MADISON COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — Many pastors around Kentucky are coming up with new ways to reach their congregations.
Sweeping changes to stop the coronavirus have posed a big challenge for pastors like William Dooley at Middletown Baptist Church in Berea.
“How on earth am I going to stay connected to my people, and how are we going to meet needs here in our community,” Dooley wondered.
When in-person services were banned by the governor, Dooley says his church wasn’t equipped to record or post services online. But he‘s a believer that God will make a way, when there seems to be no way.
“Allen and I were just talking one day, and I told them what was going on and he offered me his facility and his production staff to us to put these things together, and that was a huge blessing to us," Dooley said.
A couple of miles away at Westside Baptist Church, Pastor Allen Livingood and his team had already been posting services online for a few years. Livingood didn’t hesitate to help while Dooley works to get his own production up-and-running.
“It’s a shame that it takes a pandemic sometimes for churches to come together and work together and not be in competition with each other," said Livingood. "But know that we’re all trying to do the same thing and that is to bring people peace with God in a troubled world."
Both pastors hope to bring peace through each of their Wednesday evening services. They both say it’s been an adjustment preaching to an empty room, but they know their message may be heard now, clearer than ever.
“God will take care of us. This is an uncertain time and we don’t know exactly what’s going to happen, but he does,” Dooley said.
“It causes us to trust him more, and it increases our faith. And yea I do think there is a purpose for this, I do think god allows this, to bring his people together,” Livingood said.
Both pastors say they’ve seen a big spike in online viewership, up to 10 times the number of people they’d see on a busy Sunday morning.
They say they hope this uncertain time does help people find god.
