Dear Family:

Here are the links for tomorrow’s worship service:

Facebook:   https://www.facebook.com/HolyCrossClayton/  

YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFWp14weSisxJFzEf7lGGUQ

I will be meeting with our church leaders this week to discuss plans for opening our facility again for public worship.  There are many things we will need to consider to insure proper safety measures are put in place.  I realize our government leaders may put out some conflicting information concerning churches, but as soon as we decide on a return date for public worship we will let you know.  We will also give plenty of notice before we open our doors again.   I realize we are all excited to get back together for worship, and I really appreciate your patience and support during this time of doing our services online. 

Attached you will find the bulletin for tomorrow, Sunday, May 24.  I am preaching on John 17:1-11, focusing on how Jesus prayed for us and the privilege we have in sharing in His glory.

God’s Blessings,

Pastor Bill

Hello Everyone:

We are going to try to stream the worship service tonight live on Facebook again at 7:00pm.  Here is the link for tonight’s worship service:   https://www.facebook.com/HolyCrossClayton/ 

We are looking into trying a different streaming option for Sunday morning.  I will let you know our plans by the end of the week.  Hopefully we will not have any problems tonight.  The title of my sermon is “Remember Steadfast Love,” and I will be preaching on John 10:11-18.  May the Lord continue to bless you during this very memorable Lenten season.

In God’s Service,

Pastor Bill

Dear Family:

Here is the link for tonight’s worship service:      https://www.facebook.com/HolyCrossClayton/ 

The title of tonight’s message is: “Remember Sins No More” based on Jeremiah 31:34 – “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

I look forward to worshipping with you tonight at 7:00pm.  We will go live at about 6:55pm.

God’s Blessings,

Pastor Bill

Dear Family:

Holy Cross has always been a very generous congregation, especially when it comes to meeting the needs of our members and people in our community.  During these unusual times, your offerings will enable our ministries to continue to provide spiritual care to everyone we meet.  However, since we have not been able to meet for worship at the church we have not been able to collect offerings over the past few weeks and I do not know when we will be able to collect them again in worship.

Therefore, there are three ways you can continue to give your offerings to the church:

1) You can mail your offerings to the church.  Several of you have done that over the past two weeks and it has helped us in many ways.

2) You can bring your offerings to the church.  Some of you have done that as we still have people at the church every day who can receive your offerings.

3) You may give your offerings electronically.  Several of you have been doing this for many years.  There are two ways you can give electronically:

1.     A) To give online with your credit card, please go to the following link:   

https://www.holycrossclayton.com/sharefaithgiving/

1.     B) To have your offerings drafted from your checking or savings account on a recurring basis, please fill out the attached form (Click here: Joyful Response ) and bring it or mail it to the church.  BJ Johns, our financial secretary, will then process this form for you.  There is no cost to you or the church when you use “Joyful Response” and you may change the amount or the frequency your offerings are given (weekly, monthly, etc.) at any time.

The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 16: “On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with one’s income…and give it as an offering to the Lord.”  While we are not able to meet in person for worship, our offerings are still needed to continue our ministries.  In fact, if we have any members with any urgent needs we want to make sure we can continue to meet those needs.  Please pray about what God may asking you to give for your offerings at this time.  If you have any questions please contact Cassy at the church office through email: cassy.welch@holycrossclayton.com or by phone: 919-553-4784 at any time.

Hello Everyone,

Greetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, our rock and refuge, our ever-present help in every time of trouble. These are times that try our souls, yet the book of Ecclesiastes reminds us that there is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Still, this is new to us, and so we continue on under the weight and complexity of our circumstances.

Worship will be steamed again live at 8:30am tomorrow morning on Facebook at the following link: https://www.facebook.com/HolyCrossClayton/ 

Please know you do not need a Facebook account to watch the service on your computer. Just click the link on your computer and you will be able to see the service. If you are watching the service on your phone, you may need a Facebook account or the Facebook App. I will be preaching tomorrow on John 9:1-41. This is a story about a man who was born blind and the disciples want to know “Why did God allow this man to be born blind?” This is the kind of question we are asking these days with the COVID-19 virus: “Why did God allow this to happen?” I want to encourage you tomorrow that instead of asking that kind of question, let’s ask, “What good can God bring out of this situation?”

Since many churches will be streaming their worship services I am guessing that you may experience moments where your screen freezes or falls behind the audio. During those moments I would encourage you to be patient as the screen will often start moving again and will catch up. If you are still having problems, you can refresh your screen; or if you lose the feed (this happened to us last Wednesday night while we were filming and we had to start over) you can start over and click or enter the link again.

We will continue to stream the Sunday and Wednesday worship services using this link until further notice. Thank you for your patience and support at this time. We will go live tomorrow morning at about 8:25am with the camera focused on the cross above our altar and music in the background.

