The two biggest holidays for a pastor are Easter and Christmas. These two holidays are the foundations of our faith and for most pastors they tend to be a really exciting time to preach the Gospel. I am no different. In 2003, my first easter was quickly approaching and I had asked the church if we could have our “sunrise service” (It was actually at 7:00 am) outside. The members of the church really got behind this idea and constructed a tomb out of paper and wire. We set up an altar outside and even invited the Baptist church down the road to join us.
The Saturday night before, it rained slightly and I moved all the stuff inside and got up really early (before dawn) to set up all the stuff and wipe down chairs. After I finished doing that, the sun was just coming up and as I was standing there, I thought this would be a great time to go over my sermon once or twice. So here I am, right after sunrise preaching to a bunch of empty chairs. It was then that I noticed that others who were driving by were slowing down and watching me. I got the biggest kick out of that because I know what they were saying: “That poor preacher. No one showed up for their sunrise service and he’s preaching to a bunch of empty chairs.” I kinda thought I might get a courtesy stop from someone but I didn’t.
It turned out to be an awesome morning and one that I will remember always.
