(Cushing, Okla.) For the past two years the First Free Will Baptist Church has hosted a LIVE Drive-thru Nativity. This year the church will be doing it again – Saturday and Sunday evening (Dec. 8th and 9th) from 5:30 – 8:00.
The idea came from a church in Texas who showed their nativity on the internet. The 10 different scenes consist of church members in Biblical costumes portraying the real story of Christmas. A CD, recorded by church members, is presented to each car to listen to while driving through the nativity scene. If the car doesn’t have a CD player, a “boombox” is provided so the message can be heard.
“The drive-thru begins with a home scene where a father is telling his children that Christmas is much more than presents and he then proceeds to tell the real meaning of Christmas to his children,” said Jamie Coffelt, pastor’s wife and organizer of the event.
Besides live “actors,” the nativity drive-thru has real donkeys, sheep and cows to provide an even more realistic view to the Christmas story.
“Over 50 people volunteer these two nights to put this on,” Brent Kerr told listeners on the Donna & Molly Show, Tuesday. “There’s the ones who portray the characters and then there are a lot of folks behind the scenes doing whatever they can to help. Everyone has a talent. There will even be hot chocolate and cookies at the end for those driving through to enjoy.”
“And those cookies are good – they are homemade,” Kerr laughed.
Kerr may not be the one baking the cookies, but he, too, is one of the people “behind the scenes” helping spread the word about the nativity.
“This is something our church looks forward to every year,” Kerr continued. “Each night after it’s over, we all spend time talking about it and having something to eat.”
“Our main goal is to tell the story of Christ’s birth in a creative way,” Coffelt said. “Our secondary goal is to promote our church and let the Cushing community know that we are a church who loves God, and loves each other.”
First Free Will Baptist Church is located at 1148 E. Main in Cushing.
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