CASPER, Wyo. – Hands were instinctively raised to the heavens as inspirational music swelled during a Sunday morning church service at The Fort Ministry in Mills.
For some, the hands exited passenger side windows. For others, they put a sunroof to good use.
In many ways, the service at The Fort Ministry in Mills was no different than any other Sunday. But in other ways, it’s very different.
Pastor James Shade decided early on to move his services online and close the auditorium in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He didn’t like much preaching to a web camera and empty chairs.
“We were built to be in relationships,” he said.
The idea of a drive-up service dawned on him while sitting in traffic.
“I looked around and thought, ‘well this is legal.’ If we put 30 or 40 cars in a parking lot, why would that be any different.”
After checking with officials and setting up rules, he and his staff started organizing the service.
On a recent Sunday morning, a robust sound system pumped music and his voice through the cool and calm air around the church’s home in a Mills strip mall. Worshippers sat in cars that had been directed into orderly groups around an outdoor stage. After the music, whoops were heard from open windows and horns honked in approval during a lively sermon.
The experience is more important than ever during unprecedented times, said Shade.
“You can’t do anything together anymore,” he said. “We are social creatures, so we have to do something rather than just sit alone.”
“This gives us that, people can say ‘hi’ and gives them a destination, something to go to.”
Shade says over 50 cars have parked in the lot for his services, with more arriving as the weather improves. Everyone is instructed to stay in their vehicle at all times.
“We’re not trying to steal anybody’s sheep as it were, we really want people to stay with their church, but right now they’re looking for something to do, a destination to be a part of,” he said.
Shade says his message has changed during the pandemic. “There’s fear and there’s anxiety, so we have to address that,” he said.
Don and Sarah Brownlee packed five of their seven children into their Suburban for Sunday’s service.
The family usually attends Highland Park, but now that they and most churches moved to online-only services, the family started attending The Fort’s drive-up services.
They still watch Highland Park services online on Fridays, but the parking lot church gives them something they miss. Fellowship.
“You feel it, you can see other people getting into it and it really helps,” said Don. “We lean on God with everything we do. Without the fellowship, we’d be lost.”
The Fort Ministry’s drive-up services start at 10 a.m. at 4741 W. Yellowstone Highway in Mills. The service is also broadcast live on 830 KUYO-AM.
Photography by Dan Cepeda, Oil City News
