To:The Sanctuary Family–the Beloved

Ref: Corona Virus Response

Greetings Sanctuary Family,The Sanctuary Board and I have discussed the coronavirus crisis (COVID-19) and our response. Walking with prudence and in accord with the national & state guidelines being issued, and up-dated almost daily, we have enacted the following:

*All public and small group gatherings at The Sanctuary have been suspended for the foreseeable future.

*The church will be providing a number of on-line messages and links FaceBookLive, YouTube, and The Sanctuary webpage.

*I will broadcast a Facebook Live message Sundays at 10:00am, and several others throughout the week. These will be posted on The Sanctuary Family Face Book page.For each broadcast you watch, please activate the “Watch Party” option as this will spread these messages to your entire CONTACT list. The moniker for my broadcast will be “from the Pastor’s Porch”. If you are not on Facebook, this is a great way to connect with the Church Family.The Sanctuary Board, ministry workers, and I love and care for our church family! Your health, well-being and safety matters to us. With that in mind, we encourage you to follow these precautions to keep yourself and others safe.

You can help stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus in the following ways:

*Follow the Shelter in Place guidelines.

*Stay home when you or family members are sick

*Wash your hands often with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds, especially after being out in public, using the restroom, before eating,and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing.

*Turn away from others and cover your sneeze or cough with a tissue or your elbow.

*Get in the habit of not touching your face with unwashed hands.

*If you are returning from a high-alert area, stay home until the 14-day time frame has been observed.

*If you or someone you know tests positive for COVID-19, please let us know so we can find a way to help, pray for everyone involved,and take any necessary precautions.

In addition, should you have need to come to the church, we are taking the following steps in our facility:

1.We will repeatedly sanitize highly touched surfaces such as doors, handles, tables, water fountains, and sinks on a regular basis. If you touch any of these, please do likewise. (Anti-viral wipes are scattered through out the church.)

2.Our staff and volunteer teams will wash their hands frequently and stay home if they are exposed to COVID-19 or become ill.

3.We will continue to thoroughly sanitize all children’s toys and play areas, a regular practice at our church.

4.Please consider the auditorium Off Limits unless you have a bonafide reason to enter.

Again,we ask that you wash your hands as you enter, be aware of what you touch, wipe those items or places with a sanitize wipe, and wash your hands as you depart.

If you have not yet set up online giving, please do so. Cheryl Rouse can assist you with that, (970) 768-9266. Currently, you can pay tithes or make donations on The Sanctuary website HERE In addition,we will install a mail slot in the front office wall, a drive-through secure letter drop in the vicinity of the Memorial Garden next to the driveway, and our postal box on Road 15 will be upgraded.Your giving is vital in allowing us to operate the church. You will understand this as you read the included letter from our Bookkeeper.The COVID-19 crisis presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the Church (for our church) to reach, teach serve and SAVE a population we never could have touched in our normal (sedentary?) way of church life. Please watch, share, and interact in the Facebook messages, not neglect to contact, and pray with, those who need an anchor for their souls in such times as these. As always, I am available (in some capacity) to each of you and those you may refer to me. My cell number is (970) 580-2968. (FYI: please place several calls in quick succession and I will answer or leave a detailed message and I will quickly call you back. (Unless you are a SPAM caller, in which case…)

Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. 3 John 1:2 (NIV) -Pastor Gary

Here is something to think about concerning “LIVING IN FEAR”as this crisis continues:

*Fear is a temporary emotion tied to events & situations -imagined or real, appropriate or inappropriate.

*Regret and self-blame remain for a lifetime. One of the physicians on Vice President Pence’s team shared this: During a flu epidemic, as an eight year old girl in grade school, her mother had just given birth and this child had innocently brought the flu home to her family as it was prevalent in her classroom. Her mother contacted it and died. This little girl, now a grown and successful professional, carries a broken-heart of regret and blame for her mother‘s death to this day.

*Living with a debilitating and faithless fear-filled-soul is inappropriate fear. Recognizing the potential of a real threat and its impact upon others, is appropriate fear. (the first is phobia, the second caution). If you will respond to both with thoughtful wisdom and a compelling love for the other, you’ll enjoy fewer regrets and less blame throughout your life.

Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, lacked an appropriate level of fear concerning full disclosure. When held accountable by the church’s leadership, they collapsed stone-cold dead. As a result, Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events(Acts 5:1-11). Humph, what da’ya think about that? However, me thinks,even the elect will have an appropriate level of fear in the midst of this coming ‘crisis’. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.Matthew 24:19-21 (NKJV)