Local church: This pandemic will change us for the better

Photo courtesy to Nexus Facebook page

BLOOMINGTON, Ill.- The Nexus church in Bloomington-Normal is just two years old, but has been broadcasting via live stream since the beginning.

Nexus church had to make the hard call four weeks ago and shut down their building and move completely to online, but according the Lead Pastor Stacey Lux their people have responded very well.

“We have consistently had over 1300 views and over 30 shares of our Sunday live stream service each week. This is fantastic for a small congregation of under 100 and we are grateful to have great interaction with people in our comment section,” said Lux.

With Easter around the corner, the Nexus church is sad that they won’t be able to have their “Giant Disco Ball Easter Egg Drop” that was going to drop candy filled eggs to the kids.

“We are sad that we won’t be able to meet new families that usually walk through the door on Easter Sunday. The thing we will miss the most, however, is that we cannot worship together,” said Lux. “We take for granted what meeting publicly does for our hearts. Singing, dancing and shouting “Amen!” and those handshakes and hugs, those are what make the family of God so special.”

Lux  said that as a pastor, talking to a camera in an empty and silent room is “weird.”

“It’s not interactive and a bit awkward, but we are powering through. I love watching our live stream later on and reading all of the comments from our people. Our church is all about community, even if it’s online,” said Lux

Nexus church is doing three services a week.

One for adults, kids and  for youth, which is 6-12th grade. Their 10:30 a.m. Sunday Adult service features, Doordash giveaways, live worship via worship pastor’s house, a sermon from Lux’s living room and a word from our Executive Pastor in his living room.

“We are fortunate to have a streaming service we pay for that helps with speed and quality and we have the capability of switching to different locations, put scriptures up on lower thirds of the screen and post announcement slides,” said Lux. “It’s a production, but my husband is very techy. He was made for this sort of thing.”

Lux is making is work, and changing her life and dining room.

“My dining room has turned into a production studio with five computer monitors, three cameras, microphones and wires going everywhere. We tell our kids…this room is off limits. LOL,” said Lux.

Feeling scared, lonely, depressed and worried?

“You are not alone. Everyone is feeling this way right now! But God, is with us. He will never leave us or forsake us. It’s important for us to use this time to pray. We need to pray for our nation, pray for our President, our governor, our doctors and nurses,” said Lux.”If you read the Bible, you will find that God has brought his people through many plagues, famines and times of poverty and He will do it now. This is the time to turn to God and trust him.”

As far as cancellations Nexus has canceled small groups, volunteer appreciation events, prayer nights and their big women’s conference trip.

“We are wondering about summer camp, VBS and other regular events that are upcoming. My hope is that when this is all over, everyone will come back to church and be faithful in their attendance. I believe our culture has turned away from the church over the past few decades,” said Lux. “Families haven’t made Sunday morning a priority like it once was.”

However, Lux sees this changing already.

“In our neighborhoods, families are standing in their front yards, talking to one another, making encouraging messages with chalk in their driveways and putting hearts in their windows,” said Lux.  “I think this pandemic will change us for the better, filling all of our church buildings beyond capacity when this thing blows over. ”

Photo courtesy to Nexus Facebook page

As far as community work, the Nexus church is doing a “Drive by Food Drive” Thursday, April 2 from 10-2 p.m.

There people can drop off bread, cans of soup, cheese slices, deli meat and boxed dinners to donate to Home Sweet Home.

Also, on April 26, they are joining with seven other churches in town to receive a semi truck full of groceries from Convoy of Hope.