Easter weekend is fast approaching. Easter Sunday is one of the highest days for church attendance all year. As your pastor, I love to see the church facility filled with people on Resurrection Sunday. However, my heart often breaks to see attendance the following Sunday. I’m thinking, “What happened to all the people?” How can we see God move and lives changed Easter weekend?
I’ve listed 10 ways for us to prepare for this important and glorious weekend.
- Pray for God’s Spirit to move. Prayer makes a difference! Let’s pray for God to speak, for us to hear His voice, and for lives to be changed. The Early Church was a praying church, and the Holy Spirit moved. May you and I follow the spiritual example of the early disciples!
- Plan now to attend and participate on Easter weekend. I hope you’ll participate in Sunday school and worship on Resurrection Sunday. If you have children or grandchildren of the appropriate ages, I encourage you to attend the Giant Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, March 26, beginning at 10:00am. It’ll be a fun and Christ-centered time for the entire family. Your presence does make a difference!
- Plan to park in the back of the church property. Parking is always in high demand on Easter Sunday. If you’re physically able, I encourage you to park in the back of the church property. Let’s free up as many parking spaces as possible for first-time guests on Resurrection Sunday.
- Invite people to attend. Research shows that many people would attend church if invited by a family member, friend, classmate, neighbor, or coworker. I encourage you to make a list of three to five people you need to invite. As you pray over those names, allow the Lord to use you to extend a personal invitation. Beginning this weekend, invitation cards will available for you to use, too. Our goal is for at least 1,000 people to gather and celebrate the empty tomb and the truth that Jesus is alive on Resurrection Sunday!
- Realize a guest may sit or park in your place. If you pull onto the church campus and walk into the sanctuary and see an unfamiliar car or person in your spot, praise God for new people. Rejoice that the Lord is growing His church!
- Participate in Love Tallahassee. Love Tallahassee is this Saturday. One of our goals for the day is to talk with people in our city about Jesus and His church. Loving people in our city gives us the opportunity to invite them to the Giant Easter Egg Hunt, Sunday school, and worship.
- Read the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. It’s one of my spiritual practices each year to read the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. Reading the Gospel story prepares me to grasp the depth of Jesus’ love, sacrifice, and redemption.
- Volunteer to serve in the church’s ministries. Easter weekend means more volunteers are needed. In order for the Giant Easter Egg Hunt to happen, volunteers must serve. It takes many volunteers on a normal Sunday morning. A full facility and parking lot means many more volunteers are needed. It’s our process for volunteers to complete specific legal forms and ministry training prior to serving in certain areas. If you’d like to volunteer and serve Easter weekend, please give us a call in the church office at 850-893-0893.
- Welcome the many guests who’ll be on our campus Easter weekend. If you see a new face on Easter weekend, be intentional and introduce yourself to the person. It should never be said that someone came to Bradfordville and no one spoke to him or her. Let’s be a church that welcomes and embraces new people.
- Encourage people who can’t attend to watch the live stream online. Our goal is to start live streaming the morning service on Resurrection Sunday. If you know people who physically can’t attend the service in person, our online service will allow them to stay engaged at Bradfordville. Beginning March 27 at 10:30, people can go to bradfordville.org and watch the service live.
Thank you for your gracious comments about last Sunday’s worship gathering with the Hispanic Church! It was a glimpse of Heaven! The new sermon series entitled, “March Gladness” starts this Sunday. I look forward to seeing you Saturday, as we love our city and Sunday, as we study God’s Word and worship our risen Savior.
Let’s remember that this Lord’s Day is Prove the Tithe Sunday. May you and I obey Jesus and be sacrificial in our giving! Our Father loves cheerful givers (2 Cor. 9:7)!
He’s the God of This City,
Pastor Ronny
Isaiah 6:1-8