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How A Georgia Church Praises During A Coronavirus Pandemic
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Since local jurisdictions and Gov. Brian Kemp enforced social distancing and shelter-in-place orders amid COVID-19, several businesses around Georgia are feeling the impact.
Instead of closing its doors indefinitely, one church opened up both their hearts and their parking lot for worship and called it "Pull Up and Praise."
First objective: Community outreach
When the 3D Church — where “3D” stands for three-dimensional God — started to hear news about the coronavirus, the leaders immediately sought out ways to help. Before the virus became a pandemic, the church had a partnership with Emory to inform their community before there were verified infections in Georgia.
Co-pastor and first lady Terrie Elmore said they didn’t panic.
“Our first objective was to help our community in understanding this virus and to help families protect themselves and also be in a position to be ready for what was coming,” she said.
This isn’t pastor John Elmore’s first time frontlining crises and disasters. As the founder of The 3D Church, he led a mass shooting training, was featured on HLN to discuss security in churches and has held several drives and fundraisers for families in need.
The church’s executive director of media and communication, Tocarro Davis, commended the church’s leadership.
“Being there for our community is nothing that is uncommon to The 3D Church,” she said. “So it was only right for us to step up to the plate to lead and make sure that our people were informed. We know that information is the biggest weapon against fear.”
Because the church founded itself on community outreach, their congregation was prepared to tackle coronavirus together. They upheld the government’s orders with social gatherings and complied with social distancing.
Pastors in other states have gotten in trouble for not following social distancing orders. A pastor in Florida was arrested March 30 for holding in-person services.
“There’s a thin line between being a trendsetter and a troublemaker,” John said. “We wanted to make sure that we stayed on the trendsetter side of the line as much as possible.”
With new rules came new approaches to worship and Pull Up and Praise was born.
Faith during a pandemic
The idea for drive-in church services came from a video a chief worship leader shared with Terrie.
“In the video was a guy praying as cars were driving by and I said, ‘Oh my God! What if we do this, but like a church service?’” she said.
Terrie told John and he coined the name Pull Up and Praise and made the mission of serving faith during unprecedented times.
“It’s a fun thing, in a pandemic— in a tragic time— finding a way to still congregate and put smiles on people’s faces,” John said.
On Sundays, The 3D Church’s pastors and group leaders stand on markers six feet apart in a parking lot full of church members. When people want to holler their praise, they have enough distance to get out of their cars and worship. For those who can’t show up in person, the church also streams live on their Facebook, hosts virtual worship nights and even has a portal for a “completely virtual worship experience.”
“We just want to make sure people feel the same presence as they would if they were inside of the doors,” Terrie said.
The pastors have also felt a positive impact of coronavirus on their relationship with God. Despite frustrations and being exhausted, Terrie and John are more grateful than ever to be pastors.
John said social distancing has brought his community together and inspired him.
“I can't wait to put my arms around people again and to pour life into them and to speak life,” he said.
Terrie said she’s been able to be a more creative pastor.
“Pastor [John] has taught us that if we use and tap into that creative liberty God gave us — which we are doing — we can do amazing things together,” she said.
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