ever wonder, why do we give all of this money to missions, not only does it take the Gospel to the ends of the earth, it also provides a network of help to local churches.

Howard

The month of March promises warmer weather, although we are probably not longing for that as we have in other years since this winter has not been harsh at all. The time will change on March 8th so we will have longer afternoons to be out and enjoy the outdoors. With the outdoors, we will enjoy the beauty of spring and all that comes with the blooms, blossoms, flowers, leaves and yes, even pollen. I encourage you to get outside and enjoy the Spring.

This month also brings two important meetings in the life of our church. The first is our Spring Semi-Annual Business Meeting on Sunday, March 8th. We will meet at 9:30 AM in the Fellowship Hall. The second is our Semi-Annual Celebration of Ministry. This will take place on Sunday, March 22nd during the morning worship service. This will also take place in the Fellowship Hall so that we can show pictures of the different ministries that our church is involved in. Please make every effort to be at both of those important times as we meet and celebrate what God is doing among us.

We are also in the season of Lent as we prepare for Holy Week and Easter. I will be preaching from Matthew the first Sunday and then the rest of the month I will be focusing on passages from the Gospel of John. I hope that you will make plans to worship with us as often as you can during the Season of Lent.

Howard

Sunday, January 26 our church met in a town hall setting. The subject was whether we would be willing to give/donate the church building and grounds to CHAT with the understanding that CABC would be allowed to continue to meet in this space for a period of time as outlined in a renewable lease that is yet to be written. There was quality discussion and very few questions. Most came knowing how they felt. Everyone who want- ed to speak was afforded the opportunity. When the hour was over, there was no one waiting for the micro- phone. A ballot vote was taken with the question being, “Are you in favor of donating the church building and property to Church Hill Activities and Tutoring ena- bling CHAT’s ministry to grow and CABC to continue worshipping in the building. *CABC would retain rights to designated space as documented in a renewable lease.” There were 67individuals present for the meeting. 64 voted in favor and 2 voted no.

This is just the first step in the process. CHAT wants to have an assessment done to determine what issues there are in the building and then if those issues are beyond their reach. If they find that there are no surprises that they don’t feel they can handle, then leadership from both groups will meet and hammer out the details.

There is work to be done by CABC as we move for- ward. We will work toward putting in writing our desires for what needs to be in the lease, including what would happen should CHAT decide they no longer want to use the building for their purposes. We will also decide what if any money CABC would need to give CHAT for supplies etc. that both groups would use. We also need to make some decisions about what space in the building CABC wants to use as shared space and designated space. Then there is the task of cleaning out large amounts of storage space.

We will continue to work together as we move forward. Our church leadership is committed to transparency and providing all of the information that we can. There is the need for the church family to make the effort to attend important meetings. There was good representation at the town hall and it will be important to have that kind of representation moving forward.

Howard

A new year is upon us. As we finish up one year and begin a new one, I need to bring you up to date on our heating situation. The cause of our heating issue in the Sanctuary, office space and part of the Children’s wing was a kink in the oil line between the oil tank and the boiler. That issue was resolved by straightening the line. We are indebted to Matt Taylor from Chamberlain Mechanical for working to find the problem and getting it resolved. He also took two personal vacation days to come and work for free! What a gift. A member of our church has also pledged to give up to $5,000 to cover the cost of this expense. On a good note, we learned several things. One, the oil tank is newer than we thought. The lines to the building are also newer than we thought and in good shape. We also learned that there has been natural gas in the building in the past and that there is a gas line that runs with- in 6 feet or less of the boiler. We are going to check into the possibility of converting to a natural gas burner for the Sanctuary Boiler. I am sure there will be more news to come.

Second, the first two Sundays of the year I will be speaking on the State of the Church. Where we are and where we may be headed. I hope that you will make every effort to be present. On the last Sunday of January, we will have a church discussion for all who are interested about our future. This will take place during the Bible Study Hour (9:30 AM) in the Fellowship Hall. Please circle those dates on your calendar and make every effort to be present. Most of the discussion will be around our current attendance, current workers, finances and our ability to maintain this building. We will also be discussing our future relationship with CHAT and Church Hill Academy and what that might look like. The Church Council will be leading this discussion.

Howard