Gerald O. Glenn, a Virginia bishop who defied his state’s social distancing recommendations and boasted about his church’s packed pews amid the coronavirus pandemic, died over the weekend of complications from the virus, his church announced on Facebook on Sunday.
Glenn’s wife also tested positive for the illness, known as COVID-19. The couple’s daughter has since urged the public to “understand the severity and the seriousness” of the virus.
Glenn, 66, was the founder and pastor of New Deliverance Evangelical Church in Chesterfield, about 20 miles south of Richmond.💔Bishop G.O. Glenn has died of complications from COVID-19, New Deliverance Evangelistic Church officials announced during Easter Sunday services.— WTVR CBS 6 Richmond (@CBS6) April 12, 2020
"April the 11th at 9 p.m., our father, Bishop Gerald Glenn transitioned from labor to reward."https://t.co/EvVb3ruAW1
On March 22, in the last known in-person sermon he delivered at the church, Glenn boasted about being “controversial” and “in violation” of state social distancing recommendations, the New York Post reported.
Video of the service shows dozens of people in the church. Virginia officials were urging social distancing at the time.
“I firmly believe that God is larger than this dreaded virus. You can quote me on that,” Glenn told the congregation.
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