Tag: boulder county

COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Update from Pastor Nick

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The following is a message I sent out to our church today regarding the current situation with COVID-19:

The situation with COVID-19 is developing quickly. I am glad that our authorities are taking this so seriously; a virus that threatens the most vulnerable in our society is something we should all care about deeply. 

Confidence and Love

As Christians in these times, we are motivated by two things: confidence in the gospel, and love for our neighbors. In Jesus, we have confidence and security; we do not fear, because we know that even if our bodies are destroyed, we have a heavenly dwelling that awaits us because of what Jesus accomplished for us. Hebrews 2:14-15 tells us that because Jesus defeated death and the devil, we are free to no longer live in the fear of death.

Although we do not fear death, it is important that we love our neighbors by doing what we can to slow down the spread of this disease which is affecting vulnerable people, particularly the elderly and those whose immune systems are compromised. 

Doing your part to minimize the spread of COVID-19 is not an act of fear, but of love for our neighbors.

If you, or anyone you know, needs help with shopping or errands, particularly if you/they are elderly, we want to help you with that so you don’t have to put yourself at risk. E-mail info@whitefieldschurch.com with any needs, and we will make sure it gets done in a safe manner.

Practical Matters

In this spirit of love, we ask that you respect the recommendations of the CDC and refrain from unnecessary gatherings and contact with others, until the risk goes down. If possible, please consider working from home. 

Community Groups

Whereas last week, we recommended that Community Groups continue meeting, we are now leaving it up to individual groups to decide if you should meet, or consider a video chat instead. Shelby will be posting more information on possible ways to do that soon.

Sunday Church Services

For this Sunday, we will pre-record a video with worship and a Bible teaching, which we will then post on YouTube and Facebook for you and those in your household or family to watch together. On Sunday at 10:00 AM we will start a “watch party” on Facebook for those of you who use that platform. If you haven’t yet subscribed to our YouTube channel or followed us on Facebook, now is a good time to do that, and you will be alerted whenever we post a video or go live.

We are working on setting up the video system in our new building, so we can use that to film and broadcast our services, and we expect that to be ready soon. We are also working on a Church Online platform that we can use during this time. 

We are waiting until it is safe and advisable for us to have physical gatherings before announcing our official Grand Opening in the new building.

Children’s Ministry

Michelle Pearl, our NextGen Director, will be posting the weekly lesson so that you can go through them with your children at home on Sundays.

Giving

As we often say, giving financially to God’s work through the local church is an act of worship. Since in-person giving will not be possible until we can gather physically again as a church, we ask that you give online. That can be done on our website here, or on Realm.

Blog Posts and Devotional Thoughts

During this time, I will be posting more frequently on my blog with devotional thoughts and Bible studies. That might be one more way for you to engage with our community and grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here’s the website: Longmont Pastor – and you can subscribe in order to get email updates of new posts.

Update on Pastors Nick and Mike

I just arrived back from Ukraine, where Pastor Mike and I were visiting our missionaries and teaching at a leadership conference. When we left, there was no recommendation against travel to Hungary or Ukraine, and there were no COVID-19 cases. When I arrived back in the US today, I was screened and tested for COVID-19 and the test came back negative. However, we are more than happy to comply with the protocol and self-quarantine for 14 days out of love for others and respect to the authorities.

In one of our recent studies from the Vision series, we looked at developing God’s vision for your situation – part of which is understanding that every situation presents us with opportunities to respond to the gospel and love our neighbors. That is true in this situation as well! Here is the link to that message: A Vision for Your Situation
It is important that we stick together in this time, as a community of people who love Jesus and love our neighbors. We want to continue growing in faith and looking for ways to serve those around us in Jesus’ name.

Much love,

Pastor Nick

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update From Pastor Nick

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Psalm 112:7 (NLT) “They do not fear bad news; they confidently trust the Lord to care for them.”

With the heightened awareness and deep public concerns regarding the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), I want to let you know that we are carefully monitoring the situation, CDC updates, and government response and recommendations.

We are continuing to take precautions at our services and gatherings. We have prepackaged, single use communion cups and wafers available, as well as hand sanitizer. We ask that everyone please wash your hands thoroughly, even more than usual, as this is this most effective way of preventing transmission. We are committed to being as proactive as possible to create safe and clean environments for us to worship in. We’ve always been very intentional in this commitment and are now, more than ever.

Currently we are not planning on canceling any of our church services or Bible studies.

We have made the decision to cancel our Easter Outreach at the recommendation of Boulder County, which is asking that large public gatherings and festivals be cancelled. We want to be good neighbors and honor the authorities God has put in place.

Some of you have asked about whether Pastor Mike and I will be affected by the travel ban. We will not be affected by it, as we are US citizens. We will be home soon. Thank you for your concern.

Let us be ready and looking for opportunities to love our neighbors in this time. Let’s be respectful of people’s concerns and ready to reach out in love, faith, and compassion – being full of the confidence and courage that comes from the hope of the gospel.

Much love,

Pastor Nick

We’re Moving!

