Weekly Update for March 27, 2020

Dear Siblings in Christ,

I have loved seeing so many of you on various Zoom gatherings over the past week. I’ve especially been thankful to see some of our more senior members who have been restricted to retirement homes without visitors but have been courageous enough to try meeting with people in a new way. It has been great to see your faces and hear your voices.

There is a Daily Community Time at 2pm every weekday on Zoom. Give it a try! Just click the link and follow the directions on pretty much any computer, tablet or smartphone that has a webcam, microphone (often built into the webcam), and speakers.

We also had a truly unprecedented number of you joining in worship via our streaming MorningSong and Sanctuary services on Sunday! I am thankful that we have had a decade of experience livestreaming and have recently upgraded systems as part of the renovations. As a result, we were ready, and our livestreams went without any major problems. If you experienced some difficulties with the service, please look to the tips later in this email. And when you tune in for worship, please participate as fully as you can. Sing, pray, print out the bulletin for the Sanctuary service and say the responses. Worship is not a spectator sport. So do your part!

I’ll also say that leading worship for an empty worship space is a little strange for us too! But seeing the live viewer count and knowing that hundreds of you are right there with us from your homes is immensely encouraging. And it’s also encouraging to the worshipping community at home who can see that count in the upper left corner. (Just know that the number you are seeing there is just for the website, Facebook, or YouTube, and does not include people on those other platforms.)

Peace,
Craig Foster
Associate Pastor for Discipleship and Communications

THIS SUNDAY
8:45am MorningSong ONLINE
10:00am Adult Sunday School (Zoom)
11:00am Sanctuary Worship Service ONLINE
4:00pm Sunday Youth Group (Zoom)
7:00pm UKirk College Ministry (Zoom)

All services will be livestreamed at www.fpcspartanburg.org/live. Bulletins, scripture readings, manuscripts, and video archives can also be found on that page. Please sign the online guestbook when you join us for worship online. Note that our worship livestreams also appear on Facebook and YouTube. With smart TVs, and streaming media devices like Roku, Chromecast, Apple TV, game consoles, and many internet-connected Blu-ray players, it is often easier to get YouTube onto a large screen like your TV, rather than having to participate in worship just using your phone, tablet, or computer. And don’t forget that many laptops have the same kind of HDMI port that your Blu-ray player, game console, or streaming device uses. So you can also just plug a laptop into your TV to get a bigger screen and better sound (perhaps even using one the cord from one of those devices).

What is this Zoom thing you keep seeing? More information and tips are at the bottom of this email. Make a point to drop in on one of the weekday Community Times to figure things out to that you can get more out of the more structured events and don’t end up spending the whole time figuring out how to make Zoom work!

Adult Sunday School – Sundays
10am on Zoom (https://zoom.us/j/396224968)
Join us for an interactive time of studying the Bible. This week Dr .Tom McDaniel, longtime teacher in the Fellowship Class, and now on the teaching team of the Purnell Fellowship Class, will lead us in exploring two closely-related stories from the Gospel of John in John chapters 3 & 4.

Godly Play with Holly – Sundays on YouTube
Holly Bannan will be recording the Godly Play lesson for children each week and posting it to the church YouTube page. A link to this video is also being sent out to parents each week.

NEXT WEEK
Daily Community Time – Monday through Friday
2pm on Zoom (https://zoom.us/j/226075719)
From 2-3pm each weekday, members of the church staff will be hosting a Zoom video gathering for anyone that wants to drop in and chat. This will be an informal time of conversation and connection for all of us. The first few this week have been great! So give it a try! Simply click on the link above and follow the directions to get connected. Having trouble? You can call in at 646-876-9923 and use meeting ID: 226 075 719. Be sure to read the Zoom tips below!

Hangouts with Holly – Mondays and Thursdays
Starting at 1pm on Zoom
All children are invited to join Holly Bannan online for a time of fellowship and learning together.

1:00pm 3K, 4K, and 5K
1:30pm 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd Grade
2:00pm 4^th and 5^th Grace

Information has been sent to parents about how to connect. Please contact Holly Bannan (hbannan@fpcspartanburg.org) if you have any questions.

Weekly Prayer Gathering with Joanne – Tuesdays
Noon on Zoom (https://zoom.us/j/913483351)
Join Pastor Joanne on Zoom to share your prayer concerns and join together with your church family in prayer.

Calling All Parents of Children and Youth! – Mondays
4pm on Zoom (https://zoom.us/j/503386533)
These days without school and daycare can be trying for parents of children and youth, as you try to juggle e-learning, work, and the added messes and dishes that come with extra time at home with nowhere else to go. Join Robert and Holly Bannan online every Monday to enjoy community time with other parents and find support and inspiration for the week ahead.

Youth Group on Zoom
All youth are invited to join Robert, Carrie, and your friends on Zoom throughout the week. More information and links have been sent to youth families. Please contact Robert or Carrie if you have any questions
Tuesdays at 4pm – 9^th and 10^th Graders
Wednesdays at 4pm – Middle Schoolers
Thursdays at 4pm – 11^th and 12^th Graders
Sundays at 4pm – ALL Youth (MS & HS)
Monday – Friday at 2pm– Youth are invited to the Daily Community Time for the whole congregation

Weekly Devotional Video from Tom – Wednesdays
Follow the church on YouTube to get a weekly video devotional from Dr. Tom Evans each Wednesday. We will also share these on Social Media and provide links to them in the weekly email. The first and second devotions are already up.

Weekly Bible Study with Tom – Wednesdays
6pm on Zoom (https://zoom.us/j/333935537)
Dr. Tom Evans will begin a “Study of the Book of Mark” via Zoom. Starting this week, we will record it for those that cannot attend.

But wait, there’s more!
Other smaller groups and activities are beginning to meet online as well. Watch your email and social media for notice of smaller group activities. If you are a committee chair or group leader and are interested in how your group can meet through Zoom or other means, please contact Craig Foster.

SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES
Find all sorts of ways that you can serve in the Ministry Finder section of the website (under the “Serve” menu). There you can search for service opportunities that match your interests and schedule, and with one tap, make contact with someone who can tell you more and/or help you to get involved.

New Opportunities in Ministry Finder
This time of closings and physical distancing has created some real needs in our community. Here are a few ways you can help. Check Ministry Finder often for new ways to serve.

Blood Donations with Blood Connection
There is a HUGE need for blood donations right now. The Blood Connection is still hosting several blood drives in the area. You can sign-up for a time slot online, and then you will go to the location for your appointment. It will be one person at a time, and everything will be sanitized in between people.

Spartanburg Soup Kitchen
Spartanburg Soup Kitchen is in great need of carryout containers and disposable cups with lids. They are especially in need of SANITIZER AND BABY WIPES. All of these items can be ordered on Amazon and shipped directly to the Soup Kitchen at 136 S Forest St, Spartanburg, SC, 29306. Contact Soup Kitchen Director, Lou Sartor at 864-585-0022 or e-mail: lousartor@outlook.com with questions.

TOTAL Ministries Food Bank
TOTAL Ministries in need of dry goods and non-perishable items. As of this week, their biggest needs are breakfast items (oatmeal, cereal, grits), macaroni and cheese, and pasta. These can also be shipped directly to TOTAL at 976 S Pine St, Spartanburg, SC 29302, or you can drop off items at St. John’s Lutheran Church (415 S Pine St, Spartanburg, SC 29302) from 10am-12pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Make Masks for Hospitals
Know how to sew? Help make masks for hospitals! Here are some at-home instructions to do it yourself HOW-TO MAKE MASKS. If you are interested in doing this and want to know where to send masks, please contact Beth Cecil at bcecil@fpcspartanburg.org for more information.

Eat Local!
Eat locally at least twice a week as an outreach to our community. Support local businesses and business owners by bringing home delicious takeout, or by having it delivered! Here is a list of local options you can consider: EAT LOCAL

Tuesday Night Meal Ministry
While First Pres is temporarily unable to serve the neighborhood meal, Jerry Kiehl and friends are going to be serving our homeless neighbors every Tuesday night at 6pm at Church Builders (127 East Fremont Ave). This will be a to-go meal of soup, cornbread, and dessert. There is a need both for food donations and to help distribute food. If you would like to help, please contact Jerry Kiehl or Pamela Bagwell.

