Pastor and Congregation Put Under Government Surveillance
Ventura County Is Taking It Too Far
Last week, on a 3-5 vote by the Ventura County Board of Supervisors, Pastor Rob McCoy and his church were targeted to prevent them from worshiping together inside their sanctuary.
Pastor Rob McCoy, who signed our Declaration of Essentiality and opened his church for services on May 31, 2020, has publicly expressed the church’s belief that neither the state nor county has any business prohibiting indoor worship services based on irrational fear of COVID-19.
Despite the Superior Court Judge’s Temporary Restraining Order, regular indoor church services at Godspeak Calvary Chapel were held on Sunday morning, August 9, 2020 with Pastor Rob at the pulpit. The support from the church members and the Christian community was remarkable. Hundreds from across the state and even from out of state attended three church services, some from the parking lot due to the full capacity inside.
The very next morning, the County of Ventura filed for an additional “emergency” restraining order seeking to authorize and direct the Sheriff to enter onto the church property to prevent any further worship services because these worship services were “endangering the general public and all residents of Ventura County”.
It was then that we discovered that the County had sent two officials to surveil Godspeak Calvary Chapel and its individual members and guests while they attended Sunday’s worship services. One report even stated, “Many people were seen hugging and shaking hands, and standing in close groups talking together for extended periods of time.” Imagine that.
Advocates’ President, Robert Tyler, commented, “I never thought I would see the day where local officials give testimony in the American court system that has the ring of a communist inquisition…” Read our full Press Release here.
Godspeak Church desires to conduct a full evidentiary trial where it is able to present experts who will prove that the underlying basis for the continued state of emergency and that the quarantining of healthy people is unjustified and irrational. Advocates pro bono lawyers have spent hours to researching data and are ready to defend Pastor Rob and his church against this government authoritarianism – all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary.