Friday, December 14, 2007

99 Days Until Easter





There may only be 12 days left until Christmas, but did you realize that there are now just 99 days left until Easter? That’s right. Resurrection Sunday is early this year…March 23, 2008…less than 100 days from now. The church staff has already been hard at work in our strategic planning. Easter is our biggest Sunday of the year, and here at Grace it is growing rapidly. In fact, our Easter attendance has grown 112% since 2001. Last year we had 1,970 people join us Easter Sunday to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. This coming Easter looks to be the first time in the history of our church that we will surpass the 2,000 mark for a Sunday morning service held here on our campus.

Below are the tentative highlights for our Easter celebration:

On Friday night, March 14, our Girlfriend’s at Grace will be having a large outreach event for ladies. Last year nearly 1,000 ladies attended. Laura Distler and the Girlfriend’s at Grace task force are planning this event.

We will have our annual Easter Egg and Candy Hunt again the weekend prior to Easter (March 15). Last year some 3,000 parents and kids came to this event. Susan Auld (Director of Children’s Ministry) and Brenda Miller (Early Childhood Coordinator) will be planning this outreach event that allows us to make a positive touch with hundreds of area families while inviting them to worship at Grace on Easter Morning.

On Good Friday, March 21, we will have a special Night of Worship beginning @ 7pm that will focus completely on the cross and the sacrifice of Christ for our sins. Tim Auld (Pastor of Spiritual Formation) and Matt McElravy (Worship Arts Director) will be planning and leading this special evening of worship.

On Easter Sunday, Lititz Christian School and Morningstar Daycare will be providing a free Continental Breakfast from 8:30-10:30. Rick Bernhardt (School Administrator) and his staff will be organizing this special time of food and fellowship.

We will have three identical Easter Worship Services on the morning of March 23 starting at 7:15; 9:00 and 10:45. Our Worship Design Team, under the direction of Matt McElravy (Worship Arts Director), will be planning these exciting worship services.

There will be no nursery or children’s ministries during the 7:15 service, but there will be regular Nursery and Children’s Program taking place during the 9:00 and the 10:45 worship services under the leadership of Susan Auld and Brenda Miller.

It is also our hope to produce a new Worship CD featuring our worship band performing three of the original songs that we use here at Grace Church that have been written by Matt McElravy, our Worship Arts Director. It is our hope to have this available to give one per family as a gift to all who attend on Easter Sunday.


No comments: