Sonoma County church fined three times for public health violations plans large retreat

A Santa Rosa-area church fined three times in the past two weeks after months of holding large, indoor services that violated local public health orders plans to host a three-day spiritual retreat for as many as 150 people, with some of them arriving from out of state.

Spring Hills Church in Fulton lists the Feb. 18-20 Northern California Prayer Summit on its website, as does Strategic Renewal International, a Denver-based religious nonprofit that is the organizer of the workshop primarily intended for Christian leaders throughout the region. The event registration page notes the church has a large facility with rooms spacious enough for breakout sessions to allow for adherence to social distancing guidelines. “An outdoor option with heaters is also available to us,” reads the event’s sign-up page, which offers group rates.

Other than a late-night exemption granted for religious services by the U.S. Supreme Court late Friday night, indoor gatherings of any number of people remain prohibited in Sonoma County. The region continues to operate under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s most restrictive level of a four-tier, color-coded system to reduce the spread of COVID-19. The county has failed to exit the purple tier — indicating widespread transmission of the virus — since Newsom launched the system in August. It returned to those same limits at the conclusion of the most recent stay-home order that was lifted late last month.

While the purple tier of Newsom’s statewide system caps outdoor gatherings at no more than three separate households, it does not place such restrictions on houses of worship, so long as they mind social distancing and use of face masks. The Supreme Court’s decision Friday night clouded that picture, though, as the 6-3 ruling found that the state could not ban indoor religious services outright, though attendance can be limited to 25% of capacity and a ban on singing and chanting was upheld.

The county’s permit department, which oversees enforcement of the health order in unincorporated areas of Sonoma County, plans to continue monitoring activities at Spring Hills Church each weekend to ensure compliance — including the scheduled retreat in two weeks.

“They know we’re aware of it. They know that we are aware that on their website it indicates such an event is scheduled,” said Tennis Wick, director of the county’s permit department. “How they choose to hold it if it’s not inside could be in compliance with the order.”

Last weekend, Bret Avlakeotes, senior pastor of Spring Hills Church, told the congregation during a Sunday afternoon sermon that he would shift the church back to outdoor worship services, in part to avoid a public standoff with the county.

“We’re not looking to prove anything, and we’re not looking for a fight, all right?” he said. “If the county’s going to come in and is going to fight us all the way, then we’ll probably let them win this one. We’ll go outside.”

It was unclear how Friday’s Supreme Court ruling might affect the church’s plans.

Avlakeotes on Jan. 28 committed to continuing indoor worship services, after county code enforcement staff documented several violations of the public health order and fined the church $100 following repeat warnings dating back to September. He and other church officials said they moved their four total Saturday and Sunday services — which altogether were drawing about 400 people each weekend — from outdoors to indoors as the weather cooled in the fall.

The county’s Jan. 24 visit to the church also led to an internal investigation of a Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy whose report on the 9:30 a.m. church service conflicted with what was documented by permit department staff and a Press Democrat reporter. The sheriff’s office on Friday denied a Press Democrat request under the California Public Records Act for any video from the deputy’s body-worn camera shot during his visit to the church. In a written statement, the department cited a state exemption as well as privacy concerns, stating that not releasing the recordings better serves the public’s interest than disclosure.

In follow-up visits of Spring Hills Church this past Saturday and Sunday, the county’s code enforcement team once more documented large, indoor services with many attendees choosing to go without masks. Those reviews resulted in two additional $100 fines, making the church the only entity in the unincorporated county to be cited three times during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Wick said the county has still not received any formal assurances from Avlakeotes nor other church staff affirming they will make good on that commitment. A letter Wick wrote and emailed on Wednesday to the church reiterating that all indoor gatherings are banned has received no response, he said, and the three fines, which each include a 30-day payment deadline, have yet to be settled.

Dr. Sundari Mase, the county’s health officer, said this week that indoor and outdoor gatherings are the cause of up to 15% of Sonoma County’s about 26,500 COVID-19 cases during the pandemic. That figure likely represents an undercount due to the challenges of documenting the source of transmissions, she said, and out-of-county travel adds to the risk.

County supervisors voiced concerns about the large spiritual leadership event that still appears to be on the church’s calendar in two weeks.

“This is idiocy, absolutely,” said Supervisor Susan Gorin. “We’re trying to reduce the transmission of COVID, and all large events have been canceled or at least are being canceled for 4 to 6 months. This is just totally irresponsible of the church to continue planning for this event.”

“I guess I’ve just seen too many stories where these kinds of things ended badly,” added Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, the board chair. “I would question why folks would be traveling great distances to come together in large groups in the midst of a pandemic. It certainly seems to increase the risk of transmission.”

Phone and text messages for Avlakeotes went unreturned Friday, as did a voicemail left on the cellphone of Garrett Ward, another of the church’s pastors. Spring Hills Church staff also did not respond to either an email or Facebook message seeking comment.

The same was true of phone messages and emails on Thursday and Friday left for several members of the leadership team at Strategic Renewal International, including Jordan Henderson, the nonprofit’s director of communications, and Lori Lang Bergenstock, the group’s Sacramento-based director of church relations.

Daniel Henderson, founder and president of the religious nonprofit, is scheduled to lead the three-day event. For a combined 15 years, he previously served as senior pastor at Arcade Church in Sacramento and a Christian church in Los Gatos before a stint in Minnesota and now as a part-time pastor in a suburb of Denver.

In a Zoom meeting recorded this past spring during the pandemic and posted to the group’s Facebook page, he emphasized the importance of Christian church leaders attending such training events as part of Strategic Renewal International’s spiritual revival movement across the nation.

“The prayer level of the church never rises any higher than the personal example and the passion of the senior leader, and so that’s why we do what we do,” Daniel Henderson said. “As the pastor goes, so goes the church. You can’t point the way; you’ve got to lead the way.”

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin Fixler at 707-521-5336 or kevin.fixler@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @kfixler.