Even if a 4th Judicial District Court judge agrees with state and local health departments that claim a religious organization in Teller County has not complied with pandemic-related public health orders and caused COVID-19 outbreaks, another large event at Andrew Wommack Ministries’ conference center in Woodland Park likely will go on as scheduled next week.

“If the ruling is not in our favor, it wouldn’t stop the conference,” attorney Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, said in an interview.

The Florida-based nonprofit legal group represents conservative Christian organizations, including Wommack. Liberty Counsel lawyers are defending the current lawsuit and last month filed an action in federal district court challenging the constitutionality and equality of the state’s restrictions on houses of worship. That lawsuit was later withdrawn.

Wommack attorneys would have options to appeal the pending case if they lose, Staver said, but also, amended executive orders from Gov. Jared Polis issued last Friday now exclude staff from the 175-person limit on indoor gatherings per room. The organization has about 600 staff, court paperwork shows.

Staver said the changes would cover conference attendance and participation because Wommack’s campus has a 3,100-seat auditorium and seating for an additional 1,900 people in other rooms at its center.

Judge David Prince rejected a request from Liberty Counsel attorneys to make the complaint from the health departments moot based on the new orders.

Andrew Wommack Ministries, which operates Charis Bible College where 652 students are enrolled this semester and hosts many seminars, workshops and trainings, plans to present a women’s conference live on its campus Nov. 5-7.

The last event of the year on the calendar is a three-day Christmas presentation Dec. 11-13.

Cases mount: Religious rights lawsuits vs. COVID-19 restrictions

Attorneys for Teller County Public Health and Environment and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment argued during a court hearing Tuesday that past conferences have not only violated the state’s facial-covering orders and the cap on indoor gathering crowd size, but also led to several COVID-19 outbreaks. The state defines an outbreak as two or more people from the same facility or event testing positive for the virus.

Teller County Administrator Sheryl Decker said during testimony that as of Tuesday, her agency has determined four COVID-19 cases can be traced to a conference Wommack held Sept. 26-29. Three are out-of-state residents and one is in Teller County, she said.

Her office also is tracking potential additional cases, although she didn’t provide a specific number, from an Oct. 5-9 ministers’ conference the campus hosted.

County health also mentioned 63 confirmed and probable cases they presume to have resulted from a June 29-July 3 family conference. Two hospitalizations and one death also were listed.

Staver submitted an affidavit from the widow of the man who died saying she said her husband had no idea where he contracted the virus and presented other evidence, including health department information, that states determining where infections originate is difficult and uncertain.

State epidemiologist Dr. Rachel Herlihy said one in 300 Coloradans are estimated to be currently infected with the virus in any given situation, and singing and yelling are more likely to transmit viruses.

Liberty Counsel argued that Wommack’s conferences have been in compliance with state health orders, given the size of the organization’s facilities, with everyone on site practicing social distancing, and staff and volunteers being required to wear facial coverings.

Conference attendees are requested but not required to wear masks, lawyers said, and sanitization and other procedures are in place to prevent spreading COVID-19.

A video and photos posted on Facebook that attorneys for the health departments said showed conference attendees appearing to not be obeying state regulations were denied as evidence, with the judge saying they could have been taken from anybody’s Facebook page, including his — if he had one. 

Federal judge exempts religious services from Colorado’s cap on indoor gatherings, mask mandate

Liberty Counsel attorneys also claim that state orders breach the free exercise clause of the First Amendment in that religious entities are being treated differently than other locations, such as big box stores, meat-packing plants and warehouses, which pose equal risk of people catching the virus but don’t limit occupancy.

Two Denver churches recently were granted an injunction by a federal district court judge against the governor’s orders placing indoor occupancy restrictions on houses of worship and requiring masks.

As the Wommack Ministries hearing continues, the state and county health departments are seeking a preliminary injunction for the organization’s upcoming conferences.