God’s Blessings,
Pastor Bill

Dear Family:

While we are in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, the season of Lent continues for all of us and we plan to do a midweek Lenten worship service tonight. We will stream the worship service live tonight through Facebook, just as we did on Sunday. Here is the link for tonight’s worship service: https://www.facebook.com/HolyCrossClayton/

If you watch the service on your computer you do not need to have a facebook account, just simply click on the link at 7:00pm and you will be able to enjoy the service. You can also watch the service on your phone, but you will probably need to have a facebook account in order to see the worship service on your phone. The worship service will be posted to the Holy Cross facebook page on Thursday if you do not have a chance to watch it tonight.

We will go live tonight a few minutes before 7:00pm. If you have any prayer requests, please email or text them to me. We will continue our Lenten theme of “A Lent To Remember.” I will be preaching on Psalm 105:1-10 and my sermon title is, “Remember The Covenant.” I will encourage you tonight to think of how God helps us to remember that He always keeps His promises. In particular, what is the visible object He connects to His Word to help us remember His Covenant? I look forward to you joining me in worship through Facebook wherever you are tonight as we bring our prayers and praises to God.

In God’s Service,
Pastor Bill

Dear Family:

I invite you to join me for worship tomorrow morning on Facebook at 8:30am. Here is the link for the live service: https://www.facebook.com/HolyCrossClayton/

I will be preaching on John 4:5-30. I encourage you to have your Bible with you tomorrow opened to John 4 so you can follow along as I read and preach on that text. If you have any special prayer requests please email or text them to me and I will pray for them during the worship service. If you would like to text me my number is: 919-631-7294. As we deal with the COVID-19 pandemic I encourage you to remember the words of Psalm 46:1, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

God’s Blessings,
Pastor Bill

Dear Family:

Grace, Health, Peace, Protection, and Mercy to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. While closely monitoring the spread of COVID-19 in the state and hearing recommendations from civic and public health leaders, we have decided to cancel worship services this Sunday, March 15.

However, we have decided to do a short worship service that you can watch on Facebook this Sunday at 8:30am. Some members of the praise team will join me this Sunday to play music, I will read Scripture and preach my sermon for you Sunday morning. In other words, I will be doing a shortened worship service in an empty sanctuary at church while you watch it on Facebook live.
Therefore I invite you to join me for worship this Sunday on Facebook Live at 8:30am. You can go to our Holy Cross Lutheran Church page to see the message live or watch the video.

Also, we will be cancelling our midweek Lenten worship service this Wednesday, March 18. We plan to evaluate the situation one week at a time, so more information will be sent to you next week.

As followers of Jesus, these are times for us to draw closer to God and look to the Scriptures for comfort and reassurance:

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 8:35, 37-39.

God’s Blessings,
Pastor Bill

Dear Family:

Many people have been asking me about appropriate ways to “share the peace” with each other in worship since they are concerned about the flu and the coronavirus.  We want everyone to feel comfortable in worship, so if you have any concerns about “sharing the peace” please know that you do not have to shake hands.  You can simply speak the words, “peace of the Lord be with you,” to others.  Some people have been “sharing the peace” in other ways, but please know you do not have to shake hands or touch others in any way.

We will have a special guest with us tomorrow in worship.  Mr. Randy Youngquist-Thurow, executive director of Camp Agape and Kure Beach Ministries, will be sharing with us some of the great summer camp activities for your children or grandchildren.  He will also have a display in the narthex so you can learn more about these exciting ministries.

Finally, please remember to turn your clocks ahead one hour tonight before you go to bed.  I look forward to seeing you in the morning.

God’s Blessings,
Pastor Bill

I would like to invite you to join us for Ash Wednesday worship tonight at 5:00pm and 7:00pm.  Dinner will be served between services from 5:45pm – 6:30pm.  Our theme for Lent will be “A Lent To Remember.”  Each week we will focus on something God remembers or something God wants us to remember.  Tonight we will remember that we are dust, but we are God’s dust art in that we are wonderfully made.  I look forward to seeing you tonight.

Contemporary Music Leader

Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Clayton is seeking a musically gifted, committed Christian to provide leadership vocally and from a keyboard or guitar in a part-time (8-10 hours/week) position at our Contemporary Worship Service on Sunday morning at 8:30a.m.

Qualifications for this position include: a knowledge of contemporary Christian music; maintain a library of music and resources as appropriate; ability to work in a team environment; and familiarity with sound equipment.

Responsibilities would include: identifying and recruiting volunteer musicians and singers; conducting weekly rehearsals; working with the Pastor and church staff in the planning of the worship service; and selecting music in keeping with the theme of the day or season.

Please email resumes and/or inquiries to Pastor Bill Beyer at william.beyer@holycrossclayton.com

Resumes may also be sent to:

Holy Cross Lutheran Church

2920 NC Highway 42 West

Clayton, NC  27520

Fax: (919) 553-4004

For questions or more information, please contact Pastor Bill Beyer at (919) 553-4784.