Church’s Drive-Through For The Holy In A Hurry

For those who want their religion in a hurry, a church is offering a drivethrough Passion play this weekend featuring five scenes from the life of Christ in 12 minutes.

“The Gospel is relevant today, so we are presenting it relevantly,” said pastor Todd Wagoner of the New Life Center church.

He has spent the past week rounding up sheep and donkeys, finding wheels for a chariot and coordinating the building of props.

Wagoner said he hopes the Passion play will literally draw people in off the streets. “There is nothing wrong with responding to how a generation is going to hear a message,” he said.

“I wouldn’t change the Gospel,” he said, “but I would change the packaging.”

The drive-through Easter pageant is one of many “illustrated messages” Wagoner and his pastoral team have put together.

“The early church used drama,” Wagoner said. “We’ve just taken it one step further.”

The traditional Christian Passion play became popular in medieval Europe when religious troupes traveled by wagon from city to city, performing the cycles of the drama on the carts.

The first scene of the Passion takes place in front of the wall of Jerusalem as a crowd of townspeople and Roman soldiers witness several miracles of Jesus.

As the cars pull around the side of the church, Jesus and his 12 disciples take their places at the Last Supper.

The cars turn off their motors at each scene, then restart them as the parking attendants wave them along.