Back in the mid-1980s, I worked at The Charlotte Observer, in one of the most complex and fascinating religion-news cities in America.

Yes, that’s Billy Graham’s hometown. But during the years I was there, Charlotte was one of two or three cities south of the Mason-Dixon line in which there were more church people in another Protestant flock — Presbyterians — than there were Southern Baptists. Of course, lots of those Presbyterians were in churches that were as evangelical as any of the Baptists.

The Catholic diocese was, at that time, the smallest in USA — but ready to boom (which it has).

It only took a few months for me to realize that the city’s powerful African-American churches were not receiving the coverage that they deserved. This was especially true of the powerful, yet very private, Pentecostal congregations in the Church of God in Christ.

I signed up to receive stacks of church bulletins — looking for news — but I always seemed to hear about important events AFTER they had taken place, when it was too late to attend. When I missed a conference about the modern crisis in black family life, I immediately met with a few pastors requesting their help. I noted that they send me press releases about some events (like a program to honor a veteran church usher) but not about conferences of this kind.

Over and over I heard: We really don’t want coverage of negative issues that divide our people.

I thought of this when I saw the must-read Washington Post story that ran with this headline: “Covid-19 has killed multiple bishops and pastors within the nation’s largest black Pentecostal denomination.”

Much of the coverage of pastors who have insisted on holding face-to-face worship services has focused on independent white evangelical and charismatic congregations. Behind the scenes, there was a larger story taking place. Here is the overture, which is long — but essential.

The Church of God in Christ, the country’s biggest African American Pentecostal denomination, has taken a deep and painful leadership hit with reports of at least a dozen to up to 30 bishops and prominent clergy dying of covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Officials from the denomination did not return requests for comment, but media reports and interviews with experts who study the denomination show the deaths of leaders in states including Michigan, New York and Mississippi. Those are regions where the Church of God in Christ is prominent and the coronavirus has hit hard.

Among those who died after reportedly contracting the virus were: First Assistant Presiding Bishop Phillip A. Brooks, a legendary preacher and leader from Detroit who was No. 2 in the denomination and whose death was reported by the Detroit News; Bishop Timothy Scott, a leader for nearly 50 years of the denomination in Mississippi whose death was reported by WREG-Memphis; and two Michigan bishops, Robert E. Smith Sr. and Robert L. Harris, whose deaths were reported by the Los Angeles Sentinel.

News reports across the country cite local health officials saying specific outbreaks that led to the deaths appeared to stem from conferences and funerals held within the denomination, which is also known by its acronym, COGIC.

This had to be a very hard story to research. Note, in the second paragraph, that COGIC officials declined to comment (or to verify facts). That really rang true for me, since I think I have had maybe one or two returned calls from COGIC leaders during four decades on the religion beat (a sad fact during the Promise Keepers men’s movement).

Thus, religion-beat veteran Michelle Boorstein had to do something reporter prefer not to do — include many attribution clauses that cited other media. That was the responsible thing to do, of course. She had to let readers know the size of this crisis.

I especially appreciated this block of material:

The denomination, which was founded in the late 1800s and has more than 6 million members, holds large meetings with representatives from its 200 jurisdictions — or regions — each year around February or March. The gatherings of clergy, lay leaders and church staff are called Worker’s Meetings.

Among the meetings connected with covid-19 breakouts were the Historical Louisiana First Jurisdiction meeting in Shreveport, La., and the Kansas East Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Ministers and Workers Conference in Kansas City, Kan., both held in mid-March.

“This is a moment of real crisis for them,” said Anthea Butler, a University of Pennsylvania religious studies scholar who wrote a book on the Church of God in Christ. “It will upend the axis of leadership in a way they may need to think about, including how do we put in younger people.”

This story is, as Boorstein noted, linked to another important theme in the coronavirus crisis, which is the terrible toll this disease is having in lower-income and black communities.

The Pentecostal angle may also, tragically, have theological roots — as I mentioned in this earlier post. Churches that emphasize personal revelation are, by their nature, led by powerful and charismatic (in every sense of that word) pastors who believe they they know what is best for their people.

This story is essential reading and, while it will be hard, other reporters need to dig into these trends in their own zip codes.