Saturday, April 25, 2020
Hi Everyone,
Greetings on this last weekend of April! We hope that each of you are continuing to stay safe and healthy, as we all navigate the necessary precautions to sustain our health! It will be a day of celebration when we can return to our gatherings at church!
However, until then….
Our Sunday Worship Services will continue to be broadcasted live, until further notice. Pastor Mel shared, “that the word came down from the governor yesterday that we will be under restriction as faith communities at least through the end of May.” She also said that he then stated that he may need to extend that again when he reevaluates in mid-May. We will certainly keep you posted as we know more.
We are happy to say that there are now two ways you can watch the worship service online…
ON FACEBOOK
- To watch on Facebook, go to our church’s Facebook Page for the live broadcast. There is a “April Fools!! Laughing With God” post below the banner at the top of the page. It will say: “Salida United Methodist Church plans to go live”. This is where you will see the Live Broadcast on Facebook starting at about 10:20am on Sunday.
ON YOUTUBE
- You can watch the Live Broadcast directly on YouTube (without going through Facebook) by following this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCZ06wB2Nqs
Soon after the service, the recorded service will be available for viewing and/or sharing on our Video Sermons page of our website: http://www.salidaumc.org/sermons/video-sermons. Earlier sermons from this time of social distancing, are also posted there as well.
Be sure to send us any prayer requests or celebrations that have for Pastor Mel to share during the worship service. You may email them to the church office (office@salidaumc.org) or you may text them directly to Pastor Mel at: (505) 320-9107. Also, you may state them in the comments section of the live broadcast and we will retrieve them from there.
Blessings to you all and please let us know if you have any questions!
With Gratitude,
Licia
____________________________________________________________________________
Saturday, March 28, 2020
Hi Everyone,
- WORSHIP SERVICE: Just a reminder to join us tomorrow morning, Sunday, March 29th at 10:30am for our live broadcast of our worship service, viewed from the comfort of your own home. Just go to the Salida United Methodist Church Facebook page on Sunday mornings at 10:30AM and you will find the Live Feed there. YOU CAN ALSO find our Facebook page through the “Salida UMC Facebook” link at the top left hand corner of the HOME page of our website: www.salidaumc.org. During the worship service, you will have the opportunity to comment, engage in exchanges with Pastor Mel, experience amazing music provided by Rod, Mary and Bob and share you’ll have a chance to share your Joys and Concerns.
If you have a prayer request that you would like to share with us please either text it directly to Pastor Mel at (505) 320-9107 or you can email it to me (Licia) in the office and I will get it to her. Please note that prayer requests shared online will be public. If you have a private prayer request that you do not want shared during the Live Broadcast, please be sure to let us know that you want it to remain private and we will absolutely respect that.
We will be continuing to broadcast our services on Facebook Live until further notice.
With Gratitude,
Licia
____________________________________________________________________________
Thursday, March 26, 2020
Hi Everyone,
We hope this email finds you well and experiencing God’s Grace, even in the midst of the ever-changing terrain of our daily lives as we have known it! COVID-19 health concerns are real and we are so grateful for all the ways you are staying safe and healthy. We continue to pray for your well-being and we will all celebrate being back together when we can! Until then, please stay in touch with us, and each other, as you can, by phone calls, emails, Zoom video calls, and joining in on Sunday mornings for the Live Broadcast of our 10:30am worship service. See more information below!
- “Facebook Live” for Worship Services until further notice…At least through April 19th – We are grateful to be able to continue our live broadcast of our Sunday worship experience, which you can participate in from the comfort of your home. Just go to the Salida United Methodist Church Facebook page on Sunday mornings at 10:30AM and you will find the Live Feed there. Each week we are getting better and better at navigating the technology required to broadcast our service! During the service, you will have the opportunity to comment, engage in exchanges with Pastor Mel, experience amazing music provided by Rod, Mary and Bob and share you’ll have a chance to share your Joys and Concerns. If you have a prayer request that you would like to share with us please either text it directly to Pastor Mel at (505) 320-9107 or you can email it to me in the office and I will get it to her. Please note that prayer requests shared online will be public. If you have a private prayer request that you do not want shared during the Live Broadcast, please be sure to let us know that you want it to remain private and we will absolutely respect that.
Just a fun fact regarding the viewing of last week’s FB video for Sunday, March 22nd…Facebook shared with us the following details about our video engagement: 391 people reached; 446 video views; 520 engagements; 150 comments; 196 clicks to play & 108 other clicks. All this to say….we are very happy with the overall positive feedback we’ve received about the Live Broadcasting experience and celebrate that people from near and far distances are able to join us. If there was ever a time that we need to know we are connected, it is NOW! Please let us know if you have questions about how to see the Live Broadcast of the service on Sunday. You will also find another link to our Facebook page in the upper left corner of the Home page of our website: www.salidaumc.org. Plan to join us on Sunday at 10:30am. These videos remain on our Facebook page and we’ve also posted them on our website on the Video Sermon page.
