Free Republic

The pastor of a 3,000-seat California church said he will stop fighting Santa Clara County and hold services in the church parking lot as per local COVID-19 guidelines after fines rose to over $112,000. The county said it will not forgive the fines. Jack Trieber, the pastor of North Valley Baptist Church in Santa Clara, has chosen to obey the county’s directives banning indoor services, according to ABC7News. The church was being fined $5,000 for every service it held as well as fines for other violations such as singing. ABC7News reports that Trieber told his congregation in an outdoor meeting...

In the Baltimore suburb of Dundalk, Pastor Stacey Shiflett made some headlines recently when he stood at the lectern in the Calvary Baptist Church and tore up a cease and desist order he’d received from the government. Declaring that his congregation was “going to do it God’s way,” he insisted that if Walmart could be open, then his church would serve the needs of the congregation. He proceeded to do just that on the following Sunday, while ensuring that congregants observed social distancing rules and had their temperatures taken upon arrival.Good to their word, the government turned around and...

A Washington State-based regional body of Presbyterian Church (USA) is encouraging congregations in the Seattle area to cancel in-person worship services due to the coronavirus.The Presbytery of Seattle posted a letter to its website last Friday that was signed by the Reverends Eliana Maxim and Scott Lumsden, the co-executive presbyters of the regional body. The leadership of the presbytery stated that it was “time to cancel regular worship” due to the recently reported cases of coronavirus in the state.“Eliana and I, as pastoral leaders in this presbytery lament this conclusion, but believe in our hearts that it's in the best...

It was a joy to finally visit your church a couple of Sundays ago, and to worship with the believers there. You know IÂ’ve been looking forward to it for a long time. Just as you promised, the pastor is an excellent communicator and a man who loves GodÂ’s Word. His sermon was deeply challenging and led to some great conversations with my children. Now, you asked me why it looked like I wasnÂ’t singing. I know that was probably a little awkward, so thought IÂ’d send along a brief explanation. Primarily, itÂ’s becauseÂ…Â…I was not familiar with the...