The River Church in Florida Refuses to Close during Pandemic

A conservative evangelical Pastor has suggested to his followers that God will help multiply their toilet rolls amid the coronavirus pandemic.

What We Know:

• In a video posted on Twitter, Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne, leader of the Florida-based Revival Ministries International, told his congregation that this should be a time of supernatural sustenance, “where what you have in your hand will multiply”.

Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne held a church service this morning and said God would multiply your toilet paper rolls if you had enough faith.

Seriously. pic.twitter.com/6qFRM91Zhi

— Hemant Mehta (@hemantmehta) March 29, 2020

• As COVID-19 rapidly spreads across the country, threatening American life and rattling global economies, Howard-Browne on March 16 told his followers at the River Tampa Bay Church that he will not be closing down because they are not “pansies”.
• The Pastor went onto tell his congregation to shake each other’s hands, despite the federal government urging social distancing in an attempt to contain the virus. “Well I know they don’t want us to do this, but just turn around and greet two, three people.”
• As of March 30^th, Howard-Browne’s refusal to cancel services despite repeated requests and warnings has led to an arrest warrant issued for him for unlawful assembly and violations of public health emergency rules.

The official online coronavirus tracker, run by Johns Hopkins University, shows more than 720,000 people have tested positive for COVID-19 globally. The United States now sits at over 140,000 confirmed cases and with more than 2,400 deaths related to the novel virus.