An Easter Egg Hunt Welcome! (4/4/15)

Thanks for stopping by our Easter Egg hunt. We hope you had a great time and that you enjoy the goodies inside the egg. But there’s so much more to Easter than fun times and candy. And our church is busy all year helping all of us discover who God really is.

We call our church’s pre-school Our Father’s House. We believe that God places a lot of value in children, and He wants us to give them the tools to learn about life and about our heavenly Father. We are a family. Each day, we do our best to show these special 2, 3, and 4 year olds God’s incredible love for them.

Learning is a lifetime experience. The first Easter was on Sunday, so it’s fitting that we start each week with a special time of worship and learning. Our nursery cares for babies and toddlers in a way that models God’s love. During the Sunday School hour, older kids learn the essential truths in the Bible.

The adults gather together in a group called “Potter’s Hand.” We try to get into the Bible to figure out the things that all of us wonder about- questions like Who is God?, What is Heaven?, Was Jesus really God?.

During the 11:00 service, the Pastors Pals and our Childrens Church give little ones their own time of worship and learning.

Our time together as a church family isn’t just on Sundays. On Tuesday nights the whole church gathers for dinner, and then we get together in small group Bible Studies afterwards. I’m in a group that takes on the real world issues we face as adults raising young children.

Even as grown men we don’t have all the answers. So a group of us gets together on a Saturday morning each month to look at different topics of the Bible that hit us as men. Throughout the year we find ways to help our church and its missions, but we also do a lot fun stuff to get the chance to just hang out and be one of the guys.

On Sunday nights and at other times during the week, it’s fun to be with friends and do things that help us know more about God. We call our Youth Group BLAST (Big Loud Awesome Spiritual Time).

We do all sorts of things like overnight lockins, weekend retreats, movie nights, car washes; anything imaginable to have fun while we grow and go into mission to help others.

One of the really cool things we do during the year is our Vacation Bible School. The whole church chips in and it’s a great experience for everyone. This year’s VBS will be in June, and we’re already gearing up for it.

We’re always reaching out to the community and beyond. We feel that God wants us to do things that make a difference in the world. And so our Women’s Group takes on projects like sending shoeboxed Christmas gifts to needy children or collecting diapers for poor families.

So thanks again for sharing in our Easter Egg Hunt and for taking the time to learn more about our church by listening to this recording. An Easter Egg has an outer shell that’s all decorated and neat to look at, but the real value is what’s inside. Easter isn’t just about bunnies and colored eggs. It’s about our creator God who loves us so much that He in some way became a human being so that we could be adopted as His sons and daughters. On Easter, we celebrate the fact that Jesus rose from the dead. Throughout the year in our church- within all of the things that we have and do- we celebrate that we can rise into a fulfilling life that can only come when we live as our Creator intended us to live.

So I’d encourage you to “open the egg.” While you’re here, check out the rest of our website; listen to God’s Word in the “Godprint” and “Sermon” posts, or read about our activities. Meet the people who are the Pitman United Methodist Church.

Even after the candy in the egg is gone, the welcome mat is always open. Stop by and visit us in person again.

We pray that this Easter leads you to the treasure that’s found in Jesus Christ.