Elkin First Baptist holds a drive-in church service.
ELKIN — A local pastor is sharing his story of battling the novel coronavirus COVID-19.
Elkin First Baptist Church Pastor Mark Reece said he experienced a mild version of the illness and experienced symptoms similiar to the flu only with more extreme fatigue. The worst part, however, was the emotional aspect as multiple other family members of Reece, including older family, later contracted the illness.
“The most difficult part of being infected is waking up every morning wondering which of your loved ones may have been infected, particularly those in high risk categories,” said Reece. “One of my family members was asymptomatic for over a week after having contact with me before falling ill. Just when you think your family is out of the water, someone else gets sick. In addition to the physical illness, it’s an emotional roller coaster.”
Thirty-seven year old Reece has served as senior pastor at Elkin First Baptist since 2018. The church switched to virtual services in March. Reece said he had been wearing a mask and following social distancing guidelines but said there were times he was less diligent about it.
In a Facebook post following his diagnosis, Reece said there were times where he failed to wear my mask in the car with others as well as times he skipped using hand sanitizer after gas pumps and drive-thru windows. He said he had also shared microphones with other church leaders during recorded and outdoor services.
Reece said the first symptom of the illness he experienced was an abrupt spike in temperature.
“I was tested for COVID-19 on Tuesday afternoon, June 23, the same day that symptoms developed, and received the positive test result on Friday, June 26. I experienced flu-like symptoms for approximately four days from onset of symptoms. I lost the ability to taste/smell on day five through day ten, and experienced fatigue throughout. My first symptom was a fever (101) that came abruptly at 1 a.m. and was accompanied by a severe headache that lasted about 48 hours.”
Reece did compare his experience to the flu, but with other symptoms he had not experience before.
“I was not hospitalized, and would liken my experience to the last time I had the flu,” Reece explained. “The difference for me was COVID-19 fatigue is worse, and losing taste and smell was a first.”
He said the physical sickness was not the worst part for him, but rather the fear for other family members and people close to him.
“I’m aware of seven people that contracted COVID-19 from me or from someone that got it from me. In that stream of infection, one of those individuals is a 70-year old, who missed over a month of work and was bedridden for a couple weeks, spent time at the hospital, and experienced respiratory distress. Another, in his early 60s, experienced longer lasting fatigue, and severe joint pain. Thankfully, the others were young and healthy, and recovered as quickly as I did,” he said.
Reece’s Facebook post after his diagnosis was shared more than 700 times and he said it hopes it was helpful in raising awareness of the seriousness of the illness and how quickly it can spread. He said he wanted to encourage people to follow all the safety guidelines to keep themselves and their families safe.
“I am pretty diligent about wearing a mask and following guidelines set forth by the CDC. But, you can’t be careful enough. I would encourage greater vigilance around family and close friends, and not letting your guard down, particularly if those individuals have been traveling or working in a public space,” Reece said. “That is an area of struggle for my extended family, because we are very close and spend a lot of time together.”
Reece also cautioned people to avoid places that are not following safety precautions. Prior to him contracting the virus, Reece said he and his wife had dined at a local restaurant outdoors but the staff had not been wearing masks, something he said they should have declined to do.
“I’m discovering that some local businesses and restaurants are not enforcing social distancing and the wearing of face coverings. I confess how easy it is to overlook this and hope for the best as we go about our daily lives, but we must all expect and encourage behavior that’s in the best interest of public health, and avoid facilities that openly defy these guidelines,” he said.
Church adapts to ongoing pandemic
During this time of uncertainty, people of faith are undoubtedly longing for the comfort of their church family. Elkin First Baptist Church has implemented an in-depth four-stage plan to be able to provide that spiritual connection while also protecting its clergy and congregants.
Reece said indoor services were cancelled in mid-March and the church offered its first virtual worship service on March 15. In June the church began offering outdoor services where social distancing could be better achieved, but soon adapted that plan as well when the local case count of the virus continued to rise.
“We attempted to resume on-site worship with a service on the front church lawn on Sunday, June 22. I was asymptomatic but certainly positive for COVID-19 that Sunday morning, and I believe we had no other infections because of our Church Council’s thoughtful and responsible operating policy,” said Reece. “That Sunday morning, we were outdoors, most people were masked, and we encouraged social distancing. We also checked everyone’s temperature upon arrival, used a stationary basket instead of passing offering plates, and utilized QR codes instead of passing out worship programs. One of our college students attending Western Carolina was home for the summer and did a Public Health internship with us. She assisted us greatly in preparation for resuming on-site worship, as did our CBFNC summer intern Annette Coe, also a First Baptist member who was home from Campbell University.”
“Due to the surge in cases in our area and my infection with the virus, we reevaluated conditions in our area and decided to resume virtual worship the following week,” Reece continued. “This past Sunday, on August 9, we began holding drive-in worship in the rear parking lot, which offers congregants an opportunity to remain in their vehicle and listen to the service on an FM transmitter, or to sit outside if they remain next to their vehicles. Most of our members wear masks outdoors, and are required to mask up if social distancing isn’t possible or if they enter the building. This lacks the intimacy that we discovered in the outdoor lawn services we planned initially, but our high risk members didn’t attend the first outdoor service, and we feel this gives them an opportunity to be on the church grounds and assemble with the church family. We pride ourselves on being a church where ‘everyone is welcome, really’ and outdoor drive-in worship allows us to fulfill that mission. Fostering an environment where everyone can gather requires a lot of work from the church leadership but they have really stepped up. The Baptist Men, under the leadership of Terry Darnell, show up early on Sunday mornings to park vehicles and move equipment. Our deacons, under the leadership of Chairperson Karen Haynes, have been faithful to set up tents, chairs, and assist in whatever ways are needed. Our Audio-Visual Ministry Team (Francis Weavill, Erin Johnson, Thomas Salley, Beth Charles) worked hard to empower virtual worship and are working even harder to get our outdoor services online. Our Security Team, led by Rick Woodruff, monitors safety at each gathering. We have also been thankful for the strong support of the Elkin Police Department. We already miss some of the elements that we were able to include in the indoor virtual services, but we simply can’t be a virtual church any longer. The church needs to be together. As such, we are settling into a new normal with drive-in worship.”
Kitsey Burns Harrison may be reached at 336-679-2341 or on Twitter and Instagram @RippleReporterK.