The pressure of Easter weekend is real for those of us called to lead the church. From Good Friday services to Easter Sunday celebrations, the increased number of services and the anticipation of increased attendance may cause us to feel self-imposed pressure.

We strive to make sure our facilities and hospitality ministries are ready, equip people for inviting friends and family, and somehow make the gatherings unique without falling into the “bait and switch” feeling that people could have in returning the following week. In other words, we don’t want newcomers to say, “What happened to that church I was at last week?!”

Easter as a holiday is unique and holds an unusual point of emphasis for us in our planning and outreach. But Easter as a truth to be proclaimed and lived out, is not.

Therefore, amid all your essential readying of yourselves and your teams for ministry outreach and gathering, I want to encourage you to lean into the preaching of the gospel in the Holy Spirit’s power. Easter is the heart of the Christian faith, the pulse of Jesus’ Good News.

“Amid all your essential readying of yourselves and your teams for ministry outreach and gathering, I want to encourage you to lean into the preaching of the gospel in the Holy Spirit’s power.”

Randy remington

Our faith rests exclusively in the person and work of Jesus and the promises of His Word. We live as those raised with Christ into new life all year long. Don’t misplace your faith in the cultural moment, the preparation and all the creativity. Believe that there is power in the message we preach—the power to change hearts and transform lives (Rom. 1:16).

Remember, you are preaching both to those who are already saved, and to those who are yet to be saved. The “saved” need reminding, and the “yet to be saved” need to hear the Good News.

The apostle Paul exemplified this dual purpose:

1. Paul refreshed the already saved with the reminder of the gospel truths that saved them, which is of first importance: Christ died for our sins, was buried, and was raised on the third day.

“Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:1-4, NIV).

2. Paul reinforced the importance of preaching because it is rooted in resurrection power and, therefore, is the foundational truth of gospel effectiveness: seeing people delivered from their sins and enter new life.

“And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith … your faith is futile; you are still in your sins” (1 Cor. 15:14, 17).

It is my joy to earnestly pray for all of you as you culminate the Lenten season with the proclamation of the resurrection and the living hope we can enter into.

Prepare and plan, but keep your faith in the power of the gospel to change lives. Pray yourself hot, and preach with the Spirit’s power as one aflame.