A Word from Interim Director of Missions Barry

Please call your church to a time of prayer for Unity, Fellowship, and a Spirit to move forward together.

What did Easter mean to me growing up?  As with most children, Easter means chocolate bunnies, candy, painted hard boiled eggs, and Easter eggs hunts.  We were always trying to out-gather the other children’s egg hunt filling our basket until it overflowed!  We might go to church on Easter, because our parents made us, and we would hear the same message we heard last year!  A man named Jesus came out of the mountain grave, and some angels were there to tell some people that He’s not here anymore!  All the while we were thinking when will the service end so we can get at that chocolate and candy!

How much have we grown up from what we did as children at Easter?  We still like, and even expect, chocolates of some kind, and the eggs are now deviled eggs to go with the dinner we have when family comes together.  And we might go to a church service, you know, so that we can say we went to an Easter Service, and as we leave we wish everyone a Merry Christmas, because that is when we expect to see those folks again.  For many this sounds so familiar.  The real reason for Easter has almost been lost to those two-timer church goers.

But for the Born Again Believing Christian, Easter has a whole new and better meaning.  For them it is the greatest action of Love demonstrated, by the One who Loves us, despite who we are and what we have done.  God sent His Only Son to die on a cross in our place so that we who believe on Him will live forever in Heaven with Him.   For us, Easter reminds us that because He Lives, we too will Live!  For some, it reminds us that the new life that they have received, is a life that others need.  We should, and must, tell others what Jesus has done for us and is doing in our lives, and how He can change their lives as well.  

Easter is a reminder that Jesus defeated Death, that He is still alive, and Satan has been defeated!
This year, look at Easter in a new way – it is a new life, and a new Joy in living as you serve a Living Savior!

Pastor Barry Pfister,
Interim Director of Missions / Moderator
Mt Salem-Wyaconda Southern Baptist Association
mswdom@marktwain.net
bppastor@yahoo.com
(O) 573-209-3064
(M) 660-734-2080
(H) 573-655-0172