The Countdown to Resurrection (In More Ways than One)

Thursday night was about sacred rehearsal.
As a congregation, we rehearsed the narrative of our Lord’s passion.

After the singing, the loving, the teaching, the eating, we listened to the harmonized accounts of His arrest, His trial, His suffering, His sacrifice.
The final words of the narration ended with: “The door is shut. The deed is done.”

Amid the pensive singing of “What Wondrous Love is This,” the colors in the sanctuary changed from purple to black, and cross-drawn disciples scattered in sacred silence.

The countdown to resurrection begins.

As we move toward Easter Sunday, we count down the resurrection in more ways than one. We not only count down the days, hours and minutes to the celebration of our Lord’s victory over sin and death, but we also count down the same, toward an exciting new way to proclaim this resurrection news.

This Easter Sunday, Johns Creek Baptist begins LIVE video streaming our worship services over the Internet. This Sunday, we make available to sisters and brothers far and wide the opportunity to tune in to our weekly worship services, in their entirety…real-time.

Here’s how it will work:

On the home page of our church website, there will be a countdown clock…

[circular_countdown settings_id=’4′]

It will be prominently displayed. Easily found. The countdown clock will literally be counting down the number of days, hours, minutes and seconds to our next upcoming worship service.

All a viewer must do?
Click.

That’s how. But here’s why:

It’s about nurturing Christian Community in a digital age.

With live streaming, we will be able to welcome into the room, those who may not literally be in the room. It allows more people, in more places to hear the Gospel message, and engage the congregational life of Johns Creek Baptist Church.

Whether someone is shut in, homebound, or simply lives in some far away place, unable to attend, live streaming enables us to nurture Christian Community from a distance. And while nothing can replace the power of assembling in one room together, this tool allows us to bridge one more gap, and remove one more hurdle for those who may be isolated and alone.

This new tool will also allow us to improve our outreach efforts. It is speculated that some 90% of all seekers looking for a church will view an online service first (if available), before coming in person. Live streaming will empower newcomers to catch a glimpse of who we are, what we value, and how we worship here at JCBC.

So, spread the word.
Let your Facebook friends and Twitter followers know.
Call your in-laws. Tell your barber. Got a plane? Sky-write it.

The countdown is on.

“In Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Samaria and to the ends of World (Wide Web).”

Shaun King
Senior Pastor
Johns Creek Baptist Church