NEW LIFE

Easter Service for our Church this year was presented at the local High School gymnasium. The Church has done this in the past, but skipped it last year being between Ministers. When the Worship Director and I decided to step out on faith and try this service again for our first time we were a bit nervous. Sometimes through the process of planning I remember thinking "is it really worth our time and effort to do this service?" There was a committee of course that was formed for this event and all of them were competent leaders. The service we came up with was very different for all of us and it had in mind reaching those who are lost or who had fallen away from the Lord.

This past Saturday afternoon we began set up for Easter Service at the High School. We set up about 415 chairs. We had been praying not so much for numbers, but that God would bless this service by filling up the chairs with people who are lost. We assumed that our regular attenders were coming, but our focus for the service was for those outside of Christ. The entire service centered around the theme of "Being Prepared." The sermon I preached was from Matthew 25:1-13 about the 10 virgins and how only 5 of them were prepared for the bridegroom. The sermon was a bit more narrative than usual, there was a game about being prepared in the beginning of the service, and we even did a contemporary skit. At the end of the service during the invitation time not one person responded. I kept wondering if anyone among this large crowd who was lost had been penetrated by any facet of this service.

When all of the lights came on as people were making their way out of the gymnasium I noticed one of our Elders and another man talking with a granddaughter of one of our regular attenders. This woman is 27 years old and comes to church occasionally when she is in town to visit her grandmother. She was asking questions about the process to becoming a Christian. I stood by as one of the Elders began to explain to her the Gospel as he flipped through scripture and began to read to her various passages with a gentle smile on his face. As this was happening she became more emotional with each passing moment. At the end of the conversation she told us that she wanted to be baptized. We all headed back to the Church were we heard her profess her faith in Christ and then was baptized. This woman and her grandmother were both highly emotional and weeping. This was a wonderful moment for this family and those of us fortunate enough to witness this new life from God.

All through this process of building up to this service we kept saying in the Elder meetings that "if only one person was saved then all of the effort, time, and money was well worth it." God revealed Himself to us on Easter Sunday by creating new life when we were least expecting it. Our efforts, prayers, and time matter to God. We forget He is moving sometimes, but when His people do as they are told He reveals Himself to them. All Glory to God!!!