SCOTT HAGAN preaches during a past drive-in church service at Beallsville Park. BELOW: CARS ARE parked during a recent drive-in service

BEALLSVILLE — The Ohio Valley’s “barn artist,” Scott Hagan, plans to host a sunrise, music-only Easter service starting at about 6 a.m. Sunday at Beallsville Park.

Hagan began the drive-in only church services a couple weeks ago to give people a place to worship at a safe social distance during the coronavirus pandemic.

Though Gov. Mike DeWine said the state will not impede churches from gathering indoors to worship, he has said the most Christian thing a person can do is “love your neighbor,” which also means not exposing them to the coronavirus.

“We have to resist that pull,” DeWine said during his Friday press briefing, referring to people wanting to celebrate Easter in groups with friends and family. He encouraged people to visit each other via social media or talk by phone instead.

Since state and federal governments continue to tell people to stay at home and, when getting essentials, to stay at least 6 feet apart, Hagan decided having people worship from their vehicles in a field would be the safest method.

“I’ll be there about 6 a.m. to play music (music with instruments) leading up to the light of day. No sermon planned, only songs inspired by the resurrection,” Hagan wrote on his Facebook page. “Feel free to pull in at any time. If we have clear skies (not likely) sunrise would potentially be around 6:55 a.m. I’ll play music until about 7:20 a.m. or perhaps longer. Some of you can listen from home perhaps.”

Hagan purchased broadcasting equipment for the services that allows motorists to listen from their vehicle radios on FM 88.5.

Hagan said the regular church service is planned for 11:30 a.m. at the park.

“I’ll be presenting a message of hope, and to end the service there may be a guest singer(s). You may turn off your radio or exit (the park) before that time if you are offended at this type of music,” he wrote.

Hagan said at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, a drive-in only service will also be held in the Bethesda Christian Church parking lot. There the Rev. Tim Snyder will preach, he noted.

“We think 60+ cars can fit there. The weather looks chilly for Sunday, but you’ll be fine in your car,” Hagan wrote. “All we ask is that you please stay in your vehicle during this time and please return home. Say a prayer that God’s will is being carried out and that I am doing the right thing through this temporary ministry. This feels right and I am so excited for Easter Sunday!”

Hagan likely is best known for his many years of work doing murals on barns and buildings across Ohio and the country. In more recent years he has expanded his mural work to school gymnasiums and other properties.

Hagan on Friday said he’s been working on starting the services for awhile now.

“I’ve been doing a ‘service’ of sorts for three weeks now, it started back before the social distancing order with me waking up incredibly early with these thoughts of how we could still assemble as a church — the church is not a building,” he said.

“And so after a while I figured out I could get some equipment and people could hear a service from their cars. Most churches are doing video streaming, but many people out our way have poor internet service options and I just wanted to still feel like we were gathering together and I especially loved the idea of all of us different denominations being together.”

Hagan said he is a deacon at the First Christian Church in Barnesville.

“I am not a pastor, but I had enough confidence to try this due to some positions my pastor (Ed Eberhart) has recently put me in. So here I am working on weekly messages, getting music together, running the equipment, and I’ve spent most of the week preparing a music worship style service for Sunrise. I have no idea how many will show up, but the response was good when I asked if people were interested at last week’s service,” Hagan said.

“I have no idea what I’m doing but it’s gone really well so far and I guess I’ve had two weeks of practice before Easter Sunday,” he added.

Hagan said he has received a lot of support from the community for the endeavor and from Beallsville pastor Wayne Clark.