5LQ Episode 420: Dr. Lina Abujamra on COVID-19 and the Church

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Chandler Vannoy are joined by Dr. Lina Abujamra, founder of Living With Power Ministries and pediatric ER doctor. They discuss the following questions: What does it look like on the frontlines right now? What do we need to know about COVID-19? What advice would you share about ministering during this time? How long do you think this current COVID season will last? And will there be a second round? BEST QUOTES “The very thing that God had directed me to became the hub of ministry and medicine combining like no other time before.” “As New York has grown in its crisis, one of the things that has happened in the rest of the United States is that there has been time to prep.” “The easiest way for me to talk about plain, old COVID is the trifecta – fever, shortness of breath, and cough – and sort of a flu-like look.” “The fear factor is exponentially increased because of so much mis-information out there and that’s dangerous.” “Something happens in crisis that makes ministry to people so much easier.” “People simply want to be seen, heard, and ministered to.” “Look at people as individuals who need Jesus desperately now and be a pastor.” “Move into the pastoring role of finding those people and setting up systems of dividing up people so they can be seen one-on-one.” “I feel like God has given the church this gift of stripping away those things that were background noise that we have made important in our culture that have distracted us from the main thing which is first vertical: love of God, and second horizontal: love for one another.” “This week I felt some deep optimism both about the disease itself and about the future of the church. I believe God is going to bring revival in this season.” “No matter where we meet, we know who the church is and we will still be connected in some way.” RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network Lifeway.com/CoronaVirus Living With Power This episode’s sponsor: For more than 25 years, Portable Church® has helped thousands of churches launch strong and thrive in a mobile setting. They design custom solutions that fit each budget, vision, and venue. Everything you need to launch a mobile church — an inviting worship space, kids ministry areas, welcome spaces, storage cases, etc — all in a system refined to make it fast, easy & fun for the weekly volunteer teams.