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Last month, Pastor Danny Reeves was fighting for his life in the ICU at Dallas' Baylor Medical Center. He had COVID-19 and he wasn't vaccinated.

Now, the senior pastor at First Baptist Corsicana in North Central Texas regrets not getting the shot earlier, and he plans to tell his congregants his story on Sunday when he returns to the pulpit.

"I was falsely and erroneously overconfident," Reeves told NPR's Morning Edition.

Reeves says he isn't against vaccines, and he encouraged certain people in his community — mostly seniors — to get vaccinated before he contracted the coronavirus. But he thought since he's in his 40s and generally healthy, getting the virus wouldn't be a big deal.

Reeves describes his experience at the hospital as "harrowing." At one point during his two-night stay at the ICU, a doctor told Reeves he might die.

"It ravaged my healthy body," he said. "There's no doubt."

COVID-19 cases are surging across North Texas

 and projections indicate they may soon reach last winter's peak.

Of his first service back, Reeves says, "We're going to praise God together for his rescue. I'm going to lay out lessons that I've learned ... And certainly I'm going to talk straight to our people about who we can and should be as God's people and what it really means to love our neighbor."

Reeves says he plans to get vaccinated once his doctor tells him it's safe to do so.

Health

Religion and Faith

COVID-19

Nina Kravinsky

Author

Pastor Danny Reeves encouraged some members of his congregation to get the COVID-19 vaccine, but thought he didn't need to get vaccinated himself. That changed after COVID-19 almost killed him. 

Unvaccinated pastor who almost died of COVID now preaches the importance of vaccines

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