August 29, 2021

Dear First Pres Family,

School has started and the beginning of the program year is just around the corner! To stay safe, the Coronavirus Task Force wants to share our updated practices in light of the ongoing pandemic and wildfire season.

For the start of the 2021–2022 program year, here is a review of our current guidelines for gathering:

  • Sunday worship in person will continue to be on our closed campus with a simultaneous livestream service. We will maintain our reservation system for 300+ (~50% of our sanctuary capacity). If three or more households report COVID-19 cases following that service—or there is contact tracing that demonstrates COVID transmission—for the following Sunday, we will shift to livestream-only.
  • Children’s Sunday ministry will continue outdoors with the existing reservation system. Starting in September there will be three age groups: 2–PreK, K–1st grade, and 2nd–4th grade.
  • Hospitality and food service are still works-in-progress as we seek to balance radical welcome with safety. More to come on this.
  • Campus will remain closed. We are working toward a phased campus reopening, starting with Sundays and expanding to other days of the week to support ministry events as we are able.
  • News about other ministry programs and events are coming soon!

We are planning for the wildfire season in light of COVID-19 ventilation requirements:

  • Our current sanctuary ventilation air handlers have a ~48 hour lead time to reverse intake of outside air. Thus, we have established that at an Air Quality Index (AQI) level of 180 (“Unhealthy” concern) on Sunday morning, the church will livestream only and NOT hold in-person worship. In addition to emailing those who make reservations, we will post on our web home page and YouTube channel on Sunday mornings by 9 am if we are cancelling in-person worship due to poor air quality.
  • We are also working on assessments and air filtration solutions for indoor classrooms on campus for Children’s Sunday ministry as a contingency if the AQI index reaches ~125 (“Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups”).

This Sunday, the air quality may be poor due to wildfire smoke. We recommend you check the AQI before coming and wear a high filtration mask, such as N95, KN95, or KF94. If you have children who attend the outdoor children’s ministry, we recommend that they also have a high filtration mask. We now have KF94 masks in various sizes at the check-in table that you are welcome to use.

We thank you for your patience, prayers, and grace as we navigate these ever changing situations. Be safe, mask up, and get vaccinated!

Peace and Grace,

Sue Burger, Executive Director for Operations
On behalf of the Coronavirus Task Force:
Ralph Anderson, Bev Estes, Anne Diggins, Nate Lawson,
Barbara Pedersen, Sandra Ramos Thompson, David Wagner