Fresno church says it'll stay open despite regional stay-home order

FRESNO, Calif. -- Despite the new stay-home orders announced this weekend for the San Joaquin Valley, some churches still opted to meet in-person for services on Sunday morning.

Cornerstone Church in downtown Fresno was one of the churches that invited its congregation inside.

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Now that the stay-home order has officially been enacted for Central California, Senior Pastor Jim Franklin said the church would continue to meet indoors as they provided essential services.

"We believe that church is essential. There's something that happens when people gather together that can only happen there, and if it's safe enough to go to Walmart, safe enough to go to Costco or Lowe's then it's safe enough to go to church, and we believe we have a constitutional right to do so," Franklin said.

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Franklin added that people in the congregation are allowed to wear their face masks inside, and hand sanitizer stations are set up throughout the building.

He said he trusts that people will judge the risk of coming to church for themselves.