Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne: In Defense of Keeping Church Open During the Coronavirus Pandemic

Dr. Rodney Howard-Browne has been much vilified in the mainstream media. He did not hold church services today and is considering whether to hold them on Easter Sunday.
By Dr. Rodney Howard-Browne.
My wife, Adonica, and I are the founders of Revival Ministries International, The River at Tampa Bay Church, River Bible Institute, River School of Worship, and River School of Government in Tampa, Florida. I am the senior pastor of the church. We are a multi-ethnic local church, with an international outreach and influence.
In December 1987, my wife and I, along with our three children, immigrated from our native land of South Africa to the United States. I felt a call from God on my life to preach the gospel and to come to America. I am proud to be a citizen of the United States of America. When I became a citizen, I swore the Oath of Citizenship, before God—to uphold and defend the Constitution—and I have done everything in my power to do just that. My family and I are deeply appreciative to be able to live in this great nation, the beacon of freedom to the world.
The two greatest commandments mentioned by Jesus, to love God and to love people, exemplify my life. My greatest passion in life is to introduce people to Jesus, so they can experience His love and forgiveness.
As you know, I was arrested on trumped-up charges for conducting a church service on Sunday, March 29, which Sheriff Chad Chronister claimed, in a press conference, allegedly violated the Hillsborough County Executive Order that went into effect last Friday, March 27, at 10:00 p.m. The two charges are second-degree misdemeanors that carry a maximum penalty of two months in jail and $500 fine.
The fanfare and drama that surrounded my arrest was completely unnecessary. A simple phone call informing me that I had been charged with violating the Executive Order and needed to come to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s office would have sufficed. I would have been willing to turn myself in but was not offered that option. It was unnecessary to send law enforcement to my home. And it was unnecessary to hold a press conference even as I was being arrested.
Before addressing some of the false statements made in the press conference, I want to say that even though the drama and made-for-TV press conference was not appropriate, I do not hold any ill-will toward anyone at the press conference, including Sheriff Chronister. I have the utmost respect for law enforcement. In fact, in January of 2020, I had the pleasure of honoring the Hillsborough County law enforcement by presenting a plaque to Sheriff Chronister at The River at Tampa Bay Church. Afterwards, we held an event for our church community (which includes many from the inner city) to interact with, and build a rapport with, our local police and deputies.
I also want to say that I was treated well and with dignity by the deputies and staff of the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office who came to my home and walked me through the booking process.
Sheriff Chronister made statements at the press conference that the arrest was conducted at my home because the church has an arsenal of weapons. This is patently false. The church, like many churches, had armed off-duty deputies on Sunday to provide protection against anyone who might have ill intentions.
A statement was also made that I was “reckless” for holding the church service. With all due respect to Sheriff Chronister, the church went above and beyond the requirements for secular businesses to protect the health and well-being of the people who attended. None of this seems to have been taken into consideration but appears to be a knee-jerk reaction to hyped-up reports by media (who were not in the building at any time).

A statement was also made that we ignored repeated warnings. This is patently untrue! On Thursday, Sheriff Chronister spoke to some of our staff by speaker phone. I was also present. After we told Sheriff Chronister that we were enforcing six-foot social distancing, had installed over $100,000 of high-grade hospital air purifiers, and were taking other actions to protect the health of anyone who attended, he said the church could operate on Sunday, and that he had no intention to close the church or arrest anyone. The order then became effective on Friday night at 10:00 p.m. On Saturday, we prepared our building, and our staff and ushers, to take all possible, reasonable precautions. On Sunday, we held our usual meeting with the precautions (listed below) in place. At NO time, before or during the service, did we receive any “warnings” from the Sheriff or any other official.

The March 27 “Safer-at-Home” order contains, in paragraph 3, 42 sub-paragraphs of exceptions, including “religious personnel.” Following this long list of exceptions, in paragraph 5, the order adds another huge exception: “Businesses which are not described in paragraph 3, and are able to maintain the required physical distancing (6 feet) may operate.” (emphasis added). In other words, any business that is not in the long list of specific exceptions, is also exempted if it is able to comply with the six-feet separation between people. In such case, there is no limit on the number of people who can be present.

The church took extra precautions to more than comply with the Executive Order, which included the following:

  • Persons who were concerned for their health or had physical symptoms of any kind, were encouraged to stay home;
  • Every person who entered the church received hand sanitizer;
  • All the staff wore gloves;
  • The church enforced the six-foot distance between family groups in the auditorium as well as in the overflow rooms;
  • In the farmer’s market and coffee shop in the lobby, the six-foot distance was enforced with the floor specifically marked;
  • The church spent over $100,000 on a hospital grade purification system set up throughout the church that provide continuous infectious microbial reduction (CIMR) that is rated to kill microbes, including those in the Coronavirus family.

