New York
Bishop Gerald Glenn, the pastor of New Deliverance Evangelistic Church in Virginia has died, the church announced on Sunday. Glenn had tested positive for coronavirus, according to a video posted by his daughter Mar-Gerie Crawley.
In a sermon on March 22, a day before Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam issued his executive order banning all public and private gatherings of 10 people or more, Glenn told his congregation, “I firmly believe that God is larger than this dreaded virus,” and announced he was not afraid to die.
On April 4, Glenn’s daughter posted a video, announcing that both he and his wife, Marcietia Glenn, had tested positive for coronavirus.
According to Glenn’s daughter, Mar-Gerie Crawley, he suffered from diverticulitis, a gastrointestinal disease that causes inflammation of the intestines, so it was not unusual for him to experience high fevers.
However, last Sunday he began struggling to breathe and so was admitted to a hospital.
After being put on a ventilator his breathing improved, but he tested positive for Covid-19 shortly after.
Bishop Gerald Glenn, founder and leader since 1995 of the New Deliverance Evangelistic Church in Chesterfield, was the first black chaplain of that community’s police department and was a police officer before becoming a pastor, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Sunday.
He was a friend and a pillar of the region’s faith community, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) tweeted Sunday.
‘It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of our beloved Bishop Gerald O. Glenn, the Founder and Pastor of New Deliverance Evangelistic Church on Saturday, April 11. at 9:00 p.m,’ the Church said.
‘Please be in prayer with us for Mother Marcietia Glenn, our first family and the NDEC church family. We ask that you respectfully allow our First Family to grieve in their own way’.