After my post yesterday about the Covid outbreak at Keystone Church in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, I saw reports on social media of a possible outbreak at a Dallas area megachurch, Fellowship Church, from their youth camp as well.
Fellowship Church is led by senior pastor
Ed Young with multiple campuses in
Dallas/Fort Worth (TX), Miami (FL), Northport (FL), and Norman (OK). Allaso Ranch is a private ranch in Hawkins, Texas, about 93 miles east of Dallas, owned by the church where they host summer camps and retreats. Allaso Ranch is open this summer according to church social media posts on Facebook and Twitter.
Photos show hundreds of kids gathered in large groups with no social distancing and no masks.
Allaso Ranch youth camp- Fellowship Church
Robert McInnis
tweeted concern about the camp and stated that his son was supposed to attend, but they decided against it after the church could not give him their plan for social distancing.
I checked out the recent Allaso Ranch location tag posts on Instagram, and there are no precautions taken whatsoever: large gatherings, no masks, videos of singing- mosh pit style. The photo below was posted by Philip Jessamine who is on staff at Fellowship Church according to his Instagram bio.
I received these emails today:
I sent a message via the Fellowship Church website inquiring about this, but I have not heard back. I mentioned that I was writing this post and asked if they would like to make a statement.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has ordered bars to remain closed and restaurants at reduced capacity while Texas has surging cases of Covid-19, but churches and camps appear to be able to stay open and operate without restrictions or precautions.
Pastor Ed Young has a new
book out this summer. How timely of you, Ed.
“To everybody in town that I see posting on FB about how this isn’t real and that it’s a political scheme, I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, come intubate these patients,’” Kelsey Dowell said from the back porch of her home. “‘Come see what we see. It’s real.’” https://t.co/PY8iY1eH9I
— Amy Smith (@watchkeep) July 19, 2020
If anyone has any further information, I can be reached at watchkeepamy@gmail.com
*UPDATE* July 22
I received an email last night from a Fellowship Church member who is concerned and disappointed in the church’s handling of a Covid-19 outbreak stemming from their youth camp and church events.
I was also alerted to a public Facebook
post by a parent of a camp volunteer and attendee at Fellowship Church’s
Allaso Ranch.
And another:
Fellowship Church Spreads Gospel and COVID-19 at Allaso Ranch https://t.co/LmGd4txTa7 via @wthrockmorton
— Warren Throckmorton (@wthrockmorton) July 22, 2020
COVID-19 outbreak at Fellowship Church: One mom said through talking to other parents and campers, she’s heard at least 80 children tested positive for the virus. @fc @edyoung
— Amy Smith (@watchkeep) July 23, 2020
Late tonight, July 22, I received an email from a woman (JG) who stated that she was a counselor at one of the recent Fellowship Church youth camps at Allaso Ranch. I know her name, but have chosen to use her initials only, to protect the identity of the camper she discussed. She accused me of having a “mission to slander” her church regarding the recent Covid outbreak that is now being reported by local media. It seems that she thinks I wrote the Fort Worth Star Telegram story? Odd. The Star Telegram stated that one mom reported hearing about 80 positive cases of Coronavirus.
The email is posted below. I have redacted the name of the camper whom JG identifies. It is very inappropriate that a camp counselor would name and divulge any information about one of the kids in her care like this. What is going on at Fellowship Church? This is not a safe church.
Hello, I am going to start off by saying I do not want to be exposed at all by saying anything to you.
One thing I do know that you are miss informed about the camp is I saw you said there were no hand sanitizer stations, that is false that was something they had everywhere. Places like the pool wouldn’t even let you enter if you did not use it upon entering. Also your number if 80, I do believe is an Exaggeration and a number made up by high school students. I have talked to staff and the number was in the 20’s. Now, I know that’s like putting a bandaid on a huge gash. But I do think it is important to not be spreading false information. It could be higher, I’m not saying it isn’t just that the 80’s number came from high schoolers who don’t know any actual numbers.
Another thing is, I am pretty sure someone you mentioned in your article was [camper] mom. I was her councilor for week one of high school (only there for 3 days.) I was also [camper] only councilor. Because of the virus I made sure to keep my distance from campers all week, I had them wash hands constantly, and made sure they couldn’t do things like sit on each others bunks. On things like the large gatherings, I opted out of those but my campers were in them. I also made a point to not touch anybody in my cabin and things like that, but I broke that rule once and it was with [camper] That was when I was comforting her when she came to me and told me things about her life that have hurt her.
Immediately after camp I took a test that came back 6 days later as negative. But waiting that long stressed me out so I also went to a place the next Wednesday that I got the results back 15 min later which was also negative. I got an antibody test that is also negative as well. To be clear, it is known I was the only councilor of [camper] so, even though I know you won’t report on the people who are negative (there have also been a lot of people negative from camp as well), but please keep in mind it won’t be hard for them to figure out who I am and I don’t want to be brought into this. I know of about 20 people after week one who tested negative, it was week 2 when I believe the virus came.
This was things I thought I should share as you have made it you mission to slander any church. Though I agree camp could have been cancelled and I was stressed about the virus while being there, it was still a blessing to be able to connect with my cabin where I had my girls tell me some of the most horrible things about their lives, things they’ve done and things that have happened to them, and I was able to tell them that it’s okay and comfort and support them. That’s why Fellowship had camp.
So yeah that’s all I got.
