The Other Daytona Part 2: A Drive-In Sunday Morning

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It's 10:15 by the time I enter the Daytona Beach Drive In Christian Church, where the gate attendant hands me a "communion set," and tells me to tune my radio to FM 88.5. The communion set, which according to the Church's online brochure has been "carefully prayed over and packaged by loving volunteers," consists of a small plastic cup of grape juice and a sliver of wafer.

I find a place close to the front and tune to 88.5, listen to the choir, and take in my surroundings. Unlike the drive-in movie theaters of my youth, the grounds here are not covered in gravel or asphalt, but planted in a variety of Bermuda grass hearty enough to withstand being driven over and parked upon. Out in front of me is a yellow two story A-frame decorated with a slanted cross in a subtle reminder to the faithful to "Take up the cross and follow me." A balcony, upon which stands the minister Bob Kemp-Baird, protrudes from the front of the building. The first floor contains rooms for Sunday school classes, which seems like a good idea. I mean the last thing you want if you're at a drive-in church with your family, is a bunch of bored kids kicking the back of your seat and volubly wondering if we're there yet, Daddy?

For the collection, ushers walk from car to car with satin bags which they hold up to the driver-side windows. Then they stand on the gravel track at the south end of each row until a golf cart comes along to collect the money. After prayers are said, people honk out an "amen" on their car horns.

For me, the whole experience -- sitting there alone, trapped in my car, listening to a sermon over the radio, and watching a distant figure raising his arms in a gesture of benediction, feels a tad surreal, like a dream sequence in a Fellini movie. But then the Rev. Bob invites us to join him for free coffee and Kirspy Kream doughnuts at Friendship Hall in the center of the complex.

Did somebody say "free doughnuts?"

I'm outta my car and on my way...

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