This normally is a busy time of the year for auctioneer Steve Strey of Osseo, with the coronavirus pandemic limiting what he and other auctioneers can do. Some of Strey’s auctioneer equipment has been getting put to some righteous work, though.
The auctioneer – named Wisconsin’s state champion auctioneer during the 2015 Wisconsin State Fair – has donated use of his auction truck for drive-in church services at Grace Lutheran Church in Augusta.
“A lot of churches have shut down their regular services on account of having too many people in too confined of a space, so our congregation decided we’d try to come up with a way to still have church, but yet be in compliance with some of the orders that are out there with the social distancing,” Strey said. “So, we decided to have church like a drive-in movie theater, where everybody would pull up in their car – into their stall – and then the pastor would give the service that way.”
Strey, an elder in the church, brainstormed with other elders and their pastor, the Rev. Jonathan Wessel, to see how such a service might work. The first notions included setting up Strey’s auction amplifying equipment, with the pastor speaking from a trailer to the car-confined congregation. The pastor instead bought a radio-transmitter, so that he could broadcast the service and the parishioners could tune in on their cars’ radios.
Strey thought the trailer wouldn’t be high enough for the congregation to really see the pastor, though, and worried that a cold April wind might affect the pastor. But Strey’s wife, Leslie, had the solution: She suggested they instead use the auction truck – a glass-sided pick-up topper – for the pastor to use.
The plan came together last Sunday, in time for the church’s Palm Sunday service.
The auctioneer graded the effort as a success.
“We had a good turnout from our local congregation, and we even had some people come from some other Lutheran congregations in the area that had called and wondered if they could come; everyone’s welcome at church,” he said.
The effort brought some of the community into the service compared with the Facebook broadcasts the pastor had been doing during earlier Sundays since the state’s Safer at Home order was issued. Strey said that was felt, even though the parishioners were in their cars.
Windows were rolled down during the service, and those present joined in hymns and prayers from the safety of their vehicles.
Communion is one barrier in the service that the pastor and the elders weren’t able to overcome.
Strey said that some lighthearted jokes have been exchanged about whether parishioners would have their special parking spots just as many have their special pews within the church.
“Us Lutherans are kind of just like a bunch of old Holstein cows in a stall barn: You always pull back into the same stall every day,” he said.
One elder joked that people who want a spot closer to the pastor might have to put more into the offering place, Strey said.
The drive-up service went well enough that the pastor and elders scheduled drive-up services for Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
Those plans fit with the reiteration from a spokesperson for Gov. Tony Evers that drive-up services are OK under the governor’s Safer at Home order. One group in the state questioned whether the services were allowed after local authorities in some communities were said they weren’t allowed.
There will be a time when the auction truck is put back into service for its primary mission, and Strey said he hopes that comes soon. He has upcoming auctions scheduled, and is doing some of them online, but he’s missing the live bidding.
“I’m missing the live auction setting, and I’m going to be glad when things are back to normal and we can gather together as a large group of people and do some live bidding,” he said.
Though the drive-up service was a good feeling, Strey also said he looks forward to again having services in the church sanctuary.
“There are certain things in our lives we depend on and kind of give us strength and get us through the tough times in life; going to church on Sunday mornings and having a sense of community with our fellow believers and taking communion is kind of one of the things is hard to let go – hard to not take part in,” Strey said.
— Scott Schultz
Scott Schultz of WAXX 104.5 spoke with Strey about the drive-in services:
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