By Jesse Wood
Dec. 15, 2014. The Poplar Grove Baptist Church held its annual “drive-thru nativity reenactment” programming this past weekend.
On Friday and Saturday evening, people were greeted with apple cider and cookies before embarking on the drive. In addition, guests were given a CD that tells the story of the nativity reenactment and the timing coincides with each scene as the vehicles pass by. With the event happening at night, the scenes were lit up.
“It’s a good way to hear the story and see it as well,” Jessica Collins, a volunteer who played the role of an angel appearing before Mary to tell her that she was going to birth Christ.
Collins added that attendance was strong. She said she started to count the vehicles at the beginning of each night but lost track quickly thereafter.
“Absolutely. It was awesome. It was great. A lot of families came out with their kids, and the kids thought it was very cool,” Collins said.
The Poplar Grove Baptist Church began this program in 2008. Throughout the years, the number of scenes have increased from just showing the nativity scene to reenacting Christ’s life from birth to resurrection.
In a 2009 High Country Magazine article about the scenes, church officials said that the congregation pondered on ways to bring community members to the church even if they may not feel comfortable entering the church’s sanctuary.
“There are people out there, who for fear, or for guilt, or who don’t feel they are dressed right, or for any number of reasons have been turned off on church. This idea of the drive-thru works well and we are reaching people outside the church,” Lori Townsend, public relations specialist for the church’s Christmas programming, told the magazine.
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