Local church adapts with lakeside, car side Easter service

Members of China Baptist Church attended Easter Sunrise Service in their cars at the head of the lake. (photo by Sharon Peabody)

by Linda Morell & Jeanne Marquis

It was a beautiful brisk morning overlooking China Lake. The lake was calm reflecting the homes along its shores as the cars filled the parking lot at the head of the lake. To an outside observer, it might have looked like a typical Sunday, instead it was a local church creatively adapting to social distancing due to the pandemic.

The Easter Sunrise Service at China Baptist Church began at 5:50 a.m. as it had for many previous decades, but this year the congregation stayed in their vehicles and listened through the internet. The glorious sun rising over the lake provided the visual inspiration.

The service began with music recorded by the music director and pianist, Donna Gorton followed by prayer and a message from Pastor David Gorton. Dennis Heath closed the service with an Easter message to those gathered.

At the close of the service, cars drove by the church to receive a raspberry roll baked by Sharon and Dale Peabody. The post service coffee hour was postponed until 10 AM so church members could safely return home and reconnect over Zoom.

Linda Morrell commented, “In these crazy times, it was good to see, if only from a distance. our many friends from our China Baptist Church family.”

Brad Bickford led the technical team that made the service possible. Dwayne Bickford, Brad’s father explained, “Brad and the church have been working on the ability to record and stream the services for some time. The basics were already in place. We only lacked the internet bandwidth which we quickly corrected by switching service providers.”

Dwayne Bickford scheduled the online meetings and communicated detailed instructions through multiple platforms to reach all generations of the congregation.

Dwayne said, “I’ve felt called to find ways to bring us together in this time of physical distancing. We are thankful for technology that didn’t exist a few short years ago. Zoom, Facebook and Google Hangouts have been instrumental in making it happen. The next challenge was explaining the usage to people of all generations and abilities. It wasn’t as bad as it might have been because most [of our congregation] were very motivated to figure it out. People are driven to get back to the normal worship they are accustomed to, especially in these times.”

Alene Smiley, longtime church member, said, “Easter Sunrise Service at China Baptist Church is always special as the setting at the head of the lake is a reminder of God’s power and goodness. This Sunday I did not expect to experience the same feelings that Easter Sunrise Service usually brings but many friends joined together was extremely meaningful. Just another reminder that no matter the circumstances, God is always with you if you look for Him.”