Which local authority gave James River Assembly a “blessing” to go forward with services on Sunday?

Not the Christian County Health Department, according to one of its leaders.

“I can tell you that no one from this health department had any conversations with them,” said Cindy Bilyeu, administrator, in an interview Monday afternoon.

Friday afternoon, Springfield-Greene County Director of Health Clay Goddard advised churches to postpone in-person services beginning next weekend, but allowed that March 15 services might go on due to the short turnaround. James River Assembly posted to its Facebook page that it would go forward with “services at all of our campuses” for this past weekend.

“YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS THIS SERVICE!” church leadership told the congregation, which averages a weekly attendance around 15,000 poeple. (The church has more than 30,000 Facebook followers.)

The church's post continued, “This morning, after visiting with city, county, and health officials we received their blessing to hold services this Sunday at all of our campuses. After this weekend, we will be suspending our in-person services for a period of time.”

James River took precautions, according to the Facebook post: No hand-to-hand contact including handshakes, fist bumps or hugs. No “offering buckets” or prayer lines for the sick. And door handles were to be sanitized throughout the building during and after every service, with hand sanitizer available throughout the building.

Bilyeu, with Christian County’s health department, said she thought the James River church "blessing" comment referred to remarks by Goddard and other officials in Greene County. She noted James River has at least two campuses north of the county line, and the flagship off Highway 65 is located close to the line.

She said that various local churches have contacted Christian County’s emergency-management team in recent days, so a conversation could have taken place among that group that Bilyeu was not aware of.

But, she acknowledged, the church’s comment surprised her.

“I actually saw that and thought whoa, I wonder who he talked to, because he didn’t talk to us,” she said.

Bilyeu said that many Christian County event planners have contacted her office in recent days and that each of them wound up postponing or canceling their activities, following advice from the CDC and Missouri health authorities to avoid events of 50 people or more.

“I have to give credit to the event organizers,” she said.

As of now, Christian County has not ordered local events of any size to cancel, she said.

“We aren’t making any mandates at this time,” Bilyeu said, “but we do strongly encourage people to follow suit with what the federal and state advice is asking people to do.”

Brandon Lindell, James River executive ministries pastor, told the News-Leader late Monday, "We received the blessing from the Springfield-Greene County Health Department to have services this (past) weekend. That’s who we talked to who gave us the blessing."

When asked to describe that conversation, Lindell said, "Really they said we have their blessing to meet this (past) weekend."

The News-Leader reached out to the Springfield-Greene County Health Department for comment on Monday afternoon.

Spokesperson Kathryn Wall said in an email, "James River was given the same guidance we outlined Friday at our briefing — that we knew that with church services already planned for the weekend, it was not the expectation of the Health Department that religious leaders cancel services. Instead, the Health Department challenged faith leaders to think of creative ways to protect their congregations."

Lindell noted that going forward, the church is switching to online services "to honor the guidelines" from health authorities.

Is there any thought that the church should have made a different decision?

"You know, really our statement stands for itself on Facebook regarding that," Lindell told the News-Leader.

Large gatherings like airport lines, nights out at bars or church services have prompted concern among some observers as possible vectors for disease infection.

In South Korea, an early patient infected with COVID-19 attended two church services, a lunch buffet and two hospitals. Within days, according to Reuters news service, "hundreds of people at the Shincheonji Church and surrounding areas tested positive."

In Springfield over the past weekend, many churches in the Springfield area went ahead with Sunday services, while others postponed them or moved to livestreams over the internet, as a way to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Gregory Holman is the investigative reporter for the News-Leader. Email news tips to gholman@gannett.com and consider supporting vital local journalism by subscribing. Learn more by visiting News-Leader.com/subscribe.