The church sanctuary has moveable chairs. Chairs were removed from the sanctuary so that the remaining chairs were separated by six feet. Any small group that may have been closer than six feet were family members that came to the church together. This six-foot separation was maintained throughout the church.

The church took every precaution to protect the people who attended. In fact, the kinds of precautions the church undertook cannot be found existing in many commercial business establishments that freely operate in Hillsborough County under this Executive Order.

The Executive Order on its face, and as applied, discriminates against religious services and gatherings, despite the fact that the First Amendment provides express protections to houses of worship and assembly. There is no similar constitutional protection for commercial businesses; yet houses of worship and religious gatherings are singled out for discrimination. The State of Florida’s Executive Order exempts churches, as does the Orange County Executive Order, and many other county orders. Yesterday, Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a new Executive Order that states attending “religious services conducted in churches, synagogues and houses of worship” are “Essential Activities.” Surely, Hillsborough County could follow their lead and not violate the Constitution. There are other means available to achieve the interest that we all share to protect human life.

The word of my arrest has traveled around the world. While I have received vulgar verbal abuse and death threats from people who do not know me and are not familiar with the facts, I have also received many words of support and prayer. Many people are deeply concerned that in America a pastor would be arrested.

As my wife and I prayed about what we should do this weekend, we have decided to close the church for this upcoming Sunday service, for the protection of our people in this antagonistic climate, in large part created by media hype and misrepresentations, which have undoubtedly been exacerbated by Sheriff Chronister’s exaggerated and outright false accounts of the situation. We do not make this decision lightly. This is Palm Sunday. We are entering the time of year that is most important to Christians around the world in which we remember and celebrate the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

We did not hold church to defy any order; nor did we hold church to send a political message. We did not hold church for self-promotion or financial motives, as some have wrongly accused. We held church because it is our mission to save souls and help people, and because we in good faith did everything possible to comply with the Executive Order. Indeed, Sheriff Chronister told us last Thursday that we could hold church.

At this point, we believe it is prudent to take a pause by not opening the church doors this Sunday. This will allow an opportunity for people to take a deep breath and calm down. No matter your view on this matter, I encourage you to take a step back and reconsider the options. I believe we can better balance the health and safety of our community without throwing out the Constitution.

At this time, I have not made any decision about Easter Sunday or services thereafter. Adonica and I are praying and seeking the Lord for wisdom. I will say, however, that the church cannot be closed indefinitely. We believe that there are less restrictive means available to balance all the various interests.

My attorneys at Liberty Counsel will vigorously defend me against this unlawful arrest. I have also authorized my attorneys at Liberty Counsel to file a federal challenge to the Hillsborough County Executive Order. As I said earlier, this order violates the First Amendment and is unconstitutional. I have authorized this constitutional challenge for several reasons.

First, I have already been arrested once on trumped-up charges. I am a law-abiding citizen, who respects law enforcement. Like any normal law-abiding person, I would prefer not to be arrested again. A second arrest could escalate to a higher criminal penalty, or even a felony. No one wants to face criminal charges. My attorneys at Liberty Counsel are representing me on the criminal case, which we will move to dismiss.

Second, because of the publicity, the vitriol and death threats that have been directed at us and the church, I feel compelled by these threats to not meet this upcoming Sunday for the protection of our pastors, staff, and congregation. Also, I love my pastoral staff at The River, and they love us and are in agreement with our stance to obey the Word of God and also to stand up for our constitutional rights. If the church holds service this coming Sunday and the Sheriff chooses to arrest me again under this unconstitutional Executive Order, he will probably have to arrest all of our pastors for preaching in my place. Personally, I do not want to put my pastoral staff in a position of having to choose between criminal arrest or carrying out our God-given mission to worship together and lead people to Jesus.

Third, The River Church provides many ministries more than services where we physically gather together to worship. We have various training schools, and we also provide food and clothing to people in need. The Farmer’s Market and the weekly food boxes we provide are greatly needed at this time to help needy and hurting families. These ministries need to continue to operate to help people. We have many inner-city people who do not have the luxury of watching church online at home. We feel obligated to continue to serve them in person and to make sure we continue to provide groceries to them every week. People in our community need help more than ever in this time of crisis, and the church is where many of them turn for spiritual and material help. We need to be able to minister, without unreasonably restrictive measures, to their spiritual and material needs. Church is a body of believers that cannot be substituted online, especially for people who do not have access to the internet, or their internet is too slow to watch video. Our church helps hurting people and those in need, both spiritually and physically. There is no substitute for meeting together to help one another. This can be done while also protecting the health and welfare of those who attend.