Prayers and Cards for Local Mission Partners
Many of our local mission partners are having to figure out a lot right now and have lots of stress on their minds. If you would like to write notes of encouragement to some of our local mission partners, contact Leslie Lang, for a short list and contact information for these organizations.

Donations and Encouragement for Cleveland Academy/The Bridge
The school closures are having an enormous impact on our children and most especially those who already faced many challenges. Click the title above to find out what you can do right now to help these children as we move into Spring Break and another month of schools being closed.

Free Food Pantry
Keeping the Free Food Pantry at First Pres stocked will help provide food for the most vulnerable. This can be done in a couple of ways: either by stopping by and filling the pantry yourself, or by contacting ellie.toler@sdsgriffin.org or susi.wright@sdsgriffin.org to arrange a pick up. In an effort to make things as sanitary as possible, we’ve taken off the doors of the pantry to reduce contact with surfaces that may contain germs. Please place items in a secure bag/container when donating, in order to protect items from the elements. Some suggested items are: canned foods (must have tab-opening lid), toiletry items, granola bars, crackers, nuts, feminine hygiene products (tampons, pads, sanitary wipes, etc.), water bottles, ramen noodles, plastic utensils, peanut butter packs, and warmth items (blankets, hats, socks, gloves etc.).

Mobile Meals
Mobile Meals is still delivering meals on a modified schedule to those who are home-bound in our community and is in need of healthy, non-at risk volunteers to help with routes (many of their regular volunteers are at-risk). You would not be coming into contact with the recipients of the meals. If you would like to help in this way, please call Mobile Meals at 864-573-7684.

Community Book Drive
Whether or not you had an opportunity to see the film "The Other Boys of Summer", consider supporting a unique literacy program at the Bethlehem Center through this Amazon wish list. This book list will give children in high poverty areas access to books about Negro League Baseball players. Purchased books will be delivered by members of Leslie Lang's Leadership Spartanburg class. https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2GX7ZWQ6EU74F?ref_=wl_share

OTHER NEWS
Share Your Encouraging Stories with Us!
The word “Gospel” literally just means “good news.” Amid all the troubling news of this time, we want your help to share the good news of this time as well! So share the good news that is happening with us! Now, we don’t need the latest cat meme or whatever funny email forward you just got, but when you facetime your grandmother in the nursing home, deliver for Mobile Meals, white a card to someone, engage in any of the opportunities above or in Ministry Finder, or experience any good by your hand or by the hands of others, please send us a picture and give as a few sentences that we can share on social media to encourage us all and remind us all that the church is still at work, even as we are dispersed. Pictures and stories can be sent to Caroline Goodman (cgoodman@fpcspartanburg.org).

There is No Need to Struggle Alone!
Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ (Galations 6:2)
We all go through difficult times. When you have someone to care, listen, to share God’s love with you, it can help you get through the confusion, stress, or loneliness you may be experiencing. God does not intend for you to struggle alone!

Stephen Ministry is available for anyone facing overwhelming need for care; hospitalization, grieving, suffering, loneliness or discouragement, divorce or separation, unemployment, accidents, etc. If you or someone you know is struggling, let us know!

Consider allowing a Stephen Minister to walk with you on your journey to wholeness! For more information, contact Dana Halliday at danahalliday1@charter.net; 864 237-0330 or Beth Cecil bcecil@fpcspartanburg.org

Now Playing on YouTube (and Other Social Media)
If you are one of our subscribers on YouTube, you know that the church has put up a lot of content recently, including Devotions with Tom, Godly Play with Holly, and Preschool Music with Debbie This has become an important venue for us to communicate with you during these times of physical distancing. So click the subscribe button and get notified when worship goes live or when the church has posted new content.

In fact, all of our social media channels have been active (and we’ve just added new ones for Children’s Ministry this week). Check them all out and subscribe/follow/like us to get all the latest info.


What is this Zoom thing?
Zoom is a videoconferencing platform similar to Skype, Google Hangouts, and others that allows participants to have conversations over video in real time. Our church has been using Zoom for meetings for several years now and found the platform easy to set up and use and very reliable. It is available on PCs and Macs as well as in smartphones and tables (Apple and Android). On a computer you will need a webcam, microphone, and speakers. Most laptops and some desktops come with these built-in. Your smartphone or tablet should already have all the hardware you need. You will just need to install the Zoom app. Give it a try! Just click the link maybe 10 minutes before the scheduled time the first time you connect to give yourself time to get things set up and running.

