Over the past year or so, Kanye West has completely shifted his musical focus to gospel. The legend has transitioned to doing Sunday Service performances with his choir that has over 100 people in it. These performances are extremely popular with fans and he has been in high demand with some of the biggest churches in the world, including that of televangelist Joel Osteen. West has done performances for Osteen in the past and was even supposed to bring his Sunday Service Choir over for Easter.

Well, according to TMZ, West has decided to bow out of his scheduled performance over concerns regarding the Coronavirus. The Sunday Service Choir has over 100 members which would be almost impossible to control when it comes to social distancing. West reportedly had a plan in place that would also include wearing masks but in the end, Ye felt like it wasn’t worth it.

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The Coronavirus has put a damper on pretty well everyone’s plans over the last few weeks. It could be months and maybe even a year before we return to normal life. Musical performances and sports have suffered the biggest hit, as a result.

As for Osteen, he is expected to have other big guests like Tyler Perry and Mariah Carey. As for Kanye, we’re sure he will be working with Osteen again, in the future.

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Kanye West, Mariah Carey, and Tyler Perry are set to contribute to Joel Osteen’s virtual Easter service this weekend, and the Lakewood church pastor has provided some more details about each act’s plans. We reported that these performers and speakers would be a part of Osteen’s online Easter congregation, and it looks like most or all of these acts’ performances and speeches will be pre-recorded and streamed on the Internet in some fashion. Although he’s proud to have Kanye, along with his Sunday service choir, and Mariah perform and Tyler to speak, Osteen doesn’t take full credit for getting these acts together for his Easter service, noting that it “it just all came together…it just kinda fell into place.”

While it’s well known that he and Kanye are tight since Ye and his Sunday Service choir have performed at Osteen’s Lakewood Church on several occasions, not many people know that the pastor and Mariah go way back. Osteen said Mariah actually contacted him first about putting something together because “she wanted to show some support and honour to the first responders. She wanted to share us a song and put some video footage of the first responders [together], just to do her part to bring hope and uplift the nation.”

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However, Osteen knows less about Kanye’s specific plans, but he’s seen a few photos that demonstrate that the “one-of-a-kind” artist and his Sunday Service choir are maintaining social distancing. As for Tyler Perry, Osteen says the filmmaker, who “is a very powerful speaker” and has spoken at Lakewood in the past, “sent us a 5-minute clip where he’s just encouraging everybody through this difficult time.” Osteen actually reached out to Perry first and asked him to provide some encouraging words for the virtual Easter service.

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While Osteen has been conducting his own services online for a few weeks now amid the coronavirus pandemic, he’s asked about other pastors who have been going forward with their congregations in-person and defying the government’s orders. Osteen says he doesn’t “want to judge anyone else, because people feel strongly about their faith and some of these pastors, I’m sure, are my friends.” However, because his own auditorium seats a whopping 16,000-17,000 people, “it felt right to me to honour the authorities. I’m probably more old school…I don’t mind that—it’s not a lack of faith that we’re not having services, it’s a respect to mankind.”

Online Easter is about to be lit. This weekend is Easter, and typically, people would have already purchased their Sunday Best in order to show off their faith-filled 'fits at church. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused countries worldwide to clamp down on social interactions and gatherings, so church services have been canceled. There are a select few dissidents who are still calling for their congregants to meet together face-to-face, but authorities guarantee that anyone out and about during this pandemic will be cited or arrested.

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Joel Osteen and his Lakewood Church crew are bringing a virtual Easter service to the public. Osteen is one of the most popular megachurch pastors in the world whose global audience reaches upwards of 10 million people. Viewers tune in to watch Osteen's services on television and online, but he reached a new audience after his good friend Kanye West hosted a Sunday Service musical event at Lakewood Church. The pair of famous figures were set to reunite for Osteen's big Yankee Stadium event in May, but things have obviously been sidelined for the time being.

In the meantime, TMZ reports that Osteen's online Easter service will reportedly feature Kanye, Tyler Perry, and Mariah Carey who will "deliver messages of love and support to his massive audience." The publication states that Mariah Carey will perform some sort of tribute, rumored to be her song "Hero," to thank healthcare workers for their tireless work. Tyler Perry will deliver uplifting words of encouragement, and Kanye West reportedly will return with his Sunday Service social distancing choir. It's unclear if this will be live or pre-recorded, but we're viewers won't care much either way.