The Grace Lighthouse Church held its first-ever drive-in church service on Sunday, giving parishioners a chance to safely gather together while remaining socially distant.

The service was held at the church’s land at 2703 Cranberry Highway, across from Perry’s Ice Cream at the old Grossman’s Lumberyard. Grace Lighthouse plans to build a church on the land. 

Pastor Dave Beguerie said that the land was a part of the drive-in theater before it was a lumberyard, and that the drive-in theater had been used for church services from time to time. 

During Sunday’s service, parishioners pulled up and tuned into a live broadcast of the service on their car radios. The service was also live-streamed on Youtube to an audience at home. 

Parishioner Dorothy Sandersen said that the experience was “awesome,” and that she appreciated getting to see community members she had missed.

While it was a different experience than being in a church, the crowd did join in the service by honking car horns to echo an “Amen” and waving hands out car windows and sun roofs along to hymns sung by Amanda and Beth Beguerie.

Dave Beguerie said that he planned on having more drive-in services, weather permitting, on some future Sundays. 

“People want to be here in person,” Beguerie said. “This brought a realness to the property being used as a church.” 

For more information, and to find out about future drive-in services, go to www.gracelighthouse.org.