Church service streamed to Facebook to protect members

JACKSON, Tenn. — Several churches across West Tennessee have switched to online streaming for Sunday service due to the coronavirus.

One of those churches is Hillcrest Baptist Church in Jackson.

“It is different today because very, very few people will be here, but we still want to provide some thing for our people so that even though we cannot gather, we can at least still worship together in a sense, and we can still worship the Lord even though we are at home,” Hillcrest Baptist Church pastor Dr.  Jerry Welch said.

Normally on a Sunday you will see church pews filled with worshipers, but this Sunday they are empty.

“We know that for the safety of our folks, that this is the best thing to do. We don’t want any of our people to get it, and we just want to do the best that we can do for the safety of their health and ours as well,” Welch said.

However, their services still go on thanks to live streaming on Facebook.

“They will be able to see it. They will be able to see me, but I won’t be able to see them, and I will miss that part of it,” Welch said. “But we have a very special church family, and we love getting together and we hate it when we are not able to be here.”

Welch says even though he misses having face-to-face contact with members of the congregation, having online services is a way to keep everyone safe.

“Just continue to pray for our nation, for our leaders. They’ve got a lot of decisions to make and the more effective they are, the sooner we will be able to get back and things get back to normal gain,” Welch said.

Welch says it is unknown when the church will reopen its doors again. He says they will continue to have Sunday services online until further notice.