In a society where the term “Christian” increasingly has negative connotations, Addison Bevere is breathing new life into the word “saint,” an ancient term he believes is key to unlocking the meaning, identity, and purpose many believers crave.

In an interview with The Christian Post, Bevere, COO of Messenger International, an organization that impacts millions of people in over 150 countries through its various initiatives, admitted he “hasn’t enjoyed” calling himself a “Christian” in nearly two decades.

“I’m not ashamed of Jesus, but I don’t like the stereotypes and labels and stigmas that have attached themselves to what it means to be a Christian. It doesn’t resonate with me,” he shared. “It’s not that Christian is a bad word, but for me, it’s become something that feels cheap. When you Google ‘Christians,’ so often you’ll see words like ‘judgmental, hypocritical, backward, out of touch with reality.’”

“It almost feels like the world looks at Christians and says, ‘We tried Christianity. We tried this pathway and it didn’t work, so now we’re pursuing something else, a secular, ‘do-it-yourself’ spirituality.’ My response is, we never tried it, really. The Gospel message is big enough for our big world.”

Five years ago, Bevere, son of popular ministry leaders John and Lisa Bevere, was reading a book where the author made mention of saints, describing them as “people who participate in the mystery of the final day.”

“That,” he said, “wasn’t the picture of a saint I had in mind. I always associated ‘saint’ with stained glass windows and being a part of a special, elite, unattainable group.”

But according to Bevere, the term “Christian” is used only three times throughout Scripture, whereas the Greek word hagios — translated as saints — is used more than 60 times. This, he said, indicates something special about the archaic term.

“As I read the Bible, I wondered, ‘Why are so many people identifying as saints? Why would Paul address entire letters to saints?’” he said. “I realized that the idea of a saint isn’t something that belongs to people once they die; it’s something that identifies and energizes and gives meaning and purpose. It’s a prophetic declaration. It’s how God works. He sees us as we should be. He loves us along the spectrum.”

According to Bevere, a saint is “someone whose life is marked by a hope and a purpose that astound our world and point people to the One who is life.”

“I believe,” he added, “that when we view ourselves as saints, it’s lifechanging. We find the meaning and purpose that so many of us crave. I believe that until we discover the life we’re created for, we’re going to find ourselves frustrated with existence and religion. It’s time we re-think what it means to be a saint.”

SOURCE: Christian Post, Leah MarieAnn Klett

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Chris Ridgeway writes at the intersection of faith and technology. He is the cohost of the Device & Virtue podcast about ethics and everyday tech and lives in Chicago.

an ministers bless the Lord’s Table over Zoom? The worldwide pandemic provides all-new context for this theologically untested—and for some unthinkable—question. It may be time to consider what we mean by “presence.”

National guidelines now limit gatherings to 10 people. Churches have transitioned to online services and Zoom meetings. The sermon livestream is no problem—we’re comfortable with the Word transferring digitally. A recent study from the Pew Research Center easily pulled together 50,000 online sermons from Pentecostal to Catholic. Eighty-three percent of American protestant pastors agree that viewing a livestream is an acceptable option for the sick.

The controversy is with the latter half of Word and Table. “This is my body”—Christ’s words make our faith explicitly physical. But COVID-19 has transformed our physical bodies and gatherings from blessed unity to social-distanced partitioning. Hugs and hands convey fear instead of love. The bread and the cup elicit worry of viral transmission.

With physical gatherings canceled, congregations with quarterly Communion may slide the schedule a bit. But many evangelical Lutherans, Anglicans, and Presbyterians celebrate with bread and wine weekly. The shared Table is ordered and integral to worship. What now? Do you have to be present to partake of the presence?

Some “low church” nondenominational churches like Saddleback have long offered instructions to follow along with your own grape juice and livestream. Never mind 1990s HTML wonders like eHolyCom. While the United Methodist Church wrote exploratory papers in 2013, most sacramental denominations have relegated online Holy Communion to an exotic theological issue—akin to “Can extraterrestrials be saved?” (or to virtual cathedrals in the immersive Second Life video game). John Dyer offers a recent and extensive John Dyer offers a recent and extensive survey.

For many, online Communion is untenable. The Westminster Confession 27.4 forbids it. A conservative reformed professor told me, “The situation you describe is essentially private Communion.”

Today’s situation forces a reconsideration. COVID-19 may be the spark, but the kindling fueling the fire burning isn’t theological discourse. It’s in that last “I love you” text message you sent your spouse. The white-on-blue bubble carries an instantaneous reality, a moment of intimacy and presence that moves our heart and mind more than any adjacent physical stranger in that coffee shop (or perhaps that pew).

The means of digital communication have become ordinary and invisible to our most meaningful relationships. We laugh and cry and express intimacy and frustration with a cross-cut of iMessage and emojis, FaceTime and Instagram stories. We challenge our best friend on workout apps and ask private medical questions via telehealth.

The essential word is presence—along with the dramatic and sustained cultural shift in our understanding of it. A daily digital culture has shaped our interactions to the point that human presence is not synonymous to physicality.

Communications scholars have long understood this. It’s our words, yes, but also the verified identity of our interlocutor—that photo and number so you “know it’s them.” It’s real-time interactive signals like those three dots that appear when your relation is typing a response. It’s both low-resolution icons like a thumbs up and high-resolution facial expressions when we switch to video—those incredibly important nonverbal eyebrow lifts!

Source: Christianity Today

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Sam Chan is an evangelist with City Bible Forum in Sydney, Australia. His book Evangelism in a Skeptical World received the 2019 Apologetics/Evangelism Book Award from Christianity Today. A medical doctor and theologian, he blogs at EspressoTheology.com.

I am rhythmically challenged. I can’t dance, rap, or do high fives. I miss the other person’s outstretched palm every time. I also don’t know what to do when someone approaches me to greet me. I never know if I am supposed to do a handshake, bro-hug, or curled-fingers hook. Last month a guy offered me a fist bump and I shook it by mistake. It felt awkward and horrible at the same time. That’s why I love watching people who’ve got rhythm. I love seeing an NCAA college basketball home crowd as they chant and throb in unison. Wedding guests on the dance floor doing the Bus Stop. Two friends performing their signature handshake—slap, slap, bump, slide. When people are in sync with each other, I see rhythm. I see harmony. I see joy.

In the same way that I am out of sync on the dance floor, we are out of step with God our Creator. God moves left, but we move right. God claps on the off beat, but we clap on the on beat. This is because we are ultimately on opposing sides (Eph. 2:12). In fact, the Bible describes us as “God’s enemies” (Rom. 5:10). We have stiff necks and ears that do not hear (Jer. 7:26; Ezek. 12:2). No wonder we can’t dance in time! We’re not merely rhythmically challenged—we refuse to dance in time with God.

But through his death and resurrection, Jesus puts us back in sync with God our Creator. His death and resurrection put an end to the hostility between us and God, resulting in the supreme blessing of peace (Eph. 2:13–19). God has “reconciled us to himself through Christ” (2 Cor. 5:18)! One aspect of reconciliation with God is that we are now put back in rhythm with our Creator. Paul goes on to explain that God has done this “in Christ” (v. 19). We are in Christ—thus, reconciled to God in Christ, we participate in perfect unison, rhythm, and harmony with God.

In most cultures the joy of reconciliation is expressed by eating together. Whenever my Chinese relatives eat together, it’s always at a round table—never a long rectangular table—because we’re eating together, face to face. The food is placed in the middle of the table and shared—we all eat the same dishes. And the host will pay for the whole meal—the bill is never split. It’s the opposite of Western individualism where everyone eats and pays for only what they order for themselves.

Interestingly, in the New Testament, often when someone is reconciled to God because of Jesus, the person celebrates this with a joyful meal. For example, immediately after leaving his tax office to follow Jesus, Levi throws a banquet for him (Luke 5:27–30). When the jailer in Philippi is saved, he is “filled with joy” and brings Paul and Silas back to his home for a meal (Acts 16:31–34). When Zacchaeus comes down from his tree, it’s to welcome Jesus into his home—with joy (Luke 19:5–7)! It’s the perfect expression of our reconciliation with God in and through Christ—a joyful meal with Jesus!

But even more interestingly, in the New Testament, after becoming reconciled to God, often the person tells as many of his or her family members, friends, and neighbors as possible about Jesus and invites them to the banquet with Jesus as well. It is a shared celebration. For example, Levi invites his tax-collector friends so that they, too, can eat with Jesus (Luke 5:29). Similarly, the Samaritan woman who meets Jesus at the well invites her village to come and meet Jesus, and they in turn invite Jesus to stay with them to meet as many of their friends as possible (John 4:28–30, 39–42). Likewise, the jailer’s whole household eats with Paul and Silas and also hears and believes the word of the Lord (Acts 16:32–34).

Source: Christianity Today

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LONDON (AP) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been admitted to a hospital with the coronavirus.
  
Johnson’s office says he is being admitted for tests because he still has symptoms 10 days after testing positive for the virus.
  
Downing St. said Sunday the hospitalization is a “precautionary step” and he remains in charge of the government.
  
Johnson, 55, has been quarantined in his Downing St. residence since being diagnosed with COVID-19 on March 26.

Copyright 2020. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. 
 

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“Remembering the Forgotten,” by A.W. Tozer

Gospel churches which mostly begin with the lowly are usually not content till they attain some degree of wealth and social acceptance. Then they gradually fall into classes, determined largely by the wealth and education of the members. The individuals that comprise the top layer of these various classes go on to become pillars of the religious society and are soon entrenched in places of leadership and influence. It is then that their great temptation comes upon them, the temptation to cater to their own class and to neglect the poor and the ignorant that make up the swarming population around them. They soon become hardened to every appeal of the Holy Spirit toward meekness and humility. Their homes are spotless, their clothes the most expensive, their friends the most exclusive. Apart from some tremendous moral upheaval, they are beyond help. And yet they may be among the most vocal exponents of Bible Christianity and heavy givers to the cause of the church.

Let us not become indignant at this blunt portrayal of facts. Let us rather humble ourselves to serve God’s poor. Let us seek to be like Jesus in our devotion to the forgotten of the earth who have nothing to recommend them but their poverty and their heart-hunger and their tears.

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Dozens of defiant Christian pastors across the country are preparing to open their church doors to their congregations for Palm Sunday, despite strict lockdown orders to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

‘We’re defying the rules because the commandment of God is to spread the Gospel,’ Louisiana pastor Tony Spell told Reuters Saturday.

More than 8,000 Americans have died from the highly contagious coronavirus in recent weeks, prompting officials and medical experts to plead with the public to practice social distancing.

But Spell, whose Life Tabernacle megachurch in Baton Rouge boasts 1,000 members, plans on holding three services on Palm Sunday.

It’s unclear how many of them will crowd inside the building to hear their pastor preach.

‘The church is the last force resisting the Antichrist, let us assemble regardless of what anyone says,’ Spell told Reuters.

For Spell and others, the public health orders are a threat to religious freedoms and constitutional rights.

‘Satan’s trying to keep us apart, he’s trying to keep us from worshiping together. But we’re not going to let him win,’ Kelly Burton, pastor at Lone Star Baptist Church in Lone Star, Texas, wrote in a post on Facebook.

Lone Star has been holding services in the parking lot – what it calls ‘Church on the Lot’ – and will do so on Palm Sunday.

Meanwhile, in California’s Sacramento County, officials stated Friday that they have identified one evangelical church that has a cluster of 71 positive cases. They offered few details but said that while the church itself is closed, church members continue to gather in fellow parishioners’ homes.

Others in California are defying the ban.

Rob McCoy, the mayor of Los Angeles enclave Thousand Oaks, is one of them.

He also serves as the pastor of Godspeak Calvary Chapel, where he will offer communion on Palm Sunday – though encouraging worshipers to stand six feet apart.

‘It’s very important theologically that communion not be taken alone,’ said McCoy. ‘What we are doing is exercising our inalienable rights. Communion is non-negotiable for us.’

About 400 miles north of Thousand Oaks, police in Lodi, California, interrupted a service late last month at the Cross Culture Christian Center, an evangelical church with about 80 regular attendees, to tell members they were violating stay-at-home orders.

They have since been given a warning posted on the church door, a ‘Notice of Public Nuisance,’ demanding the center stop holding services, according to local officials.

‘This is a serious public health threat,’ said city spokesman Jeff Hood.

Still, the pastor plans to hold services on Palm Sunday, said the church’s attorney, Dean Broyles.

‘Simply put, no, we’re not going to obey it,’ Broyles told Reuters. ‘The virus does not suspend our constitutional rights, the right to assemble, freedom of religion and freedom of speech.’

Broyles said the church is taking steps to mitigate risks, including sanitizing the building before services and asking that the elderly or those with health problems remain at home.

‘We’re much safer than a Walmart or grocery store,’ said Broyles.