No one wants to face arrest for a criminal charge just for exercising a constitutional right. The threat of arrest, and worse, actual arrest, operates as a significant chill to the exercise of constitutional rights. No one should have to choose between the two. Even in times of crisis, the courts are open to protect our constitutional rights. We hope and trust that the authorities in this case would re-consider their actions and choose to uphold the Constitution, for all of our sakes, basing their decisions on actual facts and correctly applying any and all of the law, rather than succumbing to pressure from certain antagonistic media.

May God grant us wisdom and blessings as we approach this sacred time of Palm Sunday and Easter.

About the author

Correspondent

12 Comments

Click here to post a comment

Please leave a comment: Your opinion is important to us! (Email & username are optional)

  • Speaking of Churches – there is the Hagia

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53366307

    Was Jesus upset ? Is Christianity as its exists today the faith of Jesus the radical and out of the box thinker tilting against the Romans and the Pharisees ?

    Jesus BROKE the oral Law w.r.t Circumcision,Wine and Pork and predicted the destruction of the idols and the Temple of Solomon (proxy for modern day Churches)

    Jeuss SAID that he came to EXECUTE THE ORAL LAW ( against idolatory) and it was PAUL and the Romans, who made the Church on the death of Jesus

    Jesus also said that NO ONE BEFORE HIM EVER HEARD GOD !

    No man hath heard God at any time. (John 1:17-18 and John 5:37 + 61)

    Jesus was an ANARCHIST, revolutionary and a radical – who would be called a TERRORIST today – Che with the Oral law = JESUS ! His BIG PICTURE ORAL LAW = PLATONIC UNIVERSALS – WHICH HE LEARNT IN THE MISSING YEARS FROM AGE 12 -32

    JESUS also said that Moses was a false prophet !

    For the law was given by Moses but grace and TRUTH came by Jesus Christ, (John 1:17-18 and John 5:37 + 61)

    Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. (John 6:32)

    SO DID ERDOGAN DO ANY WRONG ? NEIN !

    Turkey has struck Gold in the Black sea !

    https://www.dw.com/en/turkey-discovers-large-natural-gas-reserve-off-black-sea/a-54649882

    For A Human and a Muslim – it is IMPERATIVE

    Principles and Ideology !

    For A Human and a REAL Muslim – it is IMPERATIVE to PROTEST the Kashmir and Gaza Genocide and SUPPORT the FREEDOM STRUGGLE in KASHMIR AND GAZA ! dindooohindoo ! JESUS WOULD DO THE SAME !

    Kashmir HAS to be an independent nation !

    Turkey and Erdogan is the only nation/leader,which was resolute,unflinching and unconditional in its support.

    And then the reward comes for Turkey and Erdogan .

    https://www.dw.com/en/turkey-discovers-large-natural-gas-reserve-off-black-sea/a-54649882

    UP GOES THE LIRA !

    It is culmination of the prophecy of the desruction of India by the Turks,Mongols,Persians and Afghans !

    Erdogan is the Muslim Role Model and no Muslim King/Kingdom has faced as many challenges as Erdogan and Turkey !

    But If you follow the Principles and ideology of Islam and THE CORE STAND OF JESUS (Not Christ !) AGAINST INJUSTICE AND EQUITY – YOU WILL WIN ULTIMATELY !

    LIRA goes UP and Borsa Istanbul and XU-10O shoots up !

    Ideology,Ideology,Ideology,Ideology,Ideology !

  • Pictures apparently of the service, show people sitting distanced noticeably less than 6 feet:

    https://images.foxtv.com/static.fox13news.com/www.fox13news.com/content/uploads/2020/03/932/524/Church-4.jpg?ve=1&tl=1

    Tampa megachurch pastor arrested after leading packed services despite ‘safer-at-home’ orders
    https://www.fox13news.com/news/tampa-megachurch-pastor-arrested-after-leading-packed-services-despite-safer-at-home-orders

    Plus there’s also the problem that the 6 foot distancing requirement is intended to apply to people moving around, and sometimes standing, in spaces where they’re often much more distanced that that – it’s a different sort of risk to pack people into a room every six feet, with some even allowed in more concentrated clusters.

