An electrician, a printer and an insurance executive are helping a church in South Dakota keep their members connected.
Pastor Calvin Jones asked each one last year to bring a five-minute daily video devotional for church members during the COVID-19 pandemic. The messages were a way of keeping in contact with church members and offering support in the uncertainty of 2020.
Jones said, “The Lord led me to these three men because of their walk with the Lord. They’re all three different in terms of styles of preparation, delivery and content, and that’s a good thing.”
One of the lay leaders, Ted Christianson, joined Cornerstone Baptist soon after he retired from an insurance firm in Pennsylvania and moved to Mitchell with his wife Linda.
He introduced one of his videos saying—“I look forward to it [giving a video devotional] every week. I have to do the research and get a real feel for God’s wonders on earth. It grows your faith to study God’s Word and to be involved.”
Christianson and fellow members Mike Baker, an electrician, and Kenneth Hoffman, a printer, were making the two-minute daily phone calls Monday through Friday, which turned into five-minute daily video devotionals.
Jones said—“Encouragement, scriptural guidance and prayer are all part of what’s included. Personal experience of God’s blessing and guidance come through as well. The men study and speak from their hearts as God leads them.”
A recurring theme in the devotionals is the daily need to trust and to look to the Lord for direction.