As we all know, Easter (Resurrection) Sunday is quickly approaching and with less than 3 weeks to that day, I’m in the process of planning our Resurrection Day Service. I started out wanting to be extravagant with all the bells and whistles. I began calling friends for favors for this big day of ours so we can worship with a live band, praise team, praise dancers, etc. I’m working on a short presentation to run on our “BIG” screens. If I could, a donkey would be walking down the aisle as if it was Jesus entering into Jerusalem for the very first time. I mean I want to be big with extravagance with an effort to impress those who would attend. And the truth of the matter is that many churches, pastors, preachers, members, and invited guest come that day to impress one another with a new on the outside while the inside is a total mess.
As I prepared for our church conference on last night, I quickly became convicted with my planning approach to Resurrection Sunday. Bob Kauflin in his article; “How To Approach Easter Planning” says: “If we’re most concerned about our creativity, our lighting, our talent, our “relevance,” or our cleverness, we’ve missed the point. It’s not that any of those things are wrong or unimportant. They’re just not the best thing we have to offer unbelievers who come through our doors on Easter morning. For that reason, we need to make sure that at some point we clearly explain our need for a Savior. Tell it plainly, biblically, and passionately. Most people are oblivious to the fact that their greatest need is to be reconciled to God. We have the privilege of telling them. What a joy!”
It was at this point that I realized that as a Christian and pastor, I have one responsibility to unbelievers on Easter Sunday morning; “PRESENT THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST”.
Take a moment to reflect on the week of crucifixion…we can all agree that the cross was everything but extravagant. It was ugly, terrible, and painful! But it was the ugliness of the cross that provided the beauty of salvation. Thank you Lord for dying on the cross!!!
My approach to Resurrection Sunday changed from extravagance to evangelistic. We discussed our approach to presenting the Gospel before, during, and after Easter Sunday morning to unbelievers. What a wonderful discussion!
Sometimes, we can get so caught up in the pressure of planning a service that we miss the service importance.
Here’s our plan for Resurrection 2009:
Theme: “The Gospel in Present-Tense – “An Old Story with Power to Change Your Life Today”
Text: Ephesians 2
Outreach Plan: Mailers, Eblast, Egg-Vitations (Kids evangelistic approach), One card-One guest, Love Jars (filled with cookie mix, soup ingredients, brownie mix, etc – given to guest families), and an appreciation gift ( Max Lucado’s book “The 3:16 Promise”). We’re also going to purchase bottle water and label with our churches name, address, etc for that day and on-going as an evangelistic tool (thank you Deacon Ham for that idea).
Follow-up is one of our biggest shortfalls. Based on our “Stay Connected” Cards received after the service we will send out a follow-up letter of thank within three days of Resurrection Sunday.
Service Plan: “God Moments”: Each member will share in 100 words or less “What the Resurrection of Jesus Means to Me”. These testimonies will be inserted into our bulletin and a selected group of members will share their story in our worship service. This is power of a short story in presenting the Gospel from our members. We’re still working on a short presentation of the gospel message in length of 2-3 minutes to show during our service.
Preaching Plan: Ephesians 2 – I’m not sure actually what part of Ephesians 2. The text is so rich and wordy that I’m going to take some time over the next couple weeks to pray and meditate for a communication approach.
It is my prayer that God will be glorified in our feeble attempts to share the Gospel on Easter Sunday morning.
As I prepared for our church conference on last night, I quickly became convicted with my planning approach to Resurrection Sunday. Bob Kauflin in his article; “How To Approach Easter Planning” says: “If we’re most concerned about our creativity, our lighting, our talent, our “relevance,” or our cleverness, we’ve missed the point. It’s not that any of those things are wrong or unimportant. They’re just not the best thing we have to offer unbelievers who come through our doors on Easter morning. For that reason, we need to make sure that at some point we clearly explain our need for a Savior. Tell it plainly, biblically, and passionately. Most people are oblivious to the fact that their greatest need is to be reconciled to God. We have the privilege of telling them. What a joy!”
It was at this point that I realized that as a Christian and pastor, I have one responsibility to unbelievers on Easter Sunday morning; “PRESENT THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST”.
Take a moment to reflect on the week of crucifixion…we can all agree that the cross was everything but extravagant. It was ugly, terrible, and painful! But it was the ugliness of the cross that provided the beauty of salvation. Thank you Lord for dying on the cross!!!
My approach to Resurrection Sunday changed from extravagance to evangelistic. We discussed our approach to presenting the Gospel before, during, and after Easter Sunday morning to unbelievers. What a wonderful discussion!
Sometimes, we can get so caught up in the pressure of planning a service that we miss the service importance.
Here’s our plan for Resurrection 2009:
Theme: “The Gospel in Present-Tense – “An Old Story with Power to Change Your Life Today”
Text: Ephesians 2
Outreach Plan: Mailers, Eblast, Egg-Vitations (Kids evangelistic approach), One card-One guest, Love Jars (filled with cookie mix, soup ingredients, brownie mix, etc – given to guest families), and an appreciation gift ( Max Lucado’s book “The 3:16 Promise”). We’re also going to purchase bottle water and label with our churches name, address, etc for that day and on-going as an evangelistic tool (thank you Deacon Ham for that idea).
Follow-up is one of our biggest shortfalls. Based on our “Stay Connected” Cards received after the service we will send out a follow-up letter of thank within three days of Resurrection Sunday.
Service Plan: “God Moments”: Each member will share in 100 words or less “What the Resurrection of Jesus Means to Me”. These testimonies will be inserted into our bulletin and a selected group of members will share their story in our worship service. This is power of a short story in presenting the Gospel from our members. We’re still working on a short presentation of the gospel message in length of 2-3 minutes to show during our service.
Preaching Plan: Ephesians 2 – I’m not sure actually what part of Ephesians 2. The text is so rich and wordy that I’m going to take some time over the next couple weeks to pray and meditate for a communication approach.
It is my prayer that God will be glorified in our feeble attempts to share the Gospel on Easter Sunday morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment