A congregation in Ohio decided to host “Drive In Church” services as a way of gathering people together for worship while being wary of concerns over spreading the coronavirus.

Genoa Church of Westerville held two “Drive In Church” worship services on Sunday morning, one at 9:15 a.m. and another at 11:00 a.m., with around 600 people in 300 cars attending.

The church had a raised platform for speakers, with attendees remaining in their parked cars to listen to the music and preaching through an FM transmitter.

Genoa Church Pastor Frank Carl told The Christian Post in an interview on Monday that this was the first time that his congregation had held such a service, having been inspired by the famed Crystal Cathedral of California offering a similar worship experience years earlier.

“We decided to do this as an alternative way to allow people to worship collectively in a safe environment of their own car and to honor the guidelines of our governor,” explained Carl.

The services followed a similar order of worship to their usual church service, including sacred music led by their Music Pastor Kerry Buck and a sermon by Carl.

“We had a complete worship set, sermon, and offering buckets were in the exit as people left if they wanted to contribute — and they did so very generously,” continued Carl.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Michael Gryboski

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Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias has opened up about his cancer diagnosis, revealing that while he is experiencing severe pain, he believes that with the “prayers of the people and God’s strength” he will recover and reenter the ministry “full-time.”

“It was a shock,” the 73-year-old head of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries told radio host Ben Shapiro of the diagnosis. “I had gone in for back surgery repairing some stuff that had been done some years ago and they discovered what [doctors] called something ’atypical’ and it turned out to be a tumor, sarcoma, and I’ll begin the treatment in a little while.”

According to Zacharias, the “biggest challenge” has been the physical pain he’s endured over the last few months.

“I’ve never felt such pain in my life,” he shared. “It’s night pain they call it; it’s the pressure … from the tumor. We’ll get through it and I’ll get back on the road full-time hopefully by June or July.”

Zacharias first announced he’d been diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer in a March 12 Facebook post. The cancer diagnosis came just three weeks after he underwent back surgery.

“We are trusting the Lord in this, and we believe we have already seen evidence of His hand. For example, the tumor did not show up on any previous scans and was only discovered by my surgeon identifying it during surgery,” he said at the time.

Zacharias’ interview with Shapiro, host of the Ben Shapiro Show, marks the first time since the social media announcement that he’s spoken publicly about his cancer diagnosis.

“I value your prayers,” he told the talk show host. “I still have a journey ahead of me, but I know the prayers of people and God’s strength will carry me through.”

The apologist also addressed how Christians should be responding to the novel coronavirus, which has affected over 353,900 people worldwide and caused over 15,000 deaths.

In addition to causing a global public health crisis, the virus, which originated in Wuhan, China, has led to economic turmoil. States across the U.S. have shuttered schools, restaurants, bars, clubs, and transit systems in efforts to halt the spread of the virus.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Leah MarieAnn Klett

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As 23 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Oregon on Saturday, bringing the total to 137 confirmed cases in the state, the pastor of a Pentecostal church in Oregon was home and praying for his wife of 38 years who is seriously ill due to the infection.

“I haven’t seen my wife since Sunday,” Jerry Miranda, pastor of Salem Tabernacle Church, told Salem Reporter. “I haven’t been able to talk to her. We’ve been married 38 years.”

The 58-year-old pastor started the church with his wife Teresa, 56, about 30 years ago. The couple has four grown-up children in the Salem area. Teresa is an instructional assistant at a school but would always be with Miranda for worship service or other church activities.

“Once they took her behind the wall, I didn’t get to see her again,” recalled the pastor, who is not allowed to visit her in the hospital. But he’s praying at home and church members are showing support.

“There are people coming in every day, every day praying,” he was quoted as saying. “I’ve gotten calls from around the world.”

Pastor Miranda remains positive. “It’s something new to all of us and obviously life will never be the same after this,” he said. “I do believe we’ll come out of this and we will have learned a great lesson … how precious life can be and don’t take things for granted.”

