We will NOT be meeting in person over the next two weeks. We will be hosting our services online on Facebook, our website, and our app. Listen here for more info:

APRIL - JUNE REVIEW AND FINANCIAL UPDATE
Please take a few minutes and listen to this brief update on April-June at Berean. I spend time giving a very important update on our finances (spoiler, there's good news and tough news!), and I also talk a little about our plans for the upcoming fall months. 

I realize your time is precious, so thank you for spending some of it staying up to date with us. If you have any additional questions, concerns, or need help with anything, please reach out to me.

Much love,
Bill

Bill Magsig
Lead Pastor
Berean Bible Church

On behalf of the Board of Elders 

After meeting as an Elder team last night, and after much prayer and discussion together, I'm excited to give you an update on our plans for meeting in-person again as a church. You can watch this video for details or read below.

1. In-person Sunday Worship will resume on Sunday, June 14.
We will begin in-person Sunday Worship services again starting on Sunday, June 14. We felt this represented a solid starting date that balanced our desire to be cautious with our hope to move past this season of quarantine as soon as possible. Will you RSVP and let us know whether you are coming and how many people from your family will be there?

As you decide whether to come or not, please consider the following details:

• We will continue to live stream our services for anyone who is not comfortable coming in-person.
• We will be following social distancing guidelines (including wearing masks) and other recommendations from the CDC, from the city, and other churches to ensure we are doing our best to provide a safe opportunity to worship together.We will not be offering any childcare. 
• We recommend that parents with kids Pre-K and under stay home and watch our live stream for at least the first few weeks. We will give updates on our plans for childcare as we get them.
• Finally, based on our RSVPs, we will be deciding in the next couple weeks whether we will be offering one or two services on Sundays.

2. Community Groups are encouraged to start meeting in-person whenever they are ready.
We are encouraging our Community Groups to begin meeting in-person as soon as they are comfortable. We will be meeting with group leaders next week to talk through some specific policies and recommendations for ensuring wisdom and safety when resuming in-person meetings.

We are so excited to see you again! We continually praise God for the way He has provided for so many of our needs these past several weeks, and we continue to be so grateful for you and all the ways you have cared for and stayed connected to one another.

What amazing stories we have to share! Reach out if you have any questions or concerns, and I can't wait to see you again soon!

Much love,

Bill

Bill Magsig
Lead Pastor
Berean Bible Church

On behalf of the Board of Elders and Deacons

 

I wanted to give you a quick update on what's going on with our church as we enter into the first week of the city beginning to open up again.

1. Food Distribution with Second Harvest - Volunteers needed this Friday - 7:30a-12:00p

After meeting with our City Council member, Kristin Palmer, we are excited to let you know we will be a food distribution site in partnership with Second Harvest starting this Friday (and every other Friday after that). We will be hosting walk-up and drive-up food distribution from the church campus for anyone who needs it.

We couldn't be more excited about the opportunity, and we need your help. If you are interested in helping serve that morning, please click here:

2. Our Plan for resuming in-person services

As of now, we have no plans to resume in-person services until at least the middle of June or later. The elders are meeting again tonight to further discuss our strategy and to continue to formulate a schedule.

For now, we are continuing to operate out of an abundance of caution. While we value our Sunday service, we also believe it is wise to continue to be patient as we wait to see what happens as the city begins to open up again.

As we get new details on the plan, we will be quick to share it with the rest of the church.

As always, if you have further questions, concerns, or have any needs we can help you with, please let us know. In the meantime, keep pressing in with one another online, we miss you deeply, and thank you for exercising your ongoing patience with us throughout these crazy days.

Much love and grace!

Bill

Bill Magsig
Lead Pastor
Berean Bible Church

On behalf of the Board of Elders

We continue to get several questions about when we are going to resume meeting in person.

The Elders will be meeting a little later in the week to finalize our plans for reopening our community groups and Sunday services. We will wait until after Mayor Cantrelle's news conference tomorrow (Tues) before making any final decisions, and we will communicate those plans to you as soon as possible.

