I love trying new things. I’m not the most adventurous person in the world when it comes to, say, jumping out of a plane, or scuba diving, but when it comes to trying foods that I haven’t had before, or watching a Netflix show, or eating at a restaurant that just opened, I’m all for it. I think it ultimately comes down to what Adam mentioned in his message last week – I’m one of those annoying people who likes to be first to something. 

I love the chance to tell someone about a show I watched before they’ve heard of it, or try a restaurant right when it opens and then recommend it to my friends, and then go with them to see if they like it, too. I really just love being a part of people experiencing those things for the first time. So when the opportunity came up to be a part of our online church campus as it was just getting started, I was all for it. 

And the best news is you can be a part of it as it’s just getting started, too. In case you missed it, last fall, Adam talked about our plan to launch an online campus by Easter 2021. We are so excited to move from just streaming online, to doing whatever it takes to reach our online community for Christ (and if you missed Adam’s blog last week about why we’re doing it online, check it out here). In order to make it possible, it’s going to take a lot of God, a lot of leaders, and a lot of people (like you) who are willing to dive in, and be “first.” Here are four easy ways you can be a part of building our online campus right now:

1. Join 
Even if you’ve started coming in-person as we regathered, we’d love to encourage you to be a part of an online service, too. If you come to our 9:00 in-person service, consider then joining our 11:00 service online once you get home. Or even consider what it would look like for your family to attend online-only once a month. Or maybe to have a group of friends over to “attend” church at your house, and watch together (someone may never step foot into a church building, but may be more than willing to come over to your house before a March Madness game). 

Oh, and also, don’t just come online, join in online! Whether you’re joining us on Facebook, or our website, there’s a chat section where we’d love you to join in the conversation, which may even encourage some newer folks to ask questions, get excited, and see what an online community can really look like. 

2. Share
This one is probably the easiest way to be involved, but one of the most important: we want you to share. We believe nothing matters if people don’t matter, but in order to reach those people that matter, they need to know we’re all here. 

Share the weekly services on Facebook, tag a friend in an encouraging post, send a song to your friend when you’re thinking about them. Online community is built to be as easily shareable as anything. You don’t have to carry around anything, other than your phone (which is probably glued to your hip anyways) to be able to let a friend know you’re thinking of them, and that you want them to be a part of growing with you online. 

3. Serve
To really have a fully-funcional online campus, that means plenty of new opportunities to serve are coming, too. We talk about one of our values, which is “we are contributors, not consumers” all the time, and it’s because we really mean it. We are called to serve. The Bible says in 1 Peter 4:10 that “God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.” I mean, it doesn’t get any more straightforward than that – we are called to serve one another. 

From serving with kids and students, to chat hosting, to helping with video production and more, there are going to be plenty of ways that you can be a part of serving online. Check out those online opportunities (as well as tons of in-person opportunities) here.

4. Pray
Finally, we want you to pray. Easter is on April 4, which is only 40 days away. Yeah, that probably snuck up on you, too, didn’t it? We want you to join us in praying daily, for the next 40 days, at 4:04 (Easter is on 4/4 this year – pretty clever, right?). We’ll call it 40 days to 4/4 at 4:04 (Or maybe 4:04 for 40 days to 4/4? Just know that there are lots of zeros and fours involved). Just set an alarm that goes off daily at 4:04, and then take a moment to pray for our online campus. 

You can pray for the people who will be reached online, for those who will serve online, and for lives that’ll be forever changed because they chose to take a next step and dive into their faith online. We even have a Facebook group you can join, to help remind you to pray each day, and to be in a community with others who are also praying daily.

We are so excited that God has given us this opportunity to live out our vision as a church, and to live it out online, and we are so excited that you get to be a part of it, too. 


Whatever it takes,

Becca