The house of the Lord was set to be turned into a mobile testing site — until the government said otherwise.

New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Georgia had partnered with Black-owned telemedicine company RoweDocs to test 1,000 people for the novel coronavirus, reports NewsOne.

Testing was to take place in the parking lot, with 500 people tested on Saturday and the other 500 tested Sunday. Recipients would have been able to get their results in 24 hours.

The church's leader, Pastor Jamal Bryant, said the health crisis is urging churches to “live out loud and do what we’re called to do, which is to provide a service.”

Despite many churches having paused their in-person worship services, Bryant believes although “the building is closed, the vision has to keep going on.”

The vision was then halted when Gov. Brian Kemp issued a stay-at-home order for the state, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 

On Twitter, Bryant said he got into contact with state officials after the order was issued and they told him he could not gather 500 people to test.

After testing was halted, the church issued a statement saying they would comply with the order.

“To remain compliant with Governor Brian Kemp’s executive order, New Birth Missionary Baptist Church and various medical partners will postpone the COVID-19 testing scheduled for this weekend,” the statement said. “We look forward to coordinating with our local and state officials to support flattening the curve in Georgia and helping to heal our nation and our world from this global pandemic.”

Bryant said he had wanted to conduct the testing so people of color without access to health care can be tested since, when it comes to testing, they are “pretty low on the totem pole.”

Prior to the postponement, many people were questioning the ethics of charging for the tests. 

Prior to arriving at the testing facility, one would have to register in advance and then go through pre-screening. The pre-screening, done by RoweDocs, would cost $25, and the on-site test would cost $125, according to AJC.

Priority testing would have been given to those who are symptomatic, at-risk older people and those with compromised immune systems before the larger community.

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act mandates all COVID-19 testing to be free, according to Time. The law requires Medicare, Medicaid, other government plans and most private plans to cover testing and all testing-related services. Uninsured patients will also be tested for free, as the law gives money to the National Disaster Medical System to reimburse medical providers for testing uninsured patients. The law, passed in March, does not explicitly cover testing if you go to an out-of-network provider, though.

New Birth Missionary Baptist has not announced plans to reschedule drive-thru testing.

Black ChurchCoronavirus-TestingCovid-19Jamal-BryantNew Birth Missionary Baptist Church