Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne of The River at Tampa Bay Church was booked into a local jail on Monday on charges of unlawful assembly and violating Hillsborough County’s stay-at-home order. He posted bail 30 minutes later.
The pastor of a Tampa megachurch who held two services on Sunday for scores of worshipers was arrested Monday for violating a county order requiring residents to stay at home to limit the spread of coronavirus.
Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne, co-founder of the River at Tampa Bay Church, turned himself in to the Hernando County jail and was booked on Hillsborough charges of unlawful assembly and violating quarantine orders during a public health emergency, jail records show.
Howard-Browne refused to heed the warnings and held two large services on Sunday. A live stream on the church’s Facebook page showed congregants gathered for its Sunday morning “Main Event” service, many standing shoulder to shoulder while the church band played.
“Because of the reckless disregard of public safety and after repeated requests and warnings, I worked with our state attorney, Andrew Warren, to obtain a warrant for unlawful assembly and violation of public health emergency rules, both of which are second degree misdemeanors,” Chronister said. “Our goal here is not to stop anyone from worshiping, but the safety and well-being of our community must always come first.”
“I know that they’re trying to beat me up, you know, having the church operational, but we are not a non-essential service,” Rodney Howard-Browne said at the start of the Sunday morning sermon. He claimed the church is “covered by the law.”
“Not only the right of free speech but the right to peaceful assembly and to practice what we believe,” he said. “Suddenly we are demonized because we believe God heals, that the Lord sets people free, and they make us out to be some sort of kooks.”
In a statement released on March 18, church leaders signaled they considered church an essential service like police and fire departments and hospitals.