Kristi & Jason's Private Pandemic Parade!

Because of the quarantine, Kristi & Jason had a very different wedding day than they’d planned. They cancelled all their invitations and their reservations; they asked me if I’d be willing to officiate a private wedding ceremony for them at Munger. Of course I said yes. The total congregation today at the wedding consisted of me, the bride, the groom, the photographer, and a floppy-haired urchin I enlisted as my altarboy/assistant, who ended up filming with an iPhone from the balcony.

After the ceremony, the newlyweds walked out the front steps of the church only to be surprised by a parade put on by their loved ones!  The stream of vehicles kept circling and honking and generally making a ruckus. None of us expected it, and it was such a delight!

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Jason and Kristi, may all your days be filled with such unexpected joy, and may God confirm your covenant and fill you both with grace. Amen.

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P.S. Here’s a picture of the humble officiant with his floppy-haired urchin/altarboy/assistant.

Fear Stops Here

We all know that the Covid-19 virus spreads from person to person. We also all know that each of us therefore has the ability to slow and stop its spread.

What if we could do the same thing with fear? What if we could also stop fear from spreading through our communities?

I believe that the Church in America has a priceless opportunity to step up and say

FEAR STOPS HERE.

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How Firebreaks Work

In wildland firefighting, a firebreak is a deforested band of dirt plowed through the forest that keeps a wildfire from spreading further.

The concept is simple: remove the fuel, stop the fire.

The same principle applies with fear.

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How Fear Spreads

Fear spreads from person to person, but unlike a viral infection, you don’t even have to be physically proximate with someone else to catch or spread fear—it can happen through our communication networks.

Ever felt fear after reading a headline or receiving an email?

Exactly.

Fear is contagious.

But peace is also contagious.

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Becoming a “Fearbreak”

After the Resurrection, Jesus proclaimed “peace” over his disciples.

Followers of Jesus have nothing to fear—has he not told us?

“In this world you will have trouble, but have no fear: I have overcome the world.”

— Jesus of Nazareth

Therefore each of us has the opportunity to stop the wildfire of fear from spreading beyond us.

Each of us has the opportunity to become a “fearbreak.”

Each of us can say, in the name of Jesus:

FEAR STOPS HERE.

The most important gift we can share with an anxious world is the peace that the Lord has given us.

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You Can Make a Difference

Like a virus, fear needs a host.

Like a fire, fear needs a source of fuel.

When we declare FEAR STOPS HERE, we bring God’s peace to our circumstances and communities and fear’s spread is stopped.

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We Can Flatten the Curve of Fear in Our Communities

The Covid-19 virus is here among us, and there is nothing we can do about that fact: we can’t change our current circumstances.

What we can change, however, is the future.

How we react to fear today will affect what our communities are like in the future.

During the Spanish Flu Pandemic in 1918, different cities had different responses to the influenza virus’s spread. By late September of that year, e.g., the virus was already making its way through the citizens of Philadelphia. Nevertheless, the city’s public health director refused to cancel a big Liberty parade that had been scheduled for September 28 in support of the American war effort for World War I. Over 200,000 people attended the parade.

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Three days later, every hospital bed in the city was filled, and 2,600 people died before the week was out.

In St. Louis, the city health director—a man named Dr. Max Starkloff—forced social distancing and quarantine measures as soon as the first cases of influenza appeared in the city. As a result St. Louis was able to “flatten the curve,” and compared with Philadelphia, had thousands of fewer deaths during the fall of 1918.

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What if we made the decision to flatten the curve of fear in our communities?

What if the rate of fear in Dallas became noticeably lower than in other cities because of our commitment to spread peace instead of fear?

“FEAR STOPS HERE.”

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How do we do this? How can we become people of peace? How can we beat back fear?

The foundation of peace is a decision to trust God with tomorrow and to focus on what each of us can control today.

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The FEAR STOPS HERE Daily* Checklist

When fear begins to rise within you, ask yourself the following three questions:

• Can I make it through today?

• Have I taken the OBVIOUS next step that’s right in front of me today?