For now, one thing we know for certain is we will not be meeting in person up on our campus this upcoming Sunday even if restrictions are lifted and we have the option to do so. As we said last week, we are going to fall on the side of caution when it comes to a time table for us resuming in-person services.

We will send out another update this Friday with more details. In the meantime, please be praying for our meetings this week and for wisdom as we formulate our plans. Thank you so much for your patience and your ongoing faithfulness to God and our church throughout this quarantine!

Much love,

Bill

Bill Magsig
Lead Pastor
Berean Bible Church

On behalf of the Board of Elders

We are now in the 8th week of our stay at home mandate! It's crazy to me to think that nearly two months have gone by since this whole thing started. Probably the number one question I'm getting right now is a combination of "how much longer will this last?" and "when are we going to start meeting together again?"

In the video below, I give a brief update on some of our principles and plans we have been working on in response to those questions.

As always, if you have any questions, needs, or concerns, please let me know, and in the meantime, be sure to check out our daily prayer time at 12:30 online and join us this Sunday at 10:00 for our worship service.

Much love,

Bill

Bill Magsig
Lead Pastor
Berean Bible Church

On behalf of the Board of Elders

Be sure to watch our latest update video below where I give details on our finances for the year as well as talk a little about where we are in the process of forming the plan for meeting together in person again.

As always, if you have any questions, please reach out to me directly on my email.

Much love and grace,

Bill

Bill Magsig
Lead Pastor
Berean Bible Church

On behalf of the Board of Elders 

Can you believe we are heading into the fifth week of the stay-at-home mandate in NOLA? If you're like me, it feels like it's been a lot longer than that! But we're so grateful God remains seated on the throne of the universe, and His grace covers us as we stay separated from one another. We have heard some amazing stories from people. Be sure to check out our video from Easter Sunday where you can hear some of our Berean folks talk about ways God has shown His faithfulness over the past weeks.

In the video below, I wanted to take a few minutes to update you on our week ahead. If you have any questions or need help with anything, please feel free to reach out to me anytime.

Be sure to join us daily on Facebook this week at 12:30 for a time of prayer, and tune in to our new podcast launching this Wednesday, where we'll be taking a deeper dive into the book of James (which we'll be going through in our new sermon series starting Sunday).

We love you, we're praying for you, and we hope to see you online soon!

Much grace and peace,

Bill

Bill Magsig
Lead Pastor
Berean Bible Church

On behalf of the Board of Elders 

As we roll into week 4 (!) of the stay-at-home mandate, we are grateful for all the ways God continues to show his faithfulness to us. We'll keep the update short and sweet this week. Here's a quick video:

This Sunday is Easter! Be sure to join us at 10a on Facebook live or on our app or website. And be sure to invite your family, friends, and neighbors to join us too if they don't already have a church. It's going to be a GREAT Sunday!

In the meantime, we will continue our daily prayer time at 12:30 each day online. And if you need anything else or know anyone who needs something, PLEASE reach out to us and we will do our best to help.

Can't wait to see you online soon!

Much grace and love,

Bill

Bill Magsig
Lead Pastor
Berean Bible Church

On behalf of the Board of Elders

As we enter the third week of the stay-at-home mandate in NOLA, our deepest prayer is that you feel connected to God and to others throughout this crisis. We have heard so many stories of the ways God continues to work in and through many of you. I’m so deeply grateful for our church and proud of the way so many of you have responded over the past few weeks.
 
Here’s a quick video update for the coming week followed by more details below.
 
As always, the best way to stay in the loop with us is by downloading our app.
 
Click here to download our app!

Volunteer Drivers Needed
 Many people have asked for ways they can be serving in the city. We need volunteers to help us deliver hot meals to some people Monday-Friday. We are volunteering to help NOLA Tree and Second Harvest Food Bank, and both have safety systems and protocol in place to protect you and the people we are delivering food to.
 
If you are interested in helping, please contact me at billm@bereannola.com.
 
Other Volunteer Opportunities
 We anticipate other opportunities arising and we will post them on this update page as we get them.
 
