WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) _ An Iowa church is singing “hallelujah” after winning approval from the Waterloo city council to continue its outdoor services.

The council voted unanimously Monday to grant New Hope Missionary Baptist Church a noise variance.

That means the church can hold outdoor worship sessions on Sunday mornings this month.

Councilman Harold Getty says there were complaints last year about the volume from the public address system and church band during the services. He says the sounds could be heard four or five blocks away.

New Hope’s pastor, the Rev. Morris Anderson, says complaints about the services — now in their third year — are coming from a minority of people in the neighborhood.

Overall, Anderson believes the services have been “a blessing to the neighborhood.”