• Is there an opportunity that’s opened up through my circumstances that will allow me to love God or my neighbor today?

If the answer to any of those questions is YES, then it’s time to kick fear to the curb until tomorrow.

Fear comes from worrying about a tomorrow that is inherently outside of our control.

Courage is the confidence that comes when we choose to focus only on today and trust God with tomorrow.

(Matthew 6:34.)

*Use every morning, and any other time you feel fear or dread.

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Join the FEAR STOPS HERE Campaign

• Make the decision that fear stops with you.

• Be the non-anxious presence in all of your networks.

• Create a handmade sign and post it in your window, or draw on your sidewalk, or write in big letters on your fence: FEAR STOPS HERE.

• Drop the #fearstopshere hashtag in your social media posts.

• Use Fear Stops Here as your new email signature.

• Stop FEAR and Spread PEACE.

Let me know how it goes!

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Found in East Dallas, Sunday, March 29, 2020.

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My quarantine sermon for 3/29/2020 was entitled “Fear Stops Here.”

Sermon begins at the 22:00 min mark.

Our Corporate Commitment to You During the Covid-19 Crisis

Dear [FIRST NAME],

At Future Innovations Associates (formerly Forward Metrics Corporation, an Allyn-Crane Acquisition, and part of the Squimm Group), your safety is our top priority.  This is because, if you die, we won’t get any more money from you.

I know you are surprised to hear from us, because you last used our services in 2011.  But, we have kept all your personal information on file since that time, and because our IT department wasn’t able to filter out prior customers from current customers, we just went ahead and emailed everyone in our database.  Rest assured, however, your data and privacy are important to us, in that order, with “making money from your data” in between the categories of “data” and “privacy”.  Plus, when’s the last time you heard that a company in Corporate America was hacked and that the personal info of millions of its customers was leaked onto the dark web?

This email is to update you on how we are responding to the COVID-19 crisis.  Just like you, we don’t actually know anything useful, but nevertheless we will repeat below what literally everyone in the world knows anyway:

•Our [associates/teammates/partners/ninjas or some other made-up name for employees] are being told to wash their hands;

•We are monitoring the situation closely, which you probably assumed, but we wanted to specifically tell you that anyway.

Please stay safe.

Also, please follow our social media channels, because if there is one thing that will help you persevere through these long weeks of quarantine, it’s the Instagram account of a large corporation.

Sincerely,

Blaise Unconvincingname

Senior Executive Vice President for Hospitality, Marketing, and Emails

Future Innovations Associates

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UPDATE: I kid you not: I wrote the bogus letter above and then right afterwards actually received the following email, which I’m including as an update below. Note particularly the use of the well-worn African proverb in the last paragraph. Again: THIS IS AN ACTUAL EMAIL. Some things just can’t be satirized. —Andrew

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UPDATE #2: From the files of You-Can’t-Make-This-Up, I just received the following email from Marriott, posted below. At least I know I am a "Valued Guest”.

Pastors Webinar On Broadcasting From Home

[Note: this is NOT what my home studio looks like. I wish!]

The following is a handout I prepared to present at a webinar for pastors about how to broadcast worship from home. The webinar was free, so the participants definitely got what they paid for from me!

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Download the handout here. The text is also included below. Good luck!

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Best Practices for Leading Worship from Home in a Time of Quarantine

I am broadcasting worship live from home on Sundays.

Our music director is also broadcasting from her home piano earlier on Sundays.

It is exhausting! 

Key Takeaways

·      Clarity, Consistency, and Intimacy Beat Excellence

·      Rehearse Everything

·      Small Improvements Make a Big Difference

Clarity, Consistency, and Intimacy Beat Excellence

None of us has the ability to produce television-level worship services from home.  That’s okay!  We’re doing our best to serve our people in this time.

Pick a video platform that offers audio/visual clarity.  It may not be the perfect platform, but if folks can hear and see, then it’s good enough.  At Munger, we have decided to use Facebook Live.  It’s not perfect, but so far it’s been good enough.

Make a plan to broadcast from home, and then keep it consistent.  Create a broadcast studio at home, from which you always go online.