Giving
 If you are interested in giving while we are seperated, here are the 3 easiest ways to give:

• Give online on our app or website. It’s super easy and completely secure. Just click on the give buttons.
• Do bill pay through your bank so that a check gets sent directly to our address below.
• Mail a check or cash (be sure to include your name if you want a tax receipt for cash contributions) to:

Family Ministry Resources
 Kids (birth-5th grade)
We posted Family Discipleship resources for parents of toddlers-5th grade online at www.bereannola.com/familydiscipleship and on our app. We will be adding more resources this week, so keep checking back or let us know if you need help with something specific.
 
In addition, we are working on arranging an alternative stream for Sunday mornings for kids. We hope to roll out with that by Sunday.
 
Students (6th-12th grade)
We are going to be starting up an online Bible study and group discussion/hangout time on Zoom for our middle school and high school students. If you are interested in being a part of that, email Colby at cpartin@irontribefitness.com.
 
We hope to start next week.
 
Community Groups
 Your Community Group leader should be continuing to reach out to you regularly in order to check in on you and to let you know the schedule for connecting online. Please make it a priority to communicate to them any needs or concerns you have.
 
If you are not part of a Community Group and want to join one, contact Micah at micahg@bereannola.com. In addition, we are going to try to host a Zoom call later in the week for anyone not in a group to get together for a devotional time and discussion/hangout time. Keep an eye out on our app and social media for more details.
 
Counseling
 If you need any counseling during this time, we are available to meet with you online or over the phone. Contact us below, and we will schedule a time with you:
 
Bill Magsig
billm@bereannola.com
 
Steve “Pops” Arabie
stevea@bereannola.com

Schedule this week
 Daily Prayer at 12:30
Join us daily on our app, our website, or Facebook Live for a 20-min prayer time together.
 
Sunday Worship Service
Join us at 10:00 am this Sunday on our app, website, or Facebook Live for our weekly worship service.
 
Community Groups/Missional Communities/Bible Studies
Your leader will be reaching out to you about the schedule for meeting together in groups online.

If you aren’t in a group, but would like to learn more, email Micah at micahg@bereannola.com and we can get you all the info about how you can jump in.
 
Prayer Requests

• Pray for the work of NOLATree and Second Harvest Food Banks around New Orleans as they work to distribute food to those in need.
• Pray for wisdom as we continue to look for ways for Berean to serve those in need throughout our city.
• Pray against the spread of the virus and for all those infected or awaiting test results and their families.
• Pray for the healthcare workers and other frontline care workers. Pray for safety, and pray for their hearts to be guarded as well.
• Pray for all those businesses, employers, and employees who have been impacted. Pray God would provide them with wisdom and all the resources they need even in the midst of the uncertain days ahead. 

Much love,

Bill

Bill Magsig
Lead Pastor
Berean Bible Church

On behalf of the Board of Elders

 

Most of us have been quarantined at home for about a week now, and with the Governor’s statewide mandate to stay at home going into effect this evening, it’s more important than ever that we find ways to stay connected over the coming weeks.
 
So I wanted to give you a brief update on our plans for this week, and ways you can stay involved with Berean while at home.
 
As we’ve been saying, the best way to stay in the loop with us is by downloading our app.
 
Click here to download our app!
 
Here’s our latest video update summary with more details below (enjoy my dog, Tucker, squeaking his chew toy in the background audio!):

LATEST UPDATES
As most of you know by now, Governor John Bel Edwards declared a statewide stay at home mandate that goes into effect today until at least April 12. You can read more about the official orders we are under by going to ready.nola.gov.
 
In light of that, until further notice:

• All activity on our church campus is prohibited without direct permission from the Board of Elders. If you have access to any part of campus, you need to contact one of the Elders prior to going to the campus. 
• Our staff will continue to do the bare minimum we need up on the campus throughout the week. For the most part, we will be working from home. We will continue to have a limited crew on the campus on Sundays to livestream our Sunday morning services. 
• All other Berean activities are to be conducted online and not in person. We are actively pursuing and training our leaders to learn how to use online tools to stay connected with those they’re leading.
• Our Community Groups and Missional Communities will be reaching out to you about meeting online each week.
• Our other Bible studies and classes will be attempting to continue online as well.

