For almost a year now, most businesses have been in survival mode. Businesses, especially local ones, suddenly found themselves navigating a new and totally different landscape. Churches were in the same boat!!
You might make the argument that a church is NOT a business, and I would wholeheartedly agree with you!!! But, much like a business, we found out that our “normal” was no more and had to find ways to quickly navigate around the limitations of COVID to do what we do: Reach people!! Reach our people! Reach lost people!! You see where it all leads …
Back in 1991 I left a career with a small IT company in the Upstate to follow the call of God into ministry. We were a small company but very effective, because we learned that we would all have to wear many hats and figure out many things to make it in that world. We all learned that you have to think on the fly, that sometimes you have to change the direction of the canoe mid-stream and you had BETTER be careful doing that. When I look back on those days, there were some really good times.
The first church I served was Fairview Baptist Church in Greer. I served there while finishing my Bachelor’s degree in preparation for Master’s work. I was an intern in Youth Ministry at that church and my pastor was Dr. Lonnie Shull. He was a great man to work with and poured into me often. (I wish I could be more like him in a lot of ways …) He and I were talking about my past career and I remember telling him that I regret that I didn’t sense God’s call earlier and had wasted all of that time doing IT work. He looked me dead in the eyes and said “NO. God will use that one day. You just wait and see.”
I think about that often now since March of 2020. My experience in networking and other things I have picked up along the way helped me adjust and turn the canoe… (I certainly DID NOT do it alone. Our entire staff was paddling like crazy. But all of that experience helped!!) Another big help was found in leadership resources on the web from sources I trust. Some of it was church related. Some was business related. When they all started telling me the same thing, that was a wake-up call!!!
No matter if you are a church leader, business leader, or anyone else, we all really do have to embrace the fact that we CANNOT WAIT for things to get back to normal… It is time to adapt and overcome!! Our mission as a church has not changed. But we quickly found that we need to adopt new methods to achieve the mission. Most business leaders have figured this out too!!
Those who do not step up and figure out how to navigate the new landscape will not survive. God has given all of us tools to make it through. Trust Him and find those tools!!!!
Don’t wait for normal!!!!! Do what God has put you here to do!!!!!!!
The Random Thinker 
Thanks for the reminder, David. I find those opportunities in the least likely places these days. Reaching out to elderly neighbors with info you shared about vaccine availability reminded them that I care for them. Sharing with those over 70yo whom I know are not computer literate. Someone asked why I volunteered to return to work after being retired less than a month….I replied because my faith calls me to serve. These months of Covid have provided various opportunities to porch drop small reminders to others, to send cards via snail mail to those who are hurting. To pause and acknowledge a shared heartache. Covid has been and continues to be terrible in so very many ways but it has also made my heart tender, and a hurting heart (in my case) draws me nearer to my Lors.