COVID-19 Spiritual Impact

WCBI's Eric Crosswhite sat down with Rev.

Andre' Hunt Sr. , Youth Pastor at MU Baptist to discuss the impact of the pandemic on spirituality.

Social distancing is not only taking a toll on us mentally and financially but also spiritually.

Churches are having to revamp how they do things to protect their congregations.

I sat down with a member of our sunrise crew who is also a youth pastor with m-u baptist church about this challenging time.

Eric crosswhite: now, andre, we know a lot of people are going through a difficult time right now, and oftentimes, when people are struggling, they tend to turn to their spirituality, to fellowship, to worship, things like that.

That's why this particular case, this situation has been so hard for a lot of people.

But what sort of response are you seeing to that in your church and your community, things like that?

Rev.

Andre hunt: well, what i've been seeing is that we've just been adapting as the times move.

That's really all we can do.

We just elected a new pastor back in december.

With him coming in, that allows us to get outside of the walls and do something new, do something different.

What he's been doing, pastor antoine colvin, what he's been doing is going live, on facebook live, and that's how he's been streaming his services the past two weeks.

It's just being able to get out and just do something different.

You don't want people to be fearful, but we also want people able to be cautious at the same time because we realize that if we're not cautious, it can allow people to see us as not being a good shepherds over those sheep.

What me and him have really talked about is what can we do to engage our congregants and engage them and bring them in but also be mindful of what's going on because we do know that the bible tells us a render unto caesar what is due to caesar and render us to the lord what is his.

In doing so, we have to hear to what the government is telling us to do, but also feed the sheep as well.

Eric crosswhite: we've seen in other states pastors taken upon themselves to still hold gatherings despite what they've been told over and over to do.

How does it make you feel as a youth pastor?

As someone, as part of a church staff, how does seeing that make you feel?

Rev.

Andre hunt: well, i understand both perspectives.

You do want to fellowship for we're also taught that forsake not the assembly, and also, in doing that, we have to be mindful of the times that we're living in because you're called to renew your mind, like i said before, not live in fear, but at the same time, in renewing your mind, that speaks to doing things that are beneficial to your wellbeing, your health, and we have to be mindful of people's health because our church in particular has a lot of elderly congregants, so we have to be mindful at bringing them in that if we were to have a service, we don't want to expose them or anyone else for that matter, this crisis that's going on.

I think that pastor colvin has done a good job of moving things in a direction that we're still able to fellowship, and what it's also allowed is we're reaching people not only here in columbus, but across the state and across this country because we've had, i believe, over 2 or 3000 views- eric crosswhite: wow.

Rev.

Andre hunt: ... on just his streams, and with him being a new pastor here in columbus, that's a really big deal.

Eric crosswhite: sure.

Rev.

Andre hunt: i think that our reach has gotten stronger, but i do feel for the church, i do feel for those that do want to come in and fellowship, but we also have to be mindful that that's something that's just not feasible right now.

Eric crosswhite: the church is like everybody else trying to have to think outside the box.

It's really easy right now to get in a negative mindset, and as a pastor, that's got to be a difficult thing for you to see people going through.

Do you have any words of encouragement or advice, things that have helped you day to day?

Rev.

Andre hunt: well, i guess the scripture speaks to trouble not lasting always.

We do realize that this is nothing new.

Pandemics have been going on since the beginning of time.

Those that walk in faith realize that god protects us, god keeps us, and we just have to be mindful of not becoming overly stressed for the bible also teaches us to be anxious for nothing, but in everything give thanks unto the lord.

We give thanks for him in the good times as well as the bad knowing that if we're faithful, if we're able to push through and walk through in our faith, we know that we'll come out on the other side looking better than we went in.

That's what we believe, and that's what we hold fast to.

Eric crosswhite: you touched on this a little bit.

You mentioned that your pastor using facetime, and we've seen all these different churches using these different ways of technology to reach their congregations.

Do you think that this is going to change the way church services are held going forward?

Rev.

Andre hunt: well, i believe so.

If you look at the church now, church is not what it used to be because there are a lot of pastors now who stream their services anyway.

I think that for those that had not been streaming their services, it allows them now... there's another platform that it allows them to have where they're able to now reach people that they normally would not reach.

I think that, yes, this is something, and i believe that that's a shift that's taking place.

It's allowing the church to change.

It's allowing the church to get outside of those four walls, and you're able to actually minister to those people that you would not reach, that may not come into your doors, you're not able to reach them.

Even though this is a tough time we're going through, we give glory to god because we realize now we're able to minister to and impact those that we would not have that reach for prior to this.

Eric crosswhite: moving forward, it can kind of be like another tool in your toolbox- rev.

Andre hunt: right.

Right.

Eric crosswhite: ... as far as reaching people.

Rev.

Andre hunt: anything that we can get, we want to use it for the glory of god.

Eric crosswhite: andre, is there anything else that you wanted to touch on while we're here?

Rev.

Andre hunt: no.

I would just tell everyone be safe and just know that if we remain faithful, we remain prayerful, but also with vigilant and our practices, we know that we'll come out on the other side- eric crosswhite: eventually- rev.

Andre hunt: ... of this.

Eric crosswhite: ... we'll get through it.

Andre, thanks so much.

Rev.

Andre hunt: no problem.

Again, that was andre hunt sr. with m-u baptist church.

// and the city of columbus has created a website with more info and a list of churches holding online services.

// that's "worship columbus m-s dot org.