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White Fields Community Church is moving! From our church’s beginning, we have met in the St. Vrain Memorial Building in downtown Longmont. It’s a large building, and has been a great place to start a church, but as we have grown, we have gotten to the point where it has been hindering more than helping us in fulfilling God’s mission for our church. For example, our Middle School class meets in a hallway, since we have maxed out all of the available spaces for NextGen classrooms.

We have pursued several properties over the past few years, and God has been faithful to lead us by shutting doors, which is exactly what we prayed He would do if those were not the right places for us.

Recently we heard that another church in Longmont was considering closing a second campus they had opened 2 years ago. After reaching out, we felt that God’s hand was in this for several reasons. One is that the day we reached out to them is the same day that they had their official vote to close the campus. One of their prayers that day was that God would bring another church to use the space, and they received a call from us on the way home, within an hour! The other reason is because we were able to work out a deal in which we acquire all of their furnishings – something we would have needed to purchase wherever we moved to, and we will be able to take them with us when we move in the future.

We don’t view this as our final destination as a church; we would still like to own our own building rather than lease, but this will be a good place to facilitate ministry for the next several years. The church is a family, and a building is like the family car: it’s a tool that we use for our family, and it helps to have one that is good and reliable, and in which we all fit!

This new space is going to be a big upgrade for our kids and our youth; there’s a large youth area. It is a place that our church will be able to use for ministry throughout the week, including being home to our Bible Learning Center. It will give us the chance to have special services, such as on Good Friday; something our church has never been able to do. We look forward to filling the space with Bible study, discipleship and worship all week long, as well as having a home for our media outreaches. Our offices will move here, as we have also outgrown our rented office space on Nelson Road.

Please be praying for this new season at White Fields!

Address

2950 Colorful Ave. Longmont, CO 80504

Timeline

Our last service at the Memorial Building will be on March 22, 2020 at 10:00 AM. After service we will move all our equipment over to the new location.

Our first service in the new location will be on March 29, 2020 at 10:00 AM.

We’re excited for what God has planned. If you’re in the Longmont area, come grow with us at White Fields in our new location!

New Website and New Series

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Website Update

We recently updated our website at White Fields Community Church. The bulk of the work was done by our Administrative Assistant: Ocean – and our friends over at CryBaby Design: a great company based here in Boulder County; check them out if you have any design needs.

Browse the site and let me know if you find any broken links or things that are out of order: whitefieldschurch.com

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Advent Series

Also, this Sunday we are starting a new series for Advent called God With Us.

God With Us Sermon graphic.jpg

In our first message, we will be looking at one of the most over-looked episodes in Christmas story: the killing of the innocent children by King Herod, and why this story illuminates important aspects of who Jesus was and why He came as the promised Savior to defeat evil and reconcile us to God.

If you’re in Longmont, or nearby on Colorado’s Front Range, we’d love to have you join us on a Sunday this Advent. More information here.

Thoughts on Prayer: “God is Most Glorified in Our Dependence On Him”

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Recently I sat down with Matthew Spencer of #LongmontPrays, a local initiative to encourage prayer in Longmont.

In this interview, I share some thoughts on prayer, such as that intimacy is created through shared experience, and we get to share experience with God through prayer, thus building intimacy.

We go on to talk about Jesus and how he was the embodiment of God’s glory, and that he showed us by example what it means to be dependent on the Father.

Check out the interview; I hope it encourages and blesses you!

Original Music by Michael Payne: My Times

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Michael Payne, who serves as worship pastor at White Fields Community Church in Longmont, just released an original song called “My Times”. Check it out on YouTube here:

Here’s what Mike wrote about the song:

The story of this song starts back in 1996 when I arrived in Debrecen, Hungary with my backpack and guitar. It comes from Psalms 73 and 31 and encapsulated the start of my journey as a missionary. This song would become a mainstay for our Monday night English language Bible study with the medical students. But then I left the song behind in Debrecen as we moved to Budapest where I felt God call me to invest in Hungarian songwriters and song-writing. Since our move to the States 21 years later, this song has taken on new meaning as my family declares this same endless truth to God again – “My times are in Your hands”, stepping out into a new chapter in life.
Music is not only about the song itself, but who you play it with and it was a great joy to record this with great friends.
I hope the story and the words of this song resonate with you wherever you are in your walk with God.

Mike is going to be featured in the Longmont Times-Call’s 100 People of the St. Vrain Valley feature, in which they highlight notable people from the area.

You can also listen to Mike’s music on Spotify: Michael Payne on Spotify

Thank you Longmont Observer for reporting on our church‘s Easter Outreach!

https://youtube.com/watch?v=xi6teZv4Hrw%3Fversion%3D3%26rel%3D1%26fs%3D1%26autohide%3D2%26showsearch%3D0%26showinfo%3D1%26iv_load_policy%3D1%26wmode%3Dtransparent

Brightly colored eggs were strewn all over Roosevelt Park this past Saturday, April 20, morning. A balloon artist, bouncy obstacles, face painting, a puppet show and a craft table of bracelets made with Cheerios were all part of the White Fields Community Church’s Easter Egg Hunt and Festival. (WFCC) Head Pastor Nick Cady of WFCC…

via Boulder County’s Biggest Easter Egg Hunt and Festival — Longmont Observer

Longmont Easter Egg Hunt & Festival in Roosevelt Park 2019

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Nem érhető el leírás a fényképhez.