 
PLANS FOR THIS WEEK
 We are focusing our efforts this week on two major areas:
 
1. Establishing volunteers to be available for food/grocery/errand runs.

• We are working on finalizing our plans to help anyone who needs help with getting groceries or running other errands. We should have our plan in place by later in the week.
• Please don’t wait on us. If you need any help with getting food or other errands, please contact me at billm@bereannola.com and we will do everything we can to help asap.

 
2. Family discipleship and Small Group resources

• We are working hard to have more recommended resources posted on our app and website for families with kids at home.
• There are a TON of resources already available online, but if it is all overwhelming to you, we should have a solid list ready to go for you by Thursday.
• We are also reviewing resources for our diverse Community Groups/Missional Communities to be using over the coming weeks.
• If you want any recommended resources, please let me know at billm@bereannola.com. 

 
SCHEDULE THIS WEEK
 Daily Prayer at 12:30

• Join us daily on our app, our website, or Facebook Live for a 20-min prayer time together.

 
Sunday Worship Service

• Join us at 10:00 am this Sunday on our app, website, or Facebook Live for our weekly worship service.

 
Community Groups/Missional Communities/Bible Studies

• Your leader will be reaching out to you about the schedule for meeting together in groups online. 
• If you aren’t in a group, but would like to learn more, email me at billm@bereannola.com and we can get you all the info about how you can jump in.

 
NEWS/MEDIA AND RECOMMENDED SOURCES
 I’ve been asked a lot about where people should be going to get the most up to date news surrounding COVID-19. I would strongly encourage you to avoid social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter and stick to official and local news sources as much as possible.
 
For the most recent official updates, go to:
ready.nola.gov
 
You can also text “COVIDNOLA” to 888777 to get the latest updates via text (message and data rates may apply).
 
For news related to COVID-19, go to:
www.nola.com
 
Ready NOLA is by far the most accurate and up to date information you’ll find for NOLA.

Please don’t listen to the person who says they know someone who knows someone who told them that the President is going to do this or that. I have literally had a dozen conversations last week with people who said something like this to me, and none of the rumors were true. Stick to these sites for updates.
 
GIVING
If you are interested in giving while we are separated, here are the 3 easiest ways to give:

• Give online on our app or website. It’s super easy and completely secure. Just click on the give buttons.
• Do bill pay through your bank so that a check gets sent directly to our address below.
• Mail a check or cash (be sure to include your name if you want a tax receipt for cash contributions) to:
  
  Berean Bible Church
  3712 Herschel Street
  New Orleans, LA 70114

 
PRAYER REQUESTS

• Pray for Kyle Franklin who is awaiting results from his COVID-19 test and hoping to get out of the hospital in the next couple days. We will keep you updated.
• Pray for Gene and Dee and Rebecca Novak. Gene’s mother passed away (non-virus related), but they will be forced to have to have a small funeral due to all the restrictions.
• Pray against the spread of the virus and for all those infected or awaiting test results and their families.
• Pray for the healthcare workers and other frontline care workers. Pray for safety, and pray for their hearts to be guarded as well.
• Pray for all those businesses, employers, and employees who have been impacted. Pray God would provide them with wisdom and all the resources they need even in the midst of the uncertain days ahead. 

If you have any questions, or need anything, please reach out to us at billm@bereannola.com  

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God." 
- Romans 5:1-2

You are not alone! Take heart! Stand firm in the grace God has given you!

Much love and peace,

Bill

Bill Magsig
Lead Pastor
Berean Bible Church

On behalf of the Board of Elders 

What is the latest update on meeting together?
 
The news is changing rapidly, and we are doing our best to stay on top of the latest updates. As of today, the president has recommended not meeting in groups of more than 10 people for the next 15 days. In light of that:

1. We will not be meeting together on Sundays until further notice.
 

• We will continue to live stream our services on Sunday mornings at 10:00 am on Facebook Live, at www.bereannola.com/live, and on our app. If you need any help accessing the stream or setting up your device to watch the stream, please contact Micah at micahg@bereannola.com.

