BREAKING NEWS

Phoenix pastor, civil rights leader tests positive for COVID-19

Emily Wilder
Arizona Republic
Warren H. Stewart Sr.

Corrections & Clarifications: An earlier version of this article misstated Warren H. Stewart Sr.'s age. He is 68. 

A renowned religious and civil rights leader in Phoenix tested positive for COVID-19, according to an announcement Monday.

Warren H. Stewart Sr., 68,  is the senior pastor at First Institutional Baptist Church in downtown Phoenix. In a video posted to Facebook on Monday morning, he shared that he and his wife, Karen Stewart, who is also a pastor, were quarantining at home after coming down with the viral infection.

"It's been a rough several days for us," Stewart said in the video. 

In a conversation with The Arizona Republic, Stewart said that his wife was the first to become sick, although they initially thought it was merely a cold. As her symptoms worsened, he began experiencing a cough, headache and gastrointestinal issues.

"I lost four pounds in 24 hours, and I wouldn't recommend the way I lost those four pounds to anyone," Stewart said with a smile in the video.

He is no longer experiencing symptoms, Stewart told The Republic, but his wife is still bedridden as she has been for the last nine days.

They were not sure where they contracted COVID-19. The couple limited their excursions out of their home to the store once a week or to the church, where only staff are permitted to work or stream services live to their congregation.

"The church leadership considers ourselves to be sanitary sensitive," Stewart said, meaning that they are especially careful to wash their hands, wipe down surfaces, avoid crowds, socially distance and mask up. "We were just surprised with all of our precautions that we came down with it."

He posted the video announcement to social media after alerting his congregation of his diagnosis during remote services on Sunday to serve as a cautionary tale.

"I wanted to use it as a teachable moment, I wanted people to know that you can do everything right and still be impacted," he said.

Before moving fully remotely Sunday due to the senior pastor falling ill, the core worship team broadcasted their sermons, songs, and prayers to their congregation from within the church sanctuary together, having canceled all in-person services in March. Although they had designed plans for a controlled return, which included limiting seating capacity from over 750 to 100, they decided to postpone these plans as cases continued to rise across Arizona.

With the curve of infections finally plateauing in late July, the church now tentatively hopes to open back up in October.

Stewart said no one else in the church leadership tested positive besides him and his wife.

Warren H. Stewart Sr. addresses his followers in an announcement that he and his wife contracted COVID-19 on August 10, 2020.

However, COVID-19 has hit hard his community at large, Stewart said, especially the Black community. Across the United States, data shows that Black, Indigenous and Latino communities have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. According to the COVID Tracking Project in collaboration with the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research, Black people are dying at 2.5 times the rate of white people nationwide.

Stewart, who was born in Kansas and became pastor at First Institutional Baptist Church in 1977, was involved in civil rights organizing in the Valley in the 1980s and was influential in the effort to have Martin Luther King Jr. Day recognized as a holiday in Arizona. He continues to be a vocal advocate in community causes, including on police brutality and mass incarceration.

Reach the reporter at emily.wilder@arizonarepublic.com or on Twitter @vv1lder.