By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – When Alabaster First United Methodist Church Pastor Sherry Harris attends one of the church’s summer “drive-in” movies, it’s hard for her to not reminisce about her childhood.

“It feels like when I was a child,” Harris said on July 21. “There are always a lot of kids running around playing on the playground, and everyone is having a good time.”

Each month this summer, the church off Alabama 119 has set up a large screen in its parking lot and has welcomed the community to a family friendly movie. The church’s most recent drive-in movie came on July 17, when it showed “Big Hero Six.”

The Alabaster First United Methodist Ignite Team organizes the events, and offers local food vendors, games and popcorn during the shows.

This summer marks the fourth-straight year the church has held the drive-in movies, as church members constructed the 10-by-20-foot movie screen and built a low-power FM transmitter to broadcast the movie’s audio directly to the cars in the parking lot.

“We are trying to get out into the community more and hold more outreach events,” Harris said.

The final drive-in movie of the summer will be held on Friday, Aug. 7, and will feature the original Star Wars movie. Activities will begin at 6:30 p.m., and the movie will begin about 7:45 p.m.

Attendees are encouraged to wear their Star Wars costumes and bring their lightsabers, Harris said.

“I’m planning to bring my lightsaber,” she said with a laugh.

The church also is hosting a “Pie and Praise” event on Aug. 22, during which local churches will be invited to bring their choirs and praise bands for an afternoon of music.

“(We are) encouraging people to bring their best pie or other baked good (2) so one can be shared and the other auctioned off,” Harris wrote in an email. “All proceeds will go to the food backpacks used to provide snacks to the nearby children in our school systems that are hunger insufficient.”