Alumni Profiles

If it's stormy on Sunday, Rev. Russell Moore '60 wears a raincoat to church. He needs to, because during the service he will be outdoors preaching or talking to parishioners. Every week at the Polk County Drive-in Church in Auburndale, Fla., Moore has the sky for a roof and a lake for an altar backdrop.

Rev. Russell Moore '60 ministers to his flock at the Polk County Drive-in Church in Auburndale, Fla.

Moore, a United Methodist Conference pastor, spent 12 years as a public school teacher and 10 years as the minister of more traditional churches before becoming the drive-in church's chaplain in 1993. Located on the site of a former drive-in movie theater, the church has been offering a Sunday service since 1958. For many years, the church co-existed amicably with the theater, cars parking in one direction to watch the movie screen on Saturday nights, and the next morning parked in the other direction to face the tiny church and the blue lapping waves of Lake Hartridge. The theater and the car dealership that replaced it have disappeared, but the church continues on, and these days, church-goers roll down their car windows to hear the service, which is amplified with microphones and an audio system. Honking the car or truck horn indicates "amen," and turning on the headlights means "yes" to questions posed by the minister.

Rather than viewing the church as a place for people too lazy to attend a conventional service (although they would be welcome, too), Moore says his church fills a need for those who are shy, ill or disabled. Others just like a church without walls, he says. Several local churches oversee the drive-in church and provide speakers and choirs. On those days, Moore circulates from car to van, ministering to his flock. Attendance varies: 30 vehicles typically show up, but more attend in the winter, when the snowbirds come south. A few arrive in boats, and throw out an anchor at the water's edge. Services are held rain or shine, and in the last 40 years, only four have been cancelled.

The church itself, a mobile home that has been outfitted with a stage, columns, brickwork and flowers, is only six and a half feet wide and 26 feet long. Inside, it seats 11, enough for board meetings. Moore thinks it may be Guinness Book of Records material as the world's smallest cathedral, using the definition of cathedral as "a church of any importance." In any case, Moore feels fulfilled by his unusual mission. "I'm on the front lines, out where I'm doing the most good," he says.