‘Think about it, you’re crammed into (store) aisles inches apart from other shoppers. Here we’re sitting six feet apart.’

Meanwhile, Ohio megachurch Solid Rock has been holding its 1,000-strong gatherings in person, and plans keep the church open on Palm Sunday.

Solid Rock did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters but in a statement on its website said, in part, that ‘we are taking all necessary precautions to ensure the health and safety of anyone who comes to Solid Rock Church. We have scaled back our normal services; and there are not large numbers of worshipers in the facility, but we are open and continuing to practice and sustain our faith.’

As of Saturday afternoon, more than 3,000 people had tested positive for COVID-19, and more than 7,000 had died.

SOURCE: Daily Mail, Andrew Court; Reuters

Her house sits on a tidy, peaceful suburban street outside Cincinnati. For the past few weeks, she has been doing everything right: sheltering at home and working out of her makeshift office to help stop the spread of the new coronavirus.

The Ohio megachurch down the road, Solid Rock, has charted a different course. Despite warnings from local and state officials, Solid Rock had been holding its 1,000-strong gatherings in person, and plans keep the church open on Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week in Christian churches.

“I think they should obey the laws of the land, like the way the Bible tells us to,” said Sandra, who lives a few miles from the site and asked not be identified by last name. Reuters was able independently to corroborate her address and identity.

The local mayor and health officials have asked the church to close, so far to no avail.

Solid Rock did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters but in a statement on its website said, in part, that “we are taking all necessary precautions to ensure the health and safety of anyone who comes to Solid Rock Church. We have scaled back our normal services; and there are not large numbers of worshipers in the facility, but we are we are open and continuing to practice and sustain our faith.”

Millions of American Christians will observe Palm Sunday at home this weekend, as the vast majority of U.S. churches have moved services online to comply with stay-at-home rules.

But, like Solid Rock, pockets of churches from Florida to Texas and across to California are keeping their doors open and inviting worshipers to attend services this weekend.

“We’re defying the rules because the commandment of God is to spread the Gospel,” Louisiana pastor Tony Spell said in an interview with Reuters.

Spell, 42, who plans to hold three services at his 1,000-member Life Tabernacle megachurch in a Baton Rouge suburb on Palm Sunday, has defied state orders against assembling in large groups and has already been hit with six misdemeanors.

“The church is the last force resisting the Antichrist, let us assemble regardless of what anyone says,” he said.

For Spell and others, the public health orders are a threat to religious freedoms and constitutional rights.

“Satan’s trying to keep us apart, he’s trying to keep us from worshipping together. But we’re not going to let him win,” Kelly Burton, pastor at Lone Star Baptist Church in Lone Star, Texas, wrote in a post on Facebook.

Lone Star has been holding services in the parking lot – what it calls “Church on the Lot” – and will do so on Palm Sunday.

Gatherings organized by at least two churches – one in France, another in South Korea – have been linked to the spread of the virus.

In California, Sacramento County officials said on Friday that they have identified one evangelical church that has a cluster of 71 positive cases. They offered few details but said that while the church itself is closed, church members continue to gather in fellow parishioners’ homes.

Others in California are defying the ban.

Rob McCoy is one of them. He is the mayor of Thousand Oaks, in the Los Angeles area, but also the pastor of Godspeak Calvary Chapel, where he will offer communion on Palm Sunday – though encouraging worshipers to stand six feet apart.

“It’s very important theologically that communion not be taken alone,” said McCoy. “What we are doing is exercising our inalienable rights. Communion is non-negotiable for us.”

About 400 miles (644 km) north of Thousand Oaks, police in Lodi, California, interrupted a service late last month at the Cross Culture Christian Center, an evangelical church with about 80 regular attendees, to tell members they were violating stay-at-home orders.

They have since been given a warning posted on the church door, a “Notice of Public Nuisance,” demanding the center stop holding services, according to local officials.

“This is a serious public health threat,” said city spokesman Jeff Hood.

Still, the pastor plans to hold services on Palm Sunday, said the church’s attorney, Dean Broyles.

“Simply put, no, we’re not going to obey it,” Broyles told Reuters. “The virus does not suspend our constitutional rights, the right to assemble, freedom of religion and freedom of speech.”

Broyles said the church is taking steps to mitigate risks, including sanitizing the building before services and asking that the elderly or those with health problems remain at home.

