Gerald Glenn

Glenn was born in Kingsville, Texas. He was raised by his grandparents, as his mother was 16-years-old when she was pregnant.[2] Formerly a "street gangster" in Portsmouth, Virginia,[3] he later became a police officer in the same city.[4]

In 1995, Glenn founded the New Deliverance Evangelistic Church[5] and was the bishop of his church until his death.[6] He was also a chaplain to the Chesterfield County Police Department and numerous sports teams.[4] In the late 1990s, he succeeded in liasoning between the local groups of the NAACP, the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Sons of Confederate Veterans, who issued a joint statement commemorating the Confederate States of America, acknowledging the pain and pride many in the Southern United States feel about that period.[4] However, in 2000, he was a lot more critical about the Confederacy, arguing that African Americans could not honor the Confederacy due to its support for the brutalization and enslavement of those of African ancestry.[7] In 2001, he was a prominent leader in the protest against state governor Jim Gilmore's proposed commemoration of Confederate History Month.[3][7] In 2006 he was elevated to the rank of bishop of the Church of God in Christ.[8]

During the COVID-19 pandemic in Virginia, Glenn gave a sermon on March 22, 2020, against proposed social distancing measures.[6] He said that God was bigger than coronavirus, that he did not fear death, and that he would continue to preach until he was in prison or the hospital.[9]

On March 27, 2020, he showed symptoms of a SARS-CoV-2 infection, the virus that causes COVID-19. These symptoms were initially attributed to diverticulitis, a previous illness that Glenn had.[10] He and his wife were both treated in hospital for the viral disease.[11] At a church service for Easter held on April 12, 2020, it was announced that Glenn had died the previous Saturday from COVID-19 in Richmond, Virginia.[6][12]