A pastor in California is urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to reopen his church on Easter Sunday.
In a video through the church's Youtube channel, Dr. Jack Trieber of North Valley Baptist Church (NVBC) in Santa Clara, California, pleaded for the governor to allow his church to reopen, Christian Headlines wrote.
"Governor Newsom, I implore you to open up our churches by Easter Sunday, April 4," he began.
"This is Sunday, early in the morning, and we're freezing out here. We're cold. We've been obeying for 366 days, one year and one day. We've shut our church down. We're meeting in the parking lot. We're meeting in open-air meetings and we have tents everywhere," he continued.
He said that the church members had to deal with the cold, rain and summer's very hot temperature, while they have an empty auditorium.
Further, he said that since the church was ordered to close last year, they were not able to celebrate holidays in it.
Dr. Trieber also explained that out of thousands of people in his church, no one died from coronavirus. They only have less than 20 positive cases. The few that got hospitalized were sent home and instructed to just "take two Tylenol."
He contended that America is not a communist country and that the churches have got to be reopened.
The pastor also pointed out that before the coronavirus pandemic, the country has never shut down churches, even during the Spanish flu. But that the church has been closed for 52 Sundays already since last year.
He said that the church has to get back given the various problems that he has been dealing with in the area, such as drug addiction, suicide and domestic violence.
He also asked the governor to get in touch with him to discuss the issue.
In conclusion, Dr. Trieber repeated his plea to reopen the church on Easter Sunday.
"We've been doing this for a year sir, it's time. April the 4th, 2021, Easter Sunday for Christians, please," he said.
The pastor started holding services in the church parking lot last year, after the NVBC was fined with $112,000 for having indoor worship services, in violation of the local public health order.
Dr. Trieber has been leading the church since 1976. From 75 people, the church now averages to 3,000 attendees every Sunday.
NVBC provides Bible-based education for elementary, middle and high school children. It has a bus ministry that reaches out to people in the county, bringing in more than a million individuals to church since it was launched more than 40 years ago. The church is supporting about two hundred local and foreign missionaries monthly. It also ministers to a number of foreign-speaking groups, deaf, mentally handicapped, a retirement home and a hospital.
The church founded Golden State Baptist College in 1996, a training school for preachers, evangelists, missionaries and Christian workers.
In 2006, Dr. Trieber started his daily radio broadcast, "Revival Time", aired on more than 60 stations around the world. He is also hosting a live radio broadcast weekly on KNVBC.
