Total Praise Ministries Congregation Going Home After Over A Year – The Vicksburg Post

On Sunday morning, the Total Praise Ministries church congregation celebrates a rebirth.

For the first time in over a year, when COVID-19 forced church officials to halt in-person services in favor of online streaming services, members will once again host services in the church in 2009 Drummond St.

And when the congregation comes in, they will find a better building than the one they left.

“We have renovated the building,” said Pastor Gregory J. Butler. “We want to use this space to do what we need to do. We have had the building for about five years.

He said contractors removed ties from the floor and replaced it with a painted finish on the building’s concrete floors. A plumber was hired to renovate and expand the washrooms, and a carpenter built the new classroom and building washrooms.

Repairing the floors, he said, required church members to remove and store the church’s 30 16-by-21 pews.

“The bathrooms were dated and substandard,” he said, adding that renovations to the toilets were underway to provide amenities and make them full-service facilities. They are expected to be completed next week, he said.

Other features are included to provide other services; part of what Butler said is a holistic approach to helping his congregation and the community.

“We made a classroom. This allows us to facilitate the vision God gave me to create a literacy program for middle-aged seniors, ”he said. “The problem I discovered is that our kids come out illiterate about a lot of things – basic reading, math, but there are also a lot of middle-aged people who are afraid of computers.

“You can’t even find a job these days – you file for unemployment, it’s almost all on your phone or on the computer,” he said. “If you are afraid of it or if you don’t know how to use one, then it will be very difficult for you to survive. “

Survival, he said, means the community stays up to date and, from an education perspective, that includes technology.

“So the goal is to provide classes at least two or three times a week in the church where we have four or five computers installed and if you want to know more about what a computer is, what is Internet, how to get connected – all the basics that people around computers take for granted.

He said the church has teachers who will volunteer a few hours a week to teach reading, math and science.

Besides education, Butler said, “We also have a certified chaplain who offers counseling for mental health issues that will orient and guide (people) in the spirit on mental health issues.

“There were a number of things in terms of facilities that the building did not provide what we think was needed,” he said. “We needed to have the proper facilities for people to feel comfortable entering and with that we will offer basic mental health services, basic conference services, computer literacy and basic education. for those who want help. ”

Butler said the church had to cut in-person services due to COVID in March 2020.

“We have organized services on Facebook and Zoom. We couldn’t have survived without it, ”he said. “Sunday we reopen. We will be entering the church and having regular worship service for the first time together in over a year.

He said members would meet at 10:30 a.m. and service would begin at 11 a.m.

Butler said the congregation will practice social distancing and follow state and city demands.

“We will have a health station and people will be asked to wear masks,” he said. “We will also ask an unvaccinated person to watch the service online. We are not telling you not to come, but if you are not vaccinated we will strongly recommend that you follow the worship service on Facebook or Zoom. We will send you the link.

“If you are vaccinated, we will want you to practice social distancing and always practice the things necessary for good health. We don’t want to do anything other than what the governor has asked for, what the mayor has asked for, and that is our mandate.