The parking lot at Brookville’s Moonlite Drive-In Theater was filled with cars Sunday morning, but the people did not come to see a movie. They came to church.
Most of the people who attended were members of the New Hope Church in Strattanville. With the ban on large gatherings because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the church was looking for a way to get the congregation together while practicing social distancing.
“It was kind of a middle of the night thing,” Pastor Collin Koch said. “My wife, Dawn, thought of it when she was at work at the Clarion Hospital.
Koch wanted to be certain there would be no difficulty with the drive-in service.
“I contacted state Rep. Donna Oberlander to see if it would be legal, and she said to go ahead so long as we practiced social distancing and stayed in our cars,” he said.
To ensure a buffer, church members painted red dots 10 feet apart.
“We staggered the parking spaces for better visibility,” Koch said. “A total of 92 cars were parked in the lot during the service.”
Lipuma opened the restrooms, but requested only one person at a time use the facilities. He did not open the snack bar.
“I just didn’t want to expose my staff to the virus,” he said.
At several points, the congregation honked their horns in support of the pastor’s message. That was an errant signal to Lipuma, who has operated drive-ins for four decades. “When I heard that I thought the film broke,” he said.
Prior to the installation of digital equipment, drive-in theaters used film, which would often break, so “the audience let us know there was a problem by blowing their horns,” Lipuma said.
There were no problems Sunday.
The pastor delivered his message from the top of a pickup truck, aided by the Moonlite’s radio system. Lipuma monitored the system from inside the snack bar.
Sunday was a communion day in New Hope Church, so Koch had asked the members to bring their own materials for that part of the service.
“The congregation was all about it,” he said. “I think they were ready for something other than a video.”
“Whoever thought we would be having church services at the drive-in on Sundays?” he said.
Fifty years ago, Lupima said, many drive-ins had church service on Sunday.
“Today I think maybe three do,” he said.
New Hope Church is planning an Easter service on Sunday starting at 10 a.m.
Lupima said other churches have contacted him. An Easter sunrise service is scheduled, a church has requested the use of the facility on Saturday night and another church is planning a weeknight service. Additional information about these events will be on the Moonlite website.
“Something good has come from all of the bad right now,” Lipuma said. “We are filling a hole. We are bringing these people together on Sundays.”