Dear friends and family of Mt.

Lassen Community Church:

Greetings and Happy Memorial Day weekend! What a beautiful one! I look forward to some special
Church Services to honor our fallen freedom fighters, including Jesus!

Over two months ago, this country embarked on an unprecedented moment: it shut down its economy
and quarantined most inside in order to stop the spread of COVID-19. What was even more
unprecedented was that churches around the country were asked to shut down as well—at least their
congregational in-person services. For the safety and health of the greater good, the Elders of Mt.
Lassen Community Church were proactive for the safety and health of all concerned. We turned to
online church services like countless others and ZOOM’d our way through fellowship, despite it was far
from adequate to in-person gatherings.

We have yet hit another unprecedented moment with much of commerce being opened but not churches.
Believe it or not, I was almost 99% done with this letter describing the Elders plan to reopen Mt Lassen
Community Church Sunday Worship Services when president Trump on Friday called church gatherings
“essential” and urged governors to reopen them or he would override their decisions. Everything I’ve
written still stands despite which way our California governor decides to go.

After 100s of hours of discussions with a host of people in and outside the church, including legal
counsel, and praying fervently to the Lord, the Elders of Mt. Lassen Community Church have decided to
reconvene our Sunday Church Services on Father’s Day OR SOONER with social distancing and
precautions in place for anyone wanting to attend. We will also continue to offer our live online Church
Services for those who can’t, are not comfortable or have convictions against gathering with others even
with strict social distancing in place.

Let me say at the outset: we aren’t taking these actions with either a rebellious or arrogant spirit. We are
servants of the Lord, His Church and our community, who are responsible first to God and then others to
do what’s right. We’ve have been submissive and compliant with our government’s wishes, but now we
must obey God rather than man as the Bible commands us (Acts 5:29).
Our decision to reconvene is based upon several firm foundations:

1. Loving and being obedient to God first. First and foremost, we are responsible to obey God’s
Word—the Bible. It plainly tells us in Hebrews 10:25: “And let us not neglect our meeting
together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of Christ’s
return is drawing near.” We temporarily neglected that public assembly for the sole sake that we
were told by government authorities: “A fire (deadly virus) is coming and it will burn the
building down and its people.” For their safety and others, we stepped out until the danger
passed. But for us in rural Northern California, over two months have gone by and the fire never
came and still hasn’t. We are submissive servants to governing officials (Romans 13) but at this
point in our rural area they are requiring us to do something that is preventing us from following
God’s laws (Acts 5:29).

2. Loving and caring for God’s family. The Bible states that, first and foremost, we are to love
God and love one another (Matt. 22:36-38; John 13:34-35). It also tells us to encourage one
another daily (Heb. 3:13). We cannot adequately fulfill those commands if we don’t meet
together. Our congregation is full of law-abiding, compassionate and caring people who
represent every sphere of life. They are active and retired law enforcement, medical and
healthcare workers, teachers, administrators and other community leaders, as well as
homemakers and other professionals—white and blue collar workers, etc.. We collectively make
up God’s family. We are a spiritual family that will actual outlast our biological families into
eternity. When we are told not to meet, it has a similar impact as someone telling us not to meet
with our biological families. God’s family is presently being divided and torn apart across the
U.S. under these quarantine restrictions, unable to care for one another as God commands and
expects us. The government has kept us apart for over two months and like the “essential”
nature of a biological family, it is time for us to come back together so we can properly care for
and encourage each other. The Bible also states in Galatians 6:10: “Therefore, as we have
opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of
believers.”