“We’re much safer than a Walmart or grocery store,” said Broyles, who is also president of the National Center for Law & Policy, a legal advocacy group based in San Diego. “Think about it, you’re crammed into (store) aisles inches apart from other shoppers. Here we’re sitting six feet apart.”

SOURCE: Reuters, Michelle Conlin and Rich McKay

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Welcome to the How to Stay the Coronavirus Plague Briefing Podcast #14. My name is Daniel Whyte III, president of Gospel Light Society International.

Numbers 14:37 said, “Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the LORD.”

Matthew Henry said, “Here is the sudden death of the ten evil spies. While the sentence was passing upon the people, before it was published, they died of the plague before the Lord. God hereby showed his particular displeasure against those who sinned and made Israel to sin. They sinned themselves, in bringing up a slander upon the land of promise. Note, Those greatly provoke God who misrepresent religion, cast reproach upon it, and raise prejudices in men’s minds against it, or give occasion to those to do so who seek occasion. Those that represent the service of God as mean and despicable, melancholy and uncomfortable, hard and impracticable, needless and unprofitable, bring up an evil report upon the good land, pervert the right ways of the Lord, and in effect give him the lie. They made Israel to sin. They designedly made all the congregation murmur against God. Note, Ring-leaders in sin may expect to fall under particular marks of the wrath of God, who will severely reckon for the blood of souls, which is thus spilt. God hereby showed what he could have done with the whole congregation, and gave an earnest of the execution of the sentence now passed upon them. He that thus cut off one of a tribe could have cut off their whole tribes suddenly, and would do it gradually. Note, The remarkable deaths of notorious sinners are earnests of the final perdition of ungodly men. Thus the wrath of God is revealed, that sinners may hear and fear.”

Leonard Ravenhill said, “When there’s something in the Bible that churches don’t like, they call it legalism.”

NEWS

According to Reuters there are now over 60,000 deaths from the coronavirus worldwide as confirmed coronavirus cases rose past 1.1 million.

According to the Wall Street Journal Henry Kissinger says that The Coronavirus Pandemic Will Forever Alter the World Order.

According to CNBC Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the coronavirus represents a “potential global catastrophe” and “we need to get very prepared because next late fall and early winter, like most respiratory viruses, coronavirus 19 will be an enemy that we’re going to have to face again.”

HOME CHURCH

John 4:23 says, “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.”

Jason Helopoulos said, “Family worship encourages peace in the home. We are sinners living under the same roof in tight quarters. That is a recipe for disaster or at least pain! We know our family members, and we know them well. Family worship helps us confront our sin and understand its effect upon one another. For example, it is awfully hard for a father to lead his family in worship when he has just yelled at his wife. If he is going to lead his family before the throne of grace, he will first have to ask for forgiveness from his wife. And she will find that it is hard to worship unless she willingly forgives him.”

——

Now, if you are with us today and you do not know Jesus Christ as your Savior, allow me to show you how you can place your faith and trust in Him for Salvation from sin and Hell.

First, please understand that you are a sinner and that you have broken God’s laws. The Bible says in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Please understand that because of your sins, you deserve punishment in hell. Romans 6:23 says “the wages of sin is death…” This is both physical death and spiritual death in hell.

But here is the good news. John 3:16 reads, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

The phrase “For God so loved the world” means that if you are in this world, God loves you no matter what you have done.

The next phrase, “that He gave His only begotten Son” refers to Jesus Christ. He is God’s son who suffered, bled, and died on the cross for your sins and for mine, and He was buried and rose again.

Our next phrase is “that whosoever believeth in Him”. The word “whosoever” means anybody at anytime. The phrase “believeth in Him” means to trust in Him, to depend upon Him, to rely on Him, or to have faith in Him for your salvation.

Our next phrase, “should not perish”, refers to eternal punishment in a place called hell.

And, lastly, the phrase “but have everlasting life” means to live eternally in Heaven with God.

The Bible also says in Romans 10:9 and 13: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved…. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Dear friend, if you are willing to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, please pray with me this simple prayer: Heavenly Father, I realize that I am a sinner and that I have done some bad things in my life. For Jesus Christ sake, please forgive me of my sins. I now believe with all of my heart that Jesus Christ died for me, was buried, and rose again. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and save my soul and change my life today. Amen.