 
2. In addition, we are canceling all our gatherings including our community groups until further notice.

• We ask that you don’t meet together, and that each of us play our role in social distancing for the sake of those who are most susceptible to COVID-19.  

 

• We don’t take these recommendations lightly. We realize that for many of our people, your primary community is with others in your community group. To not meet physically in person is going to be difficult, but we encourage you to take full advantage of the online options and resources we will be providing in the days ahead. While we might not be together in person, you are not alone and we don’t have to be isolated during this time. See below for more specifics on what we are working on.

 
3. Finally, we strongly recommend that if you are over the age of 60 or are immune compromised in any way that you stay at home and practice social distancing as much as possible until further notice.  


Where are we getting our recommendations?
 
We are following the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control, federal, state, and local authorities, and church leaders from Acts 29 and locally from SEND (which is part of the SBC).

 
How can I stay connected to Berean during this time?
 
All of our updates and plans in the coming days can be found on our app or by going to www.bereannola.com/updates.
 
Our desire is to have a daily presence in the life of the people in our church. We will be providing daily and weekly resources online to help us stay connected throughout this crisis.
 
Daily
 
Daily Prayer Live Stream
Starting this Wednesday, we will be hosting a daily 20-minute live stream for prayer at 12:30 pm. Anyone is welcome to join us online each day for that time of prayer. I will also be answering questions periodically as they come up.
 
Daily Social Media Posts
We will be posting all kinds of content each day on our social media outlets. These will range from the latest updates on our church to recommended resources and tools for the weeks ahead. Be sure to check out our Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts and to have our app downloaded on your phone. You connect to all of these by visiting our website at www.bereannola.com.
 
Weekly
 
Weekly Sunday Worship Service
We will be hosting a live stream Sunday morning worship service each Sunday at 10:00 am. You can watch the stream on Facebook Live, on our app, or on our website at www.bereannola.com/live.
 
Weekly Updates
We will be posting a weekly update each Monday with the most up to date information we have. We’ll send that update out in an email and it will be posted on our app, website, and social media platforms.
 
Weekly Podcast
We are working to set up a weekly podcast where we take time to answer people’s questions, and to have a longer discussion about various topics that come up over the next several weeks. You will be able to listen to the podcast live and we’ll post recordings of the podcasts online as well.
 
Family Ministry Resources
We will be posting several resources for parents over the coming days to help you navigate the next few months while your kids are out of school and at home. Those will be posted on our app and website.
 
Additional Resources
Finally, we will be adding additional resources for adults throughout this season. If you have any specific questions, or want to see some resources on a specific topic, please reach out to us and let us know.
 

Are there any needs or service opportunities we can participate in?
 
Because the situation is so fluid right now, we would recommend that you sit tight until further notice.

We are working through where exactly to encourage you to serve. In particular, we’re talking to some different food bank organizations and some other Algiers organizations about the specifics. We should have some more concrete opportunities to give you later in the week.
 
As we said above, if you are over the age of 60, one of the best ways to serve our city right now is by practicing social distancing until further notice.
 

Who can I contact if I need help or if I get sick?
 
There are several ways to reach us. The easiest is to email any of us or send an email to info@bereannola.com.
 
You can also call the church at (504) 362-3254 and dial the extension for the person you need to reach.
 
PLEASE let us know if you are sick, or if you are getting tested for COVID-19. We want to pray with you and ensure you that you don’t have to go through this all alone.
 
In addition, if you need any counseling during this time, I am happy to meet with you via video call, phone call, or in person. Please contact me at billm@bereannola.com to schedule a time.
 
If you have any additional questions, or if you need any additional help, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We are here for you, we love you deeply, and we’re praying for you.
 
Let me close by reminding you of the words Jesus spoke to His disciples when they were facing uncertainty and fear:
 
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33
 
Turn to Him. Trust Him. And know that we are here for you.
 
Much love, grace, and peace,
 
Bill

Bill Magsig
Lead Pastor
Berean Bible Church