Worshiping God in a New Normal | The Vision, Part 5

“Before God, the main focus was doing what I thought we needed to do, and now I do what I think he wants us to do,” says Scott Read, from the Waterford Campus, about what worship means to him.

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been looking at our vision as a church and talking more about each aspect. Our vision is to form biblically functioning communities that reach lost people, connect in Christ-centered relationships, teach truth, serve others, and worship God. And today, we’ve reached the final aspect—last, but not least—worshiping God.

Scott and Briana Read came to Summit in January of 2019 and have since become very involved in ministry here in multiple ways. Briana is a Base Camp volunteer and lead advocate for Summit Waterford’s Care Communities. Both she and Scott have helped to lead Connect groups both in person and, most recently, over Zoom.

Worshiping God takes on many different forms, and Briana and Scott have shown that staying at home does not take away from the power that comes from it.

“We both take time in the mornings to read our Bibles or have our quiet time, if you will,” says Briana. “I usually get my cup of coffee and then come into the bedroom. I usually spend, depending on the day and time I have available, from fifteen minutes to an hour just reading and praying. It’s been really grounding, especially in the last six months, just to have that kind of routine and to start my day off with some quiet, peaceful, calmness alongside with Jesus—just being with him and knowing that’s how I’m starting the day.”

“I didn’t have a great routine until Garry had his 21-day challenge that he put out reading John,” says Scott. “I kind of kept that going. So for me, I would wake up sometimes two hours before Briana and would just go into another room, make my coffee, and then go from there. But it’s become usually the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing I think about at night, which has been freeing mentally for me to focus my mind on Jesus as I go to sleep—as opposed to all the other things of the world that used to run the show when I was trying to go to sleep.”

“But it’s become usually the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing I think about at night...”

— SCOTT

In the spring, Scott and Briana opened up an opportunity for friends and family to worship together over Zoom and watch Summit’s online services together, reaching people from different parts of the country.

“I just started putting out invitations. I emailed all my aunts, my cousins, Scott’s family, a couple of friends I knew would be interested, our Connect group of course, and people just started showing up on the Zoom call. And it was very fun to be able to share a church that I love so much with people that I love that wouldn’t otherwise be able to experience that,” says Briana about their Zoom Sundays. “I have an aunt and uncle in New Mexico who were struggling to find a church, just because they had relocated to a different town, and every Sunday they tune into our church because they feel like that’s their church now.”

Scott and Briana have experienced both that folks would tune in to watch the service together then log off, to people who would stay online 20-30 minutes afterward, during which the two would help guide a discussion about the service. “It’s obviously different but it also is kind of the same, I think. Just incorporating church into the weekly routine,” says Briana.

Worshiping together online can provide an opportunity for necessary intimacy in a community when the world is undergoing mandatory social distancing. “Especially when it first started, with all the uncertainty of the pandemic, people just didn’t know what to do,” says Scott,  “and so it was a way for people to connect with people they were already comfortable with. And we’re exploring this new technology, so everything was new at the same time, but it provided a common place for people to be.”

“And even away from the service stuff, the technology has opened up our Monday night group,” continues Scott. “We used to just meet at the church, and now we’ve been on Zoom ever since the beginning of this, and we’ve got people who’ve joined us—one couple in Dallas, one in Atlanta. People that had no connection to Summit are finding a way to become connected and I think they’re enjoying it and they stick around.”

While we await joining together in person again for worship, it’s comforting to know there are opportunities, like those put out by Scott and Briana, to meet and worship together while staying safe and socially distant.

“We’re really happy that they’re going to continue even once we start going back in person,” says Briana. “I think we’ve all witnessed the value of having these online resources available to people who would otherwise not have the connection or would be maybe scared or nervous to seek it out and be able to share it across the miles and distance with family and friends.”

Jessica Silva has attended Summit Waterford since February 2019 and has volunteered in Base Camp and Summit Students. Jessica is from a part of Texas and practically Mexico tells people she is the epitome of “Tex-Mex”! She moved to Orlando for school and now has an A.S. in film, with plans to continue at UCF for journalism and creative writing! Jessica is passionate about service and pairing compassion with her creative gifts.

On Vision Sunday, we heard about how we can continue to be the Church together in this season this way. A house church is a community of folks who gather to participate in our online services together. If you are currently leading, are interested in leading, or would like to see if there is a house church near you to worship with, let us know!