For most of us in the United States, March 15, 2020, was the first week we did not gather in person for corporate worship. I knew right away it would be a long time since we returned to my own church. We had been hosting four services for about 1,500 members in a poorly ventilated space. We couldn’t fit enough people with distancing to make the math work. So we worshiped together virtually until the summer, and since then we’ve had two services every Sunday morning in a parking deck along with the livestream.

The most helpful person I read in those dark, early days of COVID-19 was journalist Andy Crouch. His articles helped me love God and others during coronavirus, and he helped me and TGC prepare for the impending ice age that forced church leaders to become entrepreneurs overnight.

As we approach the one-year anniversary, I talked to Crouch for Gospelbound about what church leaders should expect next. You’ll want to hear these insights on the church and culture from someone who saw last year what so many others—including me—missed.

I’m thankful that with decreasing cases, hospitalizations, and deaths across the country, we see light at the end of the tunnel for COVID-19. I won’t ever take our old cramped building for granted again. And I’m looking forward like never before to TGC21 next month. I hope you can join us in Indianapolis, where we’ve planned a safe and exciting national conference that seeks to exalt Jesus as greater than anything in our chaotic world.

But I know many of you can’t make the trip. You can still invite other leaders inside your church and around your city to watch and discuss together. Just send us an email at events@tgc.org, and we’ll set you up with a local group livestream.