winter weather update

Church family, our hearts are with you. We know many are still navigating the effects of the winter weather—especially those without power or heat. Please know you are deeply loved, prayed for, and not alone. We’re grateful that power has been restored to the church, and we look forward to gathering for worship this Sunday at 10:40 a.m. There will be no Sunday School this week, but we invite you to come a little early and warm up with us at 9:45 a.m. for coffee, hot chocolate, donuts, and shared fellowship. If you’re able to join us, please use caution in the parking lot, as some slick spots may remain. And if you need to stay home, know we understand and are holding you in prayer.

Easter Changes Everything

April 3, 2026

Travis Lamb, Pastoral Staff–Intern

“If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” (1 Corinthians 15:19)  

Today, we commemorate the death of Jesus on the cross, the shedding of blood for the remission of sin. We call it Good Friday, but stripped of Easter, it is anything but good. On that dark day, the Son of God was crucified, mocked, abandoned, and buried. The sky went black, the earth shook, and all our hope seemed buried with Him (Luke 23:44–46). If the story ends there, then Good Friday is not a day of veiled victory, it is pure tragedy and despair. The apostle Paul says it plainly: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17). Without Easter Sunday, the cross is not redemption, it is defeat. Jesus would be another upstart martyr, not the risen King.  

But Easter changes everything.  

The cross only becomes “good” because the tomb is empty. What looked like the triumph of sin and death, and all of hell’s minions rejoicing, was amazingly their unwitting participation in their own undoing. As Paul continues: “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20). The resurrection declares that the sacrifice was accepted, the debt was paid, and death itself has been conquered.  

Good Friday shows us the terrible cost of our sin. Easter Sunday shows us the ultimate power of our Savior. Without the resurrection, we have no assurance of forgiveness. Without the resurrection, there is still the sting of undefeated death. Without the resurrection, there is no living hope. But He is risen indeed! And because Christ rose, Peter can exclaim “[H]e has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3).  

So, we celebrate Good Friday, but not in isolation. Today, we stand at the cross with tears. We join our hearts with His friends and followers who witnessed His brutal torture, death, and burial—but we do not stay there. We move to the empty tomb with joy. Good Friday is “good” because Sunday is coming.