UPDATES FROM WALK CHURCH ON COVID-19

April 22, 2020

Dear WALK Church Family,

We want to send you an important update regarding our response to COVID-19, and how we are taking steps as a church to meet needs in our community.

These are trying times for all of us, but we are confident that God continues to work all things for our good and his glory. As Pastor Heiden preached from Romans 8:31 recently, “God is for us!” Please know that our staff is praying for you daily.

THE NEED

Like you, many members of our families have lost their jobs and their incomes. We are also aware that the shutdown is impacting some people more than others. Many have lost their jobs, some have gotten sick, and others simply don’t feel safe leaving their homes, making it increasingly difficult to get much-needed food and supplies. This perfect storm has created a need in our church and our community that we want to rise up and help meet.

OUR RESPONSE

To combat this, a member of our WALK Church family, along with our pastoral staff team, has designed an online portal to meet the needs of people in our church and community. In addition, the system provides a way for others who are not currently in need to join in and help, as well. You can find it by going to walkchurch.com and clicking the COVID-19 Relief tab on our home page.

This is a very real way for us to live out two of our core values, Generous Living and Authentic Community. Our hope is that people will experience the love of Jesus through our local church body and that through even this crisis, they would Experience Freedom to Walk in Jesus.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

• If You Need Help

If you need something to be picked up and delivered to you, like food/groceries, you have loved ones who need help, you just need prayer (whether it’s over the phone or in-person from a safe distance), or anything else during this difficult time, please submit a need in our portal. Once we receive your request, a small team of volunteers will be notified, and we will do our best to meet your needs in a timely manner with the resources we currently have available.

• If You Want to Give Help

If you want to help those in need, you can go here and make a donation. We will immediately put your resources to work to meet the needs of those in our church and our community who have been impacted by COVID-19.

Thank you for taking the time to read this update. We very much look forward to meeting in person with you again, soon.

WALK Church Staff Team

As you know, yesterday at 1:36 PM, we sent out an email in response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) to all of our church members with an update on our plans for Sunday services at Schofield Middle School. However, two hours later, we received an email from the Clark County School District (CCSD), notifying us that all extra-curricular activities have been suspended, including any assemblies or gatherings other than regular classes. This includes any and all church services, which directly impacts us.

In addition, Governor Sisolak declared a State of Emergency in the state of Nevada, and today, President Trump declared a National Emergency. We are certainly living in critical times.

As you can see, this is a quickly evolving situation that we are prayerfully trying to navigate, sometimes by the hour. After examining our options last night and this morning, our pastoral team and stewardship team met together to pray and discuss the best option for us moving forward. We came into agreement, and what follows is the decision we’ve made for our church services this Sunday (3-15-20).

Watch an update video from Pastor Heiden here.
* PLEASE READ THE ENTIRETY OF THIS EMAIL, so you have all of the accurate information.

– FAITH OVER FEAR –

First, in times of trouble and great uncertainty, the best thing that we can do is draw near to God. He promises us in His Word that when we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us (James 4:8). In this time of trouble, we will choose faith over fear and run to our refuge, the Lord! The Apostle Paul also reminds us that “God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” By His Spirit, we can stand in the face of the challenges ahead of us with faith, bold conviction, and confidence in the fact that God is good and is always in control.

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear…” Psalm 46:1

– A NEW WAY TO GATHER –

Second, in order to seek the absolute welfare of our community, our pastoral team has decided that we will be holding church services via LIVESTREAM on Sunday morning at 10:00 AM.

There were several options available to us which would have allowed us to meet together in person as a church body. However, we feel that livestreaming is the most responsible and Christlike way to love our community well at this moment.

This form of gathering will never substitute the physical gathering together of believers in corporate worship. As soon as we can responsibly meet together in person again, we will do it. Having said this, we also want to remind everyone that church is not merely an event we attend, but a family to which we belong. The church is not a building, but a people. We are a body of believers set free to walk in Jesus, regardless of where or how we meet.

“Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare.’” – Jeremiah 29:7

– HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN DO –

1. We invite you to join us for our first-ever virtual worship services as we gather together online. On Sunday morning you can experience our service live by:Going to: www.walkchurch.comOn our website, there will be a banner on the front of our homepage that will take you directly to our live-streamed service when you click it.This is a great opportunity for you to share the love of Jesus Christ with your friends and neighbors who may be in a state of fear and/or thinking about the things of faith. They may never come to church with you, but they may just come to your house and watch the service online with you. You will also be able to share the link on social media so that others may join in with you, as well.
2. As always, be sure to follow appropriate hygiene recommendations and preventative measures. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends hand washing, covering your coughs and sneezes, and avoiding close contact with anyone with flu or cold-like symptoms. The Center for Disease Control has also recommended helpful tips for preventing illness. You can find them by clicking here.
3. Finally, one of the most practical and important things you can do is remembering to support WALK Church financially. Our staff is still working, maybe harder than ever as needs increase, and our local and global partners who rely on our support are still serving. One of our God-dependent prayers is that giving does not drop off during this season, as we continue to REACH people for Christ in our city and beyond. You can give in the following ways:
   1. Through our website: https://tithe.ly/give?c=7336
   2. Through our WALK Church app. You can download it here:
      a. Click this link on your cell phone https://walkchurch.app.link/
   3. Text to give: Text the word give to 702-830-7208
   4. You can mail your tithes and offerings to:
      WALK Church
      8810 S. Maryland Pkwy. Suite 105
      Las Vegas, NV 89123

WALK Church Family, 

We are contacting you to let you know that we are thinking about you, and we are praying about how best to serve you during this time of uncertainty. We realize that many of you have experienced a loss of income and may be struggling to make ends meet. One of the ways for us to help you during this time is to make our Food Pantry available to you. 

