Easter is coming, and Kentucky Baptist pastors are excited! Given that this will be our second COVID-19 impacted Easter, many pastors are preparing to make it a great day for the church family and for the community.
I recently talked to three KBC pastors to hear how they intend to make their Easter celebration special this year.
I spoke to Pastor Nick Sandefur of Porter Memorial Baptist Church in Lexington, Pastor Bobby Reno of Plum Springs Baptist in Bowling Green, and Pastor Mark Bishop of GracePointe Baptist in Louisville.
Here is a summary of how they are leading their congregation to get ready for Easter:
Pastor Nick has designed special graphics for the occasion and a special gift bag for guests. The tone of the service will be celebratory with lots of opportunities for guests to interact with members as they walk through the doors and make their way to the sanctuary. Pastor Nick believes that what the guests experience on a special day should be similar to what they experience on a regular Sunday. At Porter Memorial, they celebrate the resurrection of Jesus every Sunday. The church will be offering three services to assure the attendees can socially distance as they gather to celebrate Jesus. Porter Memorial currently has a Sunday morning attendance of 800 people attending two services. They are preparing for as many as 1,500 people. They had 1,800 last year.
Pastor Bobby Reno of Plum Spring Baptist Church in Bowling Green is leading the church to reach out into their community with the Gospel. They are sending a post card the week prior to Easter in a two-mile radius of the church inviting people to attend. They are having two worship services and expect a strong turnout. The members of the church have visited 1,500 homes in their community and plan to visit 1,000 more prior to Easter. Pastor Bobby has a strong evangelistic passion and knows that Easter will be one more great opportunity to share Jesus with those in their community.
Pastor Mark Bishop of GracePointe Baptist Church in the Valley Station community of Louisville is leading the church into a massive outreach strategy to build a crowd for Easter. They have set aside four Sunday afternoons leading up to Resurrection Sunday to go into the community, meet their neighbors, share the Gospel, and invite them to one of four weekend Easter worship service. 121 people from their church showed up for the first of these outreach events and visited more than 2,000 homes. The church has been having around 450 people attending on Sunday morning but are praying that attendance will more than double for Easter. When the people come, they will be greeted by a warm and friendly congregation, worship through enthusiastic singing, and a Gospel message focused on the power of the resurrected Christ.
These stories represent only three of 2,360 churches in the state striving to make a difference in the kingdom. Imagine what we can do when we all work together to share the Gospel. I am thankful for the impact all KBC churches will have this Easter and throughout the year. What are you anticipating for upcoming Easter services and how are you preparing?
Dr. Todd Gray 