Easter is Penton’s favorite time of year Pastor said that Easter is the fulfillment of the gospel

By Chris Kinkaid The Daily News

First Missionary Baptist Church of Varnado Pastor Kelly Penton said Easter is his favorite holiday.

“Easter brings hope for a lot of people,” Penton said. “The old saying is that if you want the church back, wait till Easter because the church will be packed.”

Penton said Easter is the fulfillment of the gospel.

“It wasn’t just enough to shed the blood, it wasn’t enough to hang on the cross,” Penton said. “The gospel is the death, burial and resurrection.

“If it wasn’t for the resurrection, the gospel wouldn’t be true. The resurrection brings life to our savior, and because of his life, we all have that living hope.”

Penton said that Easter is one of the central holy days of Christianity that honors the resurrection of Jesus three days after his death by crucifixion.

He said it’s definitely one of the most important celebrations on the calendar of Christians.

“Easter is when Christians glorify and give thanks for the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” Penton said.

At First Missionary Baptist Church, Penton starts teaching the life of Jesus from the cradle to him dying on the cross and build- ing it up to the big service on Easter Sunday with the theme of celebrating the life of Christ.

He starts this about a month before Easter.

On Easter Sunday, the young people do a display of the death on the cross.

Right after that, Penton gives a sermon.

Easter comes during the spring and Penton said spring allows the church to get out in the community more.

“It’s very important for our church to get out in our village to represent the lord and to show our love for the community,” Penton said. “We welcome people to come out to the church anytime. We’ve got things for kids. We’ve got basketball goals and there’s always somebody here from the church. I think it’s important to get outside of the walls of the church. The church is the people. The building is not the church. You have to get out and pray for people, love people and get to know them. It’s all about communication.”

The choir will be presenting in song ‘Worthy is the Lamb’ on Easter Sunday

First Missionary Baptist Church does outreaches throughout the year.

Some of the outreaches include a Christmas and Halloween Outreach. They also have free car washes during the summer.

One of those car washes was on March 25 at the church.