Community Corner
'Get It Over With': Pastor Tells Congregation To Get Coronavirus
Community members were quick to condemn the comments made by Pastor Bart Spencer at Lighthouse Baptist Church in Holland.
HOLLAND, MI — A pastor in western Michigan used words that suggest he was recommending members of his congregation contract the coronavirus.
Pastor Bart Spencer at the Lighthouse Baptist Church in Holland said, while coughing, "COVID, it's all good" in a Nov. 14 videotaped sermon shared on the church's website and in "Holland Happenings," a local Facebook group.
"Several people have had COVID, none have died yet," he said, incorrectly. "Get it. Get it over with."
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More than 10,000 people have died from the coronavirus in Michigan, according to data from The New York Times.
Spencer later told the Holland Sentinel he and many of his family members, including elderly ones, have had the coronavirus and survived.
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“It’s not fun," he told the newspaper. "I lost my sense of taste and smell, but my bout with the flu was worse."
About 2.5 percent of coronavirus cases in Michigan have resulted in deaths, the Sentinel reported, citing data from the state of Michigan.
The Holland community mostly spoke against the pastor's suggestion in the comments section of the Facebook group.
"Don't be misled by people like this," one person wrote. "It (the virus) is real and it does kill."
Miguel Medina, a former Lighthouse church member who shared video of the pastor's sermon in the community, told The Sentinel he "couldn't believe" what he heard when viewing it for the first time.
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