Restoration Church takes service outdoors to comply with new health order
GOLETA, Calif. — Just seven days ago, Restoration Church was finally starting to get comfortable holding its Sunday service indoors with COVID-19 safety precautions.
On Monday however, Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered places of worship to close throughout Santa Barbara County.
"Initial response was a little frustration because we were open and we were ready,” Restoration Church senior pastor Bobby Grossi said. “At the same time, we needed to figure it out."
While this was quite the turn of events given the fact that the church had only been reopened for less than a month, the congregation moved outdoors.
“I thought we could still hold service with this field,” Restoration Church deacon Rick Spitzer said. “It’s extremely large, so social distancing would not be an issue.”
Within a seven-day span, an outdoor worship space had been created on their grass field.
"I have always loved to preach outside,” Grossi said. “This wasn’t an issue, I think it's awesome."
Tents were set up, speakers were strategically placed throughout while chairs were moved outside and spaced six feet apart.
"We set up all day Friday and came up with a plan,” Grossi said. “Put it on paper and it made sense."
"The ability to be able to pivot from inside to outside, really is just a testament to the folks that we have here,” Spitzer said.
People had the option to sit in seats with masks and physical distancing between groups of families or remain in their cars to watch the service.
"We don't want to be that one church that's opening just to defy,” Spitzer said. “We're really here because we feel like we're maintaining all the rules."
One church member appreciated this all-hands-on-deck effort.
"Just being in-person, face-to-face, seeing everyone’s body language and also just being able to meet as a congregation and worship God together is a good opportunity,” UCSB grad student Brian Lee said.
No matter where he’s preaching from, Grossi hopes this serves as a reminder to make the most out of these difficult times.
"We want to have that resiliency, entrepreneurship and creativity to still be able to meet and do what we do,” Grossi concluded.
Next week, Restoration Church plans on having attendees tune into an FM radio frequency to listen in from their cars.
