Pastors express ‘decision fatigue’ and ‘ministerial frustration’ as COVID-19 pandemic lingers
By Diana Chandler
Baptist Press
Members listen to Pastor Richard Bray’s sermon via an FM transmitter while sitting in their cars in the parking lot of Rock Hill Baptist Church in Lexington, Tenn., in April 2020.
LEXINGTON — For the second time since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Rock Hill Baptist Church in rural west Tennessee was resuming onsite worship. Then, Pastor Richard Bray was exposed to the virus and the church had to transition once again to remote worship while Bray waited weeks for his test results.
Bray became a one-man worship service team – preaching, leading music with his guitar, recording the service on his phone, handling the sound equipment, broadcasting the service via an FM transmitter to worshipers who listened in their cars in the parking lot, and uploading videos to YouTube, Facebook and the church website after service ended. That was his routine from mid-July to mid-September.
“I think I was tired, just physically and mentally,” Bray said months later. “Tired of dealing with all the issues, the stress of COVID, the stress of trying to do the right thing, the stress of the church members who see things differently than you do. It does take its toll.”
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