Introducing ‘Drive-in Church’

by Troy Lesan
On Sunday, May 3, anyone driving by the Lake Viking Church, may have noticed a peculiar sight. The driveway was full of cars, which, in itself, was different, because there had been no church services since March 22.
So the sight of a lot of cars was a good sign, but the vehicles – some 40 of them – were parked helter-skelter in what seemed to be a strange disorderly hodgepodge. There was no order whatsoever with the parking lot arrangement until you realized it was “drive-in church.” An interesting twist, and one that worked very nicely. With a sound system and band set up under the church pavilion (there were a few sprinkles of rain early on), congregants were able to totally observe social distancing requirements sitting in their cars while others set up lawn chairs around the periphery of the pavilion, and some stood or milled around outside in order to take advantage of the beautiful morning.
As far as the music – no problem. Pastor Robert Nelson has an experienced musical group, Servants of The Most High, that has been playing together around the area for years. The seven band members seemed to fit the bill nicely for “drive-in church.” The service was mostly music but included a spoken message and even featured a testimony by a member who got out of her car, walked to the microphone, talked about a new baby granddaughter, and then went back to her car to finish watching the service.
It is said that necessity is the mother of invention. Pastor Nelson cannot claim to have invented outdoor church – as a teenager, I remember Sunday morning church in drive-in movie theaters in Des Moines, IA, but the concept worked perfectly for Lake Viking Church. Several things are in the church’s favor: a large parking lot that can easily accommodate the repositioned cars and the pavilion that was built last summer.
With COVID-19 restrictions easing, churches are in the process of resuming services. Originally, Pastor Robert had planned on doing “drive-in church” as a warm-up to regular church services beginning on May 10, but there still would have been complications. With the resumption of regular indoor church, social distancing etc. would have been tricky, so why not enjoy the outdoor setting again.
The offering? Not a problem either. A couple of ushers walked around to the parked cars and congregants tossed their offering into buckets. During the service, members feeling like shouting “amen” or “hallelujah” can now honk their horns . . . and many did.