    And the “high-grade hospital air purifiers” are probably almost worthless unless installed for proper circulation, like in the the limited, custom-designed space of an operating room – something quite possibly unable to be achieved in a space like that where services are held unless, for instance, the are vents in the floor. Air has to be circulated so that it passes directly off each individual and into an intake, not just blown across a group of people, for example:

    https://www.nafahq.org/wp-content/uploads/Art1.jpg

    • Rarely have we ever agreed on anything, but this time we do.
      Hopefully this ‘pastor’ will be taught a lesson from a real judge
      and then deported back to South Africa.
      Korea charged their pastor of death with murder for a similar act.
      Neither has the right to endanger their fellow man.
      Love your fellow man means THOU SHALT NOT RECKLESSLY ENDANGER.
      Good post this time whoever you may be.

    • Indeed – an example of real leadership.

      For some perspective, here’s an article liked over at DrudgeReport:

      PIERS MORGAN: In just five brief minutes of calm empathy, fortitude and history, the Queen inspired her people to overcome this coronavirus crisis better than President Trump has rallied Americans with 50 hours of rambling, self-promoting twaddle

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8191867/PIERS-MORGAN-Queen-inspired-people-overcome-coronavirus-crisis.html

      • I have great respect for Her Majesty, I lived in the UK for over a decade and visited all parts of the realm, learning the British tongue and other Celtic languages.
        Her style is very different than Trump’s.
        I respect both leaders. Neither says that their style is the only one to use. They show respect for each other.
        And neither is bashing chloroquine; both use their real names when making comments.
        I use my real name.
        You don’t.
        And you bash chloroquine which is proving effective.
        I doubt that the Queen wants you anywhere near her citizens.
        She does listen to Trump; not to you.

  • You and your wife come to this country and break its laws.
    You put in danger the lives of Americans.
    DO NOT DARE take the name of the Lord in vain by trying use religion
    as an excuse. The Bible tells us to obey the laws.
    I will contact the DHS and ask that you be deported as a clear and present danger, and
    that you finances be investigated.
    What did Christ say – “Many will come to me and say Lord, Lord, and I will say to them:
    Get away from me, ye workers of wickedness.”
    Listen to the laws of God and man and go away.

    • Ken…I guess you can’t read. He didn’t break the law.
      Are you so blinded by your hatred for this man that you can’t read that church services were exempted?

      • He was arrested. Does that not tell us that he broke the law?
        And in the worst possible way – endangering people.
        BTW, how did Korea get this virus?
        A so-called pastor.
        I am not blinded by any hatred. I am seeing with my own eyes that
        this so-called pastor and the Korean one were both breaking the law.
        In Korea they arrested him for murder. I think he is facing the death penalty.
        Maybe you want to go there and stick up for him?
        Americans don’t want the coronavirus – clear and simple.
        Asking that he leave this country right away is not hatred, it is respect for Americans.
        Which you are not showing right now.

        • You are blind.

          Jesus was also arrested, so were James and Peter and Paul.

          I fear that if they would be around today, you would also file a report asking them to be deported.

          • Jesus, Peter and Paul are very different human beings from this ‘pastor’.
            All three healed, and did not endanger.
            You might check the background of this ‘pastor’ before you equate him with
            Jesus, Peter or Paul.

About the Author

Frank Parlato is an investigative journalist.

His work has been cited in hundreds of news outlets, like The New York Times, The Daily Mail, VICE News, CBS News, Fox News, New York Post, New York Daily News, Oxygen, Rolling Stone, People Magazine, The Sun, The Times of London, CBS Inside Edition, among many others in all five continents.

His work to expose and take down NXIVM is featured in books like “Captive” by Catherine Oxenberg, “Scarred” by Sarah Edmonson, “The Program” by Toni Natalie, and “NXIVM. La Secta Que Sedujo al Poder en México” by Juan Alberto Vasquez.

Parlato has been prominently featured on HBO’s docuseries “The Vow” and was the lead investigator and coordinating producer for Investigation Discovery’s “The Lost Women of NXIVM.” In addition, he was credited in the Starz docuseries 'Seduced' for saving 'slave' women from being branded and escaping the sex-slave cult known as DOS.

Parlato appeared on the Nancy Grace Show, Beyond the Headlines with Gretchen Carlson, Dr. Oz, American Greed, Dateline NBC, and NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, where Parlato conducted the first-ever interview with Keith Raniere after his arrest. This was ironic, as many credit Parlato as one of the primary architects of his arrest and the cratering of the cult he founded.

Parlato is a consulting producer and appears in TNT's The Heiress and the Sex Cult, which premieres on May 22, 2022.

IMDb — Frank Parlato

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Parlato,_Jr.

Contact Frank with tips or for help.
Phone / Text: (305) 783-7083
Email: frankparlato@gmail.com

Archives