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By Carey Reeder | Managing Editor

“It is a tremendous part of the fabric of the identity of Providence Baptist Church.”

For 44 years, a small church in Clanton has been putting on a Sunrise Service that has become a staple of Easter Sunday in Chilton County. Providence Baptist Church started its annual Sunrise Service in 1981 and recently concluded its 44th year of hosting the service on April 20. The live dramatization performed by the church members in the field behind Providence Church covers the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ each Easter holiday. Attendees bring chairs and blankets and gather in the field at 6 a.m. for the service.

While started in 1981, the Sunrise Service has not had 44 services with weather raining out the outdoor service or the COVID-19 pandemic shutting it down for a few years. However, the service has been planned to take place each of the last 44 years, and this year was one of the most picturesque services in its history.

“It was beautiful on Sunday Morning,” Julia Mims, director of the Sunrise Service, said. “When we got to the cross scene the sun was shining right on the cross like God was spotlighting it for us to pay attention. It was absolutely beautiful.”

The service has always been a live dramatization, but it has changed some over the years with different scenes and telling different parts of Jesus’ story. Providence’s music director Rachel Ellis and Julia Mims collaborate on the music choices first, and from there, they can better shape their performance and what scenes fit best.

“It has changed what scenes we include, and we cannot tell the whole story, so we change what scenes to include and omit and have over the years,” Julia Mims said. “There is a lot of prayer and consideration that goes into it … We work together as a church to see what works for the church and the community.”

Planning for the Sunrise Service each year is a lengthy process. Though not many changes are made to the script year to year, Julia Mims will still have the script complete and ready for the service by January each year. That way, when March rolls around, the church can begin practicing.

Julia Mims’ father Kenny Powell was invited to Providence Church by his cousins in 1981 to film the very first Sunrise Service with an 8-millimeter camera. The next week, a revival was held at the church and Powell was saved. He joined Providence Church, met his wife and the Mims family’s time at the church began.

“It became just a natural part of our family,” Julia Mims said. “My brother and I were born, and we all have just stayed there trying to keep it going.”

The actors in the Sunrise Service are members of Providence Baptist Church or children or grandchildren of church members. Mims knows a handful of people still involved with the Sunrise Service who participated in the very first one back in 1981. Mims family has a long history of being in the Sunrise Service as well. Her son was in the service before he was one year old, and her great uncle was involved with the service well into his 90s. A wide range of ages like that shows that everyone who wants to be in the service can find a spot to be in it.

“We would love for the community to know that we are still here, still loving people and telling people about Jesus and how he gave it all for us,” Julia Mims said. “The Sunrise Service shows that we are a family and that this is the way that we carry out the gospel — to work together as the body of Christ and tell his story to the best of our ability.”

Providence Church had around 250 people attend its Sunrise Service this year on April 20. With an average congregation size of around 80 members, the service each year grows the church by more three times each Easter Sunday.

“For our church, it is a tremendous community builder for us,” Jay Mims, Pastor at Providence Baptist Church, said. “We grow together as a church through the preparations, and it also solidifies our church and our faith. Year after year our children understand the message of the Bible through the Sunrise Service.”