WS Chronicle

Photo by Timothy Ramsey

Church prepares for Easter with Good Friday service

BY TIMOTHY RAMSEY 

THE CHRONICLE

For Christians, the Easter season is a time to celebrate the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Many churches hold special services on Easter Sunday, but Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church decided to also hold a special 11 a.m. service on Good Friday.

This was the first time the church has held a service on Good Friday.  Senior Pastor Paul W. Hart said he wanted to hold the service on Good Friday because this type of service is not typical and to get people into the Easter spirit before Sunday.

“We wanted to head into the Easter season with a spirit of coming together and thinking about the love of Christ,” Hart said.  “We didn’t want to just do this Sunday morning. We wanted to have Christ on our mind all weekend.  This is my 12th year here and this is just a vision that I had and would love for this to progress further.”

Pilgrim Rest was joined by Pleasant Union Primitive Baptist Church for the Good Friday service.  Elder Reginald Lampkins of Pleasant Union delivered the sermon.  Lampkins thought this was a great idea and says he was glad to be a part of it.

“I have been preaching for about 15 years and I normally preach at night for the ‘Seven Last Words’ [of Jesus] service, so this is my first time preaching during the day on Good Friday,” Lampkins continued.  “I agree with Pastor Hart in that celebrating Christ should be a continuous thing throughout the weekend.

“The main focus is to be saved, which is why I like to preach a message of salvation,” Lampkins continued. “We do a lot of things behind tradition but there is always room to try something new.”

During his sermon, Lampkins touched on the Resurrection but also spoke about the death of Christ because he says that’s where our salvation comes from. He also posed a question to the congregation, asking, “What do you think about Jesus and what he did for us?” He wanted to convey the importance of knowing Christ no matter what you may be going through, good or bad.

Hart stated he would like to extend the invitation to Elder Lampkins to come back next year and speak during the Good Friday service.  He says next year they plan to reach out more to the surrounding community and possibly to other churches as well.

“Many churches have a ‘Seven Last Words’ service Friday evening and that is great,” Hart added.  “But you can’t have enough service in praising God and lifting Him up.  I wanted to have something in the morning so that others may also attend a ‘Seven Last Words’ service in the evening.”