06 Apr Easter Story: Jackson, Mich.

From Scott Hardaway, senior pastor of Pathway Community Church (Jackson, Mich.)

Two weeks before Easter, I challenged everyone to pray for three unchurched people and invite them to our Easter service, and I asked those who were willing to do this to stand up. We had 45 adults stand (over half the adults in attendance that day).

Since that time, I’ve been sending out a daily email of encouragement to each of the people who stood, and praying for each of them daily, along with 10 unchurched people of my own.

On Easter Sunday, we kicked off a new series on different world religions titled, “So What Is The Difference?” We had 157 people in attendance–112 regular attenders, and 45 visitors (25 of them first-time visitors).

So 1 out of every 6 people in attendance had never been to our church before. Nearly all the first-time visitors are unconnected with any church. By comparison, we had 31 first-time visitors in all 12 months of 2009.

Our church is learning how to become evangelistic people. Praise God!