TCO Members and Visiting Families,

Please read this thoroughly as there is a lot of crucial information that needs to be understood regarding TCO on-campus activities through the rest of the summer. As of this writing and indifferent to any State or Federal suggestions, The Church at Odessa will not be meeting on campus before Sunday June 7, 2020. The sermons will continue to air on the established outlets through the summer.

The Church at Odessa will not be meeting on campus before Sunday June 7, 2020.

President Trump has unveiled Guidelines for Opening Up America Again, a three-phased approach based on the advice of public health experts. As of this writing, Florida Governor DeSantis has not released his plans for Florida opening, but we suspect they will be closely in-line with the Federal guidelines. As more information becomes available from the office of the Governor, the TCO Elders will communicate those by all means possible.

In anticipation of resuming on-campus worship and activities, the TCO Elders have met with medical professionals to review our facilities and procedures with the purpose of keeping as many surfaces, areas, and processes as sterile as possible. As the leadup to corporate gathering nears, follow-up meetings will take place to ensure logistics, details, information is current and planned. This will mean different traffic patterns within the buildings, different timing of activities, different seating arrangements, different attendance levels, and including potentially using the church grounds for worship as an interim solution. 

During the closure, TCO facilities have been regularly deep-cleaned with hospital-grade cleaning agents and we will keep this up as on-campus activities begin to start up again. Things are going to look and feel different for a time, but with all our heart we are working to make things as normal as possible so we may worship our God and King corporately and regularly.

It is critical for everyone to remember that while the quarantine may be formally lifted, there is still the real possibility of contagion. Steps must be taken to ensure that TCO members and visiting families are able to participate in regular worship in the safest circumstances possible. These steps may appear strange and perhaps seem overboard to some, but they are necessary just the same. If even a single case of COVID-19 is confirmed to be the result of a TCO gathering, the State of Florida will necessarily have to quarantine the church and anyone that was in attendance. This is not meant to scare, rather to assure that the steps the TCO Elders are putting in place now are good and necessary to make the smoothest path to eventual gathering of the entire body. 

In this interim period, grace will be needed on many levels and more than ever, setting aside personal comfort and opinions so that your brothers and sisters in Christ might have peace of mind during on-campus activities. 

Here is what the TCO Elders are asking of you personally during this reintegration phase:

1. Grace and patience for your Elders
   1. Things are presently and will continue to be different for a long time and information and circumstances are changing rapidly; we are making the best decisions with the information available.
   2. None of us would prefer things this way, but such is the post-COVID-19 landscape.
   3. We are making the very best short-term and long-term decisions we can for the entire body of believers at TCO.
   4. As TCO Elders we feel the weight of being accountable for the spiritual health of this body, and as we return to corporately meeting, we very much feel the burden and responsibility of protecting the physical well-being of all that enter the doors.

2. Grace and patience with each other
   1. The opinions on COVID-19 are as varying as can be and as with anything in the 21^st century, have become divisive, even among believers.
   2. We are asking that you keep your opinions to yourself while on campus; we are there to worship Christ for his saving grace and redemption of sinners, not create strife and incite each other to anger. We aren’t saying you cannot have opinions, just that you remember why you are on campus.
   3. Some will be wearing masks and/or gloves, some will not. This needn’t bother anyone one way or the other.
   4. Some will not begin attending worship right away. Love them and care for your Christian brothers and sisters as best you can with patience and understanding until they rejoin us.

The TCO Elders love you dearly and have been praying and working on your behalf throughout this quarantine. The culture is full of fear, uncertainty, anger and change. We are not dismissive of this new reality and pray that neither are you. Things are different. As a body we need to continue to pray for each other, our state, our nation, and our world, and continue to love each other through the trials to come. Things will return to normal eventually, but the road there is long and winding. Christ is our assurance and neither his church nor his elect will be forgotten or forsaken.

Peace be with you,

The TCO Elders

elders@churchatodessa.org  

Christ is our assurance and neither his Church nor his elect will be forgotten or forsaken.