If you believed in your heart that Jesus Christ died on the Cross, was buried, and rose again, allow me to say, congratulations on doing the most important thing in life and that is accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour! For more information to help you grow in your newfound faith in Christ, go to Gospel Light Society.com and read “What To Do After You Enter Through the Door”. Jesus Christ said in John 10:9, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”

If you accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior today, please email me at [email protected] and let us know. There is some free material that we want to send you. If you have a prayer request, please e-mail that to us as well, and we will pray for you until you tell us to stop.

God loves you. We love you. And may God bless you.

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Dozens of defiant Christian pastors across the country are preparing to open their church doors to their congregations for Palm Sunday, despite strict lockdown orders to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

‘We’re defying the rules because the commandment of God is to spread the Gospel,’ Louisiana pastor Tony Spell told Reuters Saturday.

More than 8,000 Americans have died from the highly contagious coronavirus in recent weeks, prompting officials and medical experts to plead with the public to practice social distancing.

But Spell, whose Life Tabernacle megachurch in Baton Rouge boasts 1,000 members, plans on holding three services on Palm Sunday.

It’s unclear how many of them will crowd inside the building to hear their pastor preach.

‘The church is the last force resisting the Antichrist, let us assemble regardless of what anyone says,’ Spell told Reuters.

For Spell and others, the public health orders are a threat to religious freedoms and constitutional rights.

‘Satan’s trying to keep us apart, he’s trying to keep us from worshiping together. But we’re not going to let him win,’ Kelly Burton, pastor at Lone Star Baptist Church in Lone Star, Texas, wrote in a post on Facebook.

Lone Star has been holding services in the parking lot – what it calls ‘Church on the Lot’ – and will do so on Palm Sunday.

Meanwhile, in California’s Sacramento County, officials stated Friday that they have identified one evangelical church that has a cluster of 71 positive cases. They offered few details but said that while the church itself is closed, church members continue to gather in fellow parishioners’ homes.

Others in California are defying the ban.

Rob McCoy, the mayor of Los Angeles enclave Thousand Oaks, is one of them.

He also serves as the pastor of Godspeak Calvary Chapel, where he will offer communion on Palm Sunday – though encouraging worshipers to stand six feet apart.

‘It’s very important theologically that communion not be taken alone,’ said McCoy. ‘What we are doing is exercising our inalienable rights. Communion is non-negotiable for us.’

About 400 miles north of Thousand Oaks, police in Lodi, California, interrupted a service late last month at the Cross Culture Christian Center, an evangelical church with about 80 regular attendees, to tell members they were violating stay-at-home orders.

They have since been given a warning posted on the church door, a ‘Notice of Public Nuisance,’ demanding the center stop holding services, according to local officials.

‘This is a serious public health threat,’ said city spokesman Jeff Hood.

Still, the pastor plans to hold services on Palm Sunday, said the church’s attorney, Dean Broyles.

‘Simply put, no, we’re not going to obey it,’ Broyles told Reuters. ‘The virus does not suspend our constitutional rights, the right to assemble, freedom of religion and freedom of speech.’

Broyles said the church is taking steps to mitigate risks, including sanitizing the building before services and asking that the elderly or those with health problems remain at home.

‘We’re much safer than a Walmart or grocery store,’ said Broyles.

‘Think about it, you’re crammed into (store) aisles inches apart from other shoppers. Here we’re sitting six feet apart.’

Meanwhile, Ohio megachurch Solid Rock has been holding its 1,000-strong gatherings in person, and plans keep the church open on Palm Sunday.

Solid Rock did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters but in a statement on its website said, in part, that ‘we are taking all necessary precautions to ensure the health and safety of anyone who comes to Solid Rock Church. We have scaled back our normal services; and there are not large numbers of worshipers in the facility, but we are open and continuing to practice and sustain our faith.’

As of Saturday afternoon, more than 3,000 people had tested positive for COVID-19, and more than 7,000 had died.

SOURCE: Daily Mail, Andrew Court; Reuters

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Don’t Just Shelter in Place, Preach in Place: Daniel Whyte III Who Has Preached the Gospel and the Word of God to Millions Face to Face and Online in Nearly Every State in the United States and Many Countries Over the Past 40 Years Tells Pastors the Power is Not in Us or Where We Preach From, the Power is in the Holy Ghost and the Preached Word. He Encourages All God-called Preachers to Preach at Least Once Every Day This Week All the Way Through Easter. If They Need a Little Encouragement They Can Listen to His Podcast Proclaim:

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