I made the decision that the intimacy that’s gained from broadcasting from home—as well as broadcasting live!—gained more with our folks than doing something perfectly produced.  My thought is that our emotional connection with our folks is what they most need from us right now.

A quick word on going live: I think the downsides of going live (and there are many) are worth the upside of the sense of immediacy and connection live broadcasts bring.

Rehearse Everything

This point cannot be overstated!  Do nothing without rehearsing beforehand, particularly several times.

None of us is any good at this before we start practicing.  I scheduled multiple live rehearsals before our first Sunday doing the livestream, and there were lots of subsequent improvements that we made as a result.

Small Improvements Make a Big Difference

Don’t worry about perfection—just try to make some small improvements each time you go live.

Some ideas:

·      How can you improve lighting?  Should you order some video lights?

·      How can you improve sound?  Should you record with a mic?

·      Do you have a tripod for your phone?

·      Are you wearing simple colors that look good on video?

Here’s What We’re Using:

·      Facebook Live, through the Munger Place Church FB page.

·      We embed that code on our church’s site: www.mungerplace.org

·      Folks watch on Facebook or on the church site.

·      13 in. Macbook Pro

·      iPhone XS Max

·      iPhone X

·      Shure Portable Videography Bundle with SE215 Earphones and MV88+ Video Kit including Digital Stereo Condenser Microphone

·      Professional Grade Lavalier Lapel Microphone Omnidirectional Mic with Easy Clip On System

·      Neewer 700W Octagon Softbox Continuous Lighting Kit

·      I set my phone on a tripod on a ladder on my home desk, and record standing up!

Andrew Forrest

Munger Place Church

forresta@mungerplace.org

My blog: www.andrewforrest.org

How to Parent During a Pandemic

First disclaimer: I don’t know anything. Not only am I not a parenting expert, I’m not even the best parent in my house! But, I am trying to figure this out just like you, so I humbly offer some thoughts below.

Second disclaimer: I am a Christian, and so my advice will obviously come from a faith-based perspective. But, because I believe God created families and that all happy families are alike, I think the advice below should broadly apply to any family in these times. And, if your family isn’t religious, now is a good time to begin to question your previous assumptions.

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Put Your Oxygen Mask On First - Focus On Your Spiritual Life First

As parents, we MUST cultivate our own spiritual life first, before anything else. The most important thing we have to offer our children is a non-anxious presence. In a time of fear, it is important that we give peace to our children, but we can only give it if we have it.

Now is the time for us to rise early in the morning to pray and be still. Now is the time for us to read our Bibles daily. Now—more than ever—is the time for us to resist the urge to reach for our phones first thing in the morning before we’ve done our time in silence, prayer, and scripture.

Parents, our commitment to the daily disciplines of the Christian life is what will take us through this crisis.

If you are not practicing the actions above, you need to start.

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Tell Your Kids The (Partial) Truth - Do Not Ever Lie

Our children need to be able to trust us, and the cultivation of trust is one of parenting’s essential responsibilities. Therefore, it is vital that we do not lie to our children.

• Do not say that they are definitely going back to school;

• Do not say that no one we know will get sick;

• Do not say that their birthday parties are definitely going to happen as planned;

• etc.

An entirely appropriate response to our kids’ questions is, “We don’t really know at this point.”

It is also entirely appropriate to share the partial truth with children. They don’t need to know everything, but they do need to hear the truth from us. Knowing what to tell them and what to withhold requires wisdom, of course, which is why it’s so important that we cultivate our own spiritual lives. See above.

Some examples:

Don’t say: No one we know is going to die.

Do say: Jesus tells us not to be afraid, even of death. If someone we love dies, we will see them again in Christ.

Don’t say: Your birthday party will be fine.

Do say: We will definitely find some way to celebrate your party.

Don’t say: Everything will be okay.

Do say: People have made it through—and thrived in!—much harder things before.

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Give Your Kids a Daily and Weekly Schedule and Rhythm

Routine gives children (and adults!) something in which to trust. Even though all of our kids are now homeschoolers, this new reality doesn’t mean they don’t need clear bedtimes, breakfasttimes, lunchtimes, and playtimes.

