April 14, 2003

Texas pastor in Hong Kong reports on SARS impact
___HONG KONG--Baptists in Hong Kong are doing church a bit differently these days due to the SARS scare, reports a former Texas Baptist pastor now serving there.
___Harry Lucenay, former pastor of First Baptist Church in Longview and First Baptist Church in San Antonio, now serves as pastor of Kowloon International Baptist Church. He and his wife, Nancy, arrived in Hong Kong just a few days before news broke about the threat of Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome.
___The first sign of change was declining attendance at the school's kindergarten, Lucenay reported in an e-mail to the Baptist Standard. Eventually, the church cancelled classes until after Easter.
___Soon after, the city's education ministry closed all schools, from kindergarten through universities.
___On Sunday, March 30, church leaders canceled Sunday School. As Lucenay rode the bus to church that morning, he was the only person on the bus other than the driver. Both of them wore surgical masks.
___The Kowloon Church has installed four sinks outside the front doors so people can wash their hands with soap before entering.
___Those entering the church now are greeted by a sign that states: "Everyone is asked to wash hands with soap and water before entering and when exiting the building. If you want to wear a mask, please do. If you have a cough or a sneeze, we need you to wear a mask. If you feel you have a fever, please go home. Thank you for your good spirit."
___With new precautions in place, the church resumed Sunday School April 6 and served the Lord's Supper.
___For the Lord's Supper, worshippers were served bread and juice in separate sealed cups. Many worshippers wore surgical masks during the service. Servers wore both masks and gloves.
___Some of the ushers receiving the morning offering wore masks, and the maintenance staff washed down pews, hymnals and Bibles between morning services.
___On the afternoon of April 6, Lucenay attended the dedication of a new facility for the Tsim Sha Tsui Filipino Baptist Chapel. "The greeters at the church met me with an open bottle of rubbing alcohol," he reported. "They poured a little alcohol on my hands and I rubbed my hands together before drying them."
___Even in the midst of the crisis, though, he found a reminder of the missionary reach of Texas Baptists. Cleansed with alcohol, he sat down for the service and picked up a Baptist Hymnal stamped on the front with the outline of Texas, a gift from Texas Baptists.
___"Texas mission work continues to touch people around the world," Lucenay said.

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