- Did you see this coming,

this ban on singing in churches?

- No.

That's, that's...

Maybe in a parallel universe.

Absolutely not.

I mean, in light ofeverything that's taking place

and after the tragic, horrificmurder of George Floyd

and the protests and my family and I,

we peacefully protestedand marched of course

to calls of justice.

But no.

So for the governor justto say, "You're banned,"

and the terminology, thephrase he used was banned.

Are you kidding me?

You know, 'cause I justparticipated in a protest

where many individuals were wearing masks,

but many were not,

many were not.

And how can you permit tens of thousands

to march in protests, and again, I endorse

and back up the peaceful protests,

but then how can you say that 100 people

can't sing in church?

- And of course-- And again, the word banned.

It was done with such nonchalant,

you know, dictatorial, totalitarian,

just off the cuff, you'rebanned, you can't sing at church.

Are you serious?

So I just hope and pray thatevery Californian will wake up

and smell the proverbialcoffee and push back on this.

It's outrageous.

- Right, of course music, worship,

that's completely central towhat we do in a church service.

What are you hearingfrom churches about this?

Worship leaders?

How are they responding?

- Look, I would've hadno qualms whatsoever

if the governor would've said,

"Hey, worship is such an important part

of our faith communities."

Particularly, to be honest, in California,

African American, Latino, this is the,

you know, in church, we worship,

we praise, meaning, all churches do

but part of our culturalDNA is we get our praise on.

And he could've said, "I highly recommend

churches avoid choirs.

If you are gonna singat church, wear a mask."

That would've been nuanced.

That would've been beautiful.

That would've been nice.

But that's not what he did.

I hereby ban singing,chanting, worshiping.

Are you, I mean again, even the wording,

the demeanor, the arrogance,it's just totally wrong.

And churches, I, listen,

we had church on Sunday.

We had everyone had masks on.

Maybe everyone's a strong term,

the vast majority of people had masks on,

my entire team did have masks on

and we worshiped, we praised the Lord.

We're seven feet awayfrom the next family,

people in front of us, behind us,

very well protected,

we're dotting every I and crossing every T

but we praise the Lord

because God inhabits thepraises of his people.

And the reason I marched and protested

was to petition the government.

The reason why I praise

is to petition God.

- Well, I guess I've gottwo questions for you then.

Are you concerned about being arrested

because you are singing

and what is your next step

if the governor doesn't budge on this?

- I'm gonna continue to praise the Lord.

Again, I'm gonna have my team wear masks

and I'm gonna have my members,

I'm gonna encouragethem when they walk in,

we have masks for everysingle person who comes in,

we're sanitizing every hand,

we're asking you if you're sick

not to come in at all,

we're dotting every I, crossing every T,

calling every family,

we're doing all of that,

we're going beyond the call of duty.

I don't want anyone to getsick with COVID, God forbid,

but I'm not gonna stop praising,

I'm not gonna stop worshiping.

What's the next step?

What is Governor Nussen gonna ask more?

What's the next step?

First, you can't gather,

then you can't sing.

What's the next step?

I mean this is our religiousliberty does not stop.

We can't sacrifice our religious liberty

on the altar of COVID-19 pandemic.

This is outrageous.

Again, there's a better way of doing this,

high recommendations from the governor,

high recommendations sayingI highly recommend you

not to do the following,

or if you do, take thefollowing precautions.

That would've been beautiful.

But that's not what he did.

He acted like a dictator

and it's totally inappropriate

and we as Americans,

we are what we tolerate.

- All right, Pastor Sam,

I know a lot of peopleare watching California,

watching to see what happens here.

Thank you so much for your time.

- Thank you for having me.