A Few Tips for Using Zoom
1. Try things out first at one of the Daily Community Times. That way you can figure things out in a low-pressure environment and not worry about missing out on a Bible Study, class, or meeting. Craig and other church staff who have become accustomed to Zoom are always at those Daily Community Times.

2. If possible, let your first foray into Zoom be on a computer. The bigger screen will let you see all participants at once, and let you see all the controls easily. The Zoom mobile apps are great, but it helps if you know what all Zoom will do, so that you already know to look for the controls on the phone or tablet.

3. Feel free to sign on a little early to make sure you’ve got things worked out. If you get a message that another meeting is in progress, it simply means that the event before yours hasn’t quite wrapped up yet. So just be patient.

4. If you move your mouse to the bottom left corner of the Zoom window, you will see audio and video controls (a microphone and a camera icon). You can toggle your microphone or camera on or off with those buttons. The arrows next to those icons give you more options related to sound and video

5. Make sure you click the “Leave” button at the end. If you just go to another app (particularly on a mobile device), you may still be connected and sending audio and video!

6. The meeting ID is a unique identifier for each one-time or recurring event. If you ever need the Meeting ID (say if you are connecting on a different device from the one with your email invitation), the Meeting ID is simply the 9 or 10 digit number at the end of the link for any meeting.

7. You can also call in for an audio-only connection, but the social cues apparent in video really do help the conversation to go more smoothly for everyone. So for everyone’s sake, please try a video connection first, but if you just can’t get it to work, you can call in. The phone number is 646-876-9923, and you will need the meeting ID (see #6 above).

8. At the top right of the computer interface you can change your vide between “Gallery” and “Speaker”. The Gallery view is generally easier for people, since you can see all participants at once and pay attention to social cues you normally do in a conversation. The Speaker view can be handy if you are part of a class and you want to focus your attention on the presenter or if you are on a mobile device with a small screen. In the Speaker view, you can lock any participant in the main window by right clicking on their small video window.

9. The links for different events are different to make sure you end up in the right place each time. So the link for Community Time won’t work for Tom’s Bible Study, for instance. So make sure you have the link for your particular meeting or event.

10. Don’t sweat it if the technology gives you trouble! We’ve all been there, and there others around who want to help!

Did you have trouble with the worship livestream on Sunday?
The AV Team of the church makes every effort to make sure that the worship livestreams deliver a worship experience that invites you into the service from wherever you are. That said, internet service providers are being taxed in unprecedented ways right now with the immense amount of streaming video we are now using with Zoom calls and livestreamed services for churches everywhere (not to mention tons of Netfilx, Hulu, etc.). So even when things go out from the church perfectly, there can be difficulties on the receive end, and we know that those are just as frustrating. Here are a few things you can do on your end to prevent and address problems you may have accessing the livestreams.

1. Avoid using Internet Explorer. Microsoft has ended development of the Internet Explorer web browser and replaced it with the Edge web browser. Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Apple Safari are also supported. Many of the people who had problems with the livestream last week were using Internet Explorer, and in at least one case, switching to another browser on the same computer fixed the problems immediately.

2. Make sure you are in a part of your home that has a strong signal Wi-Fi signal. In general, proximity and line of sight are both important. You can test your connection speed at www.speedtest.net from the place you want to be when you stream the services. A connection speed of 5-10mbps is all you need for a good livestream, but sometimes on the other side of the house from the router with doors closed you may find your connection dipping below that.

3. If you have trouble on one streaming platform, try another. We stream to the church website, Facebook, and YouTube to provide redundancy and accommodate different people’s preferences. Please note that the church Facebook page is completely public, which means you can watch on Facebook even if you do not have a Facebook account. Likewise, anyone can watch on YouTube, with or without an account.

4. If you continue to have problems with the live webcast, remember that recordings of the services are immediately available on Facebook and YouTube and are generally published to the church website by early afternoon on Sunday.

5. Wherever and whenever you worship with us online, be sure to sign the online guestbook and continue your giving so that these ministries of the church continue through and after this pandemic.