Dozens of Christian conservative activists and clergy members defied Virginia’s stay-at-home order and gathered Saturday for a “Pray for VA, Pray for USA event.”

On March 30, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam put an executive order in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic requiring residents to stay at home with exceptions for jobs and activities deemed “essential.”

“What is more remarkable is that many churches have obeyed that unjust order to abstain from worship in the Lord’s table,” the Rev. Paul Michael Raymond told the attendees Saturday.

Raymond is the pastor of the Reformed Bible Church in Appomattox, Virginia, which has not shut down during the pandemic.

“The state has tried to dictate how, when, and where the church worships,” Raymond told attendees at Saturday’s event.