Videos from inside Pastor Brian Carn Kingdom City Church showed jam-packed pews, very few masks and almost no social distancing. County health officials fear another COVID outbreak.
Hundreds of worshipers are packing the pews during a pandemic in a northwest Charlotte church, drawing concerns from Mecklenburg County’s top health official as the county continues to battle with its first major church outbreak at United House of Prayer on Beatties Ford Road.
Congregants could be seen inside a jam-packed sanctuary at Kingdom City Church’s 3rd Holy Convocation, “The Giants Are Coming,” according to public social media posts seen on KCC Charlotte’s Instagram page on Monday.
The video, shot by someone inside and posted to the story section of the church’s Instagram page, shows worshipers singing. Barely anyone could be seen wearing a mask, and nobody seemed to practice social distancing.
The church’s website said Monday night’s prayer was held at The Creek Church, in the 1400 block of Briar Creek Road. On Tuesday night, a line was crowded with people outside KCC Charlotte on Brookshire Boulevard.
Some worshipers were seen wearing masks, while many were not.
“We became aware that this event was going to happen a week and a half ago,” said Gibbie Harris, health director for Mecklenburg County. “We have had multiple conversations with the pastor about our concerns.”
Harris said during those conversations, KCC Charlotte leaders maintained they did not want to contribute to the spread of the virus and were on board to do what they could to lower the risk.
However, Harris said she was concerned by what she saw in social media videos after the first night of the convocation.
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