Southwest Church of Christ in Amarillo, Texas, Holds Online Worship During Pandemic

Erik Tryggestad, president and CEO of The Christian Chronicle, described attending a virtual worship service of the Southwest Church of Christ in Amarillo, Texas. He said the visit followed a note of thanks to a Christian couple in the congregation who support the newspaper and who told him they stay active by writing letters of encouragement to members of their church family.

The online service, which Tryggestad said was full of content, included a long montage of church members sending greetings to one another. He said that compilation must have required days of video collection and editing.

Worship minister Doyle Corder led the singing, sitting with his family by their fireplace. Tryggestad said the hymns were varied, moving from the hymn “Our God, He is Alive,” listed as 728b, to Hillsong’s “Who You Say I Am.”

Church members appeared in videos recorded from their homes and read Scripture. Jono Blackwell led a devotional for the Lord’s Supper and asked members what distraction, challenge or hardship might be causing them to forget their redemption in Christ and keeping them from the life they are called to live.

Preaching minister Brian Mashburn led the congregation through difficult stories from the life of King David. Tryggestad said the session was more a Bible study than a sermon, and that Mashburn occasionally asked members to pause the video for discussion. Teaching from the past in this way reflects the call to pass the faith on to the next generation (Psalm 78:4).

The congregation is in the middle of its 2020 Bible Project, which Tryggestad described as appearing to be a read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year plan.

The church plans to resume small-group activities soon, as the state of Texas eases its COVID-19 quarantine restrictions.

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