This morning, our staff worked diligently to organize our Ministry Office in order to accommodate the food from our Food Pantry since we have officially moved it out of Schofield Middle School for the duration of the school closure. Currently, we have a limited supply of food and size 1 diapers that we are providing to our church family.

If you are unable to get access to the food that you and your family need, we would love to help you.In order to abide by the current government requests for social distancing, we are implementing curbside pickup at our Ministry Office. To submit a request for help, please fill out our Food Pantry form by clicking here. 

In addition, we would love to pray for you during this time. You can submit a prayer request by visiting the prayer wall on our WALK Church App, or by visiting the prayer page on our website.

Here are some additional resources that may help:

• The Nevada Independent COVID-19 Resource Guide
• Three Square Food Bank has set up 43 emergency food distribution sites across Southern Nevada. Three Square has temporarily suspended normal food distribution to any agency partners that are not on the emergency distribution list, including WALK Church.

* Three Square Food Bank also has services available for seniors. Between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, anyone in Southern Nevada over the age of 60 can speak to an advocate at (702) 765-4030 to help determine what services are available to help them access food.

• Delivering with Dignity is also available in Clark County for those in low-income households who are at a higher risk of contracting the virus, including seniors and those with underlying medical conditions and their family members living in the same household.
• Those with questions about qualifying for meals can contact United Way of Southern Nevada at (702) 892-2300.

We pray that this serves as a valuable resource for you and your family.

Hey WLK YTH Family,

I wanted to send you all a message letting you know that we are praying for you and believing God to get us through these trying times regarding the Corona Virus (COVID-19). Pastor Heiden shared a great quote from Corrie Ten Boom this past Sunday stating, “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” Although we can’t predict what tomorrow will look like, or even the next hour, we do know that God is still on the throne and He hasn’t lost control. Even in the midst of uncertainty, the Lord remains the same!

With the recent update given from Governor Sisolak canceling all CCSD schools from meeting together for at least the next 30 days, as well as the recommendation given from President Trump and the CDC (Center for Disease Control) advising people not gather in groups larger than 10 people during this time, we have made the decision to not meet physically for the next 4 weeks, at a minimum. However, we would like to continue meeting and growing together during this time via. Online. Below are some ways we will do this:

• We will be posting new teachings every Thursday evening at 6:30PM on our WALK Church YouTube channel (Click Here).
• Our small group leaders will be contacting our students with updates on intentional times they can meet together via: Zoom or FaceTime, to continue growing together using RIGHT NOW MEDIA. If you do not have a Right Now Media account yet, we encourage you to create a log on (Click Here) and set up your free account. Our church has already paid for your subscription. Praise God! We will be walking through intentional studies throughout the week discussing the topic of Identity. (Requires a RightNowMedia account)
• Follow our WLK YTH Instagram Page for Live Daily Updates!

We are grateful for you all, and We’re trusting the Lord together during these times! Lastly, I hope you continue to prioritize livestreaming with us for church on Sunday mornings. You can access the livestream at WALKChurch.com!

Walking in Him,
Jorge Hernandez, WLK YTH Director

We found out on 3-15-20 that all CCSD schools (Public, Private, and Charter) will be closed for a minimum of 3 weeks, and are currently scheduled to return back to school the week of April 6^th. As you may have read in our previous update on March 13^th, “If the Clark County School District cancels school, we will cancel our WLK YTH gatherings, as well as all Charge Groups, until further notice.”

With that said, we are making the prudent and Christlike decision to postpone meeting physically in Charge Groups, as well as our Thursday evening WLK YTH gatherings, while we await further information. We want to be a part of the solution in helping limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus and the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) recommends the best way for that to happen is by practicing “social distancing” (keeping six to 10 feet away from other people, and completely away from those who are sick). The encouragement is for us to practice this principle regarding Sunday service, WLK YTH, and our Charge Groups for at least the next three weeks.

Although we are asking for all of our facilitators to not meet with their group physically during this time, we are encouraging them to continue having Charge Groups virtually. One efficient and effective way to do this is through the conference and webinar app Zoom. Zoom is a user-friendly app that helps bring group meetings together through the screen. We encourage you to log-on to www.zoom.us, sign up for free, and utilize this tool to engage in your group virtually. If you need help with anything regarding Zoom, getting plugged into a group, or have further questions, our Groups Coordinator, Ashton Martin would be glad to assist you. Feel free to contact her by email at Ashton@walkchurch.com. Thank you for taking the time to read this and we pray you have a great day!