- Your Selfies/Photos for the Pews – Pastor Mel has invited all of us to email a photo of ourselves (a “Selfie”) to the office or to either of our cell phones. We are planning to print the photos out and display them in the sanctuary pews so that your visual presence will be celebrated with us each Sunday! We’re already receiving some of the photos, so please send yours in as soon as you can. You can email it to: office@salidaumc.org or text it to Mel: (505) 320-9107 or text it to me/Licia: (405) 250-7679.
- Zoom…. for Bible Study, Fellowship Time, other potential meetings/gatherings – Please consider downloading “Zoom” for your computer or your cell phone so you can participate in some fun things! This video conferencing software allows you to be included with others in a “real time” conversation and shared visual experience. You can also participate on the phone only (without downloading the software and using the video) if that is of more interest. In each Zoom meeting email invitation you would receive, there are phone numbers listed at the bottom of the email. When calling those numbers to join the event by phone, please keep in mind if you are calling in from a landline phone, there will be long distance charges. If you are making that call with your cell phone, there are no long distance charges. If you are joining the meeting by phoning in, you’ll need the Meeting ID which will be listed in the email.
Last Wednesday morning, participants of the Women’s Bible Study had a successful video gathering through “Zoom”. We are so happy it went so well and are already looking forward to next week.
THIS WEEK, on Sunday, March 29th AFTER worship, Pastor Mel will be hosting our Fellowship Time on Zoom! So… if you don’t already have Zoom, please get it. She will send out an email invitation on Saturday that will indicate a time for the Fellowship “Meeting” to start. There will be a link in the email for you to click on that will take you to the meeting. Each meeting has a “Meeting ID” that is specific to the call. Join us on Sunday, after worship for a Zoom Fellowship! And remember….It is all a GRAND EXPERIMENT!
If you have any questions about the Zoom experience, please call Pastor Mel and she will certainly try to help you.
- Pastoral Care - During this time of required social distancing and the stay-at-home orders enforced throughout our local area and throughout our country, Pastor Mel asked me to remind you that she is available to visit with you by phone, email, text or Zoom. Please call or email her and allow yourself to receive that support. To reach Pastor Mel, you can call or text her at: (505) 320-9107 or email her at: uthminmel@hotmail.com or pastor@salidaumc.org
We will keep you posted with updates as they occur. Until then, be well, stay safe and remember that we are all in this together!
With God’s Healing Love,
Licia
____________________________________________________________________________
Monday, March 23, 2020
Greetings Church!
You may have heard that we will be attempting to keep connected through ZOOM video conferencing. You can join with us in various classes, fellowships and meetings on your cell phone or computer through ZOOM software. If you are new to ZOOM, you will need to download software from ZOOM. On your cell phone search for ZOOM in your app store and download it to your phone. On your computer, you will need to go to https://zoom.us/download#client_4meeting to download the ZOOM Client for meetings software. You may also want to watch a tutorial on joining a ZOOM meeting by following this link https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362193-Joining-a-Meeting
Once you have downloaded the needed software and become familiar with the system you should be ready to join the meeting by clicking on the Join Zoom Meeting link below at 10 am on Tuesday morning, March 24th.
There is also an option for calling in without video. Keep in mind, calling from your land line at home could incur long distance charges. Calling in from a cell phone will not cost you long distance fees. The numbers to call in for audio only are listed below.
If you have questions I will do my best to answer them either from distance or by coming by your home to help you get set up.
I do hope you will join us to get comfortable with this system as we all seek to maintain connection virtually!
____________________________________________________________________________
Saturday, March 21, 2020
Hi Everyone,
This is a friendly reminder that we will NOT be having “in-person” worship services in our beautiful sanctuary on Sunday, but rather, there will be a Live Broadcast on Facebook Live at 10:30am with Pastor Mel, Mary Sandell and Rod Schleicher providing the inspiring service worship service during these very unusual times in our world!
Please click on the link of our Salida United Methodist Church Facebook Page to locate the Live Broadcast. If you need help locating it, you can call the office (719) 539-2755 and I will be available to offer help. We have made some adjustments this week to improve the sound, so hopefully that will improve your experience in watching.
During the Live Broadcast, you will have the opportunity to comment and let us know that you are watching. During the Sharing of Joys and Concerns, you can offer a prayer request in the comments that will be shared publicly. If you want to send a prayer request privately, you may email it to the church office at: office@salidaumc.org or you may text it directly to Pastor Mel at: (505) 320-9107. Please indicate whether you want her to share it on the Live Broadcast.
In the event you did not see last week’s video, you can locate it on our website: www.salidaumc.org under the “What We Talk About” tab. There you will find the Video Sermons link. Also, the content of each informational email that we are sending out (and you are receiving), may be found under the “Current Announcements” tab on our website.
We know that not everyone has email or internet access, so if you know of someone who would like to know this information, please share it with them.
Thank you for all the ways you are taking care of yourselves and each other. We are clearly in unchartered territory, yet we know that we are in this together and we find strength in a Loving God who is ever present in the tiniest detail, reminding us that we are connected and cared for and there is Joy, there is Light and there is always Love.
With God’s Healing Love,
Licia
____________________________________________________________________________
Thursday, March 19, 2020
Good Morning Everyone,
I wanted to be sure to share with you a few pieces of important information that came through our office yesterday.
Mike Orrill, with Chaffee County Public Health, sent out the two attachments for churches to share with their congregations regarding COVID-19 and the local impact it is having on our community. Thank you Mike!! We appreciate being kept up to date with this fast moving situation.
We’ve had several people comment on the impact of our library being closed. Our library is a fabulous resource in our community and we are so grateful for all that they offer us. We completely understand their decision to close at this time. However, please know there may be a way we can help you with some of those services they offered:
- If you find that you are in need of browsing some reading material, feel free to stop by the church and pick up a book from our FREE book selection in Century Hall. We have ample hand sanitizer for you to use upon entering Century Hall…and when you leave.
- If you need to make a some copies, we can make arrangements for you to that. Cost is ten cents per black & white copy and 15 cents per color copy.
- We have Wifi available and plenty of table space to have six feet of surrounding personal space if you are in need of that access.
If you know of individuals or families who are impacted financially by the widespread closure of their place of employment, please let them know about our Samaritan Fund program where we distribute $25 Safeway gift cards to those in need. We are continuing with these distributions on Wednesday mornings at 9:30am
We also wanted you to know that yesterday we got word that Safeway is now reserving the morning hours of 7:00-9:00 to be open and available for shoppers who are either senior citizens or whose health is at risk.
Please know that we are taking extra measures to sanitize all the common use areas of our church on a regular basis. And even though we are not experiencing the typical number of people coming through our doors, this window of time is allowing us to do some deeper cleaning.
We will continue to keep you updated and informed as is needed. Remember to reach out to your us, your family, friends and neighbors during this difficult time. If giving or receiving this level of support is not within your comfort zone, please be gentle with yourself, and each other, as we are called to remember God’s Love and trust in the many ways it is available for us.
With God’s Healing Love,
Licia…for all of us at Salida United Methodist Church!
____________________________________________________________________________
Wednesday, March 18, 2020
Hi Everyone,
Pastor Mel and I hope this email finds you well and staying healthy in this time of COVID-19 concerns. We know that most everyone is staying home and being very careful about their interactions with other people. We trust that taking this step in “social distancing”, will help to minimize the potential exposure to this virus, as well as limiting the possibility that we may, unknowingly, transport the virus to anyone….even if we don’t have any symptoms. Very intense times we’re living in!
Pastor Mel has asked me to be sure to let those of you in the Salida area (and the surrounding communities) know that she is available to do grocery shopping and run other needed errands for you if you are staying home, as is recommended. All you need to do is call her: Mel Roberts (505) 320-9107; or email her: uthminmel@hotmail.com to make those arrangements with her.
Now more than ever, we’re called to reach deep within our foundation of faith and draw upon the well-spring of God’s Healing Love. Reaching out to each other in our church community (as well as our community in general) through phone calls, texts, emails, notes or letters will help to experience and nourish the ever-present sense of community. That sense of community is what we so celebrate when we all come together for a community event, a church class, a committee meeting and of course, at our worship service on a Sunday morning at Salida United Methodist Church.
As you, by now, know our “in person” Sunday morning worship services, along with all of our church sponsored classes, groups, events and committee meetings have all been canceled until a later date, yet to be determined. Many groups who hold their classes or meetings at the church have also cancelled, so please check with those facilitators to inquire about their schedules.
To continue providing our faith community with a Sunday Morning Worship experience, Pastor Mel, Mary Sandell, Rod Schleicher and Bob Campbell are working diligently to bring you a weekly broadcasted worship service on Facebook Live. These services will include: Important Announcements, Time for Reflection, Music by Rod, Mary and Bob, Sharing of Joys & Concerns and Message by Pastor Mel. Here is a link to last week’s worship service on Sunday, March 15th. We anticipate that each week the quality of the video and sound will get better and better! Please remember when viewing the live broadcast or the recorded video, to turn up the sound on your computer and also specifically on the video itself.