3. Loving all people and so reducing despair and “deaths of despair.” Whether or not other
governing officials recognize the “essential” nature of in-person gatherings the way president
Trump stated, God and even science do. In-person church gatherings are “essential” elements of
personal wellbeing as well as community and societal health, according to the Bible and science.
In fact, the Harvard School of Public Health just published an article, “Regularly attending
religious services associated with lower risk of deaths of despair.” The article says, “ People
who attended religious services at least once a week were significantly less likely to die from
‘deaths of despair,’ including deaths related to suicide, drug overdose, and alcohol poisoning,
according to new research led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Please underscore
those three words: “significantly less likely.” We know experts expect the final number of all
three types of these “deaths of despair” to increase during this COVID-19 crisis and its
aftermath. According to an analysis conducted by the national public health group Well Being
Trust, “75,000 Americans [are] at risk of dying from overdose or suicide due to coronavirus
despair.” But why isn’t society equally concerned for that ginormous number of deaths as they
are those who died from Covid-19? As God’s Church, and based even upon that cited Harvard
study, in-person church attendance is the prescription for despair and deaths of despair. We at
 Mt. Lassen Community Church will no longer sit back and allow people to die on our watch
from “deaths of despair.” We must offer our Church Services to help decrease that staggering
number (lower the curve!) of hopeless and helpless people, just as we initially sought to self-
quarantine in order to reduce the numbers of COVID-19 contagions. How can we prioritize not
meeting for Church to save lives from COVID-19 over meeting for Church to save lives from
“deaths of despair,” especially when we have had only four confirmed cases of COVID-19 in our
county? Like with our brave first responders, are we as Christians not also called to risk and
sacrifice to help people from hopelessness and helplessness, especially when 75,000 people
could be dying from it?

4. Like many rural states and countless rural counties across the U.S., we have had no
significant growth or curve of a problem with COVID-19. We are not in a big city but rural
northern California, Plumas County to be exact. We’ve had four confirmed cases of COVID-19
to date—all have recovered. There is no evidence of spread or significant growth. Nevertheless,
governing officials have asked us to help “flatten the curve,” but we never even saw a curve or a
need to flatten one. The president’s federal task force said when we had two weeks of flattening
and decline of COVID-19 cases, we can resume business. Tragically, the justification for
quarantine has changed from “flattening the curve” to “finding a cure,” something that might not
ever even happen. We watch hundreds of people every day walk inside into large chain stores
like Lowes or Safeway in neighboring big cities, where counties have tenfold the cases of
COVID-19. Yet, not even small rural churches can congregate under the strictest of social
distancing? Restaurants are open for business, but churches remain closed in California. All the
while, we have a unique independent Bill of Right (First Amendment) that protects our rights to
assemble and practice our religion.

5. Preserving the U.S. Constitution and particularly the First Amendment. The first sentence
of the First Amendment in our Bill of Rights is: “Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;….” It couldn’t be any clearer.
Underscore “prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” U.S. citizens individually and collectively
(as churches) have a special protection that prohibits governing officials from restricting the free
exercise of religion and practice. We are ready to reconvene and practice our faith publicly and
together with safe social distancing and guidelines to do our due diligence to prevent COVID-19
and any other virus and evil from entering our building or affecting God’s family. When one can
go into large hardware stores like Lowes and daily see hundreds inside, when restaurants and
grocery stores are open, when parks are filled with people, it is time for churches to reconvene
with the same precautions.

Are we not reliable Americans who understand social distancing now and who can and will respect the
rights and boundaries of others? Of course, we can and are! We’re not kids. The government is not
going to care for us better than we ourselves. We have appreciated have technologies like ZOOM and
LIVE STREAMS that have provided visual presence online, but we are ready to reconvene the option of
also being onsite. The Elders would like to thank our church family for their willingness, patience and
flexibility to engage in these online fellowships.

And as far as the concern to gather even with strict social distancing, let me bring up one more important
point. Please remember no one is pushing you. We will do our best to accommodate your needs as
we’ve been doing. As I’ve said from the beginning, ‘You’ve been faithful to us onsite, and we will be
faithful to you online.” We will continue to offer our live online Church Services. It is completely up to
you over the summer when you want to join the rest on Sundays onsite.

