About 20 vehicles parked outside the Calvary Fellowship on Sunday, March 29, as members of the congregation waited to hear the message from Pastor Mark Abner. As Abner stepped out on the porch of the church and read from Exodus Chapter 13, horns blew in the place of what would have been exclamations of "Amen" at a traditional Sunday morning service.
Times are changing. With the pandemic, social distancing and the
cancellation of all gatherings, pastors and church leaders are
looking for innovative ways to continue to feed the souls of their
congregation.
For Abner, the answer was a low frequency FM transmitter that
allowed him to deliver the message by radio to people who were in
their vehicles in the parking lot of the church. He stepped outside
on the covered porch, as the sun shone down on the church Sunday
morning, and was greeted by a number of people honking their horns.
The March 29 service was the first "drive-in" service for Calvary
Fellowship, which is located near the Wayne-Pulaski county line.
Abner had been doing the message by Facebook previously and the
church still has Wednesday night Bible study available through the site.
"Thank God for technology because it allows us to still worship
together," said Abner.
He said that he felt it went fairly well. People kept their distance
and stayed in their vehicle—both very important during this time of
social distancing.
During one of his daily press conferences, Governor Andy Beshear
talked about churches who are doing drive-in service and his advice
was that these types of services can continue if there is sufficient
distance between the cars, people keep their windows rolled up and
nothing is passed from vehicle to vehicle.
"The feedback I have received has been fantastic," said Abner. "I
had one person tell me that they really needed that. They needed to
worship with other believers and this had helped them."
He foresees this being a good solution for the church at this time,
when no one really knows how long group gatherings and services will
be restricted. Easter is this weekend and Abner said he has been
discussing a way to celebrate it with members of the church.
While it will not be like the celebrations held in previous years,
Abner is certain churches will find a way to make Easter 2020 special.
Abner believes the church will come out stronger than ever when this
is over. He said this is an opportunity for the church to show its
true spirit.
"This is giving us, as the church, a chance to showcase what we are
all about and that is loving people and helping people," he said.
Brother Jordan Lockridge, who pastors at Green Grove Missionary
Baptist Church, has embraced technology in his ministry for quite
some time. He said that has used Facebook live for the pat two years
to reach people who were home and could not make it to church,
whether they were sick or shut-in.
"Also, there are family and friends who live away from Monticello
and from Clinton County who also enjoying the word of God," said
Lockridge. "Preaching a message on Facebook live is a totally
different experience for me. I am used to standing in front of people
and being able to community with them on a more personal level.
However, what God has shown me these past two weeks is that the
church building is just that...a building."
He added, "We are the church. God has called us to go and preach the
gospel in every corner of the world and Facebook i a wonderful tool
to use to reach people."
Lockridge has been led to start a Facebook revival, preaching a
service live every evening since March 22. He said the revival is an
answer to prayer for Green Grover Missionary Baptist Church, which
has been praying for it to "break out and for our hearts to be in the
right place."
"The Lord put it on my heart to go live every night at 8 p.m.
Eastern Time so not only our church members would be involved but
folks outside the church would be as well," said Lockridge.
He aid the revival has brought together people for all over the
state, who have joined in sharing God's Holy word. Lockridge said the
revival has received more than 8,000 views.
"We've seen people watching from Wayne, Clinton, Cumberland, Adair,
Pulaski, Whitley City, Columbia, Russell Springs, Lexington,
Georgetown and other surrounding areas," said Lockridge. "My home has
always been in Wayne County, and it blessed my heart that I am able
to minister just as much to them now as I'm able to in Clinton
County. We all need to hear God's word and it is a blessing to be
able to serve the Lord."
Lockridge said he will continue doing the live stream as long as God
leads him to do it.
"As long as the Lord will give me a message, I will try my best to
bring it," he said.
With Easter quickly approaching, Lockridge said they are looking at
the possibility of doing a drive-in type service on that Sunday.
People can sit in their cars and listen to the message without
getting out or having contact with others.
"We are continuing to pray for guidance on this from the Lord and we
pray that His will be done," said Lockridge.
As Lockridge noted, 20 yeas ago something like this would not have
been possible. "We would not have had a way at all to get the word of
God to people, other than standing on the street preaching to anyone
what would want to hear," he said.
"Even with the amount of negativity on Facebook—between politics and
the COVID-19 pandemic—it is uplifting and truly a blessing to be able
to use Facebook for something positive like this," said Lockridge.
"Although it may not be traditional by any standard, it is an
effective tool for ministry. Even last week during the revival, we
saw a person give their hear to God."
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