Grand Strand church holds an Easter sunrise service on the beach

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — Hundreds showed up to the beach early Sunday morning for an Easter sunrise service.

One service was held on 79th Avenue N. in Myrtle Beach.

It started around 6:50 a.m. and people were able to see the sun rise as they were watching the service.

Pastor John Irwin of Faith Presbyterian Church explains what it is like to be able to have church on the beach.

“So, so wonderfully blessed, and it’s a real privilege to invite people, and you know they come, we get phone calls for two weeks from people coming to Myrtle Beach this weekend just for this kind of thing, and they walk from the hotels and they park all over to come here, so it’s just a wonderful time together,” he said.

Faith Presbyterian Church has been doing an Easter sunrise service for many years, and have no plans to stop the tradition.

Pastor Irwin says the Myrtle Beach Police Department have always been very nice each year about letting them hold this event.

He says the turnout was great this year.

“Yeah absolutely, it’s a beautiful morning and people really came out well for it,” Irwin said.

Other churches along the Grand Strand also had an Easter sunrise service.

Sarah Dufour and her son Gavin were among the city’s residents who have attended the service.

“It’s a beautiful morning, we were a little sad last year, I think we had rain and not good weather the last couple of years but we’ve come a few times, this was our third or fourth time, I think it was most beautiful today. Yeah, lovely weather and great sunrise,” she said.

Dufour said their family enjoyed the service today.

“It’s really nice, yeah, we love the pastor and he did a great job of just bringing everyone together and I thought it was a really nice message, and yeah, you couldn’t ask for a nicer morning.”

Easter sunrise services on the beach are held every year along the Grand Strand, for those who couldn’t attend this Sunday’s event.

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Hannah Huffstickler is a multimedia journalist at News13. She joined the News13 team in January 2024 after graduating from Coastal Carolina University in December of 2023. Keep up with Hannah on Facebook and Instagram. You can also read more of her work here.

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