Pastor Craig Groeschel of the Oklahoma based Life.Church along with his colleague Pastor Bobby Gruenwald are under quarantine after possible exposure to the coronavirus during a recent trip abroad.

Groeschel, the founding and senior pastor of the 90,000 member megachurch, made the announcement yesterday in one of his “Behind the Scenes” videos.

“If it looks like I’m shooting out of my bedroom, the reason is because I’m in my bedroom,” the Groeschel stated. “To try to make a really long story as short as I can, Pastor Bobby and I were in Germany a little over a week ago. I spoke at a leadership conference. On our flight back we found out that one of the pastors at the conference tested positive for the coronavirus.”

The conference Groeschel referred to was the Willow Creek Deutschland Leitungskongress. It was to be held Feb. 27-29 in Karlsruhe, Germany, and drew about 7,400 people. Unfortunately, the event was cut short after the unnamed presenter tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

The conference released a statement explaining their decision to terminate the event.

“This was done as a precaution and for security reasons. According to health authorities, there was never any danger to the participants. However, we decided to cancel this event as a preventive measure in order to give all participants the opportunity to come home in peace and quiet.”

The statement continued by explaining that the affected person was never present at the conference, “but had personal contact with some senior people who are now in quarantine for security reasons.”

When Groeschel and Gruenwald learned of the presenter’s diagnosis, they immediately notified the appropriate health authorities and decided to isolate themselves in an abundance of caution.

“Pastor Craig and I remain at home and healthy. While en route home from Germany, we were made aware of the situation at the conference. We immediately notified health authorities and have followed every recommendation,” Gruenewald shared in a statement. “Out of an abundance of caution, we have been isolated in our homes the entire time, even limited from interaction with our families. We have no symptoms, and someone is checking on us regularly.”

Despite missing his wife and children during this period, Groeschel appeared in good health and spirits in his video. He stated that he is maximizing the time.

“The good news is I’ve got a lot of time to pray. I’ve written outlines through almost the end of May for sermon messages. I’m working out like crazy…Pastor Bobby will probably invent another app,” he joked. “The good news, you can tell, is we feel 100 percent great. We only got a few more days before we would (sic) be completely cleared.”

 

(Photo: screengrab)