’I want to go to church:’ Fresno church defies health orders with singing and a crowd
Singing the words, “I want to go to church,” Cornerstone Church in downtown Fresno kicked off its first in-person services in months Sunday.
Churches got the green light last week from Gov. Gavin Newsom to open, but with specific limitations on how many people can attend and guidelines from the county that said there should be no singing.
Cornerstone held two services Sunday in defiance of those guidelines.
Newsom limited services to 25 percent capacity or 100 people, whichever is lower.
Cornerstone Pastor Jim Franklin held a news conference Saturday, saying the church invited up to 350 people to its 9 a.m. and 11 am. services – about 25 percent capacity of the 1,400-seat theater it meets in.
“People need this type of hope,” he said before Sunday’s services. “Now more than ever, it’s so important that people gather.”
Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, rejected an emergency appeal of Newsom’s order and its restrictions on churches.
But that wasn’t enough to stop church members like Armando Reyes of Fresno, who said he craved a return to worshiping in person at the former Wilson Theater at Fulton and Stanislaus streets.
“I love worshiping with my follow Christian brothers and sisters and I just want to be around them,” he said. “I don’t believe my pastor would intentionally put us in harm’s way.”
If he did get sick, he said, he thought he could overcome the illness.
While Cornerstone had more people than prescribed by the state, that was not the rule across Fresno. Many, including the giant Peoples Church in north Fresno and the Big Red Church in the Tower District, are still holding services online.
Adventure Church near Palm and Olive avenues held services in parking lots — one with people in lawn chairs Sunday morning, another where people sat in their cars. Adventure also held indoor services with social distancing observed, including one service for at-risk members that was attended by 10 people over the weekend.
Precautions
At Cornerstone, the church took numerous steps to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Ushers wearing gloves and masks waved “air hugs” at congregants and directed them to designated seats in twos and fours. Other seats were blocked off with 6 to 8 feet between congregants. Attendees were also staggered, so no one was sitting in front of another person.
The church did not allow photos or video to be taken inside the sanctuary, but demonstrated its seating plan during a news conference Saturday.
To attend the service, churchgoers had to register online beforehand, though the church had room for a few who showed up who hadn’t preregistered. They waited in 8-foot intervals marked on the sidewalk and were checked in via phone or iPads.
The church is continuing to stream services online. People 65 and older or who have a compromised immune system or other underlying health problems were encouraged not to attend. The people who did attend were mostly younger folks.
No collection plates were passed. As they did in pre-pandemic times, church members brought their own Bibles, and instead of hymnals, read the words they sung on screens on the wall.
Franklin asked people not to hug each other or congregate as they left the church row by row. The sanctuary was cleaned between the two services.
Fresno County guidelines for churches said they should “discontinue singing, group recitation, and other practices that may increase the likelihood for transmission of contaminated exhaled droplets.”
Some health experts have cited a March choir practice in Washington where 87 percent of the 61 people attending tested positive for COVID-19 after the 2.5-hour practice. Singing “might have contributed to transmission through emission of aerosols, which is affected by loudness of vocalization,” according to a report from the county’s public health department.
Cornerstone members sang hymns Sunday, but were asked to wear masks.
“The governor said we couldn’t sing. I said, ‘Governor, you haven’t been to church,’” Franklin said. “Singing isn’t something we do recreationally. It is a part of the church. … Sing with all your might, but wear your mask.”
COVID-19 cases rising
Gov. Newsom gave the go-ahead for certain counties, including Fresno, to reopen churches, despite the county not yet flattening the curve of COVID-19 infections.
Cases in Fresno County continue to grow, with 1,743 positive cases of coronavirus and 35 dead as of Saturday. At least 542 people have recovered.
Tulare County has the highest case count in the six-county central San Joaquin Valley region, with 1,844 total cases through Friday, with 912 recovered and 84 deaths.
On Friday, the county’s interim health officer, Dr. Rais Vohra, expressed concern that new cases of coronavirus have the potential to put hospitals under stress to handle a surge, just as the facilities are ramping up a return to a more normal flow of medical services as the county reopens.
He also expressed dismay that some residents are disregarding health advisories to wear masks in public and maintain physical distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Still, Cornerstone members said if it’s OK for them to go to stores and restaurants, it should be OK to go to church.
“I think it’s unfair,” said Joyce Clay of Fresno. “I go to Walmart, they don’t even do the rules. I go to other stores. (Church) is the same.”
Franklin said at the end of the 9 a.m. service that officials trust Walmart, Home Depot and restaurants, “but we can’t trust the churches.”
“I think they’re wrong,” he said. “We’re going to send a message that churches can be trusted.”
This story was originally published May 31, 2020 at 12:54 PM.
