- In the past week,

there have been more than300,000 new cases of COVID-19

and that includes an outbreakbelieved to have originated

at this White House Rose Garden event.

President Trump suggested

he may have contractedthe virus there as well.

Meanwhile, states like NewYork, New Jersey, and Maine

are all preparing for a second wave

as new cases are on the rise there.

The good news though isthat more and more people

are recovering from the virus,

including Tony Perkins ofthe Family Research Council,

who contracted the virus back in July.

Earlier this week, I asked himabout his road to recovery.

- I was, it was like areally bad case of the flu.

It came on and started feeling bad

and I was with fever, you know,the sweats and the chills,

for about three days.

In the midst of that, did get tested

because I thought I mayhave been exposed to it

as I was doing a lot of traveling.

And after that, it was justweakness for about 10, 12 days,

and then recovered from it.

We tried to isolate as muchas possible in our family.

My daughter's actually an ER nurse,

at the time working withthe coronavirus patients,

so we're not sure if maybethat's where it came from

or through traveling.

But it's kinda gonethrough the entire family

and now everyone is onthe other side of it

and just recently, I wastested and had the antibodies.

- Tony, you just mentioned

that you tested positivefor COVID antibodies,

something that thatmeans you're now immune.

What did your doctor tell you about that,

and are you or have youconsidered donating plasma

to help others who arefighting the disease?

- Yeah, I'm looking into that.

We're looking at the research.

And in fact, we may issue a challenge

to all of our churches in our network,

for those that have testedand have the antibodies,

to give the plasma if, youknow, we see that that is

a very effective means.

It actually is a part of,John, the defense of this

for the broader societyas people get this,

they become barriers to the spread of it.

So it's actually good,and medical professionals

are actually saying now, youknow, we need to get out,

we need to move around.

Not only physically is it goodfor us, but psychologically.

What's happening to our country

as we've been in this lockdown,

isolation is not good for us.

We're seeing an increasein suicide, drug abuse,

and so it's time to get back

to a sense of normality in this country.

You were at the White House,

but your COVID experiencewas from earlier this summer.

I'm curious, what has beengoing through your mind

as you've watched whathas been taking place

over the last week or so?

- A couple of things.

Number one is I think,

again, we cannot stay in hiding from this.

I mean, you know, those thatare in compromised situations,

immune systems, or theyhave underlying issues,

we need to protect them, andso we need to encourage them

not to come out to these eventsor not to really socialize

in vulnerable situations andwe need to take care of them.

But we can't have everybody in hiding.

We need to get healthy people

really have to go through this.

And I want to say thisabout the president.

I was so,

you know, if I could use the word,

almost inspired and encouragedthat the president said...

Look, it's exactly what we've been saying

from the standpoint ofsaying to the church.

He said it.

He said, "We can't live in fear of COVID,"

and that is so true.

We cannot live in fear,and especially the church.

This is a moment for uswhere we need to be leading,

and quite frankly, Idon't think we've done

a really good job of it.

- And Tony, along those lines,

FRC is holding an event calledFreedom Sunday this weekend.

How does all of this tie in together?

What's the ultimate goal?

- Yeah, we're actually doingthis in California in a church,

8:00 PM Eastern time Sunday night.

We'll be in Calvary Chapel, Chino Hills.

You'll be hearing frompastors like John MacArthur,

Rob McCoy, who these pastors, Che Ahn,

pastors who have been fined or threatened

even with jail time.

We'll hear from some ofthe biblical scholars

about the stand the church should take.

Dr. Al Mohler will be joining us.

Eric Metaxas will be joining us.

And it's a challenge forus to stand in the face

of this fear and live in faith,

again, making sure we takethe necessary precautions

protecting those who are vulnerable.

But we have seen, John, the effects

of the church beingshuttered for eight months:

chaos in our streets, thedepression, the discouragement,

the suicide rates increasing.

It is time for the churchto take this head on

and stand with confidencein the face of uncertainty.

- Tony, I'm sure a lot of peoplewill be interested in that.

Tony Perkins, president ofthe Family Research Council.

Tony, thank you so muchfor being with us today.

- Thanks, John. Good to be with you.