Hillsong's New York pastor Carl Lentz tests positive for coronavirus
“I think who we are as Christians is really defined in these moments.”
As New York becomes the epicentre of the coronavirus in the USA, one of the city’s key pastors, Hillsong’s Carl Lentz, has tested positive for Covid-19.
“I’m fine,” he told his pastor friend Judah Smith live on Instagram, as reported by Christian Post and Fox News.
“My advice to people is, try to take this as seriously as you can.” – Carl Lentz
“I’m good … Let me tell you something. It is definitely real … the symptoms are so real. It’s kind of like a flu times 50 … still don’t feel like myself.
He added, “My breath is a lot shorter. Fatigue is a lot quicker. My advice to people is, try to take this as seriously as you can.”
“I look forward to getting my energy back.”
New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo closed gatherings of more than 500 on Friday, March 13. This closed all large churches for the following Sunday. A short time later, Lentz said, his “team got hit pretty hard.”
Fox News reports that 200 hundred members of the NY Hillsong team gathered to record the service on that Sunday. It is not known yet how many have the virus.
Lentz’s message? “We are gonna get through this.”
“Personally that phrase is how I try to frame every situation I every walk through. There is power in it. Today what God put on my spirit for our online church family … you should start getting used to saying that phrase …
“If you are nervous, if you are fearful, if you have anxiety about what the future might hold because of what we are walking though, guess what, we are gonna get through this.”
“What we have right now is actually part of the Christian Life. It is called ‘how to be doing well, when nothing around you is going well at all.’
“The truth is that is what the Christian life comes down to. There are some good ‘mountain tops’ and things that do go well, but I think who we are as Christians is really defined in these moments.”
Pray
Some prayer points to help
Pray for all with the coronavirus
Pray for protection for the vulnerable
Pray for pastors as they lead through the crisis
Pray for carl lent and the Hillsong NY team