Easter Egg Hunt & Festival

White Fields Church is excited to host our 9th annual Easter Egg Hunt & Festival on Saturday, April 20th in Longmont’s Roosevelt Park, in partnership with Longmont Recreation.

This event has grown over the years to become the largest event of its kind in Boulder County and we hope it will become a true Longmont tradition.

The event starts at 10:00 AM, and will include an egg hunt as well as a puppet show, inflatable obstacle courses and bounce houses, face painting and a craft station.

We will have a coffee truck on-site making craft coffee drinks, as well as our friends from GraceFM who will be handing out t-shirts and other swag for free.

It’s fun for the whole family and we hope you will join us!

Easter Sunday

We also invite you to join us on Easter Sunday at White Fields Community Church to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, the reason we can have hope!

We will have two services on Easter Sunday, at 8:45 & 10:30 AM.

There will be a nursery (birth-2 years) and a wiggle room available at the 8:45 service, and full children’s ministry available at the 10:00 service (birth-middle school).

Join us, and invite a friend or family member to join you, as this is one of the occasions when many people who don’t regularly attend church say that they would attend if invited by a friend or family member. Don’t miss that opportunity!

 

Longmont Pastor Video Blog – Episode 6: Easter Egg Hunt Outreach

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In this episode we discuss how White Fields began doing our Easter Egg Hunt outreach in Longmont which has grown over the years into a festival that draws thousands of people every year. We also address the question: “Why would a church put on an Easter Egg hunt?”
Help us spread the word by giving the video a like and sharing it on your social media or sending it directly to some friends. Follow us on YouTube or Vimeo and Soundcloud.

2 Thoughts for U.S. Christians in the Wake of the Election

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forecast-grid

Someone needs to take 2016’s keys away, because it’s not acting normal.

The Denver Broncos won the Super Bowl without an offense. Brexit happened. The Chicago Cubs won the World Series. And now Donald Trump just won the presidential election. What kind of bizarro world are we living in?

Here are 2 thoughts for Christians to consider in light of the election:

1. Our country is divided and we are called to be peacemakers

Here in Boulder County, voters overwhelmingly voted Democrat. 71% voted for Hillary Clinton. The majority of the City of Longmont went for Hillary. Republicans took control of the House and Senate nationally, but Democratic candidates won almost every seat they ran for here in this area.

Nationally, as of right now Hillary Clinton won the popular vote. Right before the election 61% of people said that they considered Donald Trump unfit to hold the office of president, which means that most people in our country are deeply concerned with the results, including some of the people who voted for Trump themselves.

Furthermore, this election was very divisive. I read a post on social media from a young woman today that said, “Every vote for Trump was a direct assault against me, my friends and my loved ones. I will not forget it.”

For Christians, no matter what your political stance, I think we must avoid the “us and them” mentality. Such a mentality encourages people to make value judgments about other people which are often not fair, such as “Liberals think that __________” or “Trump supporters condone __________.” Those generalizations are often, if not usually, untrue, and the reason for a person’s decision for how they vote is usually much more nuanced than people on the other side make it out to be.

I liked what President Obama said during his speech today, “This was an intramural scrimmage; we are all on the same team.”

Jesus taught his disciples, “Blessed (literally: “Happy”) are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). Helping people make peace with God is at the core of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. An “us and them” mentality which divides people over political issues will only hinder that from happening.

Whoever loves God must also love his brother. – 1 John 4:21

Furthermore, resentment towards others hinders people from having a relationship with God. 1 John 4:20-21 says: If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. Yes, even someone who holds different political views than you.

We are called to be peacemakers, between God and people and between people and people. Let us not be those who perpetuate divisions, but those who encourage reconciliation.

2. Getting caught up in politics can hinder your true mission

President Obama said to the nation today, “Whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, we are all Americans first.” As Christians, we go one very big step beyond that: We are not Americans first, we are Christians first.

As Christians, we have a calling to be ministers of the gospel. Jesus said to his disciples, “Just as the Father sent me, so I also send you.” (John 20:21) When people think of Christians, we don’t want them to associate us with a politician or a political affiliation or party, we want them to associate us with Jesus and the gospel message of the love and grace of God.

In a country as divided as ours is right now, it is very possible for politics to become a stumbling block and a hindrance to people being willing to hear the message of the gospel from those they disagree with politically. We can’t allow that. Our mission is so much more important.

Christians need to strive to be known not for alignment with a particular party or stances on economic policy or gun rights, but for our concentrated focus on the mission of God and the message of the gospel. This is not to say that Christians should not have opinions on such matters, it is to say that we must not allow these things to be associated with what it means to be a Christian.

May God bless our nation and help us who call ourselves Christians to faithfully follow Jesus, communicate his heart and carry out his mission.

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:1-4)