And let me give you one more important history reflection to ponder as you consider what is best for
yourself and loved ones regarding Church attendance. Did you know the CDC recorded 2018 as the
highest record of deaths from the flu virus in 40 years with 80,000 U.S. deaths? Did you know that?
Even more, did you also know that Plumas County reported in January of that year that “Seasonal
influenza now epidemic in Plumas”?!

What’s equally as interesting is that the 2018 recommended health practices for the flu epidemic in our
county sounded like they do today in 2020. They were:

Following these simple measures may also help:

– Wash your hands often with soap and water.

– Clean the things you touch frequently especially if other people touch them as well.

– Do not touch your face.

– Keep away from sick people.

– Cover your nose and mouth when you cough or sneeze, use a tissue or your elbow.

– If you are sick or feel sick, stay away from others.

Sound familiar? Did you run around fearful in 2018? Were you worried about the fatal effects of the
flu, even after it was declared an “epidemic” in our county? Did you stop attending church? Did you
shy away from shaking someone’s hand? Did you wear a mask? Do you remember all the
hospitalizations and deaths in our area? Neither do I. Nothing changed and yet there was an epidemic
in our county that took the lives of 80,000 Americans in the U.S. Even now, many experts still say the
flu is “deadlier.”

I’m not citing the 2018 flu epidemic to say we should be cavalier about COVID-19 in 2020. The death
rate of the flu in that year was equal to the last few months of COVID-19, BUT neither was a fatal
problem in our county. We should be so grateful to live in such a beautifully and largely sheltered area.

Are we saying that we at Mt. Lassen Community Church will never know a parishioner who has
COVID-19? I pray we don’t, and we are equally committed to fight with all precautions in place, which
I will detail over the next week. But one thing we’ve realized, whether we meet in June, August,
September, October or December with risks of a second wave of COVID-19, we are going to confront
the same demons and need to take the same safety steps. The only way to make sure you never catch the
flu or COVID-19 is to stay sheltered forever. And if you don’t think that’s the devil’s ultimate plan, you
need to get to know him a little better.

The next step is that we leaders are meeting this next week to delegate and plan precautions for our
reconvening on Sundays for both adults and kids. Whether we open on Father’s Day or sooner, we will
not do so until we are completely satisfied that we are doing all we can to keep you and your loved ones
safe and secure. The president just put out new guidelines for faith communities reconvening, and we
will be consulting them as we do dozens of other resources we all have.

Rules and guidelines to future Sunday gatherings will possibly include but not be restricted to:

• seats and sanctuary sanitized before and after each Church Service
• hand sanitizers at entrances, exits and throughout theatre
• “no physical contact fellowship”
• escorted seating
• social distancing between your family and others’ seating
• coffee being prepared by a gloved assistant
• tithes and donation boxes at the entrance/exits (rather than passing offering bags),
• free masks
• pre-filled sanitized disposable communion cups
• And all the equal precautions for God’s kids, including (with parents’ consent) weekly checking
of temperatures via touchless forehead thermometers and use of hand sanitizers when kids enter
the classroom or have KIDS Church in the park, etc.

One last note, for those ready for a little more fellowship in small doses on the way to our reunion
Sunday celebration: starting on Sunday, May 31, and continuing for the Sunday or two before we meet
together in the theatre (or park?) for all-Church celebrations, certain leaders in the church are opening
their homes for a few to watch the LIVE ONLINE Church Services on Sunday mornings. Stay tuned
next week for more details about how to contact them and lots more coming your way!

Friends, despite the sacrifices and even sufferings by many in the last few months, we are reconvening
soon! PLEASE be excited, be in prayer, be prudent but don’t panic. Everything is going to be OK.
You know why? Because you’re God’s household of faith and we have all His promises to prove it! J

As it says in 1 Peter 5:8-10: “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls
around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the
same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you
have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will
himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Todd (on behalf of the MLCC Elders:

Randy Wright, Curt Theriault and Dave LaGroue)