At Mars Hill Church, Easter is our biggest Sunday of the year. We pull out all the stops with tons of loud singing, testimonies of lives changed by Jesus, and hundreds of baptisms—many of them spontaneous—as crowds cheer on. Why? Because Jesus is alive. And because Jesus is alive, we are alive, our hope is alive, and our church is alive. If you are a regular attendee at Mars Hill, please note that many campuses have changed their service times to accommodate the large crowds we enjoy on Easter, so please find one that works for you. For more details about our Easter services, and to invite a friend, visit //www.marshillchurch.org/media/easter/preview. For those who cannot join us in person but are curious and would like to join us online and watch some people meet Jesus and get baptized on the spot, we will be live streaming our Easter services at 8:30 a.m., 10:00 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 5 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. (all PST). One request I would make is, if at all possible, don’t merely watch with us online, but also enjoy worship with God’s people in a local church near you where the Bible is taught and Jesus is worshiped. We are glad to share our joy with you through the Internet, but we are a local church that fully believes that everyone needs to be in a local church. My Easter Sunday sermon will be unique in many ways. First, it will be short, which is yet another Easter miracle. At less than twenty minutes, it will work well for our family-style services at many campuses, where all the children will be present for the entire service. Second, it will show you where Jesus prayed before his death (Gethsemane), where he was held for trial, where he was crucified (Golgotha), and where he rose from death (the empty tomb). The film crew and I captured this footage on a tour of Israel last year, and I am really excited to weave video footage in with preaching to show that the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus are actual, historical, and factual events. Third, the campus pastors will be finishing up the sermon with an explanation of the gospel and an invitation for salvation and baptism. It is great to be working together on a great team of great pastors for our great God. Lastly, for those who want to pray, please do so for the following:
- Pray that we can see at least 15,000 people join us in person for Good Friday and Easter.
- Pray that we can see at least 75,000 people join us online for Good Friday and Easter.
- Pray that many non-Christians join us for Easter.
- Pray for hundreds of salvations.
- Pray for 400-plus Easter baptisms.
- Pray that everything goes well with over two dozen services, baptisms, technology, and so on.
- Pray for the volunteers and paid staff who will give much of their holiday to serve faithfully and pull this all off.
- Pray that Jesus is made much of—like we always say at Mars Hill, it’s all about Jesus!