We have created a new page on our website for “Current Announcements”. Please check it frequently to keep up with information and reminders! Also, the videos of our Facebook Live broadcasts are now available on our website under the Video Sermons link on the “What We Talk About” page on our website. Each video will be posted there after the live broadcast is over!
To view services, in real time, on Sunday mornings at 10:30am, just log on to our Salida United Methodist Church Facebook Page and you will see the Live Video for that morning. You can also access the church’s Facebook page by clicking on a link on the upper left-hand corner of our church website: www.salidaumc.org.
During each worship service you will be able to offer comments, offer feedback and also publicly share your Joys & Concerns for Pastor Mel to lift up. If you would like to share your prayer request privately, please either text it to Mel at: (505) 320-9107 or it to the church office: office@salidaumc.org and Licia will get it to Mel. Please let us know if you want your prayer request shared with our viewers during the live broadcast.
If at any time, you are in need of assistance to access the live broadcast on Sunday morning, call the church office (719) 539-2755 and I will be available to help you.
With Gratitude,
Licia
______________________________________________________________________________
Sunday, March 15, 2020
Hi Everyone,
Happy Sunday, March 15th!
We hope that some of you were able to watch and listen to our first ever Facebook Live Worship Service on the church’s Facebook Page this morning. All-in-All it went very well, we learned so much and today’s effort will make future broadcasts easier and better. Remember that we will broadcast next week’s worship service on March 22nd at 10:30, again on Facebook Live.
This morning’s video will remain on our church’s Facebook page for you to view or look at again and/or share. Pastor Mel is looking at the possibility of us posting it on our church website. We’ll keep you posted. As a help to those of you viewing the video, remember to have the sound turned up on your actual computer…AS WELL AS… on the video itself, which can be found in the lower right corner of the video screen.
In the message this morning, Pastor Mel invites us to think of ways that the church can be of service to the most vulnerable members of our community during this time of CORVID-19 concerns. She invites us to share with her our ideas and suggestions, as well as our needs. Please feel free to call Pastor Mel to share with her your thoughts. Her cell phone number is: (505) 320-9107 or you may email her at: uthminmel@hotmail.com
IMPORTANT: Please know that all Salida UMC scheduled classes, events and groups are cancelled this week (March 15 – 22), such as the Faithful & Inclusive Study group on Sunday afternoons, Church Council Meeting on Tuesday, and Bible Study on Wednesday. We will let you know about the following week as it gets closer. We will still hold our community assistance on Wednesday mornings. There are various other groups that hold their weekly or monthly classes at our church, some of whom have already cancelled. However, I have not heard from all of them. So, please check with your class or meeting leader to see if they will be meeting during this time.
Please feel free to share these schedule changes with others who attend our services, groups or classes. We know there are many who do not have internet/email. Thanks for helping to spread the word.
Also, we will NOT be holding our typical office hours this week (except for on Wednesday morning) but will definitely be around. If you need anything, feel free to leave a message on the church phone (719) 539-2755 or email the office at: office@salidaumc.org and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Blessing to all of you and please stay well!
With Gratitude,
Licia
______________________________________________________________________________
Saturday, March 14, 2020
An Important Message from Pastor Mel
Hi Everyone,
Below is a message from Pastor Mel regarding a worship service change for this Sunday and next Sunday!
“After gathering as much information as possible, speaking with other pastors across the state and our Bishop, we’ve decided that at least our next two Sunday services on March 15th and 22nd, can be experienced on Facebook Live, from the comfort of your own home, rather than in our beautiful sanctuary. We will not be holding our typical service in the Sanctuary.
This decision was not one made from fear or panic, but rather a proactive one, to protect our congregation. Our Bishop Karen Oliveto has encouraged us to mirror the closures of our local school district, as is related to the COVID-19 concerns.”
So for these next two Sundays, please go to our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/salidaumc/ at 10:30AM for Salida UMC worship service on Facebook Live! Just click on the Live Feed of the service to enjoy Pastor Mel’s message, Rod and Mary’s music and sharing of Joys and Concerns.
You will be able to share your Joys and Concerns publicly by posting in the comments during the live broadcast. If you have a private prayer request you may send it to the office email address: office@salidaumc.org and it will be given to Pastor Mel.
If at any time you have questions or need limited technical support to view the broadcast, please call the office (719) 539-2755 and Licia will help you.
If you have tithes or offerings for the church, please feel free to mail them to: Salida UMC PO Box 945 Salida, CO 81201
PLEASE: If you see or speak with other folks of our congregation, who you know do not get our emails but do come to church…please let them know about these changes for the next couple of weeks.
Let us know if you have any questions!
With Gratitude,
Licia