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Coronavirus: California megachurch associate pastor dies from COVID-19 complications

FONTANA, Calif. — The congregation of a California megachurch is grieving after an associate pastor died from COVID-19 complications this week.

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According to the Los Angeles Times and the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, the Water of Life Community Church in Fontana announced that Associate Pastor Bob Bryant, 58, died Monday, leaving behind his wife, Lori, and four children.

Hello Church Family, It is with heavy hearts that we share Pastor Bob Bryant passed earlier today from this life and...

Posted by Water of Life Community Church on Monday, November 30, 2020

The news came less than two weeks after he tested positive for the novel coronavirus, Lori – who also contracted COVID-19 – wrote in a Facebook post.

“I had no symptoms, and Bob had most of the symptoms,” she wrote Nov. 23, days after their diagnosis. “We were hoping he was turning for the good, but things went very bad very quickly today.”

URGENT PRAYER So many of you have been praying for Bob Josh and I. We tested positive for Covid on Tuesday. I had no...

Posted by Lori Snider Bryant on Monday, November 23, 2020

Bryant later developed pneumonia and had a heart attack, the Times reported. Doctors also put him on a ventilator before his death, according to the newspaper.

KNBC reported that it wasn’t clear where or how Bryant contracted the virus; however, Water of Life resumed indoor services Oct. 31, violating a state order, according to the Times. A representative for the church, which continued to require face masks and social distancing for indoor services, told the newspaper that San Bernardino County officials knew the congregation was meeting inside.

“We’re not trying to break rules,” the senior pastor’s executive assistant, Susan DePaola, told the Times.

The church said it will hold a memorial service – which people can attend indoors, outdoors or virtually – for Bryant on Monday.

Memorial Service to celebrate the life of Pastor Bob Bryant will be held on Monday, December 7th, 2:00pm at Water of...

Posted by Water of Life Community Church on Tuesday, December 1, 2020

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