The COVID-19 pandemic changed life in ways we never expected. But God's people at Grace Church of Mentor still stayed creatively connected in virtual and socially distant ways!

There are many more stories than we have space to document. We enjoyed seeing pictures of families watching livestream together, screenshots of Zoom groups, and kids reading their Bible comics delivered by the Dynamic Duo! Here are a few more that were worth highlighting:

Don & Daina Westman planned drive-by routes so they could encourage people from Grace who hadn't been able to see one another for weeks. They drove to each home and enjoyed a quick visit from a safe distance. The motto of their visits was “Apart from one another physically, but together spiritually.”

One Sunday in April, several families received the following text message:

Happy Lord's Day to you! This is Daina and Don Westman from church. We will be pulling into your driveway in a few moments to bless you with a wave and a familiar face. And, if we may, we would like to take a photograph of you and yours at your door to add to a compilation of similar photographs. Simply thumbs up if you are willing to have your photograph included in a montage of quarantine worshipers, or thumbs down if you’d rather not. Either way, it will be so nice to see you!

The Westmans visited several families over the next week or so and shared some of their joyful pictures with us!

Along with all the other small groups, Youth Group quickly had to transition to online meetings in March. Pastor Steve led Zoom meetings on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights. Youth leaders also recorded quick devotional videos that could be texted out to the teens to keep them connected to their Bibles and their church.

High school seniors had a unique experience this spring, and the graduates at Grace were no different. As many graduation ceremonies were revised and parties were cancelled, Grace Church hosted a graduation celebration during an evening service to celebrate what Christ has done through this year's seniors. Youth leaders and families also made drop-by visits to each of the graduates' homes at the end of the school year to show them some love from their church family. Check out pictures of some of the visits below!