PHOENIX, Md. — As Arizona starts to reopen, those who were looking to get back to church could do so this past weekend.
Pastors Rowdy and Ashli Van Horn with One Church Scottsdale took steps to deep clean before the congregation gathered.
"We've been closed for two months and boy, we're ready to be back together again," Rowdy said.
They did away with donuts and coffee and deep cleaned everything -- from wiping down door handles to hovering over pews with a UVC light, which is what some hospitals use to kill spaces and areas that can't be saturated with sprays and cleaning products.
"We've always used hospital-grade sanitizers to clean our church so we're just taking extra caution, go over things twice, maybe giving people that extra level of comfort," Ashli said.
One Church Scottsdale reopened this past weekend after eight weeks of online services and social distancing for the safety of its members.
"We're so excited to be able to have everybody back together because nobody should be in isolation so it's really important for us to be able to have a safe place of nurturing and support," the two told 12 News.
Pastors Rowdy and Ashli hope the precautionary measures will make members feel at ease and eager to get back to their place of comfort.
"We want to really make sure everyone is safe, church is historically a safe place, it's a refuge. So we want it to be that before anything else," Rowdy added.
The church plans to do this deep clean as recommended by the CDC, all in effort to help churchgoers get back to a warm and welcoming place where they can ponder, preach and pray in their house of worship.
"It's been really hard to not have the level of fellowship and friendship and just have that in-person support, everybody needs lots of love, so to be able to come to together again in an environment of faith and friendship, it's so powerful and it's a healthy environment for everybody," Ashli said.
