**announcement**

we will be restarting sunday school with nursery drop-off on may the 2nd. Sunday school will begin at 9:00am and worship will begin at 10:00am. There will be no nursery drop-off for the worship service, but we will have a large overflow room with the service live-streamed on a TV for parents to utilize at their convenience. 

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Located at 4479 Jackson rd, Whites creek, TN 37189 on the campus of jonathan edwards classical academy

We are asking folks to sign up for Sunday's services. The link below will be active Wednesday through Friday each week.  


Our service livestream can be accessed below on the "Teaching and Preaching" part of our home page. Once we go live, a link will appear. You can also find us on Sermon Audio and their One Church app (available for both Apple and Android). Breakfast, coffee, Sunday School, the nursery and lunch will not be available, so please plan your morning accordingly.


Masking Guidelines:


Everyone age 7 and older is required to wear a mask that covers one’s nose and mouth—no exceptions (not even medical/psychological). The only exception will be the person at the microphone speaking.


In light of trending numbers and correlating relaxation of COVID safety measures, beginning this Sunday (3/21), whenever someone is seated in their “pod” they may remove their mask. This shifts our masking policy closer to most restaurant policies. Because of the significantly heightened droplet projections brought on by singing, however, whenever someone is standing, they will be required to wear a mask, this includes corporate prayer and all “speaking” done while standing. If someone desires to sit through the entire service without a mask, they may do so, but may not stand to sing/speak. This will be watchfully monitored—please do not to try to take unauthorized liberties or a “close enough” personal strategy. Easiest way to remember: seated in pod = no mask. Standing in pod or going outside pod = masked. Seated singing is not allowed as a loophole. Thank you for your patience and understanding as we sort through these difficult things.


If you are not planning to wear a mask, then we ask that you remain home and participate through the livestream. Spare masks will be available at the door if you do not have one, however it is highly encouraged that you bring your own masks (no crocheted or obviously porous masks).  


Health and Safety Guidelines:

1. Have you…

     -had close contact with a confirmed case?

      -had a fever over 100 ̊F recently?

      -experienced Covid-19 symptoms ((shortness of breath, sore throat, sneezing, gastrointestinal irregularities, loss of smell and/or taste, an onset of unusual or unexplained itchy patches on your skin, increasing confusion and mental cloudiness, unexplained eye issues)?

  **if so, please participate by Live Stream instead

2. Please sanitize hands upon entry and frequently

3. One person in the restroom at a time is encouraged

4. If you feel ill, please exit the meeting immediately



TEACHING and PREACHING

We are happy to make our public teaching available online for those not able to join us and for those who keep up with us from afar! Nevertheless, we urge you not to use these resources as a substitute for local church membership and participation. 


Note: If slides or notes accompanied a teaching, they will be available under the "PDF Text" section below the teaching links. 



WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?

Literally "good news," the Gospel is the most important, life-giving truth and message that could ever be heard. God created man and woman sinless and in fellowship with Him with the mandate to bear fruit and multiply while ruling and subduing the earth, exercising dominion over creation. 


Tragically, tempted by a created being to question God's word and doubt God's goodness, the man and the woman disobeyed God within the garden Paradise He had created for them, introducing spiritual and physical death into the world. As a result, they were cast out of Paradise and the presence of God to suffer the curses of pain, difficult labor and relational strife for them and their descendants. But not before a promise. 


God made a promise that from the woman would come a descendant who would crush the Serpent who had deceived them and sent the world on a trajectory of sin, death and pain. The Gospel is the culmination of that promise. 


Jesus Christ, God's only Son, fully God and fully Man, took on flesh and blood and entered into the Story with us. He lived the sinless life that we were made to live, died a death and suffered the wrath of God for punishment that we deserved, and was raised to life by God's power in vindication of His claims to be the Son of God and in demonstration of His power over sin and death.


Through true repentance and belief in Jesus Christ, we can be united with Him, credited with His righteousness, delivered from God's wrath and into his Fatherly love with the promise that one day, God will make all things new, and we too shall rise in glorified bodies and dwell with Him forever in a Paradise that far exceeds the one that was lost. Could there be better news?


The video above features an artistic portrayal of this good news. If you haven't thoughtfully considered the truth of the Gospel, it is our hope that you will wrestle with its claims, repent and believe and walk in the newness of life and joy that comes with being a Christ-follower.