Apparently news got out beyond Clarksville about what we did for Good Friday this year – it’s the featured news story today on klove.com!
I know it says I’m a pastor in Virginia, but I assure you, I do not live in Virginia. All the rest is accurate though!
Click HERE to go to k-love’s news page or click HERE to listen to the brief news report.
If you didn’t hear/watch the funeral message yet, click HERE.
If you missed our Good Friday Funeral, you missed out. We celebrated the substitutionary death of Christ by confronting people with the reality of His death. If Jesus had lived in American culture, His funeral may have looked something like this. Below is the video of the funeral message I gave for those of you who missed it. Enjoy, and remember…
Jesus really did die…
But He didn’t stay dead!
Read a few of my thoughts and the news article from the Leaf Chronicle HERE.
Here are some pictures from the funeral (thanks to Erica Swaringen)…
As you may have heard, a journalist and photographer from the local newspaper, The Leaf Chronicle, came to our Good Friday Funeral last night. She interviewed me before and they hung out for most of the service, taking pictures and chronicling the event. They did a great job capturing the meaning behind the funeral and it turned out to be a great opportunity for the message of the cross to be printed for the whole city to read!
Make sure to read the article HERE.
It was an amazing evening and exciting to see plenty of new faces, curious about what we were doing.
Although they did a great job with the article, I wanted to mention a few things that didn’t make the paper…
The whole point of the evening was to point people to the freedom that Christ’s death offers for all people. We looked briefly at the story of Jesus replacing Barabbas, the notorious criminal, and I shared that anyone who had not committed their life to Christ was just like Barabbas – a criminal on death row. At the end of the message, I gave an invitation for those who, although they had lived like Barabbas, wanted to walk free that night. Praise God: 4 people responded to the invitation, including a guy I had counseled with earlier that week! THAT is the whole reason behind the funeral!
Although my face is the one in the picture and only a few names made the article, there were LOTS of people serving behind-the-scenes to pull this thing off. Everyone from our Kids Ministry Director, Jenn Witiuk, to all those who helped her teach the kids about Jesus’ substitutionary death. I know it was a sacrifice for many of them, considering that they wanted to be in the funeral, but their service allowed others the chance to experience it for themselves. We also had an extra staff of greeters, counselors, and even people who came early and stayed late to clean and straighten up chairs. Chris, our video & audio engineer for the evening rocked it as well, making it all go off without a hitch!
To all those who served behind-the-scenes, THANKS! Your service did not go unnoticed and lives were changed because of you!
The process of putting this funeral together began months ago. The first place I called to rent a hearse thought I was insane and said they don’t rent hearses anymore. So, I called the first funeral home that I could find in Clarksville – the Neal-Tarpley-Parchman Funeral Home. I couldn’t believe how generous, giving, and easy to work with they were! They donated everything from the hearse parked out front, to the casket, candle holders, and more! They did it all from the kindness of their hearts and without any recognition. It was a huge blessing to work with them. Although many people don’t do a lot of work with funeral homes, that will be a growing part of my job as a pastor. They’ve got my business.
The moral of the story: serve with your whole heart as unto the Lord, whether you get noticed or not. You never know how your sacrifice can impact lives all around you! Whether anyone notices or not, God notices…
Hebrews 6:10 - For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
Oh, and don’t forget, EASTER IS TOMORROW! We’re going to party! Bring some friends!
I can honestly say I’ve never been this excited for a Good Friday-Easter weekend before.
In my years as a youth pastor, this weekend was always an easy one for me. Youth group was canceled so that families could be together and my main job was to show up early wearing a suit, eat a burrito, and welcome people. I loved that. It was a rare treat.
Good Friday and Easter took on a whole new dimension last year, since we were just 6 months into the church plant at the time. Last year was the first Good Friday & Easter messages that I had ever preached. On Good Friday, I pulled a reverse Superman (minus the telephone booth) by leaving work, putting on a tie, preaching, then heading back to work for the afternoon. That Sunday, we held a sunrise service on the river. It was an amazing first Easter at Awaken Church!
The church looked a lot different just one year ago. We had about 15 people in regular attendance at the time and we had no idea that a flood was in our near future. We were still in our first brown and blue church building, plugging away, praying for God to provide. We’re still praying for God to provide today, but almost everything else has changed – numbers, church buildings, and even the way we’re running services this year.
We’ll be holding a funeral on Good Friday this year, instead of our lunch time service last year. We’ll have a casket, hearse, pallbearers, eulogy, and all. We’re praying that many are confronted with the reality of Jesus’ death and turn to Him to experience true life. On Sunday, we’ll be holding two Easter services – both will feature our first-ever Awaken Church band, led by my beautiful wife. We’ll be partying on Sunday with a special message from Matthew 27. We’ll even have an Easter egg hunt following the second service!
We’ve rented extra chairs this weekend in prep for the influx of people we’re expecting and praying for. We’re also wired for overflow seating in the foyer and prayer room, just in case. Kids Ministry is stocked with extra volunteers, and we’re ready to see what God does.
On Thursday, I’ve opened the church building at 7am for prayer as we ask God to change lives this weekend and pour out His Spirit. We’re anticipating HUGE things and my heart is filled with faith and anticipation with what He will do.
Why?
GOD IS NOT DEAD!
He was dead, but now He’s alive forever more! THAT is a reason to party!
Nate and I just met with one of the owners of Neal-Tarpley-Parchman Funeral Home here in Clarksville in prep for our upcoming Good Friday Funeral service on April 22. I’ve been to plenty of funeral homes before, as a pastor and also as a grieving family member or friend. It’s always a bit surreal. Funeral homes and grave sites have the unique ability to confront you with the reality of death in many ways.
One thing that stood out to Nate and I as we walked around and talked details with the owner was the “death vocabulary” that everyone was using. Here are a few words we used and/or heard multiple times in just 10 minutes of being inside…
death
casket
coffin
hearse
funeral
cremated
mourning
grave
pallbearers
deceased
died
dead
passed away
…and more.
The verse that immediately came to my mind as we walked out was Ecclesiastes 7:2…
“Better to spend your time at funerals than at parties. After all, everyone dies—so the living should take this to heart.” – New Living Translation
The stats are staggering: 1 out of every 1 person dies (except Elijah & Enoch, of course). That’s why Solomon says it’s so healthy to spend some time at funerals – they confront you with the reality of death.
I’ve performed quite a few funerals over the past few years: a 12-year old boy from my youth group, a 16-year old boy that I counseled, an 89-year old woman, a premature baby that was buried in a casket the size of a shoebox, and more… As a pastor, doing a funeral has a way of putting fire in my preaching like nothing is else. After all, the people sitting in a chair on Sunday may be lying in a casket on Monday. We’re not guaranteed another breath!
It would be healthy for us to remember how fragile life is more often.
Talking about death is not only healthy to think about, but it’s also a great way to share your faith with someone. If you want an interesting conversation, ask someone where they’ll spend eternity when they die. Most people don’t think that far ahead and they’ll stumble through a random assortment of unfounded beliefs that don’t even make sense to them as they’re coming out.
Have you thought about it? One day, you will die. Do you know where you’re going?