The Oregon Health Authority announced Saturday that the number of confirmed cases had risen to 137 with four deaths, according to Statesman Journal. The first death was reported in Marion County Friday, raising the deaths in Oregon from three to four.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Anugrah Kumar

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Hundreds of millions of people around the world can’t take the most basic precaution against the coronavirus or other diseases — because they don’t have clean water or soap to wash their hands, mission agency warned Gospel for Asia (GFA, www.gfa.org).

According to a GFA press release, experts say one of the most effective ways to halt the deadly virus — which has killed almost 8,000 people worldwide so far — is to wash hands regularly with soap for at least 20 seconds.

“Many people are terrified and living in fear right now,” said GFA founder Dr. K.P. Yohannan, ahead of World Water Day, March 22, an annual awareness event. “But with more than 2,000 people—mostly kids—who die every day from diarrhea alone, simply because they don’t have access to clean water to drink or wash their hands, that helps put things in perspective.

“For hundreds of millions of people, the coronavirus, though dangerous, is the least of their problems.”

The coronavirus — known as COVID-19 and declared a global pandemic — has spread to more than 160 countries and every U.S. state, with numbers climbing daily.

Stepping up its campaign to promote handwashing as the “frontline defense” against the coronavirus, the Global Handwashing Partnership, a coalition of health agencies, said handwashing with soap could reduce acute respiratory infections like the coronavirus by nearly 25 percent.

“Handwashing with soap is easy and saves lives,” the coalition said.

But for more than half the world’s population, “handwashing with soap and clean water is not easy at all,” said Yohannan. “It’s a problem we as a ministry have been actively helping to combat for years.”

According to the United Nations, 4.2 billion people around the world lack basic sanitation, including handwashing facilities that many in developed nations take for granted.

SOURCE: Assist News, Peter Wooding

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The war against the COVID-19 pandemic is being fought on two major fronts. Both are presenting major challenges to the United States.
    
The number of confirmed cases continues to rise as the stock market keeps falling as the outbreak is still punishing markets around the world.

Investors signaled optimism before the opening bell Monday morning. But despite the Fed’s best efforts it was downhill shortly after trading began.  

At the closing bell the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 746 points, or 3.9% to 18,427. The Nasdaq was down 1.3% after earlier being up 1.5%. 

Stocks continued to fall Monday despite the Federal Reserve announcing it would buy bonds and mortgage-backed securities “in the amounts needed” to keep markets working smoothly.  The central bank said its next move will likely be to establish a lending program for small and medium sized businesses.  

“And you will see our economy skyrocket. Once this is over, iI think it’s going to skyrocket,” President Trump said. 

Meanwhile, the commander in chief ordered the National Guard to the hardest hit states of New York, California and Washington.  The administration promised that increased testing and equipment is on the way and urging health officials to be smart about how it’s used.

“We want people that have been checked into a hospital that are being treated for what they suspect to be coronavirus, to receive those tests more quickly,” said Vice President Mike Pence. 

There’s was one bright spot. In Wuhan, China, the original epicenter of the outbreak, is beginning to see some return to normalcy. After two months of extreme efforts to defeat COVID-19, no new cases have been reported there.

In contrast the streets of locked-down Italy are virtually empty while hospitals are vastly overcrowded. The country now has more confirmed cases than China with Spain gaining daily. The United Kingdom is also now considering increased mitigation measures.

“Anyone. If anyone is thinking (of) taking any chances, just take a look at me. iIm in the intensive care unit,” said Tara Jane Langston, COVID-19 patient.  “I can’t breathe without this.”

The US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams warns America should take heed and practice social distancing and other precautions as this week could be a difficult one.

“Our numbers are where Italy’s were two to three weeks ago. So we really have a choice to make right now as a nation, do we want to go the way of Italy and see our numbers increase rapidly or do we want to go the way of South Korea and China who aggressively leaned in the mitigation measures?,” Dr. Adams asked. 

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) is calling on hospitals in his state to increase capacity and is calling on the federal government for even more help.  Right now, New York has the highest number of confirmed cases in the country by far.

And also on Monday, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam ordered all public schools to remain closed for the rest of the school year. 

FOR CBN NEWS CONTINUING COVERAGE ON COVID-19, CLICK HERE. 

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