Some suggestions:

Bookend your days with prayer. I will be leading a live online prayer service at 7 AM and 7 PM, M-F. (The service will last no longer than 15 minutes.) Please join.

Make every Sunday a celebration. Every Sunday is Easter, and you should worship and celebrate as such in your house. [Need a place to go for online worship? We’d love to have you join us at Munger.]

Celebrate and observe special days. Make sure that birthdays and anniversaries and national holidays and special days of the Christian year (Good Friday, Easter, Pentecost, etc.) are somehow different in your house.

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Pray Together

I realize that many of us feel totally inadequate and uncomfortable in leading our families in prayer. Guess what? Get over it. We don’t have the luxury of those emotions any more.

My suggestion: get the whole family to kneel together at the side of the bed before bedtime. Read a psalm and give God thanks for the day.

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Play With Your Children—ESPECIALLY Dads and Kids

Playing with our kids—particularly if it involves us getting down on the floor with them—is one of the ways we increase their trust in us. When we actively join in their play, it makes them feel safe and secure.

This is true for both moms and dads, but I think it is especially important that fathers spend time playing with their kids.

(I realize that some of us are single mothers, and I know that you are doing the best you can. Don’t give up!)

As a father who’s been sequestered at home this past week, it has been very easy for me to work all day long and, though my kids are close, not really spend any time with them outside of meals. And yet I know that when I take time to deliberately join their games, I see an immediate difference in my children’s demeanors.

If you have not played much with your children before, now is the time to start.

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Let There Be An Embargo on Virus Talk During Dinner

Our kids need a respite from our (understandable) obsession with virus news. Keep the dinner hour free from pandemic palaver.

(This one has been hard for me!)

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Practice Bottom-Up Thinking

Top Down Thinking: We start with the idea of PERFECTION and then look at our circumstances—we’ll be miserable.

Bottom-Up Thinking: We start with the idea of NOTHING and then look at our circumstances—we’ll see how much we have for which to be grateful.

As wealthy Americans, we are experts at Top Down Thinking, but it isn’t helpful. It’s time for us to learn another way, and teach it to our kids.

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These next months will be the most formative in our children’s lives. How we parent our children during this time will determine whether they grow unto adulthood strengthened or weakened because of this pandemic. I know that’s a lot of responsibility! But, it’s true.

Here’s the good news: Parents have raised children literally in every single situation in human history. Our grandparents and great grandparents lived through the Great Depression and the Second World War, and they were strong because of those difficulties, not in spite of them.

It will be difficult to parent during this pandemic, but we can do it!

How to Beat Back Anxiety and Dread

I’ve read too many disaster novels, and at times in the past week my imagination has got the best of me; I’ve had moments of rising anxiety and even dread.

I don’t know the future any more than you, but I know this:

Fear and dread do not come from God.

Fear is always our fight, and these days it will be more important than ever that we beat it back.

Here’s what to do.

Do Literally Nothing

When the anxiety is rising, one of the best things we can do is literally nothing:

Sit still. Turn off your phone and everything else. Be silent.

I find that just sitting still for about 15 minutes is an effective first step of breaking out of the anxiety trap.

Tell Someone Else

Fears become weaker when they are shared aloud. Just a simple text or phone call or word to another person can be helpful. “Hey, I’m feeling a fair amount of anxiety right now—will you pray for me?”

Name Your Fears, Specifically

Like a noxious mold, fear grows in darkness. Most often, our fears are vague and nameless. When I force myself to say out loud exactly what it is I am afraid of, I find that my fears shrink, rather than grow. When I shine a spotlight on it and pin it down, it takes away some of its power.

Remember being a kid in the dark in your room at night? That nameless dark shape in your room which could be a ravening monster seems a lot less scary when you shine your flashlight on it and see it was only your old rocking chair.

Recite Scripture Aloud

God’s words have power! When we say them aloud, it’s like the darkness gets pushed back a little. Start with something simple, like Psalms 23 or 46 or 121.

(By the way, this is why scripture memorization is so important—we need to keep these words close to our hearts.)

