As we all carefully try reopening and take precautions for safety along the way, a local church, The Resting Place Church (TRPC), is happy that it can start in-person gatherings again. Of course, things can’t completely go back to normal quite yet, so the church has set up some new ways to do gatherings.
The church is now gathering in person on Sundays at 9 and 11:15 a.m., and gatherings will include 15 minutes of worship, followed by a message, then ending with worship. It will have gatherings on Saturdays at 6 p.m. as well and Bilingual Sunday (Spanish and English) services at 6 p.m.
“One switch I was talking to the Lord about, I felt in my heart, what if we taught first and then responded and worshiped? So that’s one of the major changes that we’ve implemented now that we are reopened,” said Caleb Hyers, senior pastor at TRPC.
“We have a song of thanksgiving at the beginning, but then we actually open the Word of God and teach and then we go into our full-time of worship where we’re responding to what was taught and what we saw in the words, and it’s proven to be really powerful,” he said.
Until the church reopened, it held all its gatherings online, but Hyers noted that something felt lost when doing them online.
“It was good, but it wasn’t the same, because when you’re all together in one place, all together singing to the Lord the same song in the same space, it’s a very different experience,” said Hyers.
TRPC also seeks to help out local businesses that have been struck hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. It has already reached out to seven businesses—Sabor A Mexico, The Revolution Ice Cream Co., Moreno Bakery, Chicago’s Best Burgers, Flow Fitness Boutique, The Nail Nook at Flow and Chuck’s Natural Fields Market.
The church helped by promoting them and purchasing gift cards, which were given away online along with links to each business’ website and social media pages. TRPC plans on reaching out to the community to help in the future.
Hyers believes the future looks good for TRPC as it will soon be 100 percent reopened and the longing for community and togetherness means churchgoers will be more engaged with God and one another than ever before.
The Resting Place Church is located at 217 Hobbs St., Ste. 106 in Tampa. For more information, visit trptampa.com or call 402-8086.
