May 22, 2020
Dear TCCBC church family,
Greetings in the Lord to you and your family! According to the executive order issued by the California state governor, the shelter-in-place order will be ending on May 31. Up until now, we still have not heard if the governor will remove the restrictions on the original date. Even though many states in the U.S. have begun partial reopening, there are still strong debates and reactions from people over reopening. As our church is in California, we can only wait for the day when churches are permitted to reopen.
To prepare for the possible reopening, the church council had already commissioned the Church Reopening Committee under the leadership of Linda Chau, to plan for the church’s reopening readiness. We will inform everyone once we know the time we can meet at the church facility again. Basically, we will follow the guidance from the state government, observe social distancing and follow sanitization procedures. Because of space limitation, it is possible that we may not be able to accommodate everyone to come to the church immediately, and (according to government guidelines) will have restrictions on seating area arrangements. I trust that brothers and sisters will understand and support the arrangements. If we are unable to accommodate everyone to worship together, the church is also considering either simulcasting the worship services or making it available online shortly after, enabling those who are unable to come to church to worship God online. Regardless, please trust that the church leadership will definitely keep the safety and wellbeing of brothers and sisters in mind. We are all in this family of God, and members of one another in Christ.
We lost a highly regarded Christian apologetics leader this week. He is the India-born American Dr. Ravi Zacharias. He returned to the heavenly home this Tuesday after being diagnosed with cancer two months ago. He was 74. Ravi Zacharias was a well-known apologetics professor, with deep insights on the existence of God and the reasonableness of Christianity. He preached in more than seventy countries, and had authored more than thirty books. Among them, the bestselling book, “Can Man Live Without God?” had sold over 500 thousand copies. You can consider purchasing a copy of this book if you have not read it before. It will help you understand more about the origin of man, why man need God, and an insightful analysis on the ultimate purpose of man. His writing tends to be more relevant through careful reading by the scholarly in order to understand and appreciate the author’s comments and analysis on the truth. Another book that he authored, “The Logic of God: 52 Christian Essentials for the Heart and Mind”, received the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association’s 2020 Christian book award in the Bible study category. May God continue to use the publications from His servant to influence people from this country and the world to know the true God and believe in Christ!
Thank you for your participation and giving to the COVID-19 love offering initiated by the church. The deacons will disburse the fund to assist the needy accordingly. The love offering collection will end next Sunday (May 31).
Let me share an encouragement with you from these words from the apostle Paul, “May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.” (2 Thessalonians 3:5) I trust that we will get a glimpse of the dawning light in the near future, as we wait upon that day when we can meet in the church to worship God together.
Waiting in steadfast faith with you,
Job Lee
Pastor Job Lee, Senior Pastor
With fellow church leadership team
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