Name Your Blessings

It’s good to force yourself to recite aloud all the reasons you have to be thankful in that exact moment. Force yourself to always name at least 10 blessings.

Say the Names of God Aloud

In times of worry, my wife has found that saying the names of God that we find in scripture has made a difference. In fact, she keeps a list of God’s names in the NOTES section in her phone. Some examples:

Lord, you’re the Creator.

You’re the Alpha and the Omega.

God, you’re my rock and my fortress.

Jesus, you are the bright morning star.

Lord, you’re the Lion of Judah.

Etc.

Be Disciplined In Your Disciplines

This is not so much a technique to help when you are in the midst of fear, as it is a way of preparing yourself to live with less fear generally.

Just as an athlete or musician doesn’t decide in the moment of performance and pressure to succeed, neither does a disciple of Jesus. Rather, we prepare to succeed by committing to healthy habits. The athlete and the musician practice; the Christian prays.

Re-commit now to the basic disciplines of the Christian faith: Sunday worship, morning and evening prayer, etc.

One key habit: Don’t reach for your phone first thing in the morning—rather, first reach for the Bible or just sit and be still. The news can wait.

Fear is never from God. If you are feeling fear, know that it is a lie from Hell to plague you.

“In this world you will have trouble, but have no fear: I have overcome the world.”

— Jesus of Nazareth, John 16:33

I Have Become a Televangelist

A few weeks ago I decided that a quarantine was inevitably going to come upon us, so I bought a bunch of home video equipment that would allow me to broadcast from my home office.

Tomorrow, I make my debut as a televangelist. [3/15/2020 at 9:30 AM, CDT—here’s the link.] Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be buying a private jet any time soon, so I have a long way to go in my new career.

I’ve done a few live test videos so far, and everything seems to be working perfectly, though the lights make me sweat! The photo above is from this morning and is an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the glamorous life of a startup televangelist.

I’m planning on releasing as many videos and blog posts as I can crank out in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.

Pray for me!

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[Here’s a screenshot from a video I did this morning. From the viewer’s perspective, everything looks pretty good.]

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How to Watch

We’ll be using Facebook Live. Here’s the schedule for Sunday, March 15, 2020

09:30 AM - Live Music

10:00 AM - Live Message

1. Watch at www.mungerplace.org/watch. We’ll post some documents with the scripture passage and song lyrics there as well.

2. Login to Facebook and watch at the Munger Place Church Facebook page.

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The Equipment I’ll be Using

• 13 in. Macbook Pro

• iPhone XS Max

• iPhone X

• Shure Portable Videography Bundle with SE215 Earphones and MV88+ Video Kit including Digital Stereo Condenser Microphone

• Professional Grade Lavalier Lapel Microphone Omnidirectional Mic with Easy Clip On System

• Neewer 700W Octagon Softbox Continuous Lighting Kit

An Open Letter to Leaders in the Midst of the Coronavirus Crisis

Friends, it is our time to lead.

By definition, leadership means going first.

Going first comes with tremendous risk.  But, why else has the Lord given us our positions if not to use them?

In a time of crisis, we cannot wait for others to lead our people: it is our responsibility, and we need to take it up.

I know we are facing unprecedented challenges, and that people’s livelihoods are at stake.

• Do we close?

• Do we pay employees?

• How will our organization survive?

• When or will life go back to normal?  Etc.

Many of those questions have neither easy answers nor any answers right now.

Lots of what’s going to happen is out of our hands, but what is not out of our hands is how we will react.

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The Lord has given us everything we need today to be strong and courageous, to reassure our people, and to lead them well.

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I really believe that: God has given us everything we need today to lead well.  Do we have everything we want?  No!  Do we wish circumstances were different?  Yes!

But, nevertheless, we have everything we need.

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 Sometimes, all we have are five loaves and two fish.  What are they among so many?

 Sometimes what we have seems woefully inadequate.

 But, when we put what little we have into the Lord’s hands, it becomes more than enough:

 “Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up,  “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”

Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.” [John 6:8-11.]

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We have what we need today to lead our people well.

Let’s do it.